Running Game Still A Question Mark As UVA Camp Nears End

By Jerry Ratcliffe

In Bronco Mendenhall’s first three years at the helm of the UVA football program, the Cavaliers opened the season with Richmond (2016), William & Mary (2017), and Richmond (2018).

Had Mendenhall had it his way, William & Mary would have most likely been UVA’s opener this season. However, the ACC stepped in with an aim to make a big splash on opening weekend and the debut of the ACC Network, which most of the state — as of this writing — can’t even get.

In 11 days, Virginia opens the season in a huge game at Pittsburgh, a place where the Cavaliers have never won. The Panthers are the defending Coastal Division champion and a team that has won four straight over UVA with an intimidating, physical style of play that Mendenhall’s team hasn’t answered.

There’s no time on Saturday, Aug. 31, for the Cavaliers to try and figure things out at halftime. They must be ready as soon as they get off the bus against a team that thinks it has their number.

“We have to be [ready],” Mendenhall said after Tuesday night’s training camp practice that started at historic Lambeth Field, but was switched to the George Welsh Indoor Facility due to threatening storms. “It is a different and much more significant challenge. An ACC opponent makes it even more so.

“The urgency is increased, but it is our fourth year. We have returning players, a returning quarterback. That doesn’t guarantee success. But if there were to be an ACC opponent on the road as an opener, I’m glad it’s year 4 rather than 3, 2, or 1.”

The same will hold true next season when the Cavaliers open the season against national powerhouse Georgia in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the annual Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game on a Monday night.

Opening the season against national-caliber competition is nothing new. George Welsh did it, Al Groh did it, and so did Mike London.

In Welsh’s third year (1984), the Cavaliers opened the season at home against Danny Ford’s No. 3 Clemson and got wiped out, 55-0 in a rain-soaked game. Still, UVA went on to record an 8-2-2 record, played and won its first bowl game ever, defeating Purdue in the Peach Bowl.

Welsh’s ‘87 team lost to No. 20 Georgia on the road (30-22), took on No. 2 defending national champion Notre Dame in the Meadowlands in ‘89 (lost 36-13), lost the ‘94 opener at No. 3 Florida State (41-17), lost in the waning seconds in the ‘95 opener at No. 14 Michigan (18-17), but beat Auburn in back-to-back openers — at home, then on the road — in ‘97 and ‘98. UVA beat the No. 17 Tigers, 28-17 (‘97), and topped the No. 25 War Eagles, 19-0 at Auburn the following year.

In 2001, Groh’s debut was spoiled in a 26-17 loss at No. 22 Wisconsin when starting running back Antwoine Womack was injured on the first series of the game. Groh’s 2008 team hosted No. 3 Southern California in the opener and lost 52-7.

London normally opened his seasons with FCS teams but started the 2014 and 2015 games with UCLA, losing a game UVA should have won against the No. 7 Bruins at Scott Stadium, 28-20, then lost to the No. 13 Bruins (and Bryce Perkins’ brother, Paul, at running back) at Rose Bowl Stadium, 34-16.

There’s your Wahoo history lesson for today.

 

High On Freshmen

Mendenhall hasn’t hesitated throughout camp to heap praise on this recruiting class, calling it the best his program has had in four years. You’ll be hearing several of the first-years’ names before the season is over.

“There could be up to 10 first-years that play, and that’s based on how strong our first-year class is,” Mendenhall said Tuesday night. “I really like this first-year class from top to bottom. The depth they’re adding, the athleticism, the physicality. We did a nice job in the selection process of this class. They’re all performing well.”

The coach said that doesn’t mean that 10 rookies will be playing in the opener, but before the season concludes, fans will likely see double digits of first-years getting action.

 

Best Of The Rookies

Last week, Mendenhall commented that true freshman defensive lineman Jowon Briggs (6-1, 295) out of Cincinnati, was running with the first unit.

That’s still the case.

“Man, he’s strong, and he’s quick, and he’s grounded, and is assignment-sound, and he listens well, and he’s an unselfish player,” Mendenhall said after practice. “And, did I say he’s big and he’s strong?”

Yes, coach, you did. We get the point.

Briggs has already earned his number for the season and will be wearing No. 99.

Fellow defensive lineman Aaron Faumui, a sophomore from Kapolei, Hawaii, has been impressed with Briggs’ work in camp.

“It’s surprising because he’s still 17 years old,” said Faumui, who played in 12 games and started four last season. “So, he’s still a baby. To see him dominate at the collegiate level at his age is surprising. I’m glad I’m getting to play with him. He’s going to do big things this year.”

 

Injury Report

Mendenhall officially confirmed that junior cornerback Darrius Bratton from Roanoke (via Fork Union Military) is out for the season with a torn ACL. So is freshman wide receiver Nathaniel Beal III, from Houston, Texas.

“We have options that I really like [for Bratton’s spot], but man, it was hard to see Darrius go down. Beal went down early in camp. Both ACL’s were non-contact and on grass. How does that happen?” Mendenhall said.

