The depth chart released by Virginia leading up to last weekend’s season opener against William & Mary was a portrait of experience in the secondary. All four players listed as starters were in at least their fifth year in the program, including a pair of sixth-year seniors in cornerback Nick Grant and safety De’Vante Cross.
But when the Wahoos took the field for their first defensive series on Saturday night, there was redshirt sophomore Fentrell Cypress—with all of 29 career snaps on defense in his first two college seasons—lining up with the starters at one of the cornerback spots.
“It was a dream come true. I wanted to do that my whole life,” Cypress admitted to CavsCorner this week. “I was getting a little emotional just seeing the crowd and putting the uniform on. It was a great experience.”
Seeing Cypress in the starting secondary against the Tribe was a surprise. He’d only appeared in three games the previous two seasons and wasn’t listed on the two-deep entering the game. In camp, most of the conversations regarding the cornerbacks centered on Grant, who had started UVa’s last 24 games there, fifth-year senior Darrius Bratton and Anthony Johnson, a graduate transfer from Louisville who joined the program this offseason. Bratton and Grant were listed as the two starting corners.
But coaches had been telling Cypress since the outset of camp that he could ascend into a bigger role this year. He’d been getting practice reps with the first-team defense for weeks. The message from coaches, according to Cypress: “Main thing is stay healthy so I can get on the field, and that’s been my main focus. I’ve got the potential to help this defense and help this team win.”
“Fentrell is a real special dude,” said Grant. “He’s real fast. He’s a smooth athlete. You can just look at him, he looks like he doesn’t talk, he doesn’t speak, he just does his job.”
“We’ve always seen glimpses from him but I would say this is the longest stretch he’s been healthy,” the sixth-year senior added. “It’s been more consistent so we can count on him a lot more.”
Cypress had trouble staying on the field for most of his first two seasons. He didn’t offer many details beyond saying he’d dealt with a series of minor setbacks, and no major injuries. He played against Old Dominion and Duke as a true freshman, then logged his first two career tackles in his lone game appearance last year against Wake Forest.
“It’s been tough but I’m trying to stay positive,” the 5-foot-11 Cypress admitted. “Pray about it. Go to treatment. Do as much as I can to stay healthy, even though I’ve been dealing with it for a while.”
With better health has come a bigger opportunity to get the coaching staff’s attention. On Monday, head coach Bronco Mendenhall lauded both Cypress and safety Antonio Clary—another third-year defensive back who has overcome injury issues early in his career to step into a bigger role—for their “really, really diligent effort” during fall camp.
“We have kind of three criteria that we talk about a lot. How durable are you, how consistent are you and how productive are you,” Mendenhall explained. “And those two, from this fall camp all the way through our first game, have been—and unlike previous years where they've been hurt, so they have been there every day, and they have been very productive, and they've done it each day, and so they've built trust. That's how you crack in is you build trust, and that comes from being durable and consistent and productive.”
In camp, Cypress elevated the day-to-day competition level for playing time at cornerback, defensive coordinator Nick Howell said. Howell added that the Hoos are now counting on Cypress to maintain that high level of play in order to retain his starting role.
“Fentrell has done some really, really good stuff and you force your way on the field by making plays,” he said. “There’s guys behind him that aren’t happy, that want to be out there. The best thing that can happen to Fentrell is those guys playing really, really well to force him to play really well.”
Cypress’s emergence at corner has allowed the Cavaliers to shift Grant to the free safety spot in the 3-3-5 alignment they unveiled against W&M. Going into this Saturday’s 11 a.m. matinee against Illinois, Grant is listed on the two-deep at that free safety spot, while Cypress is on the depth chart for the first time as the starter at Grant’s old field corner spot.
Cypress logged one tackle against the Tribe last weekend, a half-sack shared with Noah Taylor that came in the third quarter of the Wahoos’ 43-0 shutout win. According to PFF College, Cypress graded out second behind only Clary among UVa defensive backs for his performance.
Cypress says his strength is as a cover corner with speed to keep up with receivers, though those skills weren’t tested much by a William & Mary offense that only attempted 16 passes on 53 total plays. According to PFF, he played 30 snaps on defense, doubling his career total in the Wahoos’ opener.
He also emerged from his first career start unscathed physically, which is a noteworthy development for a player who’s been nagged by so many minor injuries in his career.
“It feels great to be healthy and actually get on the field, because that’s been holding me back for a while. So I’m thankful and I’ve got to continue to stay healthy,” Cypress said. “Very excited for the whole season, for the whole defense to show the entire country what we can do.”
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