Virginia Football Releases Depth Chart for Season Opener vs. Richmond

Matt Newton | Aug 29, 2024

Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports

Virginia football released its depth chart for the 2024 season opener against Richmond on Saturday at 6pm at Scott Stadium. See UVA's complete depth chart for the Richmond game below:

Virginia Football - Week 1 Depth Chart - Richmond / Virginia Athletics

Takeaways

• As previously announced, Anthony Colandrea will get the start at quarterback vs. Richmond, marking the first time that the sophomore Colandrea is starting over a presumably healthy Tony Muskett.
• The running back depth chart goes Kobe Pace, Jack Griese, then Xavier Brown, which is somewhat expected given that Brown missed a big chunk of time in fall camp with a shoulder injury.
• Junior wide receiver Eli Wood is on the depth chart as the backup to Malachi Fields. With JR Wilson still out, the other starters are Notre Dame transfer Chris Tyree (with Suderian Harrison as his backup) and Kent State transfer Trell Harris (with UNC transfer Andre Greene Jr. as his backup)
• There aren't any surprises on the offensive line, as the five listed starters are at the same spots that they occupied for the final five games of the 2023 season.
• Harvard transfer Tyler Neville is the top tight end listed on the depth chart, but there is an "OR" listed between him and Clemson transfer Sage Ennis. Sackett Wood is the third tight end listed at that position.
• Moving over to the defense, sophomore Jason Hammond won a competitive battle with Mike Diatta for the starting defensive tackle spot.
• Ben Smiley is not listed on the depth chart. Tony Elliott noted that Smiley got "dinged up" and missed a lot of fall camp.
• True freshman Billy Koudelka makes the week 1 depth chart as the backup to Chico Bennett at Bandit defensive end. Koudelka is one of four freshmen listed on the week 1 depth chart, joining center Grant Ellinger, safety Ethan Minter, and placekicker Max Prozny
• Jonas Sanker and Antonio Clary are the starting safeties as expected and there are quite a few ORs in the secondary as the battle for the corner positions between Kempton Shine, Kendren Smith, Jam Jackson, and Dre Walker seems to be as close as advertised.
• At the versatile SPUR position, Akron transfer Corey Thomas is expectedly at the top, but there is an OR listed at that spot with former Clemson transfer Malcolm Greene competing at that position as well.
• Daniel Sparks will handle punting, kickoff, and holding duties for the Virginia special teams unit.
• Notre Dame transfer Chris Tyree is listed as the starting returner for both punts and kickoffs. Antonio Clary and Suderian Harrison are the backups at punt return and Trell Harris and Ethan Davies are the backups at kickoff return.

Virginia opens the 2024 football season against Richmond on Saturday at 6pm at Scott Stadium. The game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.

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