“In Bratton’s case, he had worked so hard to come back (from an early camp hamstring) and was poised to have an amazing season. That stung, so it’s hard not to say it’s a huge loss, but we have depth at that position.”

Bratton has not been redshirted, so he will have two years of eligibility remaining when he returns for next season.

Another corner, sophomore Germane Crowell, was not practicing Tuesday, but Mendenhall deferred when asked about Crowell’s health.

“The medical staff will have to address that one,” the coach said.

 

Running Back Up For Grabs

No one has been able to claim the starting job at running back for the Cavaliers.

Sophomore Wayne Taulapapa (TOWEL-LA-PAPA), who hails from Laie, Hawaii, emerged from spring as the man to beat out for the job, and that hasn’t changed through the majority of camp.

Taulapapa is a 5-9, 210-pound running back who played in seven games last season, all on special teams. In high school, he had 3,279 rushing yards for his career, along with 52 touchdowns as a three-year starter.

He served a two-year LDS mission to Managua, Nicaragua, between high school and last year’s true freshman campaign at UVA.

Through Tuesday night’s practice, Mendenhall wasn’t ready to say that Virginia’s running game was where he wanted it to be.

“It’s a work in progress,” the coach said. “The most consistent running back, and most productive, and most trustworthy, and most versatile is Wayne Taulapapa. I’ve been really impressed with him. He just keeps getting better and better.”

In fact, Taulapapa and junior Lamont Atkins (Lake Braddock H.S.) are the two running backs that have shown the most progress toward being complete backs of any in the UVA stable.

Mendenhall said that Atkins has been very similar to Taulapapa in that he can block, run, and catch, and is trustworthy. By trustworthy, Mendenhall means not fumbling the football.

“Those two have emerged as all-purpose, all-everything,” Mendenhall said.

There are other backs that have caught Mendenhall’s eye as well, including true freshman Mike Hollins from Baton Rouge, La.

“Each time Mike touches the ball he becomes more confident, more physical, and more impressive.”

R.J. Harvey, a diminutive quarterback out of Orlando, has also shown a lot of moxy in camp. Harvey, 5-foot-8, 190, has actually already earned his number, and it’s an odd one for a QB. Harvey will wear No. 40.

“He’s a dynamic player in space,” Mendenhall said, which perhaps hints that Harvey could line up somewhere else in the offense as a rookie in order to get some touches.

 

O-Line Needs Some Work

If there has been a sore spot in the program during the Mendenhall era thus far, it has been a shaky, inconsistent, underrecruited offensive line.

The numbers are back up to speed, but can these guys punch holes in ACC defenses and also protect QB Bryce Perkins? How has the O-line progressed?

#UVA practicing at Lambeth Field on Tuesday evening. We’ll have a full report on my FREE website later tonight after 8:30 interviews. pic.twitter.com/7GqMoxePIz

— Jerry Ratcliffe (@JerryRatcliffe) August 20, 2019

“I would say step-by-step progress — not as fast as I would like, not as furious as I would like, not as polished as I would like, but progress,” the coach said. “There’s been a few players with nicks and bumps and bruises that always effects continuity. That should be back in place by Friday, just in time for game week, which I’m excited about that.”

 

Other Eye-Openers

Mendenhall said he has been impressed by first-year wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks, another Louisiana product (Plaquemine), who was described as “dynamic.”

The coach said he also liked both graduate transfer receivers Dejon Brissett (formerly played at the University of Richmond), and Terrell Chatman (formerly played at Arizona State). Chatman is actually another member of the Louisiana Pipeline, having grown up in Baton Rouge.

 

A Walk-On To Remember

Reed Kellam, a two-year letterwinner and a senior, won the honor of getting to pick his number ahead of every other player on the team, an honor voted on by his teammates.

Kellam is a walk-on from Richmond’s Collegiate School. The 6-1, 225-pound linebacker appeared in 12 games last season on UVA’s special teams.

“The players and strength coaches have a nickname for Reed,” Mendenhall said. “They call him ‘One-Speed Reed.’

“He just always is trying as hard as he can try, and it’s not just one-dimensional in his life. He’s exemplary in every way. It’s a privilege to be around him every day. He’s a walk-on player, and to get a distinction from a team to get the first selection [of a jersey number], that’s pretty remarkable and it speaks volumes. He was touched in a way that I think will impact his life forever.”

His number of choice? 45.

 

On Kickoff Returns, It’s All Joe Reed

Wasn’t really a surprise when Mendenhall said that the kickoff return spot was already nailed down.

Joe Reed.

He finished No. 2 in the ACC and No. 9 in the nation last season with an average of 27.2 yards per return. He has three kickoff returns for touchdowns in his career.

“It’s Joe Reed and no one is close,” the coach said when asked about the job.

Meanwhile, the punt-returner position is similar to last season when Billy Kemp and Chuck Davis split most of the action. Brissett, the Richmond transfer, is also getting some work and receiver Terrell Jana is also being trained at the spot, as well as Reed.