College football and men’s soccer preseason notes, Micah Kiser out with injury

On Monday, in addition to offering our own thoughts on what success means for UVA football in 2019, the AP Poll also released their preseason rankings, which listed UVA outside of the Top 25. In all, Virginia received 44 votes from the voters, good for 32nd best among all teams.

The 2019 ESPN preseason college football All-America team (ESPN)

ESPN named Bryce Hall to their preseason All-American team, published yesterday. Add this one to the long (and well-deserved) list of preseason accolades Hall has received in the lead-up to his senior season.

The second round of Bronco Mendenhall’s heralded jersey selections took place on Sunday, when 32 members of the football team received their numbers ahead of the Week One tilt with Pittsburgh. The reveal came exactly seven days after the first 36 got the call.

The Preseason Athletic 130: Everyone is still chasing Clemson and Alabama (The Athletic)

The Athletic published their preseason version of the college football hierarchy yesterday, too. As opposed to the AP Poll, however, they listed UVA within the Top 25 at No. 22. For them, Virginia ranks ahead of everyone in the ACC not named Clemson.

Tough news for former Wahoo Micah Kiser, who reportedly suffered an injury to his left pectoral some time last weekend and is now listed as out indefinitely for the Los Angeles Rams. Projections had Kiser becoming a starter in his second year with the team.

The ACC men’s soccer head coaches ranked Virginia second in the Coastal Division, one spot behind North Carolina, in their annual conference preseason poll, posted yesterday. The coaches also named junior midfielder Joe Bell to the 2019 Preseason Watch List.

Twelfth-ranked Virginia will host Pacific at Klöckner Stadium on August 30 to open up regular season play.

Freshman defensive tackle Jowon Briggs was named a Preseason Freshman All-American by 247 Sports, on Monday. Suffice it to say, Briggs, who was Coach Mendenhall’s highest-rated recruit since coming to Charlottesville, hopes to make an impact early in his career at UVA.

Tweet of the Day:

UVA’s trio of new NBA’ers received plenty of love from their rookie companions in the 2019-20 Rookie Survey. De’Andre Hunter received 11% of the vote for the newcomer expected to have the greatest career and came in second for best defender, while Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome were named the second and fourth best shooters in their class, respectively. Jerome also tied for third for best playmaker among rookies.