The 3-2-1: Richmond

1. McKale Boley set for an unexpected start in collegiate debut

When Virginia released its first depth chart of the season, one position stood out immediately. The Wahoos have the freshman set to start at left tackle just a few months after arriving on Grounds. Boley has worked his way into a position to become the first freshman to start at tackle for the Cavaliers since D’Brickishaw Ferguson did it in the Early 2000s. Ferguson of course went on to have a great career after being the No. 4 overall pick in the NFL Draft, a template for a career Boley can only aspire to at this point.

On Tuesday Tony Elliott explained that Boley is starting at least in part because fellow tackle Jonathan Leech is still working back from a hand injury. Still, UVa had other options, like potentially moving John Paul Flores over to left tackle where he played at Dartmouth and starting Noah Josey in his place at guard. Instead, the coaches have put faith in Boley to get the job done at left tackle on Saturday and potentially make his case for a starting role in the weeks to come.

Leech likely displaces Boley in the starting lineup when he returns but Elliott did mention on last week’s Coach’s Show that Boley could be a starter by year’s end. It turns out the 6-foot-4, 331-pound rookie is being called upon even earlier than his head coach had imagined.

2 Josh Ahern will miss the first half; enter James Jackson

Elliott also mentioned something that I, and most Cavalier fans, probably forgot about: Ahern picked up a targeting call in the second half of last season’s finale against Virginia Tech and was removed from the game. Because the foul came in the second half of the game, Ahern is required to sit out the first half of the following contest. And because UVa’s Fenway Bowl trip got canceled, UVa found out that Ahern can’t play on Saturday until the second half.

Enter Jackson, who is listed as a starter on this week’s depth chart at linebacker. Ahern could certainly slide into a starting role when the Hoos re-emerge from the locker room on Saturday, but Jackson has long-term starter potential.

Elliott highlighted Jackson’s athletic profile and ability to digest the new defense in this week’s presser, and has also said during camp that Jackson has the highest ceiling of all the linebackers fighting for a starting spot. The young linebacker fought through an injury early in camp, and ultimately seems to have ended up a bit behind Ahern, though close, in the race for the starting job.

Still, Jackson will have a great opportunity on Saturday to challenge Ahern for the starting role, and eventually take it over, later this year or in the years to come.

3. Perris Jones held off Mike Hollins for RB1

Elliott said after UVa’s first scrimmage a few weeks back that the former walk-on still had the edge to start at running back. And it seems from Tuesday’s depth chart that Jones held on to that spot and has won the job. Jones has a different skillset than other backs on the roster and is more of a natural pass catcher. He is also a bit more of a “home run” threat, demonstrated in his 75-yard touchdown run in the spring game.

Still, expect some rotation in the backfield on Saturday and beyond. Hollins is listed as the backup and Elliott said that he will take the field after Jones on Saturday, as the staff is still pushing him towards his high-ceiling potential. UVa’s head coach still believes that there is another level that Hollins can get to and it seems pretty clear at this point that he will be the starter if he gets there. With Cody Brown possibly not playing on Saturday as he works his way back from an injury, it will likely be Jones and Hollins taking the lion’s share of the carries, until perhaps Xavier Brown gets some work late in the game if the Cavaliers can get a big lead.

Jones and Hollins certainly have complementary skill sets, with Hollins more of a bruiser than Jones, and the hope is that the Hoos can find a way to get both of them involved this season, starting with this weekend’s game against the Spiders.

1. How many position battles are ongoing heading into the season?

Sometimes, the impression seems to be that teams use camp to figure out the depth chart and then it becomes set in stone as the games begin. That’s partially true, in that camp is a showcase and normally a pecking order comes out of it, but Virginia had some tight races for playing time at a bunch of different positions. A depth chart doesn’t show how wide the gap is between players like Jones and Hollins, for example. We also mentioned another potential battle at linebacker, if Jackson can challenge Ahern.

So what other positions may be up for grabs? On the offensive line, UVa has Derek Devine starting at guard while Josey looks to be the odd-man-out right now. But given how much rotation there was on the offensive line during camp, Josey may get his opportunity to take a spot soon enough.

The kicker and punter battles went on through camp, and could still be hanging in the balance as the games begin. Transfer Daniel Sparks is the punter as of now, while Brendan Farrell has the edge over Will Bettridge for the kicker role. Those jobs are very much based on in-game results, so we’ll see if those two starters keep their job, with the hope being that they perform well and keep getting opportunities.

On defense, UVa is going to rotate on the defensive line, so who starts an individual game might not matter much. The Bandit position went to Chico Bennett on the first depth chart, with Jack Camper backing him up. Mike Green, a potential key contributor, isn’t listed, so perhaps that’s an injury or perhaps not. Time will tell there. Jonas Sanker, who was hurt in the first part of fall camp, is listed as a starter over Antonio Clary, who was banged up in recent weeks. Does Clary unseat Sanker when he’s up to speed, or did the young Charlottesville native win the job outright?

2. How will the team (and staff) handle the “little things?”

Elliott brought this idea up a few times in Tuesday’s press conference. It’s his first game as a head coach, so in addition to keeping emotion and nerves in check he is in charge of the entire operation.

After years of coaching from the booth, he will need to watch from the sideline. He also has to manage a staff who are also coaching in their first game together. Most of UVa’s coaches will be on the sideline with Des Kitchings, Clint Sintim, and Chris Slade upstairs in the booth. How will the staff communicate, and will the operation from fall camp translate to success on gameday?

The same goes for the players, some of whom are playing their first game, others their first game at UVa, and all of them playing their first game with this coaching staff and these schemes. Will the calls go in correctly and be executed well? Will substitutions and other communications go well? These things are often forgotten about by fans when a season approaches, but they seem to be front and center for Elliott and his staff. Virginia ran through a bunch of gameday scenarios in Friday’s practice at Scott Stadium, and we’ll see on Saturday if any lessons learned there can be cleaned up when kickoff comes.