Virginia has been busy adding talent to the secondary this spring pulling in seven defensive backs in recent weeks to bolster the team’s most-vulnerable positions coming out of spring ball. One of those additions was fifth-year senior Christian Charles, who transfers to Virginia from Tennessee. The Gainesville, GA native played most of his defensive snaps at cornerback, but has the athleticism and flexibility to play at safety or in the nickel.

Charles played four seasons with Tennessee, but was able to retain his redshirt year in 2023, when he played the first two games, including one against Virginia, and then was injured and missed the remainder of the season. With the Volunteers, Charles saw action in 30 games, playing both on defense and special teams. Charles saw playing time as a true freshman and earned one start, finishing the season with eight total tackles, on TFL, one PBU and a punt block. Charles saw more playing time in his sophomore season, playing in 10 games with six starts at cornerback. He finished the season with 35 total tackles including 19 solo, and allowed just one reception in his snaps at cornerback. His biggest play of the year came on special teams, when he recovered a fumble on a key special teams play in Tennessee’s thrilling 52-49 win over Alabama.

Charles missed almost all of his junior year with the aforementioned injury, and didn’t record any statistics. Charles bounced back, however, with a solid fourth season in Knoxville last fall. Charles was a rotational player in Tennessee’s secondary, playing in 10 games with no starts. He finished the year with 28 tackles and a pair of TFL’s. He also played some snaps at safety, which speaks to his versatility. He played 26 snaps at safety against Florida, and finished that game with seven tackles, helping the Vols beat the rival Gators.

Obviously UVa was looking to take a bunch of defensive backs this spring and reboot the secondary heading into a pivotal season, and Charles fits what the staff was looking for. Charles is an experienced player who can play corner, nickel or safety, and has a history of creating big plays on special teams, which is another added bonus. Charles is not small by any means, at 6-foot-1, 200 pounds, but compared to some of the giant DB’s the Hoos have added in the spring portal window, Charles does seem on the smaller side. He’s certainly big enough to play outside corner, but perhaps with his athletic profile and experience at safety, Charles could be a good fit for UVa in the nickel or as an in-the-box safety. Competition will be fierce for all spots, so it’s tough to project where Charles could slot in, but the fact that he could play a few different positions is certainly a positive.

Charles completed his undergraduate years at Tennessee and comes to UVa as a graduate student. He has an opportunity to seek an additional degree, while also taking advantage of NIL opportunities. Tennessee has a very talented roster, and with UVa’s secondary in transition, he likely has a better chance to play at UVa than he does with the Volunteers. One last ride at Virginia makes sense, but surely he’ll have to earn whatever playing time he gets. If Charles can stay healthy and earn a large enough role, he could take a shot at a pro career, as arguably the biggest hurdle to raising his stock in Knoxville was a lack of consistent playing time, especially after missing most of 2023 with an injury which probably stifled his development a bit.

As we’ve said with all of these portal pickup recaps of secondary additions, it’s really tough to project who is going to play, and how much. It should be a wide-open competition, but there are a few things going in Charles’ favor. The first is versatility. A lot of the players UVa added are either safeties or cornerbacks and Charles has played a bit of both. He’s also an experienced player with four years of college football and a bunch of snaps under his belt, playing at a very high level against SEC competition. We’re not ready to pencil Charles in as a starter here, but he’s got a shot and should be a rotational player in some capacity at a minimum. And if nothing else, we know that Charles can help the Hoos on special teams, the critical third phase that has been costly for the Hoos at times under this coaching staff.