Mack, Cook Anchor What Looks Like A Promising UVA Defense

Most Virginia football fans probably best remember linebacker Jordan Mack as a young pup delivering a tractor-trailer-sized smash to Duke quarterback Daniel Jones in the end zone in October of 2016, resulting in a key Cavalier touchdown.

That helped the ‘Hoos win their first ACC road game in a long time. Mack added to his legacy a year ago, finishing his sophomore campaign with the fifth-most tackles (114) in the conference.

Now with Micah Kiser playing in the NFL, Mack has taken the reigns as one of the leaders of the UVa linebacking corps, and is embracing that role in his third year with the program.

“Micah Kiser, before he left, he always stressed about leaving the room better than you found it, so that’s what he did,” said Mack. “And when he left, I took it as a duty of mine to take the guys, put them under my wing and show them what I know and help make the room that much better.”

Described by his coaches and teammates as a very quiet, hard-working leader, Mack — much like running back Jordan Ellis — takes a business-like approach to practice every day and into game days.

“Jordan Mack is cut more in the mold of Jordan Ellis where he would prefer not to be in front of the camera, prefer to not have to speak, and just work,” Bronco Mendenhall said of his star linebacker. “He’s fiercely conditioned and requires no extra effort to have him on our team, or manage him in any way.

“He’s Jordan [Ellis] at linebacker in a different build, and so just is really a joy to coach and has amazing speed and athleticism for playing that position.”

Mendenhall said that Mack and Chris Peace are looked to as the two most respected players among their defensive peers in terms of leadership and consistency.

Mack has willingly accepted his new role, which has included assisting senior Malcolm Cook’s switch from outside to inside linebacker. Cook is happy to listen, as Mack started on the outside himself as a freshman and has provided valuable advice that was passed down to him from Kiser.

“J-Mack is a great teammate,” said Cook, “as far as helping me understand certain things that are going on, on the field… ‘Just slow down and let it come to you,’ and that’s what I do now. I slow down and let the game come to me.”

According to Cook, the Cavaliers would like to eventually become known for their defense, a la Virginia basketball. Keeping the Richmond offense out of the end zone was encouraging, but both Cook and Mack agree that improvement is needed, and is on the way.

“We were flying around [against the Spiders], guys were making plays, but there’s a lot more that everybody could do,” said Cook.

Mack added: “I think it’s a good starting point, but like Malcolm said, we definitely have some more notches that we can go, some more we can turn up. It’s a good starting point, but I’m looking forward to this upcoming weekend, see how we improve.

“It’s definitely encouraging but when you go back and look on film, you just notice all the plays you left out there and notice how many notches you can turn it up. It’s encouraging, it’s a great starting point, but we have high expectations on this defense. So we’re definitely looking forward to this week.”

The ‘Hoos will be looking to rebound Saturday night from the home loss to Indiana a year ago, a game they thought they should have won. Then-backup IU quarterback Peyton Ramsey relieved then-starter Richard Legow and was the difference for the Hoosiers, throwing for two touchdowns and rushing for another in a 34-17 win.

Mendenhall said the team had only really prepared for facing Legow, and Mack admitted that Ramsey — now the starter — caught the defense off guard last year with his scrambling and his ability to make explosive plays, similar to what they now see on a near-daily basis in practice from Bryce Perkins.

That, he believes, will continue to help defend against mobile quarterbacks.

“We definitely know how to defend them better — rush lanes, pursuit angles, everything like that — just you’re ready, you’re more prepared for it and dialed in,” said Mack.

Now that the expectation level of the defense is higher, Mack is excited to see the end result and hopes that his time in Charlottesville will one day be looked back upon as having left his room in a better place.

“Coming here my freshman year, it was a lot of cultural building, culture work, and as the years pass you develop into position mastery and things like that, that allow the defense to become better and improve and guys actually taking ownership of their work,” Mack said. “So that allows, naturally, for the defense to become better and improve much more.”