Scattershooting: UVA winning in the portal; Hollins a super hero; Colandrea, Bob Hope in nuggets

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Scattershooting around the ACC, while noting that maybe Virginia football has figured a few things out …

Let’s start with the NCAA transfer portal. While UVA’s recruiting pool out of the portal is smaller than the majority of FBS schools (due to academic restrictions), Tony Elliott and his staff are doing pretty good the second time around. Last year they did manage to bring in record-breaking receiver Malik Washington, running back Kobe Pace, quarterback Tony Muskett and a few offensive linemen, but this year is trending upward.

While it’s early in the portal, UVA ranks No. 13 (On3.com) and No. 17 (247Sports) nationally in transfer portal rankings. The Cavaliers have three portal commitments thus far, highlighted by Notre Dame’s leading receiver in 2023, Chris Tyree.

If Virginia can continue that momentum, it’s a good sign for ‘24 and could make up for what isn’t predicted to be a good high school recruiting class (UVA ranks next-to-last in the ACC recruiting rankings for the upcoming signing date next week).

It appears that Elliott is definitely going after portal players from the state of Virginia in an attempt to beef up a roster that will include more Virginians. Tyree is from Chester. Former Harvard tight end Tyler Neville, a two-time, first-team All-Ivy League player, is from Williamsburg. It’s a smart strategy.

Our spies tell us that UVA has also come up with more NIL funds from donors, which might partly explain why Elliott’s staff has done a good job thus far in retaining players. The previous two years, Virginia has been hurt via mass exits into the portal.

So far, the Cavaliers have lost a dozen players, but only two part-time starters, mostly reserves or guys who didn’t play, unlike Duke, which has lost lots of its players after Mike Elko bailed for A&M.

Speaking of the portal

Virginia offered UMass transfer Jordan Mahoney on Wednesday. Mahoney is a 6-foot, 180-pound cornerback with two years of eligibility remaining. He could fill a void in UVA’s secondary considering that Sam Westfall and Coen King’s eligibility expired.

Mahoney made Phil Steele’s All-Independent Team as first-team corner in 2022 and was included on the 2023 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List. He has offers from Utah State, Georgia State, Temple and Arkansas State.

This past season, Mahoney played in eight games and had 29 tackles (20 solo), 1.5 tackles for loss, 3 passes broken up and one forced fumble. In 2022 he played in all 12 games for the Minutemen with 42 tackles (28 solos), 3 TFLs, 3 forced fumbles, 3 fumble recoveries, 6 PBUs and 3 interceptions (including one returned for a TD). In 2021, he played in 11 games, had 29 tackles and 3 PBUs.

The NCAA transfer portal allows two standard windows for football, which includes a 30-day span that began Dec. 4 and goes through Jan. 2. The second window is a 16-day span from April 15-30.

Mr. Courage: UVA’s Mike Hollins

I can’t really think of a more deserving person for the Football Writers Association of America’s Courage Award (sponsored by the Capital One Orange Bowl) than Virginia running back Mike Hollins, who was named the winner on Wednesday.

Unless you’ve been in a cave for the past 13 months, you’re familiar with Hollins’ story, how he ran back onto the bus to help his teammates during the Nov. 13, 2022, slayings of UVA football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis and D’Sean Perry. Hollins was shot twice.

After surgeries and rehab, Hollins returned to the team for spring practice, scored a touchdown in the spring game and rushed for 274 yards and 7 touchdowns on 80 carries this past season. He finished his career with 814 yards rushing, 242 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns. He was one of the team captains and received the ACC’s Brian Piccolo Award (most courageous player). He was an academic All-ACC recipient and ACC Honor Roll member in 2022.

For a guy to come back from what Hollins experienced is remarkable. When his roommate and fellow running back Perris Jones described Hollins as a “superhero,” he couldn’t have been more spot-on.

