Virginia football has released its roster for the 2024 season opener against Richmond on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Scott Stadium. Check out UVA’s full roster for the Richmond game below:
Findings
- As previously announced, Anthony Colandrea will start at quarterback against Richmond. This will be the first time that sophomore Colandrea will line up in front of a presumably healthy Tony Muskett.
- The running back lineup looks like this: Kobe Pace, Jack Griese, then Xavier Brown, which was somewhat expected since Brown missed a large portion of fall training camp due to a shoulder injury.
- Junior wide receiver Eli Wood is on the roster to replace Malachi Fields. With JR Wilson still out, the other starters are Kent State’s Chris Tyree (with Suderian Harrison as backup) and Trell Harris (with UNC transfer Andre Greene Jr. as backup).
- There are no surprises on the offensive line, as the five listed starters are in the same spots they held in the final five games of the 2023 season.
- Tyler Neville, who transferred from Harvard, is the top tight end in the rankings, but there is an “OR” between him and Sage Ennis, who transferred from Clemson. Sackett Wood is the third tight end at the position.
- On defense, sophomore Jason Hammond won a tough battle with Mike Diatta for the starting defensive tackle position.
- Ben Smiley is not listed in the rankings. Tony Elliott noted that Smiley was “battered” and missed a lot of fall camp.
- True freshman Billy Koudelka is on the Week 1 lineup as the Bandits’ defensive end, replacing Chico Bennett. Koudelka is one of four rookies named to the Week 1 lineup, along with center Grant Ellinger, safety Ethan Minter and placekicker Max Prozny.
- Jonas Sanker and Antonio Clary are the starting safeties as expected and there are a lot of ORs in the secondary as the battle for the cornerback positions between Kempton Shine, Kendren Smith, Jam Jackson and Dre Walker seems to be as close as announced.
- At the versatile SPUR position, Corey Thomas, who transferred from Akron, is expected to be at the top, but an OP is listed at that spot as former Clemson transfer Malcolm Greene is also competing for that position.
- Daniel Sparks will handle punting, kickoff and holding duties for Virginia’s special teams.
- Chris Tyree, who transferred from Notre Dame, is listed as the starting punt and kickoff returner. Antonio Clary and Suderian Harrison are the backups on punt returns and Trell Harris and Ethan Davies are the backups on kickoff returns.
Virginia opens the 2024 football season on Saturday at 6 p.m. against Richmond at Scott Stadium. The game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
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