Kitchings believes his offense is loaded at wide receiver

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Des Kitchings feels like he has a deep talent pool in his wide receivers room, probably eight deep, which easily translates into a six-man rotation during training camp.

Virginia’s wideouts have been working all summer with quarterbacks Chandler Morris and Daniel Kaelin, building chemistry for training camp.

Fourth-year receiver Andre Greene Jr., who transferred a year ago from North Carolina and contributed last season, said this is the most talented group of receivers he has worked with.

“There’s no days off, it’s constant competition, healthy competition, but it’s like, you look to the guy to the left, look to the guy to the right of you and they’re all working super hard,” Greene said. “They’re all really talented and we all just want to help this team win.

“I’ve learned a lot from the other receivers and hopefully they’ve learned a lot from me, but we have a lot of depth.”

Kitchings said he believes the receiving corps is comfortable with one another as he’s observed them hanging out together through the summer, working together, working extra in the indoor facility, catching a lot of footballs.

“You’ve got guys like TyLyric Coleman (third year, Danville), who had a flash in fall camp last year and then suffered an injury, and Kam Courtney (second year, Mansassas), going into his second year, has the flexibility to play the slot in our Z receiver,” Kitchings said.

“So then there’s Suderian Harrison (third year, Mccormick, S.C.), another guy who has flexibility, and Eli Wood (fourth year, Lynchburg) is a guy that’s been productive, has earned some work. There’s Jahmal Edrine (fourth year, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) and Jayden Thomas (fifth year, Paulding County, Ga.), Andre Greene, Dillon Newton-Short (first year, Matoaca), Josiah Abdullah (first year, Columbus, Ga.), those last two having gotten here early, giving those kids an advantage.”

Virginia’s staff is attempting to give them plenty of reps with both quarterbacks in order to build an arsenal of pass receivers that can give fits to opposing secondaries.

Greene has been credited with having a great offseason and appears healthy and ready to go.

“Dre has physical confidence and athletic confidence,” Kitchings said. “When he came in (before last season), he experienced some injuries, then fully trusted our strength and conditioning, our sports medicine group, to get his body right, to develop and change. He doesn’t have those little nicks of injuries that may have sidelined him a little bit, so I think with all that, he’s become a powerful young man and he could play a role for us this year.”

If that corps of receivers develop in training camp the way Kitchings expects and the running game comes along, he’s hoping that he will have command of the most weapons Virginia has had in his four years on the job.