Coming off a close victory against Wake Forest, 30-29, Brent Key’s Georgia Tech stares down at a roster plagued with injuries. One of the injured positions had been on the special teams unit, with a 6’1, 220-lb long snapper out for the season, owing to an undisclosed injury. Due to an injury sustained two weeks ago, SMU-transfer long snapper Will Benton’s 2025 season comes to an end.

“So, injury report, cover that. Will Benton got hurt two weeks ago in the game. He’ll be out for the year,” Brent Key told the press. The nature of the injury has not been revealed. Till now, he has appeared in 55 games for SMU as the primary long snapper, recording eight tackles over five seasons, receiving the All-ACC Academic Team and the American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team.

He helped SMU to the American Athletic Conference championship in 2023, an appearance in the ACC title game in 2024, and a berth in the 2024 College Football Playoff. “Stinks for Benton, who is a senior and was doing well as the punt snapper for the Jackets after coming over from SMU,” On3’s Kelly Quinlan wrote on X. According to the depth chart, Ronnie Thomas will replace Benton on the field for the rest of the season.

In addition to that, Ole Miss transfer DL Akelo Stone and LB Myles Foristall will be out this week, injured during the face-off against the Demon Deacons. Within the third quarter, Brent Key’s roster sustained three back-to-back injuries. QB Robby Ashford went down with an injury, followed by Stone, and then the LB exited with an injury.

In the third quarter, the DL is helped off the field towards the medical tent. “Wake’s backup QB is in the game after Ashford got injured, hits a pass for a first down, then Akelo Stone goes down,” From the Rumble Seat’s X handle wrote. Georgia Tech’s beat writer for AJC, Chad Bishop, tweeted, “Stone left the WFU game with an apparent leg injury.”

Fortunately, there is a possibility that he might bounce back. “Good news on Stone not having a season-ending injury. Hopefully, he will be back soon,” Quinlan wrote on X. On the depth chart, redshirt senior Matthew Alexander (starter) and redshirt freshman Landen Marshall’s names are listed. Over the season, Alexander has registered six tackles, 3 solo.

For the linebacker position, Kyle Efford and E.J. Lightsey are the starters, with Cayman Spaulding, Melvin Jordan, and Tajh Butler listed as the backups.

More injuries on the Yellowjackets’ roster

Colorado-transfer Safety Savion Riley and RB Chad Alexander, who sustained a knee injury during the spring, are still out. The initial status of the injury was disclosed ahead of their road game against Wake Forest. With the latest injury report, the duo will not make their appearance against the Hokies. On the depth chart, redshirt senior Omar Daniels is present as the starter, with Riley out. As of now, he hasn’t appeared in a single game after transferring from Colorado.

As for the RB position, with Jamal Haynes as the starter, Malachi Hosley, Trelain Maddoz, Daylon Gordon, Shane Marshall, and J.P. Powell are listed out. Although the Yellowjackets have an 80% chance of beating the Hokies, the injury report has provided the latest set of concerns for the Yellowjackets’ faithful. Hokies QB Kyron Drones has tallied nine passing touchdowns with four interceptions for 1,216 yards and a QB rating of 48.0. But the defense remains a concern.

QB Haynes King told the media. “They’re really good defense. They give us a lot of looks up front, and they try to disguise coverages on the back end. They do a really good job at it. Then a couple of third-down blitzes that they have. It’ll give everybody issues, know. So they do a really good job defensively. So we definitely gotta dot our I’s and cross our T’s against this team.” Georgia Tech has been undefeated so far, 5-0. Let’s see how Brent Key utilizes his backups against the Hokies in their next game.