“It meant a lot to me,” Hollins said about playing this season. “I feel like all season it meant a little bit more to me than it did for everyone else. It wasn’t really the wins or losses that really mattered. It was the effort and knowing what you were playing for. This year was just about will — showing your will, showing your will to compete, to win, because it’s clearer than ever that football is much bigger than us.

“That was just on my mind all year, every day, and obviously I had a spotlight on me that I didn’t ask for. Through my faith I was able to carry it, through my teammates, I was able to carry it and through those parents that lost their sons I was also able to carry it.”

We salute you, Mike Hollins. You truly are a superhero.

Stat of the Day

Look Hoos leading the ACC in steals: No. 1 Reece Beekman — 2.8 steals per game; No. 2 Ryan Dunn — 2.6 steals per game.

Hootie’s Golden Nuggets

• Future UVA men’s tennis player Joao Fonseca is ending the year ranked as the world No. 1 junior and an ITF World Champion. The 17-year-old became the first Brazilian junior to earn that ITF distinction. “I am very proud of my junior career and it is an honor to be the first Brazilian ever to finish the year as the No. 1 in the world and receive the ITF World Champion award,” Fonseca said. “I hope to inspire the next generation and achieve all the amazing things that all the Brazilian legends achieved.” He was a 2022 Davis Cup champion for Brazil as well. Fonseca reached the quarterfinals of three Grand Slam junior events: the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon.
• Tony Elliott has to feel good about the fact that his Virginia program ranked sixth in the nation in most snaps played by freshmen this season. UVA had 2,225 snaps that freshmen participated in for 2023 according to Pro Football Focus. Here’s the top 10: 1) Clemson 3,991; 2) South Carolina 3,147; 3) Miami 2,710; 4) Texas A&M 2,692; 5) Florida 2,660; 6) Virginia 2,225; 7) Stanford 2,112; 8) Georgia 2,010; 9) Alabama 1,999; 10) Baylor 1,978.
• Interesting note out of Chapel Hill. UNC football is expecting 20 early enrollees next month for its class of 2024.
• Twitter follower Jonathan Sher (@SherOnHealth), a former trombone player in the Pep Band, reminded me recently about legendary comedian Bob Hope surprising UVA football fans at a 1984 game when Hope popped out of a big fake cake during the Pep Band’s performance at a game that season. Now that was legendary.
• Virginia point-guard target for the recruiting class of 2025, Charlottesville’s Chance Mallory, a 5-foot-10 star for St. Anne’s-Belfield, is ranked the No. 80 player in the nation at any position in his class by On3.com. Mallory recently spoke to On3 about his recruitment and said he has not taken any official visits, but has taken unofficial visits to UVA, Clemson, Maryland and Virginia Tech. So what about Virginia? “I’ve been around the basketball there since I was little, so when I went on my visit it was really to learn more about the school part and how their academics work,” Mallory told On3. “It’s very family-like for me there. I’m good friends with Eli (Tony Bennett’s son) and Austin (associate head coach Jason Williford’s son), so I’ve just been around their families a lot.” BTW, Mallory had 35 points (17 in the fourth quarter) in STAB’s win over Miller School on Tuesday night. Virginia’s coaching staff and several players were in attendance.
• Former Virginia All-ACC linebacker Micah Kiser on Notre Dame transfer Chris Tyree: “I had to hate-watch Chris play at ND all these years. Remember him camping at Coach BM’s (Bronco Mendenhall) camp as a 15 year old. Was the best dude there by a mile.”
• KeShawn Adams, the second-ranked UVA commitment for the upcoming signing class, said he has decided to enroll in January. Rated the top safety prospect in New England, his development could be accelerated by a full winter conditioning and spring practice.
• Every ACC football team except Virginia has posted a 10-plus winning season since 2002. UVA has only recorded one 10-win season in its football history, 1989.
• Anthony Colandrea finished No. 1 among all Power 5 conference freshmen quarterbacks by averaging 272.9 total yards per game.
• Former Cavalier cornerback Dave Herard, who announced he had entered the transfer portal, has an offer from former UVA head coach Bronco Mendenhall at New Mexico.