In the next few hours, UVa will hold its first game-week media availability of the season. At some point this morning, we’re likely to get a depth chart that may or may not make me look silly. And in the next few days, we’ll hear from players about the pending opener.
That all of those sentences could have easily included the word “finally” frames the situation nicely.
For the first time in a long, long time (if not ever), Virginia will be opening its season against a team that has already played two games. UVa will host Duke on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m., ACC Network) in a (Coastal Division) matchup that should’ve happened in Durham on a Friday night next month. And then it was scheduled for next month in Charlottesville, though the postponed opener against Tech changed that too.
By the time we hear from Bronco Mendenhall today, the Cavaliers will have likely spent varying amount of times in 2020 preparing for four different season-opening opponent.
All of this is not news, though, unless you’ve been living under a rock. After all, how many more ways can we really highlight just how odd 2020 truly is?
The fact of the matter is that this group of Wahoos is primed for a big season, as long as a couple of important question marks are answered effectively. UVa will have to wait a year to defend its Coastal crown and instead have to navigate what is—for now at least—an 11-game jaunt with all but one coming in the league.
Since the ACC announced the revamped schedule last month, some teams on Virginia’s slate have fallen below expectations—sorry, Blue Devils and Cards—and risen above them—looking at you NC State, Miami, and BC.
The most important question facing Mendenhall’s bunch is what life after Bryce Perkins really is like. Brennan Armstrong served as the primary backup the past two years and now will get his shot. Having won the gig early in camp, it’s fair to expect that he’ll hit some bumps along the way and that likely would’ve been the case even in a normal year when he had spring ball and then summer workouts to get timing down with his receivers.
That lack of seat time is a hurdle but one the UVa coaches—as well as Armstrong’s teammates—believe he can clear.
“I would say it looks similar to last year,” he said recently. “The schemes haven’t really changed much. I know I have different skillsets than Bryce and I think I just bring those to the table.”
Armstrong, as you may have surmised both from that quote and from his comments prior, is a pretty confident kid. When UVa went out and landed former four-star Rivals100 transfer Keytaon Thompson from Mississippi State, Armstrong didn’t just rise above any potential noise. He essentially acted as if none was there. And he carried that same ethos into and through the competition on the way to being named QB1.
“I felt confident coming in,” Armstrong said. “I mean, that’s the one thing I just tried to have every day, was just confidence…I was lucky to have two years under my belt [in the system] and coming in with a lot of confident knowing the offense, being able to first day be able to run it right away. The competition was great, makes everyone better. You can’t ask for much more than that.”
Armstrong will have weapons but many of them are unproven, especially with potential star Dontayvion Wicks out for the season. Grad transfer Ra’Shaun Henry figures to be a major piece of the puzzle at receiver, pairing with team captain Terrell Jana to give Armstrong and Co. a nice tandem outside.
It’s the running game that UVa has to show it can lean on consistently, especially with Perkins gone. All indications are that the players and coaches are confident there as well. But until they show it on the field, it remains an unknown.
What’s not an unknown is the depth that UVa returns on defense, a group that should have a formidable front seven and safety depth that provides even more versatility. Not having defensive lineman Aaron Faumui is a blow but the Cavaliers still have standouts galore. The question on D seemed to be what happened at cornerback but even that, sources say, has been ironed out in recent weeks.
Lastly, in a season that will constantly feel like it’s building itself on shifting sands, the biggest story for UVa may well be how the Cavaliers are buoyed by their transfers. Henry and Thompson are joined on offense by TE Tony Poljan (Central Michigan) while safety D’Angelo Amos (JMU) figures to be a starter as well. His former teammate in Harrisonburg, Adeeb Atariwa, gives UVa much needed depth on the D-line, especially in light of Faumui’s decision to opt out. And former Towson RB/return man Shane Simpson will not only be a key in the run game given the lack of depth there but could help Virginia greatly on special teams.
All told, those who are a little unsure about UVa given the loss of Perkins and the potential for a regression to the mean aren’t wrong, per se. They just don’t put stock in the things that a lot of folks closer to the program do. Armstrong’s confidence isn’t going to be shaken, for example, by the size of the moment or the task in front of him. UVa’s culture has been a topic of conversation but it’s worth noting just how entrenched many of the team’s biggest contributors are and also too how well the transfers seem to be meshing.
Whether it started as scheduled or whether it’s been shifted around, football is about to return to the Commonwealth. While most fans may not be in Scott Stadium this fall, the Cavaliers are going to be. Or, at least, are scheduled to be.
Your long, long wait is about to end Wahoos. It’s almost time for your turn.
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