UVA Football Week 12 Injury Report: Antonio Clary Out for the Season

Matt Newton | Nov 12, 2024

Virginia Athletic

Virginia head coach Tony Elliott gave his weekly press conference on Tuesday afternoon and reported the unfortunate news that graduate safety Antonio Clary will undergo surgery on his knee and will be out for the season. Clary had partially torn his ACL earlier in the season and missed the last three games while he tried to rehab the knee in order to return to the playing field this season. That return occurred on Saturday night in Pittsburgh, but sadly, Clary went down with another injury after just two plays and was later seen on crutches on the sideline.

"That was a challenging situation for me because we knew that he [Antonio Clary] had a partial tear. And he wanted to try and play, which the doctors felt like and the medical staff felt like if he could rehab and get his knee to a position where the swelling was gone, we could give it a shot," Elliott said of Clary's injury, which initially occurred back on October 5th against Boston College. "And I've been around other guys that have played on partially torn ACLs. But [Clary] did what he felt was the right thing to do for the team, knowing that in the end he was going to have to get it fixed, he wanted to try and go... It was tough for me, too. I was kind of reluctant to do it, but once we felt like medically there wasn't much more that can be done or we knew we were going to have to fix it but he could have played if it stayed intact... but he'll be done for the year."

Clary had been Virginia's top defender through the first five games of the season, totaling 48 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, four passes defended, and an interception. For his career, Clary has played in 39 games, including 18 starts, and has recorded 174 total tackles, 82 solo stops, 5.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumble, eight passes defended, and two interceptions. Clary still technically has one year of eligibility remaining, but it remains to be seen if he'll elect to come back for what would be his seventh season at Virginia.

With Clary out for the rest of the season, there have been some ripple effects on UVA's week 12 depth chart for Saturday's game at Notre Dame. Corey Thomas Jr. will replace Clary as Virginia's starting strong safety and Kendren Smith will move into a starting spot as well, taking over for Thomas at the SPUR position. Smith is also still listed as the backup to Kempton Shine at left corner.

For some more positive news, Elliott reported that senior linebacker James Jackson, who has missed the last three weeks with a foot injury, is "back rolling in practice." Elliott says Jackson is still participating in a "limited capacity" and is not sure how much Jackson will play, but is "hopeful we'll get snaps out of him this weekend."

As Jackson has been out, Trey McDonald has started the last three games at linebacker alongside Kam Robinson, but McDonald will miss the first half of the Notre Dame game due to the targeting penalty called on him in the second half of the Pitt game.

Also at the linebacker spot, Robinson briefly exited the Pitt game with what Elliott described as "the bumps and bruises of playing the linebacker position." Elliott says Robinson's knee, which he previously injured and which required him to wear a brace for much of this season, is healthy and he is no longer wearing a brace.

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