Position Group Preview: Safeties

With the football season opener right around the corner, we’re continuing our Position Group Preview series with the safety room, which features a lot of new faces, and a few familiar ones as well.

2024 Performance

The safety position was one of UVa’s strongest going into the 2024 season, and they saw quality play from the group throughout the season. Senior safety Jonas Sanker led the team in tackles, as everyone figured he would. Sanker recorded 98 stops and was a difference maker for Virginia’s defense. Now, he’s off to the NFL as a third round pick of the New Orleans Saints. UVa will miss not only Sanker’s production and consistency, but also his leadership. Antonio Clary was Sanker’s running mate in the secondary, and finished with 48 tackles as he dealt with another injury-plagued season.

The Projected Starters: Antonio Clary, Devin Neal, Da’Marcus Crosby, Ja’Maric Morris

Clary is back for yet another year of eligibility; if there was a designation beyond “graduate student” on the roster, he’d have it. Clary started his UVa career way back in 2019, and is set to play in his seventh year for the Hoos. Clary started five games last year and missed a bunch of games down the stretch with an injury. Obviously UVa has added a lot of talent to the safety group and Clary will have to earn whatever role he has, but his experience and productivity when healthy is enough for us to pencil him in as a starter.

We’re also going with Louisville transfer Devin Neal in the starting defense, at least for now. Neal was a productive player with the Cardinals in 2023 and ended his 2024 season early to preserve his redshirt and transfer. Neal flashed in UVa’s spring game, and should have a great chance to earn a large role with the Hoos this year.

We’re also going to add two spring transfers to the potential starters group, though UVa will technically have two starting safeties and potentially one more from the group in the SABRE position, if that’s how they choose to designate. We mentioned in the cornerbacks preview that there are many defensive backs who could play either corner or safety this year, but for the sake of organization, we’re only adding the two additions that played safety in 2024 at their previous schools, to this preview. Da’Marcus Crosby comes to UVa after spending a year at New Mexico State, and a season with Sam Houston State before that. Crosby started seven games for NMSU last year, recording 81 tackles with an interception and three PBUs. Ja’Maric Morris spent 2024 at Georgia State before transferring to UVa in the spring. With the Panthers, Morris recorded two interceptions and 11 tackles. 

The Depth Options: Caleb Hardy, Ethan Minter, Keke Adams, Corey Costner, Montino Williams, Armstrong Jones

Simply put, some of the players listed in the depth category are probably going to play and play a lot this season, but we had to draw the line somewhere. Caleb Hardy is back for his junior year, and has flashed in his 20 games as a Wahoo. Hardy played as a reserve last year, but earned a start against Louisville. Sophomore Ethan Minter had a successful move from high school QB to collegiate safety, and played in every game last season. Minter had an interception against Louisville, and was forced into quite a bit of action in that game as the Hoos were banged up in the secondary. Keke Adams didn’t play a ton last year, and was able to keep his redshirt.  The staff was high on Adams when he arrived on Grounds last spring.

UVa also added a pair of safeties in the 2025 recruiting class. Chesterfield native Montino Williams was an All-State performer at Matoaca High School, and signed with the Hoos along with teammate Dillon Newton-Short (WR). Baltimore native Corey Costner drew some praise for his performance in spring practice after enrolling early. He was an excellent two-way player at Perry Hall, and was an All-State selection there.

The Big Question: Which newcomers slot at safety and which end up at cornerback?

UVa has a lot of flexibility in the secondary, and that’s a good thing. There are a lot of players that could end up at corner, in the nickel, or at one of the two safety spots. We feel pretty confident that both Clary and Neal will be safeties, but Morris and/or Crosby could end up playing corner. And there are a bunch of players listed as DBs, like Tennessee transfer Christian Charles and others, who could easily slot in at safety. How these decisions shake out will have a big impact on what a depth chart looks like, and which players might be left out of rotations entirely. If UVa feels comfortable with depth options like Hardy and Minter, perhaps Morris and Crosby could contribute at other spots. If corner has more than enough depth, perhaps those players, and others, could end up playing safety more.