Hokie quarterback Grant Noel tore knee cartilage -- the lateral meniscus -- while weight training and will likely have surgery to repair it. The injury will sideline Noel for a few weeks, but he is expected to be ready when fall practice opens on August 11th.

Noel reportedly sprained the knee during spring practice, but he did not miss any time due to the injury. He aggravated it during weight training and reported to Tech trainer Mike Goforth, who diagnosed the injury. Noel will have an MRI today to confirm the need for surgery, and if surgery is necessary, will have it done early next week.

Noel will be on crutches for one or two days and will wear a custom computerized knee brace while he rehabs. Goforth told BeamerBall.com that the brace "... has his rehab programmed into the brace, enabling us to track what he does in his time away from the training room," but did not elaborate on what that meant.

Noel is not expected to miss any practice time and should be able to commence throwing drills within just a few days of surgery.

On July 16th, Louisiana State University announced that the deal with Virginia Tech for a home-and-home football series had been finalized. The deal will see LSU visit Tech on August 31, 2002, and the Hokies will pay a return visit to LSU on September 4th, 2004.

Both games will be shown either on ESPN or ESPN2, according to Dan Radakovich, LSU senior associate athletic director. ESPN helped put together the LSU-Virginia Tech series.

The 2002 season is the first year in which teams are allowed to schedule twelve games. The NCAA permits a twelfth regular-season game in years with fourteen weekends between the start of the season (Labor Day Weekend) and the final weekend in November (2002, 2003, and 2008 will be twelve-game regular seasons in this decade).

The Hokies will play seven home games in 2002, as will LSU. The 2004 season will be one of Virginia Tech's toughest road schedules since the early 90's, as it will have Virginia Tech traveling to Boston College, Miami, Syracuse, North Carolina, and LSU.

Virginia Tech has not announced the series yet. It is Virginia Tech policy not to announce a football series until the contracts have been signed and returned, whereas other athletic departments sometimes announce them sooner. This policy resulted in an 11-day lag between N.C. State's recent announcement of a 2005/2006 series with Tech, and Tech's announcement of the same series.

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