Loosehead prop Stankovich has made two appearances from the replacements bench since his return from a facial injury suffered in the Aviva Premiership win over Bath back in October, while Hipkiss has not played since the cup tie against the Ospreys in November.
Fifteen of the travelling squad have links with the Tigers Academy, while director of rugby Richard Cockerill also includes South African flanker Pieter Myburgh for his club debut.
The 25-year-old Myburgh has played for Western Province and gained Super 14 experience with the Stormers, and he joins Academy products Matt Everard and Dan Hemingway in the back row on Saturday.
Openside flanker Ben Woods is named among the replacements on his return from a wrist injury.
Tigers have 10 players on international duty with England and England Saxons, while Geordan Murphy (ankle), Tom Croft (shoulder), Geoff Parling (knee), Ben Pienaar (Achilles) and Lucas Amorosino (hernia) are ruled out by injury.
Tigers play their pool game in the LV= Cup at home to Bath Rugby next Friday (kick-off 7.30pm). Tickets are available now.
Leicester Tigers (v Exeter Chiefs, Sandy Park, Saturday 3pm)
15 Joe Cobden
14 Lee Robinson
13 Dan Hipkiss
12 Andy Forsyth
11 Alex Lewington
10 George Ford
9 Sam Harrison
1 Boris Stankovich (c)
2 Rob Hawkins
3 Peter Bucknall
4 Calum Green
5 Ed Slater
6 Matt Everard
7 Pieter Myburgh
8 Dan Hemingway
Replacements
16 Joe Duffey
17 Camilo Parili-Ocampo
18 Ryan Bower
19 Dave Markham
20 Ben Woods
21 Luix Roussarie
22 Stephen Macauley
23 Rory Lynn
Exeter Chiefs 15 Mark Foster, 14 Andrew Higgins, 13 Bryan Rennie, 12 Jason Shoemark, 11 Nic Sestaret, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Haydn Thomas, 1 Ben Moon, 2 Neil Clark, 3 Hoani Tui, 4 Chad Slade, 5 Dave Gannon, 6 Dave Ewers, 7 Andy Miller, 8 James Phillips Replacements 16 Chris Whitehead, 17 Ruaidhri Murphy, 18 Ignacio Elosu, 19 Eoghan Grace, 20 Herbie Stupple, 21 Garrick Cowley, 22 Ignacio Mieres, 23 Paul McKenzie
