Virginia Tech safety Mose Phillips ejected for targeting vs. Syracuse

Virginia Tech safety Mose Phillips III was ejected from Thursday night’s game against Syracuse for targeting. The foul occurred in the second quarter of the matchup.

Phillips went to lay a hit on Orange wide receiver Umari Hatcher when he appeared to lower his head on the play. Officials reviewed it during the commercial break and ruled it was, in fact, targeting. As a result, Phillips will miss the rest of the game. Hatcher also headed to the injury tent afterward.

Phillips is in the midst of his freshman year with Virginia Tech and has been a key player on defense. He entered Thursdays’ game as one of four Hokies with 15 tackles through seven games.

Phillips is a former three-star recruit out of Cane Ridge (TN) High School. He was the No. 37-ranked player in the state of Tennessee from the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Virginia Tech got out to a lightning fast start against Syracuse in a Thursday night prime time matchup. The Hokies started the game with 23 straight points before the Orange got on the board with a field goal. Virginia Tech wound up scoring one more time on the ensuing drive to take a 30-3 lead into the locker room.

The Hokies started the year 1-4, but have started to find a groove through ACC play. They entered Thursday’s game 2-1 over their last two games and averaging 28.3 points per game in that span. The only loss in that span came to No. 5 Florida State, which cruised to a 39-17 victory.

As for what’s changed, Brent Pry said it’s been the ability to generate pressure on defense, and he made sure to shout out his coaching staff.

“I think also the investment we made in the offseason to be better there,” Pry said, via HokieSports.com. “It’s just a culmination of a lot of hard work from the defensive line. I think also from Coach J.C. Price and Coach Chris Marve and then on top of it, we brought in a martial arts guy multiple times. We’ve studied other teams that are doing a nice job, pressuring the quarterback to make sure that we’re doing what we can. And I think the investment’s paying off. It’s got to continue to down this back half of the season. We’ve got to be able to pressure quarterbacks.”