Hurricanes poised to get key players back for Virginia Tech game

The No. 13 Hurricanes have been hit hard by the injury bug in recent weeks, but some players may get back on the field when UM travels to play Virginia Tech this weekend. Running back Mark Fletcher Jr. was not on Thursday’s injury report, cornerback OJ Frederique Jr. is probable and defensive tackle David Blay Jr. is listed as questionable for Saturday’s game. However, linebacker Kellen Wiley Jr. was listed as out. Fletcher has missed UM’s previous two games, and Frederique has missed the previous three games. Blay suffered an injury against Syracuse and did not play last week. Additionally, wide receiver CJ Daniels, who has missed the last three games, was not listed on the injury report. Daniels was not listed on last week’s game-day injury report, but UM held him out of the game anyway. Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said it was his call to keep Daniels out another week, but he expects him to play Saturday. “I feel great about his availability this week,” Cristobal said. Nickelback Keionte Scott is listed as out for the game, as expected. Cristobal said Monday that he did not think it was likely Scott would return this season. “I don’t know,” Cristobal said. “Like we mentioned, it is a more significant injury. You certainly hope and pray for (him to come back). But it doesn’t look like it’s very likely. But I hate to rule it out completely because you just never know.” The ACC is mandating its football, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball teams report which players are available prior to each conference game. Football teams are required to submit an initial report two days before the game, an updated report one day before the game and a game day report no later than two hours before the game starts. Teams “must act in good faith to comply with this policy,” according to the conference. The conference mandates teams announce which players meet certain designations. -Available: Available to play -Probable: likely to play or greater than 50 percent chance to play -Questionable: uncertain to play or less than 50 percent chance to play -Out: will not play or 0 percent chance to play On game day reports, players can be listed as available, “game time decision” or out. Here is the Hurricanes’ initial availability report before facing Virginia Tech on Saturday: OUT -DB Keionte Scott -DE Hayden Lowe -TE Brock Schott -TE Jack Nickel -LB Malik Bryant -WR Tony Johnson -LB Kellen Wiley Jr. QUESTIONABLE -DT David Blay Jr. PROBABLE -DB OJ Frederique Jr.
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