It appears Virginia Tech’s backup quarterback battle between Lynchburg native Logan Thomas and Ju-Ju Clayton will continue into fall practice.

Neither player has distanced himself enough this spring to earn the No. 2 job. That’s not a bad thing according to Hokies quarterbacks coach Mike O’Cain. It just means both players will have more time to improve and show he’s worthy of the important reserve role.

“I think the key is you want to be fair to them and come out here with the best decision possible,” O’Cain said after Saturday’s scrimmage. “We don’t have to force it. It’s not a thing where you’ve got to come out here with a second quarterback. The thing we definitely wanted to do this spring was both of them coming out here and being better quarterbacks, and that will have happened.”

Neither Thomas, a redshirt freshman who starred at Brookville High, nor Clayton, a redshirt sophomore, was particularly impressive in Saturday’s scrimmage. Thomas completed 3 of 12 passes for 36 yards and rushed for nine yards on seven carries. A couple of his completions were called back by penalties and two of his passes were dropped.

The offensive line didn’t help him much either, as he was sacked several times.

Clayton completed 4 of 11 passes for 62 yards. He was intercepted three times, including once by former Jefferson Forest player Mark Carter on the scrimmage’s last play.

“Ju-Ju and Logan, my impression was both of them had a couple of really good plays. I want to see why a play wasn’t good,” Tech coach Frank Beamer said. “A lot of times you’re out there in the spring and the receiver is not running the route Logan thought he was going to run, and I think the wind affected a couple of throws. I think we find out why they weren’t good plays, and that figures into your evaluation of the quarterbacks.”

O’Cain said the only way a decision could be made this spring about the backup quarterback is if one of the players has a strong last week of practice while the other has a precipitous drop in production.

That’s not likely to happen.

“Right now, no, they haven’t distanced themselves,” O’Cain said. “I think both of them have done some really good things. Logan on Wednesday (during a mini scrimmage) had five or six really good passes and then he had three or four high balls. It’s just consistency. It’s not so much the mental part of the game. I’m pleased with both of them there. It’s just consistency throwing the ball.”