They’re Not Much To Look At, But They Seem To Know Football…

With football starting, odds are you may want to wager with a friend over a college football game. If you need advice, who you gonna call? Fortunately, the JerryRatcliffe.Com Pigskin Prophets are here to help. Often wrong, but never doubting for confidence, these experts will pick who they believe the winners will be every week in 15 matchups, which will include all ACC contests and selected games in the Top 25. Each week there will also be not one, but two guest pickers. This week, one is legendary former UVA quarterback Shawn Moore (some would argue the greatest QB in […]

Bryce Perkins, Part 1: Playing Football Was The Family Business

At top right, Bryce Perkins in his youth leading the Phoenix All-Star team to a national championship in Orlando, FL. Below, from left, Bryce, his Dad Bruce, his Mom Lynette, and his brother Paul Frozen in time is a photograph hanging in the Perkins’ household in Queen Creek, Arizona. It’s a picture that captured 10-year-old Bryce Perkins hurdling over a stunned would-be tackler on a kickoff return. Big brother, Paul Perkins, a star running back at UCLA and now in the backfield of the New York Giants, called the moment “poetry in motion.” “That was one of the most fascinating […]

Wahoos Know Who They Need To Stop To Avoid 2016 Repeat

Virginia will have to keep an eye out for not 1, not 2, but 3 talented Richmond wide receivers The Virginia secondary will have its hands full Saturday when Richmond’s three-headed monster of receiving talent arrives at Scott Stadium. Spider wideouts Dejon Brissett, Tyler Wilkins and Cortrelle Simpson combined for nearly 2,800 yards (over 250 per game) and 20 touchdowns a season ago, each finishing in the top four of the receiving list in the CAA. Coach Bronco Mendenhall knows his defense must concentrate on all three threats this weekend. “I think the simple key is the more you focus […]

Williams’ Goal: Reconnecting UVA Football’s Past With Present

Carla Williams hopes to bring more former UVA players back to campus and reconnect them with the program One of Carla Williams’ goals for the Virginia football team is to reconnect the Cavaliers’ past with the present by bringing former Wahoos back to meet and inspire the current team. Williams, UVa’s director of athletics, stated that goal when she met with state sportswriters back in May. Apparently that project has gone well over the past few months. “I think there has been a significant uptick because there has been a significant emphasis,” Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “Carla has done […]

It’s Time For The Very First Installment Of Hootie’s Mailbag…

Bill Millsaps, my writing idol growing up in the business, used to save some of the mail he received and would reply in a column ever so often. ‘Saps was an 11-time Virginia Sportswriter of the Year, was a Red Smith Award recipient and is in numerous halls of fame. My business partner, Dave Scarangella, suggested that I answer questions weekly on our site and call it “Hootie’s Mailbag,” which for the unknowing out there in cyberspace, is my longtime nickname. In honor of ‘Saps, I’m going to start my mailbag off just the way he used to begin his […]

UVA Players Have Not Forgotten 2016 Game Against Richmond

Bryce Hall said UVA is “a completely different team” from the one that lost to Richmond in 2016 It was right around this time two years ago: The town had just been painted orange, and excitement was building around ‘Hooville and beyond in anticipation of the start of the Bronco Mendenhall era. Then a bunch of Spiders came and spoiled the party. In Mendenhall’s Virginia debut at Scott Stadium on September 3, 2016, Richmond came in and handed it to the Cavaliers. The Spiders dominated in just about every category, capitalized on UVa’s mistakes, and quite frankly made it look […]

Wahoo Notebook: Depth Chart Starting To Take Shape

Bronco Mendenhall said of former Broad Run standout Chuck Davis, “he just catches the ball” If there was any major surprise on Virginia’s two-deep chart at Monday’s opening game week press conference, it had to be Chuck Davis. The sophomore, who played in high school at Broad Run in Ashburn, only appeared in one game last season for Virginia (at Boise State) and didn’t have a single statistic credited to him. Didn’t touch the football. On Monday, however, Davis was listed as one of UVa’s two options as starting punt return man, and as a backup slot receiver behind Olamide […]

