When Jon Tenuta arrived as Virginia’s defensive coordinator in Charlottesville last season, much of the focus landed on the linebackers as key components of his system. Tenuta, after all, is also the position coach for the unit. The linebackers are expected to be communicators on the field with calls and shuffle around the formation in different alignments.

In a nutshell, the linebackers have a lot of responsibility with Tenuta’s defense.

Henry Coley and Daquan Romero emerged as the two players at the forefront in 2013. The duo led the team in tackles as Coley set the pace with 91 tackles. Romero, playing through a shoulder injury that required offseason surgery, added 89 stops as well. Those statistics placed the duo in the top 15 of the ACC’s top tacklers. Coley ranked 12th in stops, while Romero was 13th.

Coley also recorded 10 tackles for loss, which placed him among the best linebackers in the conference. Only four other ACC linebackers had more as underclassmen last season: Clemson’s Stephone Anthony (15.0), UNC’s Norkeithus Otis (14.0), Syracuse’s Cameron Lynch (12.0), and Duke’s Kelby Brown (11.0). All four played at least 13 games, while Coley appeared in just 12.

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