When Virginia Tech takes the field Monday against Stanford in the Orange Bowl, they’ll do so without two players for the first fifteen minutes of the contest.
According to Heather Dinich of ESPN.com‘s ACC blog, running back David Wilson and safety Antone Exum have been suspended for the first quarter of the Orange Bowl after the pair miss the 1 a.m. curfew New Year’s Eve. Head coach Frank Beamer said the tardiness will also cost the players a little bit of cash as well.
“We’re going to keep them out of the first quarter of the ball game, take some of their travel money, and that will be the end of that,” Beamer said. “The good thing is they were in their hotel, the bad thing is they were out of their room. They knew they needed to be in there.”
“It’s something you’re bothering with. This is our Thursday practice, and that’s the first thing you’re facing here in the morning. It’s a distraction. We’ve got another 65 or however many we’re dressing out that was in their room. … I’m not going to make more of that than it is.”
Wilson is second among Hokie backs with 616 yards rushing. Exum, a redshirt freshman, is listed as the backup on Tech’s two-deep depth chart and has played in all 13 games.