Although much of the injury talk surrounding the Virginia-Duke game has been focused on “probable” Duke quarterback Thomas Sirk, a significant loss for UVa is junior linebacker Zach Bradshaw, helped off the field with an apparent knee or ankle injury at Louisville last Saturday.
Bradshaw earlier had set up a UVa touchdown when he had a sack, caused fumble and recovered fumble on the same play. He’s been getting better and better next to fellow first-year starter Micah Kiser and the Cavaliers really don’t have anybody to replace him.
True freshman C.J. Stalker is listed as the starter, but he’s played in only five games and has two tackles (one solo, one assist). Defensive back Kelvin Rainey has served as an extra linebacker on occasion but that has been with Kiser and Bradshaw on the field. Mark Hall, a reserve linebacker who is the brother of UVa basketball player Devon Hall, would be a possibility if he, too, weren’t injured. Bradshaw has been declared out of this game and it’s unlikely he will be available for the season finale against Virginia Tech.