Virginia Football Injury Report: Multiple Starters Suffer Injuries in Camp

Matt Newton | Aug 5, 2024

Virginia starting left tackle McKale Boley was one of three expected starters who suffered injuries during the first week of UVA football fall camp. / Virginia Athletics

Virginia did not make it though its first week of fall camp practices unscathed. The beginning of Monday's practice was open to the media and three players expected to start for UVA this season were observed not participating in the practice, sidelined with a variety of injuries. Starting left tackle McKale Boley had a boot on his left foot, Notre Dame transfer wide receiver Chris Tyree had a boot on his right foot, and junior wide receiver JR Wilson also missed practice and was wearing a brace.

Tony Elliott did not provide any specific details about the nature or severity of any of those player's injuries, but did express some optimism that none of their injuries will be long-term, dependent upon the results of testing those players got done on Monday.

"Yeah, hopefully they're minor. Obviously, over the weekend, hard to get them in to get CTs, MRIs, all that kind of stuff done," Elliott said of the injured Cavaliers. "Today, they got a lot of their imaging done just to check on some things, make sure that it's nothing too serious. So we've got a couple of guys that we're hopeful won't be too long, but we won't know until tomorrow or Wednesday when we get the tests back. But I'm encouraged, I'm hopeful that they won't be long-term."

Elliott noted that he doesn't expect Boley to be out of practice for more than a week, which would be very significant for an offensive line unit that needs to play together and continue to develop chemistry as much as possible.

Virginia arrived at fall camp already with some semi-significant injury troubles. Tony Elliott confirmed on the first day of fall camp that four Cavaliers are expected to miss the entire 2024 season with injuries: junior linebacker Stevie Bracey (knee), sophomore defensive end Mekhi Buchanan (hip), junior offensive lineman Noah Hartsoe (knee), and freshman wide receiver Triston Ward (hip). Bracey and Buchanan are particularly damaging losses, as both players were expected to fill key roles on Virginia's two-deep defensive depth chart.

Expected starting linebacker James Jackson is not a full participant in practice to start fall camp after undergoing a minor knee scope this summer, but Elliott says Jackson should be back in practice by "sometime next week." Elliott also noted defensive tackle Andrew Williams and defensive end Joe Holland are also out with injuries, but should be back this season, while UCF transfer offensive lineman Drake Metcalf, who suffered an Achilles injury in the spring, could return by November or even October.

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