UVA lands seven Cavaliers on ACC All-Academic Football Team
Posted on Monday, Jan. 25, 2021, 3:36 pm
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Courtesy UVA Media Relations
Virginia placed seven players on the 2020 Atlantic Coast Conference All-Academic Football Team, as announced by league commissioner John Swofford.
Under Fralin Family Head Football Coach Bronco Mendenhall, UVA has notched 32 All-ACC Academic honorees over his five seasons. That is the most in any five-year span in program history since the ACC started the recognition program in 1954. The previous best was 29 from 1974-78.
It marks the fourth season in a row that UVA has had at least six All-ACC Academic honorees, which is a program-best streak. UVA has had at least six All-ACC Academic honorees 16 times in program history, but until Mendenhall arrived, the Cavaliers never had a streak of at least three years in a row with that many honorees.
Offensive guard Dillon Reinkensmeyer (Sr., Highland Ranch, Colo., degree in global studies, higher education/ MEd) was honored for the fourth season in a row. He is the first player in program history to receive the honor four times in a career.
Safety Joey Blount (Sr., Atlanta, Ga., American studies, gender & sexuality minor), punter Nash Griffin (Sr., Indianapolis, Ind., finance degree, educational psychology/ MEd) and wide receiver Terrell Jana (Sr., Vancouver, B.C., public policy and leadership) picked up the accolade for the second consecutive year.
Cavaliers recognized for the first time were – defensive back D’Angelo Amos (Gr., Richmond, Va., non-degree), Brian Delaney (Sr., Chantilly, Va., foreign affairs) and linebacker Nick Jackson (So., Atlanta, Ga., undeclared and is currently studying in UVA’s College of Arts and Sciences).
Jackson was also named to the All-ACC football team. Blount, listed as a senior in 2020, will return in 2021 as one of eight Cavaliers utilizing the extra year of eligibility afforded by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The ACC has selected an ACC All-Academic Team every year since 1954, and with the addition of this year’s selections, UVA has had 247 student-athletes earn such honors since the inception of the award.
To be eligible for consideration for the team, a student-athlete must have earned a 3.00 grade point average for the previous semester and maintained a 3.00 cumulative average during his undergraduate and/or graduate academic career. All 15 ACC schools were represented on the team.
