Lincoln Riley admits Virginia shooting hit Bobby Haskins 'hard'

From 2018-21, Bobby Haskins played on the offensive line at Virginia before transferring to USC over the offseason. That’s why this week’s stunning news of the shooting on UVA’s campus hit close to home.

Haskins played alongside D’Sean Perry and Lavel Davis for two years before entering the transfer portal after last season. Perry and Davis, along with Wisconsin transfer Devin Chandler, were killed when former Virginia football player Chris Jones opened fire on a bus as students returned from a field trip late Sunday night.

The news shook the college football world. For Haskins, it understandably hit much harder, Lincoln Riley told reporters on a Zoom call this week.

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“It’s really, really difficult,” Riley said. “Obviously, guys on that team, some that he was teammates with for multiple years. It hit him hard, like how I think it would’ve any of us had we been in that same position. Obviously, great kid. He’s got a lot of love for everything here, but certainly a lot of love for Virginia and his time there. We’ve tried to certainly surround him this week and just be there for him. There’s a bit of shock and mourning, certainly, I think for anybody that goes through something like that, something that tragic.

“We’ve used, I would say, the full power of our program and all the great people in it to lift him up and support him. I know he’ll be playing Saturday with Virginia and their team and specifically those three players on his mind.”

Virginia cancels Coastal Carolina football game days after 3 players killed in shooting

Virginia has canceled its game this weekend against Coastal Carolina in the wake of the tragedy that befell the program, with three players being killed in a shooting. On Wednesday, the Cavaliers made the announcement via a press release.

“The Virginia athletics department announced today (Nov. 16) the Cavaliers’ home football game vs. Coastal Carolina scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 19 has been canceled,” the program announced. “The decision was made following the shooting of five students on Grounds Sunday night. The incident resulted in the deaths of three members of the UVA team – Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry.

“The game would have been Virginia’s final home game of the 2022 season.”