Freshman receiver Lavel Davis was the breakout star in the first half of Virginia’s season, but until last weekend he was sidelined for nearly a month. Davis was missed in UVa’s slugfest loss at Miami and also didn’t feature in the upset win over UNC the following week. He returned to the field on Saturday and showed once again how big an asset he can be to the Wahoos.

In his five games played this year, Davis has caught 13 passes for 284 yards with a team-high four touchdowns. He did all of that damage in four games, as he had just two targets and no catches in the loss at Wake Forest with starting QB Brennan Armstrong out of the lineup. Having burst onto the scene with a two-TD effort against Duke in the opener, he has had at least 50 yards receiving in each game that he has played since, except for the aforementioned one at Wake.

After missing two games, Davis returned to form last weekend with four catches for 74 yards and a touchdown in the 31-17 win over Louisville.

On the season, the South Carolina native has been targeted 27 times, 25 coming from Armstrong. He is used out wide quite a bit, with 235 of his 302 snaps on offense coming there and just 67 in the slot position. As any UVa fan could likely guess, many of Davis’ 13 catches have come deep down the field. Of his receptions, six of them have come on throws more than 20 yards down the field, and on those six receptions, Davis has racked up 204 yards and a pair of his four touchdowns. Almost all of that production has come with Armstrong at QB, with a couple of catches coming from Lindell Stone against NC State. Armstrong is 8-for-28 on throws of 20+ yards this season, with 229 yards, a pair of touchdowns, and three interceptions, so it’s clear that throws to Davis have been by far the most successful deep balls down the field.

It was great to see Davis back in the lineup on Saturday, so in today’s Film Room we’re taking a look at his impact on that win and how his skillset and usage can bolster the entire offense when he’s on the field.

Davis’ first catch came in the first quarter of the UVa victory. On this play Davis, as he often will be, is lined up wide on the left side, Armstrong’s strong side. Louisville is running a basic zone coverage here and Davis’ route and Armstrong’s throw allow the rookie wide receiver to make a catch in the soft spot of the coverage.

The play design is strong here, with a running back flaring out into the flat that forces the defensive back to either stick with Davis or cover the flat.

Here’s a better view of the route and catch. Davis does a great job getting inside the defensive back, which is exactly what he wants on this route to make the throw much easier for his quarterback. He gets a step on the corner who is indecisive, and Armstrong is able to make a throw into the open window.

Davis’ physical ability comes into play here in a big way. This throw is a lot more dangerous with a smaller receiver who wouldn’t be able to “box out” the corner trailing and the safety coming up to make a play, but Davis can do that. He gets his body in a good position to jump and make the catch, doing so in a way that prevents either defender from having a play on the ball. That, coupled with a good throw from Armstrong, results in a catch and a 1st down.

Later on the same drive, Davis creates an opportunity for Armstrong where he isn’t the primary target. On this play, Davis is lined up in the slot and runs a post pattern from right to left. The angle on the clip isn’t great but notice how the middle defenders are forced to pay attention to him coming across the middle deep, simply because of how effective he has been making catches down the field this year. When the defenders slide with Davis from left to right, that opens up space for Tony Poljan to run into the vacated area behind the receiver. The play ended in a fumble but it’s quite clear that the throw and catch to the tight end worked as designed, with Davis clearing out.

This is the effect that Davis can have on the rest of the offense. His physical gifts and tendency to run deeper routes force the defense to respect whatever he is doing, which can open up things for other players. This is also a great way to use Davis in the slot, where he can run deep routes like this one, which clears out space and opens up a soft spot in the defense for an outside receiver, running back or tight end to drop into.

Davis’ second catch of the day is somewhat similar to the first. This time he is in the slot left and runs a simple seam route. He does a good job getting inside of the defensive back at the line of scrimmage and running into the soft spot in the defense. Armstrong times his throw well, putting the ball in a relatively small window for the catch.

This play demonstrates Armstrong’s belief in Davis, and the first-year receiver was his primary read on this play. Davis hasn’t had many opportunities to run after the catch this year but he does a nice job doing just that on this play.