It’s Official: Dylan Thompson Joins Wahoo Football Team

Former Ohio State defensive end Dylan Thompson is now officially a Wahoo. The massive graduate senior arrived in Charlottesville late this week and has joined the team, only a week from Virginia’s opener next Saturday against Richmond. Thompson has apparently tied up all academic loose ends in Columbus and is eligible to play for the Cavaliers. Just over a week ago, UVa coach Bronco Mendenhall was not optimistic about Thompson joining the team. “I would say it’s unlikely at this point,” Mendenhall told reporters, referring to Thompson becoming eligible due to coursework at Ohio State. “Until he arrives he’s not […]

UVA Women’s Soccer Wins In Final 29 Seconds Over Bucknell

It came down to the final minute, but the home team found the goal it needed as No. 7 Virginia (4-0-0) got a header from senior Brianna Westrup in the 90th minute to defeat Bucknell (1-3-0) by a score of 1-0 on Sunday afternoon. With seconds remaining in regulation, senior Betsy Brandon set up for a corner kick and sent the ball in toward the far post. Westrup worked her way into space on her run, heading the ball in to put Virginia on top. It was the fifth career goal for Westrup. Four of her five goals are game-winners […]

Joe Bell Scores Game-Winner As UVA Wins Season Opener

Fresh off an Oceania Championship with the New Zealand U-20 National Team last weekend, sophomoreJoe Belldelivered the game-winning goal with 21 seconds left in No. 15 Virginia’s season-opening win over No. 19 New Hampshire (0-1). In a game that seemed destined for overtime, Bell gained control of the ball with under a minute remaining in regulation. The second year carried the ball from near the midfield line all the way into the center of the box where he beat two defenders and then Wildcat goalkeeper Lars Huxsohl for the eventual game-winning tally. The goal for Bell was his third of […]

New Feature: Send In Your Questions To “Hootie’s Mailbag”

If you could take a look at our catch-all email account – – on any given day, you’d probably be surprised by the number of questions we get. Add in the direct messages we get on Twitter and Facebook, and it would appear we could write a weekly column just answering those questions. So we will. Starting this week, we will run a regular feature called “Hootie’s Mailbag”, where Hootie will either answer all questions or give some insight into what the answer should be. Just about every publication these days does something similar to this, but because we’re behind […]

Slowly But Surely, Men’s Soccer Assembling Another Contender

Virginia’s men’s soccer coach George Gelnovatch is slowly putting together another contender After losing a significant chunk of production and experience from last year’s roster, Virginia’s George Gelnovatch is slowly putting together another contender. Make no mistake, his 15th-ranked Cavaliers, who open the season at Klöckner Stadium Friday against No. 19 New Hampshire, have a nice mix of experienced talent and promising youth including eight freshmen and a transfer. Gelnovatch, entering his 23rd season as UVa men’s soccer head coach, just wishes he had a little more time to put together the pieces of this year’s puzzle. “We’ve got a […]

Perhaps Dylan Thompson’s “Unlikely” Status Has Changed?

Dylan Thompson tweets he will be in Charlottesville Friday This is certainly an interesting post on Twitter from Dylan Thompson. Less than a week ago Thompson – the defensive end who is transferring from Ohio State to Charlottesville – was not expected to join the team at all this season. But it would appear from this tweet something has changed. Asked about the chances of Thompson being with the team after last Friday’s practice, UVa football coach Bronco Mendenhall replied “I would say it’s unlikely at this point,” pointing to coursework and becoming eligible as the reasons for such a […]

