Jana, Henry poised to lead Cavalier receiving corps

By Scott Ratcliffe

With all of the current unknowns in the world of college football, if there is indeed a season starting next month, one thing is for sure — the target for opposing defenses on Virginia senior wideout Terrell Jana’s jersey will expand tremendously.

Jana, a 6-foot, 190-pound native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada by way of nearby Woodberry Forest School, contributed only 30 receptions for 324 yards over the first eight games of the 2019 season.

Jana made a huge splash down the stretch to complement then-seniors Joe Reed and Hasise Dubois. He hauled in 43 receptions for 554 yards — along with all three touchdowns of his UVA career thus far — over the course of the final six games, a crucial stretch for the Cavaliers en route to their first-ever ACC Coastal Division title.

That included his unofficial “coming-out party,” a monster night in Chapel Hill on Nov. 2 when Jana set career highs in receptions (13) and receiving yards (146), which set a team season high in the process. He followed that up with a nine-catch, 108-yard game against Georgia Tech before scoring his first career touchdown the following week against Liberty.

Jana contributed in the division-clinching, streak-ending win over Virginia Tech (4 catches for 56 yards), caught his second TD pass in the ACC Championship game against Clemson, and then capped off his junior year with another solid performance of 126 yards and UVA’s first score in the Orange Bowl against Florida. 

Jana finished the 2019 season with 74 catches for 886 yards (12.0 per catch, 63.3 per game) and 3 touchdowns. He ballooned his yards-per-game average, from right around 40 over the first eight contests to over 90 a pop over the last six.

With Reed and Dubois — who accounted for 152 of the team’s 337 receptions, and combined for 1,741 of the Hoos’ 3,748 yards and 13 of the team’s 23 touchdowns last season — no longer in the picture, Jana is now “the guy” in the receiving corps to keep a close eye on.

According to UVA wide receivers coach Marques Hagans, nothing has changed in that department.

“He is the leader,” Hagans said of Jana. “He is the guy of the group, and even though Joe and Hasise got a lot of notoriety from last year, he was really the leader of the group, and so he really assumes that role again this season. It’s a natural thing to him. And everything that you want in a player is Terrell Jana.

“He’s made himself through hard work, sacrifice and dedication, and I couldn’t pick a better leader to lead this group going into this season because on and off the field, he embodies everything that you want … those guys will follow him wherever he goes.”

Jana is poised to take on that star role, as well as stepping into even more of a vocal leadership role.

“I think definitely I’ve kind of been a lead-by-example kind of guy my whole life, but then as I got older, I kind of learned how you’ve got to use your voice more and step into a more vocal and a more prominent role as a leader, which last year definitely was the start of it,” Jana admitted.

He said that he’s learned a lot from other “great leaders,” and hopes to continue to apply their examples to the younger guys in this year’s group.

“Just seeing how they carried themselves, both on and off the field, and just learning from them, seeing what I like, what I don’t like about some other people, and then do my best to apply that with my own teammates,” said Jana.

“I think my type of leadership is very one-on-one and individual, so hopefully for each person, I’m a type of leader that they need — whether it be vocal, whether it be more personal, one-on-one stuff. I’m just trying to mold myself to them, so I can make them the best player they can be.”

One of Jana’s teammates has seen that leadership on full display in fall camp, even if he hasn’t been here that long. St. Francis (PA) graduate transfer receiver Ra’Shaun Henry recently joined the program, and likes having a guy like Jana on his side.

“Jana has everything I want to be,” said Henry. “I’m not really that vocal like him, but seeing him take leadership the majority of the time is great to see, and it’s something I want to start taking up on as well.”

As for who he’ll be leading, the Hoos also lost transfers Dejon Brissett and Terrell Chatman to graduation, but as Bryce Perkins and Brennan Armstrong both said back in the spring, despite those losses, the receiver unit is in good shape.

Jana joins juniors Tavares Kelly Jr. and Billy Kemp IV, along with sophomore Dontayvion Wicks and Henry, as the main weapons for UVA in the passing game.

Ugo Obasi, a 6-foot, 195-pound sophomore, is still recovering from an injury, but the hope is that he’ll be included in the fold in the near future. Obasi played in 10 games in 2018 as a true freshman, but appeared in only three games last season.

