Football teams always have varying injuries, nicks, and bruises to deal with during the preseason. Virginia is no different in that regard, but a post-scrimmage knee problem raised concerns for senior Chico Bennett Jr. on Saturday.
The Cavaliers had completed their work and circled to debrief the day. When that huddle broke, UVA coach Tony Elliott said Bennett felt something in his knee as he stood. The Hoos still need work from doctors to determine the severity.
“Still going through the process of trying to get all the information together to figure out exactly what it is,” Elliott said after Monday’s practice. “It was a freak deal. We were out of practice, finished with the scrimmage. Takes a knee and then pops up and his knee stiffened up so we’re still trying to go through the scans to figure out exactly what is so I don’t have timetable yet. … I’ve never seen anything like it to be honest with you and once I have more detail, I’ll be able to give you accurate information but right now it’s just waiting on a doctor to tell us what it is.”
Bennett has dealt with adversity before in his career. An injury ended his 2019 season early at Georgia Tech and an ACL tear at Virginia kept him out of the 2021 season.
The Cavaliers certainly hope to get better news this time around. Bennett posted 34 tackles, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 fumble recovery last fall. He has 65 tackles in his career.
Bennett also had 7 sacks to lead the defense while starting the final 9 games at the Bandit position, a hybrid defensive end-linebacker spot in the defense. He finished just 2.5 sacks behind ACC leader Yasir Abdullah, who had 9.5 in 2022 at Louisville.
Those 7 sacks were comparable to any Cavalier leader in recent years despite the 10-game schedule. Jordan Mack (2019), Chris Peace (2017, 2018), and Micah Kiser (2015) each had 7.5 sacks to lead the team in respective seasons. You have to go back to 2014 for a higher number when Max Valles tallied 9 sacks.
Bennett earned a spot on the All-ACC Honorable Mention list and two ACC Defensive Lineman Of The Week awards.
Elliott said it creates some anxiousness for the player while everyone waits for results, but that football always requires the next in line to be ready to go.
“For me in relation to the player it is,” Elliott said. “A guy like Chico, he’s worked so hard to get to this point. He’s coming off the shoulder and being out and worked really hard. Now you’re in the situation where you’re trying to get some clarity and you don’t quite have it yet. So I feel it mostly for the player.”
