Blount Eager To Get Back On The Field For The ‘Hoos

By Scott Ratcliffe

It was a long offseason for UVA free safety Joey Blount. Battling back from ankle surgery for six months was grueling for the talented third-year DB, but Blount is back to 100 percent and ready for another successful season.

“I’m feeling great,” said Blount, who was cleared for play the last week of July. “I’ve been working hard, and this offseason was rough. I missed being out with the guys, so getting that clearance and getting out on the field and everything, it felt really good.”

Blount played in all but two games for the Cavaliers in 2018, making five starts in the secondary. He recorded 65 tackles (39 solo) and 5 tackles for loss, while picking off a pair of passes and causing a pair of fumbles.

He set a career high with 13 stops (12 solo) at Indiana, and his breakout performance came in the upset of ACC Coastal Division rival Miami, in which he made a highlight-reel, 31-yard interception return to set up the game’s first points.

Blount says he’s learned a ton from former secondary mates like Quin Blanding and Juan Thornhill, who are now playing professionally. Now that he’s a lock atop the depth chart, Blount is ready to help lead the strong, deep unit, even with the losses of Thornhill (who led the ‘Hoos in tackles and interceptions) and Tim Harris to the NFL, along with injured cornerback Darius Bratton.

“There’s shoes to fill — bigger shoes to fill,” Blount admitted. “My first year with Quin, last year I was with Juan … now it’s just the guys that are here now. There are a lot of names that aren’t big names yet, but I think the shoes to fill are easily filled, so I think we’ll do a good job without Juan and them. It’s going to be exciting.”

There’s one thing in particular that Blount said he took from Thornhill’s game.

“That being versatile is very important,” explained Blount. “If you can do a lot of things at once, [play] a lot of different positions, learn different positions, that your draft stock will increase. The ability to be all around the field and be used in different positions is what the coaches were looking for, and [Thornhill’s] knowledge and quickness and his ability to play at the different positions really helped him a lot.”

There’s another guy who passed up on making millions in the NFL — for one more year, at least. Blount says having all-everything cornerback Bryce Hall back in the fold is a blessing for the Virginia program.

“He said, ‘I’m not going anywhere,’” Blount revealed of the moment when Hall told his teammates late last season that he’d be back for his senior year. “Bryce was really serious about how he said that he had stuff to finish, he had a job to do, and we were just breaking the iceberg right now.

“Bryce and I have a great relationship. We’re both goofy, have fun with each other. We can look at each other and know the call and other than that, we’re very close. So being close with a teammate on the field just helps with the coronation as well.”

Not only is the bond tight between the two, but Blount adds that with Hall’s renowned work ethic, preparation and experience, it’s like having an extra coach out on the field at all times.

“His level of study is expertise at this point,” Blount said of Hall, “but sitting with him and just learning the way — what he reads and seeing how he talks, and how his emotions on the field correlate to what he talks to us about in the film room helps … So, when you see someone like that teaching you how to look at an offensive tackle position, their stance, or you look at a receiver, the numbers of the hash … it’s another coach, but a coach that helps at your position. So it’s like a student-led person that helps you develop as an athlete, as a true player of the game.”

Blount says Hall shows him lots of “little things” that go a long way in terms of alignment and it helps being prepared for what opposing offenses might throw his way before the snap.

“When you film-study for the week, and you know [the opposition’s] concepts prior to the game, you kind of can act fast,” he explained. “And [Hall] plays as he anticipates because he’s studied, so that’s something I’m trying to work on — anticipating routes, just having my film study speak for itself.”

The chemistry is also there between Blount and “sabre” safety Brenton Nelson, who went through a similar ankle injury in the offseason. Blount said the two juniors were “rehab partners,” and will continue to have each other’s back — on and off the field — throughout the campaign.

“We both went through it different ways, but we just kept pushing each other,” Blount said. “We’re just happy to be back, just to put the pads back on, and helping one another out with the position. Playing safety is not just you, you have to coordinate the whole defense back there. I think Brenton and I do a great job of communicating with each other.”

Blount added that like with Hall, he and Nelson also have a special way of communicating on the field, which allows them to be on the same page during the sometimes-hectic moments in between plays when there’s so much going on.

“I guess Brenton is more the cover guy, quickness, and I can come down and play downhill,” Blount pointed out, “and when there’s a one-on-one matchup, Brenton can jump on that and I can play the middle of the field, or if it’s a back I can come out of the box.”

Blount is the son of another former Wahoo, Tony Blount (1976-79), and that’s where he says that’s where he gets his nose for the ball.

“My dad really taught me everything I know,” said Joey. “You know, ‘If you come in scared, you’re gonna get hurt, so you’ve got to make sure you don’t come in scared at all.’”

Blount has demonstrated on multiple occasions that he plays without fear. When asked about his personal goals for the upcoming season, Blount hopes to record at least 80 tackles and match or exceed his interception total of 2. He would like to grade out at a 90 or better with Pro Football Focus (PFF), a service that grades players on both the college and pro levels based on performance. PFF recently named Blount to their All-ACC preseason First-Team Defense.

Along with the personal accolades comes the loftier team expectations. Blount said the Coastal prediction is nice, but everything will be decided on the gridiron.

“I feel like as a team, we don’t feel like we’ve earned anything yet. We’re still chasing the goal,” said Blount.

It all starts Saturday night in a place the Cavaliers have never prevailed. Blount admitted that getting over the hump against a new-look Pitt team would be the perfect way to kick things off with a bang, while checking another item off of the list of program goals.

“This game is super important for the culture of our program, our coaches,” Blount said. “We have not beaten Pitt yet, and that’s one thing we can’t say we’ve done as a team, as a culture. So one thing we want to do for the culture, for believing in ourselves, we want to beat Pitt.”

As Blount explained, the team motto has evolved from “The New Standard” to now just simply being accepted as ‘the standard,’ adding that the new motto, “Believe,” is going to continue to help put UVA football back on the map.

“What’s the next part of our standard? Getting the whole team to believe in it,” he said. “And that’s why this whole motto of being able to believe — believe in ourselves, believe in the culture, believe in the program, believe in the coaches, believing in each other — really will help us get to a position of actually winning and attaining the goals that we’re chasing right now.”

Blount thinks the formula sets up tremendously well for the future success of the program as well.

“Kids come in and they just know what they’re getting into,” said Blount. “They’re getting into a program that believes in each other, believes in the opportunity that we have, and that the belief is not going to waver.”