Brent Pry announces Nick Gallo will miss season with injury, remain captain
Virginia Tech senior tight end and captain Nick Gallo will be out for the season, head coach Brent Pry announced on Tuesday. Gallo has been dealing with a knee injury since fall camp and head season-ending knee surgery recently.
Gallo, who had been elected a captain and was expected to play a big role in the Hokies offense, will now leave a void in the passing and running games. He will, however, remain a captain and leader for the team, Pry said.
“Nick Gallo has had season-ending surgery. So unfortunate for Nick. Our hearts go out to him. Guy that had a strong conviction to come back and be a captain and a leader which he’s still going to have the ability to do that. And he will do that. He wants to do that. But as far as on the field, we won’t have Nick available for the season. But he’ll remain a captain. He’ll be very involved and I’m excited about that piece of it for him and for us,” Pry said.
In place of Gallo, redshirt freshman tight end Benji Gosnell has been forced to step up. He had one catch for 23 yards in a season opening 36-17 win over Old Dominion for Virginia Tech.
Pry isn’t calling plays on defense for Virginia Tech this year
Pry decided he was still going to call plays for Virginia Tech in 2022. As many first-time head coaches do, he learned the difficulty of doing so while attempting to maintain his HC duties. As he puts it, there are just another set of curveballs he has to learn to hit on a daily basis.
“I think being the defensive coordinator and the head coach,” Pry said at the 2023 ACC Football Kickoff. “As the DC for a bunch of years, you have a system, you have a thought process, and it just kind of rolls out and you know how to hit curveballs, you’ve hit them before.
“And when you’re doing that, that’s well and fine. But when you’re also the head coach and you’re hitting those curveballs [as well], I think I was probably not the best head coach I could be and not the best DC I could be.”
As Pry attempts to balance being a head coach better, he will be giving up defensive play-calling duties in 2023. Defensive coordinator Chris Marve will be taking over full-time after getting a game’s worth of experience last season.
Pry will still be involved defensively — it’s his bread and butter. But getting in huddles with special teams and even the offense is important to Pry, hoping to be the best head coach he can be for Virginia Tech.
“I’m excited moving forward, I’m excited for Chris Marve and the defensive staff, really a quality group, high football IQ, good experiences,” Pry said. “They understand what we need to be defensively, what it needs to look like, the things that are important to playing good defense.
“Just in that last ball game against Liberty, I really enjoyed being just a head coach, being mixed up with special teams, being on the horn with [offensive coordinator Tyler] Bowen and talking to the offensive huddle. That’s who I need to be.”