Virginia football’s defensive line concerns deepened this spring, when it was announced that John Kirven and James Trucilla were giving up football for health reasons. The Cavaliers, decimated by attrition on the defensive line, return rising redshirt junior Eli Hanback, who started every game at nose tackle last season and started 11 games at defensive end the previous season, and rising sophomore Mandy Alonso, who started four games as a true freshman. Outside of those two, head coach Bronco Mendenhall is left wondering where the rest of the defensive line production and depth will come from.

Ohio State graduate transfer Dylan Thompson arrives this summer. He didn’t play much for the Buckeyes but gives the Hoos another defensive line presence as well as some maturity. The former 4-star defensive lineman out of Illinois will have every chance to become a big-time contributor for the Cavaliers. Current Cavalier rising redshirt junior Richard Burney, who Mendenhall moved from tight end to the defensive line before the 2017 Military Bowl, is another upperclassman with a big opportunity before him.

Throughout high school and during the first three years of his playing career at UVA, Burney has made his mark at tight end and on special teams. However, with his athleticism and 6’4”, 265-pound frame, Burney was not a surprising pick to get a look on defense, a move he was open to.

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