After Virginia Tech football faces VMI in its season opener, it remains in Blacksburg to host Old Dominion in a potential trap game Sept. 12. The Hokies hold a 4-3 record over Old Dominion, though last year’s matchup marked a critical point in the last half-decade — or perhaps further — of Virginia Tech football.

The Hokies fell behind the 8-ball quickly and never recovered, letting the Monarchs run and throw amok to a 28-0 halftime lead. Virginia Tech trailed by as many as 31 and thinned the margin to 19 with as many points in the fourth quarter, losing 45-26. The next day, the Hokies fired head coach Brent Pry. Just under tow months later, Virginia Tech hired new head whistle James Franklin from Penn State.

The truth, however, is that both teams look radically different. The Hokies will start a new signal-caller — almost certainly redshirt sophomore Ethan Grunkemeyer, who followed Franklin from Penn State — though they return several experienced options at wideout and running back in senior WR Ayden Greene, redshirt senior RB Marcellous Hawkins and redshirt freshman RB Jeffrey Overton Jr.

Old Dominion, however, returns a scant total from its 2025 roster. Gone is ODU’s starting quarterback in 2025, Colton Joseph, who was whisked away to the Big Ten to join the Wisconsin Badgers for this upcoming season. Joseph threw for 2,624 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The dual-threat signal-caller, who was named the Sun Belt offensive Player of the Year, also rushed for 1,007 rushing yards on 158 carries, scoring 13 times on the ground.

In his stead, Old Dominion does not yet have a definitive answer. Sophomore Quinn Henicle returns after logging 184 passing yards on a 17-for-40 rate in 2025. He served more as a pure runner, logging 209 rushing yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns on 44 carries.

Old Dominion also lost its top running back: Trequan Jones. The 5-foot-9 tailback raced off for 792 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns on 105 totes. He initially committed to Maryland — the school the Hokies will play in Week 3 (Sept. 19) in their first road game of the season — on Jan. 4, but pulled his commitment 11 days later, per 247Sports. On Jan. 26, Jones committed to Tulsa.

Running back Devin Roche is the lone returner from last year’s starting lineup; the then-redshirt sophomore tabbed 630 rushing yards and four scores for 5.7 yards a carry. Roche rolled up yard totals of 145 and 137 agaisnt Troy and Georgia State, respectively.

Like quarterback and running back, the wide receiver room saw a plethora of turnover. Leading receiver Tre’ Brown III (762 receiving yards, four receiving touchdowns on 38 receptions) left for LSU, while Ja’Cory Thomas went to Vanderbilt and Na’eem Abdul-Rahim Gladding ventured to Maryland, where he’ll play the Hokies a week after Old Dominion does.

It’s a telling note that Old Dominion’s top returning receiving production comes from wideout Sidney Mbanasor, who logged 68 receiving yards on six catches. Getting to Mbanasor means passing four wideouts who all left, plus a running back and tight end who are no longer with the program. Those six players — Brown III, Thomas, Abdul-Rahim Gladding, running back Ketravion Hargrove and tight end Dawson Johnson — accounted for a whopping 2,523 receiving yards out of ODU’s total of 2,813.

As aforementioned, Old Dominion returns only one of its 11 offensive starters, resulting in an aura of mystique but also trepidation. The Monarchs will not feature a signal-caller with extended experience, but neither will the Hokies. Grunkemeyer has only started seven games in his college career (all from last season), while UNC transfer Bryce Baker, redshirt freshman returnee Kelden Ryan and true freshman Troy Huhn all have never seen game action.

VirginiaTech can, and should, take care of business, but the pitfall of facing Old Dominion has been a historical road block. In then-head coach Brent Pry’s first year at the helm of the Hokies, Virginia Tech lost 20-17 to the Monarchs, conceding 10 fourth-quarter points to fall in Norfolk.

This time around, Virginia Tech should have enough to outlast the Monarchs, though things could get chippy.

