Before I completely put the college football season to bed for a while, I wanted to do a look ahead by position for Virginia in 2019. It's probably been several years since I did any such post on the Cavaliers looking forward, but as I said in the title, it is tough not to get somewhat excited about this team's prospects.
Let's quickly take a look at some of the accomplishments of this past season:
- First bowl win since 2005
- First trip to consecutive bowl games (2017-18) since 2004-05
- First eight-win season since 2011
- First .500-or-better ACC record since 2011
OK, now I'll get into specific positions for the upcoming fall. Class years are as of this school year, so juniors will be seniors in the 2019 season, etc. Players listed in red are departing, and players listed in green are returning, as of now. Any incoming freshmen I mention are colored blue.
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| High hopes for UVa football in 2019 are largely based on the fact that this guy is returning. |
Quarterbacks: Obviously, it is a huge positive that junior Bryce Perkins returns. As I said in my post-Belk Bowl post, he is to Virginia what Matt Schaub was in 2003, as far as having a QB who will be returning with plenty of starting experience and also talent beyond what Virginia has had at the position in more than a decade. He is accurate: The junior college transfer completed 64.5 percent of his passes. I would like to see the passes have more zip on them, though. For example, early against Virginia Tech when it was still 0-0, Perkins floated the ball too much and missed a wide-open Tavares Kelly. Kelly should have caught the pass, but he had to awkwardly fall to the ground to try to catch it. Had Perkins thrown the ball earlier and with more zip, Kelly would've had a chance to catch it in stride and had he done so, he would've scored. Perkins' other pertinent numbers: 2,680 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, nine interceptions, 923 rushing yards, nine scores.
The overall improvement I'd like the team to make with him is play calling. Perkins is a fantastic runner, but sometimes I worry he takes too many hits. He should pass more. As I said above, he is pretty darn accurate. He mostly got lucky this year with injuries, but a bad play call when backed up against the goal line at Georgia Tech got him sacked, and he hurt his ankle. Schaub got hurt at the beginning of the 2003 season, and we wouldn't want the same thing to happen to Perkins. He is a sturdy kid, but I hope offensive coordinator Robert Anae either trusts his arm more, or emboldens Perkins to trust his arm more, if Perkins is the one choosing to either take off and run on pass plays or take off and run on read-options (rather than hand off). If the unthinkable were to happen to Perkins, I have to say that true freshman Brennan Armstrong looked good in limited time. Like Perkins, he looked calm, cool, and collected, and had good zip on his passes. He's a big-looking guy that wasn't as fast as Perkins but could certainly make a run for it and take a hit.
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| PK Kier should see an uptick in his carries next season. |
Running backs: Workhorse Jordan Ellis is graduating, but luckily, the guy behind him, sophomore PK Kier, has looked like the same sort of bulldog-type runner in his limited carries and has had some effective moments. UVa also has the rest of the backfield coming back: Lamont Atkins, Chris Sharp, and Jamari Peacock. Atkins is cast in more of Ellis' role, and Peacock and Sharp are in the"big back" spot, which does a lot of blocking, though Sharp did catch two TD passes (on just five receptions). Virginia also has a highly regarded freshman coming in the fall, 5-foot-10, 205-pound Mike Hollins from Baton Rouge, La. As for play calling, I still think Anae could run the ball more (with the backs, not Perkins), but he didn't make me pull my hair out as much this season by passing the ball too often when Virginia had leads. I am actually becoming OK with the pass setting up the run in some cases because of how comfortable I am watching Perkins pass. But this was by far Ellis' best year as far as yards per carry (4.8), and I think that trend could continue with the running backs.
Wide receivers: Olamide Zaccheaus' record-setting career will be tough to replace. But the good news is, just like at running back, there are tons of returners: Hasise Dubois (52 catches, five TDs), Joe Reed (25, seven), Terrell Jana (11, one), and Tavares Kelly (10, zero). Kelly is a little jitterbug and seems to be the heir apparent to Zaccheaus, as the team already used him similarly in limited time. Reed is a burner, and I think he needs to be utilized more. Dubois is a solid receiver
with great size (6-3, 215) that needs to work on his hands a little bit.
