Antonio Clary had last played in what turned into the 2022 season finale, the 37-7 Virginia loss to Pitt on Nov. 12, a day before the mass shooting that killed three teammates – Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry – and wounded another, Mike Hollins, and a fifth UVA student.
Clary missed the entire 2023 season with an ankle injury, before deciding to return for a sixth season to try to finish his college career on the field.
“You know, I was talking to my guys, just being out there, not being out there in two years, I took a moment before the game just to sit there and really just reflect and be grateful for this opportunity, because you only get so many of them. So, I was just blessed and grateful,” said Clary, who had eight tackles in his first game back, tying teammate Jonas Sanker for team honors.
UVA coach Tony Elliott described Clary as a difference-maker on the UVA defensive unit.
“He brings the toughness. He’s a highly intelligent football player, you know, he can get his teammates lined up. He communicates well. When he comes downhill, you know, he’s trying to run through you. And then he gives us, you know, some great value on special teams. So, overall leadership, you know, physicality, toughness and experience is what he gives us,” Elliott said.
Solid special-teams play
Virginia lost three games by one score last year in which the special-teams units were responsible for giving the opponent what amounted to the game-winning points.
Aside from a missed chip-shot field goal, the special teams didn’t give anything away in UVA’s 34-13 win over Richmond in the 2024 season opener on Saturday night.
“I was pleased with with the improvements from a special team standpoint, and we got to continue to improve there,” Elliott said. “Thought we protected the punter well, and I thought Sparky (punter Daniel Sparks) hit the ball pretty good. And, you know, I thought we did a better job with our placement with the ball on kickoffs. You know, Sparky mis-hit a couple, but, you know, he’s still kind of evolving and growing into that role. So, to answer that question, you know, I like where we started, but still, it’s going to take a little bit more sample size for us to really know exactly what we got.”
Diving into the stats:
- Sparks averaged 54.5 yards on his two punts, with neither returned.
- Sparks, on kickoffs, averaged 69.3 yards per kick, with five touchbacks on his seven kickoffs, and an average starting field position at the 25.1 yard line.
- Xavier Brown averaged 29.0 yards on two kick returns, with a 37-yard return helping set up a short field coming back from the two-hour weather delay, leading to a UVA touchdown that pushed the Cavaliers’ lead to 27-7.
- Will Bettridge was 2-for-3 on field-goal tries, good from 21 and 33, missing badly on a line-drive shank from 36 as the first half expired.
No sacks, but D line did its job
The Richmond offensive game plan was built around getting rid of the ball fast – 14 of Kyle Wickersham’s 19 pass attempts were inside of nine yards from the line of scrimmage.
That’s a key reason why Virginia didn’t record a sack, but the D line still was able to get pressure on Wickersham on seven of his pass dropbacks, and Wickersham had mid numbers through the air – 13-for-22, 110 yards.
The front also did a good job keeping the Spiders in check on the ground – limiting Richmond to 147 yards, 54 of which came in garbage time in the fourth quarter.
“I wanted them to, you know, statistically, you know, have a couple sacks. But that quarterback’s big and strong, man, and they weren’t going to hold it long, they were going to get the ball out, they weren’t going to sit back and let you get after him. But, you know, I thought they were around him a lot. I thought they got some hits on them,” Elliott said.
What was up with Chris Tyree?
Nine Virginia receivers recorded at least one catch, but Chris Tyree, the highly-touted grad transfer from Notre Dame, wasn’t among them.
Tyree was targeted three times, all on screens, two behind the line of scrimmage, and he was charged with dropped passes on all three.
“He’s gonna learn and grow, you know, from tonight, and get better. I know he’s a competitor,” Elliott said.
You have to hope so. Tyree was expected to be the guy to account for a chunk of the production that Malik Washington (110 catches, 1,426 yards in 2023) accounted for a season ago.
Offensive coordinator Des Kitchings had Tyree on the field for 25 snaps, including 14 pass snaps, 12 of those in the slot.
Washington averaged 33.9 slot snaps per game in 2023.
On Saturday, Kitchings tried tight ends Tyler Neville, Dakota Twitty and Sackett Wood in the slot along with wideouts Tyree and Suderian Harrison.
The group combined for five catches on nine targets for 42 yards.
This is a place where the play obviously needs to improve.
O line grades out well
The offensive line, returning all five starters, cleared the way for 229 sack-adjusted rushing yards, and the two sacks of QB Anthony Colandrea weren’t counted against the line in the final grades.
“I thought that we were able to establish, you know, the line of scrimmage, from a run game standpoint. I thought the protection was pretty solid. You know, there was a couple sacks on the stat sheet, but one of those was Colandrea running around, and the other one, you know, trying to get rid of the ball, kind of got behind one of his offensive line and ran into the back of him. So, great start for those guys,” Elliott said.
Stat of the night: the line limited Richmond to a grand total of three QB pressures.
Video: UVA Football Notebook
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