Virginia Tech’s game against Old Dominion is set to be on Saturday, September 12, at noon ET. The game is currently set to be shown on The CW.

Prediction: Virginia Tech 35, Old Dominion 21

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Virginia Union University (VUU) hosted a Juneteenth celebration with a free outdoor concert to uplift and bring the community together Saturday afternoon.

On Saturday, June 20 from 12 to 3 p.m., VUU’s Hezekiah Walker Center for Gospel Music hosted its Juneteenth Concert: Honoring Freedom, Celebrating Faith, Inspiring Unity on the campus’s Barco-Stevens Lawn.

“This free outdoor concert is designed to uplift, reflect, and bring our community together in the spirit of liberation and joy,” a statement posted.

The free outdoor concert’s headliner was Pastor Shirley Caesar, who has helped define gospel music and inspire generations over her 70-year career. The lineup also included Patrick Riddick & D’Vyne Worship, Kenneth Taylor & FWC Experience and the Virginia Union University Gospel Choir.

Additionally, leadership from VUU and the Hezekiah Walker Center for Gospel Music spoke at the event.

Virginia has a budget deal.

It’s late in the sense that the expectation had been the General Assembly would work this out before it adjourned back in March. However, it comes 12 days before the state starts a new budget year, so lawmakers will apparently not be taking things to the brink. The legislature reconvenes Monday to take up the spending plan that House and Senate negotiators released Friday night.

The exact details (which will be voluminous) haven’t been posted on the General Assembly’s website yet. We do, however, have a 68-page summary that outlines what’s in the deal. The headliner: a compromise on data center taxation that keeps the controversial tax incentives in place but creates a new tax on the electricity they use.

The other highlights — as seen from the standpoint of Southwest and Southside — include funding to start construction of an inland port in Washington County and expand the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, as well as language authorizing a formal partnership between George Mason University and Averett University. One surprise: $100,000 to fund a statue in Roanoke of the late judge and lawmaker Onzlee Ware.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger and legislative leaders had earlier reached an agreement on how to legalize retail sales of cannabis. That’s now included in the budget deal, with sales starting July 1, 2027. See the earlier story by Cardinal’s Richmond-based reporter Elizabeth Beyer for details.

Here’s an overview of what we know — with the caveat that more details will be forthcoming when the actual budget language is available.

1. Data center taxation compromise

The main reason that the budget took so long is that Senate Finance Chair Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, spent weeks insisting that the state should eliminate its tax breaks for data centers eight years early. That brought pushback from both the governor and House leaders, who worried that would send a signal to other business sectors that the state can’t be trusted.

This deal keeps the tax breaks for data centers intact (they’re set to expire in 2035). Instead, it creates a tax on the electricity that data centers consume. When that was floated earlier in the week, business groups pushed back against it. The version in the budget deal calls for the revenue collected through that tax to be capped at $600 million a year — and says that any monies collected over that be refunded on a pro-rated basis at the end of the fiscal year. It was unclear what the reaction to this will be, but collecting $600 million a year seems a significant climb-down compared to those who wanted to do away with the tax exemption that forgoes $1.9 billion per year in exchange for $9.1 billion in gross domestic product from data centers.

The summary also says there will be at least four items in the budget that will set in motion new regulations. Among them are references to “data center noise regulation language” and “data center cooling water scarcity regulations.”

2. Inland port in Washington County

An “inland port” does not involve water or ships. Instead, it’s the industry term for a freight hub that collects cargo headed to or from a water port. Virginia already has an inland port near Front Royal that facilitates rail shipments to and from Hampton Roads; it’s also spurred thousands of warehouse and trucking jobs in the northern Shenandoah Valley.

Legislators in Southwest Virginia — led by state Sen. Todd Pillion, R-Washington County — have been pushing for several years to create a similar inland port in Southwest Virginia, specifically at the Oak Park Center for Business and Industry in Washington County.