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| Hasise Dubois' big frame allows him to fight for passes in the air. |
Tight ends: This position isn't a big emphasis in the offense, and that wasn't because of the lack of talent of Evan Butts and Tyler Cowley. It just isn't used that often. Butts caught 32 passes in 2017 with two TDs but recorded just 16 receptions and a pair of scores this season. He did begin Virginia's first drive of the Belk Bowl with an 11-yard catch. The Cavaliers didn't score on that drive, but that first-down catch right off the bat kind of set the tone for Virginia's offense for the rest of the day. Butts is graduating, but Cowley will be back. He caught four passes.
Offensive line: The situation here is not quite as good as it could've been. Left guard R.J. Proctor announced in early January he is transferring. He made six starts this season, including the Belk Bowl win. The good news is his backup, Chris Glaser, had seven starts at the spot and is just a sophomore. At right guard, UVa has a hole to fill with Jake Fieler graduating, and also Ben Knutson, his backup, is transferring, which hurts the line's depth. At right tackle, Rutgers transfer Marcus Applefield was solid but is graduating. His backup, freshman Ryan Swoboda, got one start. Things are looking better at left tackle and center. At the all-important LT spot, Ryan Nelson started all 13 games and is a freshman, while his backup, Bobby Haskins, is also a freshman and appeared in every game. At center, sophomore Dillon Reinkensmeyer started 12 games. Also, sophomore Tyler Fannin impressed the coaches last spring at center, but he suffered an injury and did not play in any games. He is expected to return and could play center or fill another hole. Finally, an intriguing incoming freshman is tackle Ja'quay Hubbard, who is ranked the fifth-best player coming to UVa in the fall and the 10th-best high schooler coming out of Pennsylvania.
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| Eli Hanback can play multiple positions on the defensive line. |
Defensive line: Virginia was hit with two big injuries and an illness here during the season, but definitely held its own against South Carolina: end Mandy Alonso (21 tackles, 2.5 for losses, 1.5 sacks on the season) went out against Pitt, and the run defense was immediately affected in that game; Richard Burney (eight tackles, two for losses, one forced fumble), also an end, was having a good start to his season but then missed the final 10 games with an undisclosed injury; and freshman Aaron Faumui (seven tackles, one for loss, one sack, one forced fumble) came down with mono before the bowl. All three are expected back. In the win over the Gamecocks, UVa essentially played with four guys rotating around: junior mainstay Eli Hanback (46 tackles, three for losses, two sacks), who can play tackle or end, Ohio State transfer Dylan Thompson, who is graduating, and freshmen Tommy Christ (10 tackles, one loss, one sack) and Jordan Redmond (10 tackles, two for losses, a half-sack). So even though the position was decimated by the end of the season, good news abounds for 2019. And perhaps the most anticipated freshman in a few years for UVa is arriving in the fall -- tackle Jowon Briggs, a four-star player from Ohio who held offers from Alabama, Michigan, Michigan State, Kentucky, Notre Dame,
Penn State, and Wisconsin, among others. Briggs is ranked the second-best player to come out of Ohio in the class and the seventh-best lineman in the nation.
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| Quarterbacks can close their eyes if they want, but that won't keep LB Zane Zandier from hunting them down. |
Linebackers: Most everyone at the second level of the defense is returning, too. Outside linebacker Chris Peace was a valuable senior, leading the team in tackles for losses (11.5) and sacks (7.5) this season, but his backup, sophomore Matt Gahm (nine tackles, 1.5 for losses, 1.5 sacks) got time. At the other outside LB spot, sophomore Charles Snowden is a blossoming star. He's 6-7, 225 pounds, and the coaches want to beef him up even more. In 2018, he collected 61 tackles, 7.5 for losses, 2.5 sacks, two interceptions, nine breakups, and a forced fumble. Sophomore Elliott Brown saw time behind him as well and has good size (6-5, 230). At one middle spot, junior Jordan Mack hurt his shoulder and played nine of 13 games and was still second on the team with 66 tackles, and added six tackles for losses and 2.5 sacks. The other middle spot is held down by a pair of sophomores who both saw plenty of playing time. Zane Zandier displayed a mean streak and tallied 63 tackles, five for losses, and two sacks, and Robert Snyder posted 53 tackles, 1.5 for losses, and one sack. Virginia's second- and third-highest ranked players in its incoming class are linebackers: Georgia's Nick Jackson and Washington, D.C's Hunter Stewart.
