Virginia College Football Preview, Best Players, Top Transfers, Season Prediction, Win Total 2024

Virginia Cavaliers Preview 2024

It’s been a really, really rough run for Virginia football.

Bronco Mendenhall needed a little bit to get up to speed, and then came a decent run with three bowl appearances and a fun style of play.

He left, in came Tony Elliott, and … tragedy.

The nightmare he and the entire Virginia community had to deal with in 2022 - the team cut short its season after three players were killed in a shooting - understandably took the focus off a sport. But now there’s a whole lot of hope for something positive on the field after two straight three-win seasons.

The Cavaliers are loaded with returning veterans and received plenty of talent from the transfer portal. Last year might have been ugly in a lot of ways, but four of the nine losses were by three points or fewer and the loss at Louisville was by seven.

How do you win those games? The little things.

From blocked punts, to awful special teams overall, to way too many interceptions, to not being able to keep the chains moving consistently enough, there’s a ton to fix.

Yeah, 3-9 is 3-9 in an “you are what your record says it is” sort of way, but Virginia was just that close in so many games, even though overall it was so mediocre-to-bad.

The program that is way overdue for a break might just get it this year if …

NOTE: The previews were published early this summer. We tried to catch the changes, but if we missed anything, please let us know at @ColFootballNews and we'll fix it right away.

Virginia Preview 2024: Offense

- The offensive line has to be better. There were a whole slew of problems on last year’s team, but the inability to get the ground game moving and failure to to keep defenses out of the backfield was near the top of the list. It’s not like the Cavaliers have a who’s who of NFL prospects at the skill spots - they need time to work.

Getting transfer Drake Metcalf from UCF at center helps, but the four starters returning have to all be better. There’s depth to make the situation better, Brian Stevens is a strong blocker at either guard or center, and …

- The production has to be there from the backs. Leading rusher Perris Jones is done, but he only came up with 393 yards and two scores. Seven touchdown rusher Mike Hollins is done, too, but Kobe Pace is a decent veteran returning after handling a bulk of the workload.

- The quarterback situation should be better if everyone can stay healthy. Anthony Colandrea and Tony Muskett had their moments, and they also threw lots and lots of interceptions. Muskett got banged up with shoulder and ankle problems, but Colandrea is the likely starter after getting hot over the last few games.

The receiving corps needs the new parts to be great after losing 110-catch Malik Washington.

Malachi Fields is a dangerous producer on the outside, and the transfer combination of Chris Tyree (Notre Dame), Andre Greene (North Carolina), and Trell Harris (Kent State) - to go along with tight ends Tyler Neville (Harvard) and Sage Ennis (Clemson) - should be good if the quarterbacks have time to work.

Virginia Preview 2024: Defense

- You know that part before about how the offensive line was the biggest thing that needed to be fixed? The lack of a steady pass rush is right up there.

The Cavaliers managed just 11 sacks with five coming in the first four games. Like the offensive line, most of the defensive front returns - Kam Butler led the way with 3.5 sacks - but for all of the size, experience, and promising depth, the production has to follow.

- The new corners have to hold up. Eastern Michigan transfer Kempton Shine and Kendren Smith from Penn are veteran playmakers who need to hope the pass rush helps the cause. The safeties are set with leading tackler Jonas Sanker back after making 107 stops along with Antonio Clary coming off an ankle injury.

- The line has to get in the backfield in the 4-2-5, and that’s because the linebackers are busy doing everything else. James Jackson and Kam Robinson combined for 151 tackles, and they’re not alone. There’s just enough depth to come up with a few options.

Virginia Key To The Season

Pass protection. It has to be there.
Yeah, it really does come down to getting whole lot more from the Virginia offensive front.

It allowed 43 sacks on the season and eight tackles for loss per game, but this is hardly new. 2015 was the last time the Cavalier offensive front allowed fewer than two sacks per game, and the 3.58 an outing allowed last season was a huge problem.

Virginia Key Player

DE Ben Smiley, Sr.
It’s his sixth year in the program but he just started to get going last year. He has just 38 career tackles with 3.5 sacks and five tackles for loss, but he has the 6-4, 270-pound size and the experience to take his game up a few notches as an almost certain starter at one end. ANYTHING he can do to get into the backfield will make a huge difference.

Virginia Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss

Top Transfer In: WR Chris Tyree, Sr.
Really, really fast, he was a fantastic kick returner who caught 82 passes with seven scores in four years at Notre Dame. Able to work as a running back or a receiver, he’ll figure out a role somewhere in the slot and could be a big volume catcher in place of Malik Washington.

Top Transfer Out: S/LB Langston Long, Sr.
A decent defensive back who made 44 tackles as a sophomore, he only played in two games last year and made eight tackles as a linebacker. Virginia didn’t lose much overall, but Long had upside as a possible all-around factor who’ll now be in the starting mix at USF.

Virginia Key Game

at Wake Forest, Sept. 7
If Virginia wants to show this is really is a new season with a decent team that can do some damage in the ACC, it needs to beat Wake Forest for the first time since 2007.

It’ll have to sneak a road win in somewhere, and with a potential bear of a slate over the second half of the season it needs to start the ACC campaign with something special. Lose, and it’ll take a few big upsets to pull off a bowl run.

Virginia 10 Best Players

1. Jonas Sanker, S Sr.
2. Malachi Fields, WR Jr.
3. James Jackson, LB Sr.
4. Brian Stevens, OG Sr.
5. Kam Robinson, LB Soph.
6. Chris Tyree, WR Sr.
7. Anthony Colandrea, QB Soph.
8. Will Bettridge, PK Jr.
9. Kendren Smith, CB Sr.
10. Daniel Sparks, P Sr.

Virginia 2023 Fun Stats

- Sacks: Opponents 43 for 269 yards, Virginia 11 for 64 yards

- 4th Quarter Scoring: Opponents 114, Virginia 54

- Touchdowns Scored: Opponents 51, Virginia 32

Virginia 2024 Season Prediction, Win Total, What Will Happen

Again from the opening, Virginia wasn’t very good and yet it was still a play here and there away from being closer to 7-5 than the final 3-9 record.

The problem is the lack of true layups on the slate.

Missing Florida State, Miami, and NC State matter, but unless there’s a big upset, pretty much forget about wins at Clemson or Notre Dame. And there’s part of the problem - Notre Dame is a conference-not-an-ACC-sort-of-an-ACC game.

But maybe, just maybe, that combination of experience, time logged in, and a little bit of puck luck could mean a win over a Boston College here, maybe a home victory over a North Carolina there, and winning in the regular season finale against SMU is a must.

Let’s go with the idea that Virginia really will be a little better, but without diving in too deep that it’ll be a winning season.

Set The Virginia Win Total At …5.5

Likely Wins: Richmond

50/50 Games: Boston College, at Coastal Carolina, Louisville, at North Carolina, at Pitt, SMU, at Wake Forest, at Virginia Tech

Likely Losses: at Clemson, Maryland, at Notre Dame

2024 Virginia Football Schedule

Aug 31 Richmond
Sept 7 at Wake Forest
Sept 14 Maryland
Sept 21 at Coastal Carolina
Sept 28 OPEN DATE
Oct 5 Boston College
Oct 12 Louisville
Oct 19 at Clemson
Oct 26 North Carolina
Nov 2 OPEN DATE
Nov 9 at Pitt
Nov 16 at Notre Dame
Nov 23 SMU
Nov 30 at Virginia Tech
Missing: Cal, Duke, Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami, NC State, Stanford, Syracuse