This deal includes $20 million to get construction started. (Pillion is one of the budget negotiators so was in a position to make sure this money was included in the budget.)

3. Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and other healthcare workforce funding

The school in Roanoke is slated to get $13 million for expansion as part of a larger $74.4 million plan to expand the healthcare workforce.

Nursing programs at James Madison University, Radford University and the University of Mary Washington will get a total of $7.6 million.

The budget deal also includes $6 million for the Virginia Tech Patient Research Center and $500,000 for workforce development programs in the Roanoke Valley and Alleghany Highlands in healthcare and biomedical sciences fields.

4. Interstate 81

The budget directs the secretary of transportation to “evaluate options to Accelerate I-81 Projects; including tolling options as long as there are 2 toll-free lanes in each direction.” That seems to foreshadow a third lane that might have tolls. Del. Terry Austin, R-Botetourt County and a budget negotiator, said Secretary of Transportation Nick Donahue wanted that provision.

5. Virginia Coalfields Expressway

The slow-moving road project that’s slated to run through Buchanan County and Dickenson County gets $7 million for improvements to U.S. 460 in Buchanan County.

6. New College Institute

The budget changes the name of the Martinsville-based center from the New College Institute to the West Piedmont Higher Education Center and includes funding in the second year of the two-year budget. When then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin introduced his budget back in December, he had zeroed out that second-year funding.

7. George Mason University/Averett University

Del. David Reid, D-Loudoun County, has pushed for a formal partnership between the public school in Northern Virginia and the private school in Danville as a way to expand GMU’s reach. The budget deal includes the language to make that happen. It’s unclear what that will mean in practice, but the budget language authorizes George Mason to work with Averett on both undergraduate and graduate programs as well as other workforce-related issues. There’s no money attached, but the language lists multiple groups that would be allowed to help fund this work, including the GO Virginia economic development program, the Tobacco Commission, the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Danville Regional Foundation and other nonprofits.

“I’m pleased GMU will now have official authorization to move forward in what is probably the most dynamic economic area of the Commonwealth,” Reid said in a text message.

8. Onzlee Ware statue in Roanoke

An unexpected item was $100,000 for a “Roanoke commemoration.” Legislators said this was for a statue to the late Onzlee Ware, the first Black state legislator west of the Blue Ridge and later a judge.

House Appropriations Chair Luke Torian, D-Prince William County, was cited as the proponent of this measure. “Onzlee was a bit of a mentor to Torian,” said Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.

9. Local referendums on sales tax increases for schools

At present, nine localities are authorized to hold referendums to increase the local sales tax, with the proceeds going to schools. There’s been a push to expand that power statewide. In this year’s General Assembly session, bills related to these local referendums were set aside with the expectation that they’d simply be written into the budget. Now they are, with the sales tax increase capped at 1%.

10. State funding formula

A panel will be appointed to study whether and how to change the state’s school funding formula; $1.3 million is set aside for this.

11. New or renovated college buildings

There’s money (unclear how much) to renovate Derring Hall at Virginia Tech and Darden Hall at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise.

12. Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

The Center for Advanced Manufacturing at the Danville institute is slated to get money for expansion, although it was unclear how much.

13. Housing

The lack of housing — and the high cost of what is available — has been the subject of legislative attention. Among the initiatives: This budget deal authorizes a state loan for Newport News to develop housing around the shipyard as well as other housing construction initiatives in Fairfax County and Prince William County.

14. Richmond Coliseum

The budget deal includes $15 million to help Richmond demolish the Richmond Coliseum, which has been deemed to be obsolete.

15. Tourism

Included in tourism funding is $100,000 for the annual Blue Highway Fest in Wise County. We’ve previously written about that award-winning music festival. Another tourism-related funding item is $305,000 for Breaks Interstate Park, the Virginia side of which is in Dickenson County.

You can read the full summary below. We’ll take a deeper look at the budget deal once we can see the actual language.

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