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| Bryce Hall returning for his final season is a big boost for the Wahoos' defense. |
Secondary: Like Peace, safety Juan Thornhill stuck through the bad final Mike London year, the even worse first Bronco Mendenhall year, and then was rewarded richly his final two seasons. Thornhill, the team's leading tackler (98) and interception-maker (six) in 2018, is done in Charlottesville, but UVa got great news following the Belk Bowl when junior cornerback Bryce Hall said he was returning to school for his final year despite the possibility of being a first-round draft pick. Hall is highly regarded across the country and tallied 62 tackles, 3.5 for losses, two sacks, two picks, and two forced fumbles. Most impressively, he led the nation with 22 pass breakups. Behind him, sophomore Nick Grant saw a little bit of time. On the other side of the field, Tim Harris -- like oft-injured LB Malcolm Cook -- was witness to an even more impressive perspective for UVa's rise than some of the other seniors, because he played six seasons total because of injuries, three for London and three for Mendenhall. Harris had a strong finish to his career and will be missed, but sophomore Darrius Bratton battled with him all season for playing time and finished with 16 tackles and seven breakups (more than the four Harris had, though Harris did have two picks and Bratton had none). Losing Thornhill hurts, but Virginia is in a good spot behind him, with sophomore Brenton Nelson -- who was the 2017 ACC defensive rookie of the year -- behind him coming off a year in which he recorded 41 tackles, 1.5 for losses, one INT, and eight breakups. At the other safety spot, talented sophomore Joey Blount (65 tackles, five for losses, two picks, three breakups, two forced fumbles) will be back, as should do-everything sophomore backup De'Vante Cross (13 tackles, one INT), who has switched from offense to defense and back so many times I lost count.
Kicker and punter: Finally, UVa hopes it has it has found some consistency at kicker with sophomore Brian Delaney, who made 12 of 16 field goals (including 3 of 3 from 40-49 yards), but don't be surprised if someone new challenges him. At punter, a replacement must be found for graduating stalwart Lester Coleman.
Schedule: at Pittsburgh, vs. W
Key: green = UVa win in most recent matchup; red = UVa loss in most recent meeting; blue = never played before
Like last season (once I realized UVa was a good team), I see 12 games here Virginia can win. That
doesn't mean, of course, UVa will go 12-0, but no game on here is a definite loss (I see no Clemson, I see no Alabama, etc.). The Notre Dame road game will of course be very challenging, since the Irish went 12-0 in the regular season in 2018, and QB Ian Book is returning, but I believe if UVa plays really well, it is a game it has the potential of winning.
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| What kind of Florida State team shows up to Scott Stadium on Sept. 14 in Willie Taggart's second season as coach? |
I think the beginning of the season is crucial if UVa has hopes beyond going back to another bowl game. The Cavaliers have one win over Pitt since it entered the ACC, so that opener is a big game, and the Panthers won the Coastal this season. The Florida State home contest is definitely winnable if UVa plays well and FSU more resembles 2018 FSU than most-other-years FSU. Winning one of those two games, plus making sure they take care of W&M and ODU with no issues (Monarchs were bad in 2018, but remember, they did upset the Hokies), and the Wahoos are off to a solid 3-1 start at worst with the Notre Dame road game coming up -- again, probably a loss, but I think a win is possible. But if UVa is 2-2 going to Notre Dame, a loss there and it is 2-3 with a road game at Miami coming up, where 2-4 wouldn't be out of the question. At that point, I'd say UVa is hoping to get back to 6-6 with 7-5 being the ceiling. So a strong start is, to me, very important if this team is thinking of reaching eight wins or more in the regular season.
I firmly believe UVa can go to a third consecutive bowl game, but at worst, if the team gets off to a rough 2-4 start, I could see 5-7, but the upper range for the team should be 9-10 victories. Hard to believe after a 2-10 record in 2016, but the potential is there.
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