It’s been a busy preseason for Virginia Tech football players and 2024 award candidates. Last season, Baylor transfer quarterback Kyron Drones was named Rutgers’ full-time starter in Week 3 after Grant Wells suffered an injury the previous week at home against Purdue.

Once Drones settled in, the Hokies’ offense took off and he established himself as a dual-threat signal caller. He had a strong arm and combined that with his ability to break through multiple tackles when running the ball, making Virginia Tech a threat in the backfield with Bhayshul Tuten, who can be a very difficult duo to stop.

On Wednesday, Drones was added to another preseason watch list when he was named to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award watch list, and he is one of 13 ACC quarterbacks named. The award is given annually to the top senior or high school quarterback graduating with his class. Drones was previously on the Davey O’Brien Award watch list and the Maxwell Award watch list along with Tuten.

Last season for Virginia Tech, Drones threw for 2,084 yards and had a good touchdown-interception ratio of 17-3. The Texas native is expected to have a great season to increase his draft value.

The Hokies and defensive coordinator Chris Marve will face the signal-callers on the roster this fall: Boston College’s Thomas Castellanos, Stanford’s Ashton Daniels, Rutgers’ Athan Kaliakmanis, Georgia Tech’s Haynes King, Clemson’s Cade Klubnik and Miami’s Cam Ward.

It’s an impressive list of quarterbacks and the winner will be announced on Dec. 6 in Maryland, the night before the conference championship games that take place this weekend.