“He’s doing what’s asked of him and we’ll just have to see how the recovery goes, but injuries are an unfortunate part of the game and when he’s ready, he’ll join us and see if he can help us,” Hagans said of Obasi. “But right now, the plan for him is just to recover until he gets healthy.”

Meanwhile, Henry is still getting his feet wet with the Cavalier program. The newest Cavalier wideout described the transfer process as long, but smooth, and credited the UVA staff for the way they’ve assisted in the process and welcomed him in with open arms.

Henry played in 32 career games (14 starts) for the Red Flash, an FCS program. He was an All-Northeast Conference first-team selection in 2019, raking in 90 catches (a league-high and the fourth-highest total in FCS) for 1,118 yards and nine touchdowns.

“He’s got great hands, and just experience,” Jana said of his new teammate. “He had something like 90-plus catches last year, so no matter what division you’re in, it means if the ball’s in the air, you’re going to catch it. So him having great hands and just being a reliable wide receiver for the team is the main thing. And also, I think just him trying to fit into our culture, fit into our team. It’s hard to transfer in for one year, but so far I’m excited for what he’s gonna do.”

At 6-3, 195 pounds, Henry, who recorded four games with 100-plus receiving yards in 2019, realizes that the speed, intensity and level of play will take a significant jump transitioning into FBS competition, but as he pointed out, he saw plenty of talent during his four years at the FCS level. Now, he’s just concerned about getting more familiar with his new environment, the Virginia playbook (he said he studies it every night) and his new teammates, and he’s ready for his chance to contribute.

“Just [to have] the opportunity for me to come into a program to work hard and earn a spot with my brothers, and make an impact truly in game situations,” Henry said of his main goal of deciding to jump up a level for his final college season.

Henry admitted that he was underrated, noting that he got “zero stars” coming out of Copperas Cove HS in Killeen, Texas (the same high school as Robert Griffin III), and was about 20 pounds lighter and several inches shorter.

“That’s why when St. Francis gave me the opportunity, I went in and worked hard and ran with it…,” he said. “I got in there and worked out and grew a little bit which was really good.”

Henry said he dropped several targets as a sophomore, and has worked hard and “honed in” as a result ever since to develop better hands. But where exactly will Henry line up on the field after he breaks the huddle as a Cavalier?

“I would say I can play anywhere, to be honest,” said Henry, who graduated in the spring with a business management degree. “Wherever the team needs me, I’ll play at. My skill set is very broad and I can do basically anything on the field.”

Hagans also likes what he’s seen so far from Henry, especially that set of hands.

“He’s definitely got a skill set of catching the ball, a knack for making plays,” said Hagans, “and now the main thing with him is just getting him accustomed to our culture, how we do things and my expectation and standards within the receiver room, but I’m definitely glad that we have him.”

The receiving corps must continue to work on timing and route-running with Armstrong and Mississippi State transfer Keytaon Thompson, who are battling it out for the starting quarterback job in camp. Everyone involved is excited to see how the competition plays out, but everyone seems to agree that both are uniquely talented and both are capable of leading the offense.

Hagans said that while missing the spring session created unwanted hiccups in terms of everyone getting familiar with one another and being on the same page, the ability to stay connected through the offseason through video conferencing has actually advanced the entire program forward.

Now that everyone is able to finally experience live reps on the same field on a daily basis, Hagans believes his team will be all set for the season opener, which currently isn’t until Sept. 19 in Blacksburg, still a whole month away.

“There’s been a lot of bonding and a lot of chemistry off the field as far as us coming together closer as a unit,” said Hagans, “and now I think the football part is starting to catch up, because we’re able to get out here as a unit and connect with the quarterbacks and kind of make up for that lost time.

“So I think there’s plenty of time before we play to continue to develop that chemistry, but there’s new players in all kinds of positions. So just finding that connection with the quarterbacks, we’ve got new quarterbacks, we’ve got new receivers, and so everybody’s working on finding that timing and chemistry. But I feel confident that with the time that we have, we’ll be able to be where we need to be for the first game.”