Hosley honored
Virginia Tech sophomore cornerback Jayron Hosley was named defensive back of the week by the Atlantic Coast Conference for his performance in Saturday’s 26-10 win at North Carolina.

It was the second such honor this season for Hosley, who had two interceptions in the victory.

Hosley, who has seven interceptions and 14 passes defended this season, leads the country in interceptions per game (0.78) and he is second in passes defended per game (1.56). He is also 15th nationally in punt return average (14.0).

No game time yet
ABC/ESPN is exercising its six-day option on Virginia Tech’s regular-season finale against Virginia. That means the game time will be announced at a later time, but no later than noon on Sunday, Nov. 21. 

The game time options for the Hokies-Cavaliers matchup are noon, 3:30 and 7:30.

Also, the ACC announced that No. 14 Virginia Tech’s game at No. 24 Miami this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. will be a full national broadcast on ESPN.

The Hokies and Hurricanes are the only two nationally ranked teams in the ACC, and they are the only two teams still alive for the Coastal Division title. Tech can clinch the division championship, and a spot in the ACC championship game Dec. 4 in Charlotte, with one win in its last two games.

Why no Williams?
Hokies coach Frank Beamer said last week that sophomore Ryan Williams would likely return kicks against the Tar Heels on Saturday, but that didn’t happen.

During his Monday teleconference, Beamer said Williams didn’t want to return kicks and took himself out of the rotation.

“Ryan decided in the end that he’d rather not do that,“ Beamer said of Williams, who made a similar decision last season with punt return duties after muffing a punt in the season opener against Alabama. “You want a guy back there that wants to be there. I’m not sure what Ryan’s reasoning was, but it was his decision.“

More on return game
The Hokies were thin at kick returner Saturday. The two regular starters—David Wilson (mono) and Dyrell Roberts (compartment syndrome)—were ill or injured, and Williams passed on return duty.

Then backup Tony Gregory suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Tar Heels. That left Hosley and senior cornerback Rashad Carmichael as the team’s best options late in the game. Beamer said Hosley and Carmichael will likely return kicks Saturday against Miami, too.

Beamer said Wilson could return to play this week—the Hokies won’t make that official until they release their Thursday injury report—but he made no indication that Wilson would return to kick return duty.

Wilson has been one of the best returners in the country. He has two kickoff return touchdowns, a 92-yarder against N.C. State on Oct. 2 and a 90-yarder that won the game for the Hokies in the fourth quarter Nov. 4.

Injury update
Wilson and defensive end Chris Drager (head) have made progress, but their availablity this week is still unknown.

They were both expected to practice in blue (light work) for Monday’s practice.

“(Wilson) is feeling great. He’s feeling really good,“ Beamer said. “I know coach (Billy) Hite talked to him yesterday morning, I believe it was.“

And as for Drager, who also missed Saturday’s game against UNC, Beamer said, “I know they did some other tests on him (following his head injury against Georgia Tech), and he checked out good.“

Beamer also said Hokies’ top receiver Jarrett Boykin, who had a couple of uncharacteristic drops against the Tar Heels, has been battling an AC sprain in his shoulder. He played through the injury Saturday and had three catches for 85 yards.

“He’s toughed it out, hung in there and played,“ Beamer said.

—Nathan Warters