With A Hobbled Secondary, Can ‘Hoos Stop Liberty’s Prolific Passing Game?

By Jerry Ratcliffe

When the casual observer glances at Virginia vs. Liberty this weekend, two things pop out.

One, Liberty is one of the top passing teams in the nation with an experienced senior at quarterback and a big-time receiver to target. Two, UVA’s secondary resembles a M*A*S*H unit with three starters missing with injuries and a lot of inexperienced bodies attempting to fill the void.

The presumption is that the Cavaliers are going to struggle against a quality passing attack, especially considering that one of the nation’s worst passing teams — Georgia Tech — threw for 229 yards against UVA in the Wahoos’ last outing. Tech is ranked No. 120 out of 130 FBS teams in passing with an average of 144 yards per game.

What can an inexperienced secondary do against the Flames’ Stephen “Buckshot” Calvert, who is ranked No. 9 nationally in passing yardage (2,941) and senior receiver Antonio Gandy-Golden, No. 21 in the country in receptions with 64 for 1,244 yards and nine touchdowns?

“Those guys have thrown the ball on everybody,” UVA co-defensive coordinator Kelly Poppinga said Wednesday morning when talking about Liberty’s offense. “They have a great scheme. Coach [Hugh] Freeze (formerly head coach at Ole Miss) has done a great job getting those guys playing at a higher level than a year ago, and I thought they were a pretty good team a year ago.”

Both Poppinga and head coach Bronco Mendenhall have been impressed with what they’ve seen on film.

Consider the quarterbacks Virginia has faced this season, and Poppinga rates Calvert high.

“The guy can sling it, man,” Poppinga said. “He has a strong arm and I think he knows where to throw it. They’ve done a really good job of teaching him where to throw the ball, when to throw the ball. I think he’s exceptionally well-coached. You can see that in every single game.”

So where does Calvert stack up on UVA’s opposing QBs list this season?

“I think Sam Howell (UNC) in my opinion is the best guy we’ve seen this year, which is crazy considering he’s a true freshman,” Poppinga said. “This guy (Calvert) is right up there, probably the second- or third-best we’ve seen.”

While Virginia boasts the No. 23-ranked pass defense in the nation, much of that notoriety was earned earlier in the season before defensive backs began dropping, including All-American cornerback candidate Bryce Hall. Junior free safety Joey Blount is the only original starter remaining in the Cavaliers’ secondary.

Poppinga and Mendenhall are counting on a concentrated effort to accelerate the growth of inexperienced DBs during the bye week to make a difference for the stretch run. UVA is 7-3 and right in the middle of the race to claim the ACC Coastal Division crown.

While Liberty is a non-conference game, it will provide a stiff test for the Wahoos’ defense.

“A bye week is always a positive, especially this time of the year because everybody in the country is beat up,” Poppinga said. “It gave some of our secondary guys with the little experience they’ve had, to get a little more repetition. It allowed us to progress our team mentally, making sure they know what to do, and physically, making sure we’re getting our team healthy.”

UVA won’t have any of its secondary starters back, but there was a focus on getting the inexperienced guys some on-the-job training. 

Joining Blount in the defensive backfield are junior strong safety Chris Moore (11 career starts), junior corner Nick Grant (10 career starts), and junior corner De’Vante Cross (11 career starts). All of those starts haven’t necessarily been at their present positions.

Blount, who has 13 career starts, but has played in more games than that, has become the leader of the secondary after the Cavaliers lost Hall (39 starts), Brenton Nelson (30 starts) and Darrius Bratton (5), who was lost for the season in training camp.

Blount is backed up by freshman Tenyeh Dixon, as is Moore. Cross is backed by sophomore Shawn Smith, who got in on some action against Georgia Tech after only one day of practice. Smith missed two months with a knee injury and had just returned to the team. Redshirt freshman Jaylon Baker backs up Grant.

“Obviously, time helps you have a little more experience,” Poppinga said. “Nothing has changed in the back end (after the bye week). It’s not like the NFL and we can go pick somebody off the waiver wire.

“All our young guys are coming along great, so the defensive back position in the future is looking good with all those freshmen we got in this year.”

Still, that doesn’t help come Saturday against pass-happy Liberty.

Considering that Virginia’s aggressive defense is ranked No. 8 nationally in sacking the quarterback, could that be an option against the Flames, or is it more of a risk? According to Poppinga, it’s 50-50.

“There is a positive and a negative,” he said about blitzing Calvert. “As soon as you bring pressure, the more you’re putting [defensive backs] on an island and you’re hoping the pressure gets there. At the same time, the pressure never makes a quarterback feel good. He’s not going to sit in there feeling all comfortable.

“If we can get the quarterback to move off of this spot, it might help the DBs that might be on an island. If we get pressure and our DBs are on an island, then that helps us. But if they’re on an island and we don’t get pressure, then we’re in trouble. We’ve hung out those DBs to dry.”

That’s what happened a couple of times in the North Carolina game (a 38-31 UVA win). Virginia was sending pressure and didn’t get there.

“If we send them, they better make the quarterback feel uncomfortable because the DBs don’t have all day to cover,” Poppinga said.