Robinson to replacement McDonald: ‘Let’s go white boy, let’s go!’

By Jerry Ratcliffe

When Virginia middle linebacker Kam Robinson went down with an injury early in the second quarter at Wake Forest last Saturday night, it was time for junior backup Trey McDonald (Baylor School, Chattanooga) to step up his game.

McDonald didn’t disappoint. He posted nine tackles (third-most on the team), including four solos and a sack. His sack, one of six by Virginia’s defense (the Cavaliers had only 11 sacks all of last season) was one of the biggest plays of the game in UVA’s 31-30 comeback win over the Deacs.

Wake was in a bind. Late fourth quarter and Virginia had just scored to draw within 30-24. The Deacons gained a first down at the Cavaliers’ 37, but UVA’s defense threw up a stone wall, forcing a third-and-9 from the 36, with Wake’s pass attempt falling incomplete.

It was too far for a field-goal attempt (52 yards) and too close to gain anything by punting, so Deacs coach Dave Clawson elected to go for it on fourth-and-9.

McDonald blew through a gap and sacked Wake’s quarterback, McDonald’s first career sack, for an 8-yard loss, putting the ball back in UVA quarterback Anthony Colandrea’s hands with 7:20 to play. Colandrea led the Wahoos down the field and scored to go ahead 31-30 with 2:07 to play.

Before the fourth-down play, Virginia’s defense was fired up. It knew what was on the line. Many of the players remembered last season when the Cavaliers couldn’t come through in similar scenarios and lost five games by a combined 17 points.

Not this time.

“We were just saying, ‘Let’s get home,’” McDonald said afterward. “‘Let’s get to the quarterback. Let’s make sure that he’s got hands in his face and try and get the pocket collapsed.’”

Was it a blitz package?

“We’re not going to go into schemes,” McDonald laughed, “but, essentially, yes.”

Most of the conversation on Virginia’s sidelines throughout the night was of the positive nature, even when the Cavaliers were getting dominated in Wake’s 10-0 third quarter when UVA’s defense couldn’t find a way to slow the Deacs down and the offense sputtered.

“We were just going up and down the sideline saying, ‘We’re going to win this game. This is our game. Let’s just finish it out,’” McDonald said. “That’s something we struggled with last year, but I think we picked it up and I think it’s a sign of change.”

McDonald was getting constant feedback from Robinson on the sidelines during the game.

“He was in the defensive huddle during timeouts,” McDonald said. “He’s such a team guy.”

In fact, Robinson got McDonald fired up when he replaced him in the game, giving him this piece of advice:

“He’s just like, ‘Let’s go white boy, let’s go,’” McDonald laughed.

Going back to that big sack, McDonald said he ran a stunt, caught the Wake running back (blocking back) by surprise, got the back off balance and made it home.

While Robinson was giving McDonald advice off the field, safety Jonas Sanker was taking care of that on the field.

“Jonas was always talking, saying ‘Stay right here. Don’t go up and down, don’t let the energy change … just play your game, be smart and communicate.’ That’s all they were asking,” McDonald said.

Malcolm Greene made another huge play for the defense, punching the ball out of a Wake receiver’s hands with 1:24 to play, with the Deacons desperately attempting to move within field-goal range on their last-ditch effort. Greene knocked the ball loose and teammate Antonio Clary recovered to give Virginia the ball back in a wild finish.

Afterward, the UVA locker room was just as wild in celebration.

“Ecstatic,” Greene said. “Man, just seeing the smiles on everybody’s faces … just joyful and excited.”

Virginia, 2-0 for the first time since 2021, hosts Maryland this Saturday at 8 p.m. (ACC Network).