Wahoos In The NFL: Several Make Their Case In Week 2 Games

Taquan “Smoke” Mizzell scored his second touchdown of the preseason Saturday night for the Chicago Bears Week 2 of the NFL preseason is in the books, and several former Wahoos made a case to land on the 53-man roster of their respective teams when final cuts are announced on September 1st. We’ll start this week’s recap with a 15-year veteran who should have no issues making his squad. Atlanta backup quarterback Matt Schaub looked sharp again Friday, a week after tossing a perfect 9-for-9 performance. This time around against the Chiefs, the 37-year-old former Pro Bowl MVP finished his night […]

Let’s Take The Way Back Machine Way Back…To Nov. 20, 1941

Bill Dudley,who in his final college game, led UVA to a 28-7 win over UNC and snapped a 9-game losing streak to the Tar Heels Welcome to another adventure in “Hootie’s Way Back Machine,” where we travel back into Wahoo history and detail a significant moment. Today, we’re going way, way back to Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 20, 1941, to Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C. It was the final game for legendary Virginia star Bill Dudley, known in these parts as simply the “Bluefield Bullet,” or just the “Bullet.” Was customary in those days for UVa and North Carolina to […]

Cavaliers Get Verbal Commitment From Kadin Shedrick

Kadin Shedrick with UVA Coach Tony Bennett Virginia coach Tony Bennett and his staff joined nearly 30 other schools across the country on August 10th when they offered a scholarship to rising senior Kadin Shedrick. Ten days later, Shedrick announced his verbal commitment to the Cavaliers, less than a week after trimming his list of suitors from over 25 down to eight — UVA, Florida, Indiana, Louisville, Providence, Wake Forest, Wisconsin and Xavier. Shedrick, a 6-foot-10, 200-pound power forward from Holly Springs High School in North Carolina, took an unofficial visit to Charlottesville over the weekend and made it known […]

See Highlights Of UVA’s Second Scrimmage Of The Year

As the year moves within two weeks of the season opener for UVA, the Wahoos had their 14th practice Saturday, which featured their second scrimmage of the summer. Dave Koehn and Tony Covington discuss several video highlights from that scrimmage (courtesy of VirginiaSportsTV), which include a couple of spectacular plays by quarterback Bryce Perkins and freshman wide receiver Tavares Kelly. Take a look…

Being A Deep Threat Will Be De’Vante’s Cross To Bear This Year

De’Vante Cross has shone brightly as a potential deep threat for quarterback Bryce Perkins’ strong arm Heading into fall training camp, one of Bronco Mendenhall’s priorities was to identify at least one legitimate deep receiving threat. With Andre Levrone and Doni Dowling graduated, the search was on to find speedy receivers that can stretch opposing defenses and help open up other avenues for an offense that appears to be blessed with numerous skilled players. Two weeks from the season opener against Richmond, the Cavaliers are making strides. On Friday, Mendenhall rattled off a few players that have made strong impressions […]

Chances Transfer Thompson Joins Team This Season “Unlikely”

The saga of Ohio State transfer defensive end Dylan Thompson appears to have taken another turn according to Wahoo Coach Bronco Mendenhall after this morning’s practice. Thompson had been expected to join the team after finishing summer school classes in Columbus, but Mendenhall described the chances of that happening as “unlikely.” Asked about the delay in Thompson’s arrival and the reasons for it, Mendenhall said “(for) Dylan Thompson (it) is eligibility. Course work and becoming eligible. And so again, until he arrives he’s not part of our team. And right now it would be “If” he arrives would be the […]

Women’s Soccer Kicks Off Season Tonight Against Colgate

As Steve Swanson enters his 19th season as the head coach of the Virginia women’s soccer team, he’s anxious to “put the boat on the water.” He’s also happy to have a few key players back in the mix heading into tonight’s home opener. As of Wednesday, Swanson’s eighth-ranked Cavaliers, who open the season at Klöckner Stadium at 7 p.m. against Colgate, have four important members of the squad back from a summer stint with the U-20 National Team. Second-year midfielder Taryn Torres, an All-ACC preseason selection who led the ‘Hoos in scoring as a freshman in 2017, is back […]