Olamide Zaccheaus Needs More Touches

By Jerry Ratcliffe

If Virginia is going to have any chance at remaining in the race for the ACC Coastal Division title, one thing is certain: Olamide Zaccheaus needs more touches.

As the Cavaliers’ slot receiver and one of its top two playmakers (along with quarterback Bryce Perkins), Zaccheaus has to get his hands on the ball to make things happen. The whole idea of a slot receiver is to create matchup problems for the defense, forcing cornerbacks out of their normal alignment, and a playmaker such as Zaccheaus should get 10 to 18 touches per game.

In two of Virginia’s three losses this season, Zaccheaus has had a total of nine touches: five vs. Indiana (one rush, five receptions), and vs. Pitt (one rush, four receptions).

I brought up the Pitt game to Bronco Mendenhall during Monday’s press conference and asked him about the few touches Zaccheaus had against the Panthers. Someone else brought it up again during Wednesday’s ACC Coaches teleconference.

Mendenhall confirmed the need to give his weapon more touches.

“I think I’ll go even further to kind of acknowledge maybe the point behind the question,” the coach said. “When we don’t get [Zaccheaus] the ball, we don’t win, or our chances are significantly reduced. That’s just a matter of fact, real thing.

“The more touches he has, the more chances we have to win the football game,” Mendenhall said.

In fact, we remember spring drills when both offensive coordinator Robert Anae and quarterbacks coach Jason Beck both stated that they were going to get the ball in Zaccheaus’ hands as much as possible.

If nothing else this week in preparation for Liberty, the UVa offensive coaches should be exploring more ways to make that happen. There are all sorts of screen passes, from bubbles to jail breaks, and more that can get the ball to Zaccheaus and allow him to use his quickness in the open field.

Five or six touches in a big game is just not enough. If he doesn’t get a chance to contribute against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, then the Cavaliers don’t stand much of a chance in either road game to close the season. That’s why it’s important for the Cavaliers to come up with some creative ways to get him more touches vs. Liberty, and move forward.

“When he doesn’t have touches, I would say yes, it is a combination (of opponents’ schemes, route running, and pass protection), but mostly it’s what the opponents do,” Mendenhall said. “How they might be playing him to take away that one particular component, which then shifts some of that work elsewhere.

“Right now, other than Bryce Perkins, there’s a pretty significant dropoff after those two as to where the production might come from,” Mendenhall said. “What my charge to our offensive staff is to find more ways to make it more difficult to eliminate him, knowing the importance he has to our team.”

If Virginia can’t establish a running game, which it didn’t in all three losses this season, and the Cavaliers become one dimensional, the burden falls chiefly upon Perkins and Zaccheaus to move the football. If Zaccheaus isn’t getting touches, then that’s too much to ask of Perkins to do it alone.