Signing Day Marks Another Step Forward for Virginia Football

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia football has come a long way since Bronco Mendenhall’s first year on the job when a two-win Cavaliers team couldn’t even beat FCS opponent Richmond.

While Mendenhall would be the first to admit that his program isn’t where he wants it to be, UVa is in back-to-back bowl games for the first time since 2004-05. The record has steadily improved from 2-10 to 6-7 last season, to 7-5 this season with a bowl game yet to play.

Virginia’s improvement hasn’t been limited to the playing field, but also on the recruiting trail and Wednesday’s announced 2019 class on National Signing Day was the Cavaliers’ highest of the Mendenhall era.

The 19-member class is ranked No. 32 in the nation by Rivals and No. 34 by 247Sports, dramatic jumps from recent UVa class rankings.

Recruiting junkies have made note of the progress all year long, but for those of you just catching up, the Cavaliers’ improvement is enlightening.

Certainly Mendenhall has noticed as he has gone into high schools and homes in spreading the Wahoo brand, not only just in the state but all across the country. Virginia’s class is spread among 10 states, including six signees from Florida.

“It’s tangible and noticeable everywhere we go, no matter what school,” a beaming Mendenhall said at his signing day press conference. “The sentiment is, ‘Holy Cow, you guys are getting better,’ or ‘Holy Cow, you’re going to back postseason,’ to ‘What’s happening at Virginia?’”

The coach said he hears the same narrative at every stop.

“So many people jump right to, ‘that’s two overtime games … that could have been nine … you guys could’ve been at nine,’” Mendenhall said in relating the conversations he’s had with high school coaches and recruits families.

Virginia lost its last two regular season games in overtime decisions at Georgia Tech and at Virginia Tech, games the Cavaliers could have just as easily won. Mendenhall has sensed an optimism from those who follow the program, that Year Three could have had more to offer.

“All this is generating excitement that a couple of more plays or a couple of more players and I think folks are thinking we’re closer than maybe what seven wins showed,” Mendenhall said. “Momentum is what’s happening, regardless of the state or high school we walk into, much more noticeable this year than last year as I’ve been out on the road.”

The former BYU coach believes there are reasons for the excitement other than the two woulda-shoulda-coulda games with the Techs. He and his staff have a better understanding of recruiting in essentially a different world from where they came.

Mendenhall would be the first to admit that recruiting at BYU was different than most anywhere else in the country. The Mormon faith-based university was the mecca for any potential football players growing up in a family of that ilk. It was a dream, essentially automatic they would play for BYU.

Several members of his current Virginia coaching staff played at BYU, and when they were all plucked from Provo and set down in Charlottesville three years ago, they had immense work ahead.

It’s like a great line in the Broadway hit, “The Music Man.”

“Ya gotta know your territory,” was the line.

Virginia’s new coaches didn’t. One holdover from the Mike London staff, Marques Hagans knew, and so did some guys like administrative assistant Gerry Capone and recruiting analyst Bob Price. Those guys could provide knowledge and guidance, but the coaches had to go out and do the ground work, which brings up another point.

Up until new athletic director Carla Williams arrived last December, Virginia was way behind many of its ACC brethren in terms of recruiting personnel.

Used to be when UVa assistant coaches got through with practice and other duties, they had to go back to their offices and get on computers and phones and try to find recruits and talk to them. While they were at practice, rival schools had essentially hired a “recruiting staff,” to spend their entire days researching recruitable players and contacting them.

Williams fixed that almost immediately.

“We were approximately half-staffed in relation to our competitors when I arrived in the personnel area,” Mendenhall said. “They are called recruiting specialists. All they do from the minute they arrive at work until they go home is finding [recruits]. You could call them regional coordinators. They have areas and they’re responsible for every high school and every player within that region, to find them and put them through the evaluation process.”

That’s what UVa’s coaches had to do prior Williams’ adding additional  staffing to help resolve those issues.

“We were simply late and behind. Some other staffs were finding and mining during the workday while we were coaching, and then doing that, and we couldn’t catch up fast enough,” Mendenhall said.

UVa is now finding prospects earlier, faster and more accurately while the team is practicing. Combine that knowledge along with the fact that Mendenhall and his staff now has had a couple of seasons under their belts to observe and study the Coastal Division and the entire ACC, to see what they need to recruit in order to compete, and it makes perfect sense that they’ve closed the gap in both recruiting and in competing in the league in a very short period of time.

Dubois Injured

Virginia’s second-leading receiver on the season, Hasise Dubois, was injured in Wednesday’s first day of practice for the Belk Bowl.

“He was hurt in practice today, so I’m not sure where he stands now as to how significant the injury was,” Mendenhall said.

Dubois finished the regular season with 47 receptions for 521 yards and five touchdowns.