Lessons Learned: Answering three UVa spring ball questions

Heading into the last week of spring practice, we asked three questions a week ago that we were hoping might get answered when the Wahoos took the field at Scott Stadium on Saturday to close out their final session of 2021.

Now, having watched that practice in its entirety, it’s time to check back in on last week's questions by sharing the answers we were able to glean from what we saw in Charlottesville.

When we discussed this last Monday, we openly wondered what the time without Lavel Davis this spring meant for UVa’s wide receivers. What we surmised then—that Ra’Shaun Henry and Dontayvion Wicks would end up being the headliners—proved to be correct.

Though Henry was “unavailable” on Saturday per Bronco Mendenhall (not for disciplinary reasons, he pointed out), the Cavaliers were able to focus on Wicks. And the Louisiana showed out, scoring touchdowns and gaining a lot of yards throughout the scrimmage portion of practice. That duo in addition to Billy Kemp, Keytaon Thompson, and TE Jelani Woods, give the Hoos the confidence, as Brennan Armstrong said, that they can have the best offense in the league.

“We’re really, really, really hopeful and we think we have to go one-for-one there,” Mendenhall said of losing Davis and getting Wicks back following the injury that cost him the 2020 season. “And not to discount either individual but Lavel was counted on and integral into our planning for this year. Dontayvion was out a year ago so we’re so hopeful [for] Dontayvion. He received a lot of targets today and that was intentional, especially when we didn’t have Billy Kemp in or Jelani Woods, to make sure he could have enough targets.

“So one of our primary focuses of today was just to ensure that he got enough volume to continue to emerge, knowing that Lavel had the entire season last year,” he added. “We’re working to catch up Dontayvion as fast as we can. He’s an essential part—not just an optional part—for our offense and for our receiving corps.”

While UVa looks to keep pushing Wicks toward the load he’ll be carrying this fall, it’s also clear that the staff sees Thompson as someone who can make a big impact specifically in the passing game.

“Based on our depth at receiver, and the different skillsets we have, we really like his ability to catch the ball,” Mendenhall said of the versatile Thompson. “We think we actually need another pass catcher and he’s long, and he’s got such a great catch radius, and he’s a tough matchup for linebackers and safeties. So, we like that. So you’ll probably see an increased volume in the receiving part with even expanded roles in the other parts. But if the percent style shifts anywhere, it’s probably going to shift slightly more to the receiving area.”

Ultimately, the nucleus is there for the Wahoos to boast a solid WR corps with younger guys like Nathaniel Beal and Demick Starling being potential breakouts. But Wicks is going to have to provide a lot of production and Thompson is going to see a lot more time out wide. That much was clear to everyone watching this weekeend.

We also discussed the virtual dead heat among Wayne Taulapapa, Mike Hollins, and Ronnie Walker at running back. With more time to watch their guys, the coaches decided to focus Saturday’s reps on the two least experienced players among that trio.

“Wayne’s had an amazing offseason and a really good spring,” Mendenhall said. “Mike Hollins is returning and Ronnie Walker is returning. But neither have had the number of touches as Wayne has had. So we just wanted to see, especially today, a little bit more of them. But there’s nothing to read into that other than Wayne’s done a really nice job, we know exactly [who he is], and he’s playing at a higher level than he ever has. It was one more chance to develop and see the other running backs.”

This is a competition that’s certain to spill out into fall camp and maybe beyond but it’s also likely that regardless of who starts, this will be a committee approach at least in part.

What’s also clear is that Amaad Foston, a 2021 signee who enrolled early, has already carved out a niche.

“Amaad is most likely our best pass catcher out of the backfield immediately,” Mendenhall said after Foston shined in the scrimmage. “And that also leads to—because he’s physical and he’s tough—special teams as well. So you kind of saw a glimpse of what he is. We really like him.”

The bulk of Saturday’s scrimmage work was passing situations but there was some “thud” periods with hitting and the RBs all showed well. We can’t definitively say that UVa will look to run it more in a traditional sense this season given what we saw this spring but we certainly can say the Cavaliers believe they’ve got the right mix of talent to do so.

Lastly, this is one that may have been specific to LB but the answer spanned elements of the secondary as well.

If everything we heard—both from actual team members and sources around them—implied a move to a 3-3-5 scheme, Saturday’s scrimmage portions all but confirmed it. But Mendenhall wasn’t prepared to go that far, as least not publicly when we asked about the stack.

“We’re just using the best personnel we have at this point in the spring,” he explained. “One of my core beliefs is we just find the best 11 players at any time and that’s who we play with. So nothing is different from what we have done before. Shoot, when we first arrived the same configuration existed. So you saw about every configuration we had today with the resources we have. Our secondary right now is deeper, right? And the numbers are allowing us to do that. With offenses in college, including our own, when they’re so spread out, it just makes more sense for both at this point in the spring.”

Even without several pieces, including CBs Nick Grant (injury) and Josh Hayes (who will arrive this summer), the depth at defensive back was on full display this weekend. When asked, Mendenhall made clear that production will win out no matter what.

“It’s as fierce a competition as we can develop to put the best five football players on the field,” he said of the secondary. “If that ends up being five corners, it’s five corners. If it’s one safety and four corners, that’s what it is. In the game of college football now, there’s so much RPO, right? So much covering the slot and so much tackling. The best five cover-and-tackle players will be on the field for us regardless of position. We’re going to drive and leverage that competition all the way up to the very first game and every game after to ensure we have the best five players out there. That’s why you saw us add another graduate transfer as well.”

Perhaps just as important as who plays will be the overall nature of the defense, which is a big focus for Mendenhall and Co. coming out of 2020 when he felt the team wasn’t physical enough. While he liked what he saw from his team this spring in terms of culture and in terms of buy-in he also said he was “not yet satisfied with how physical, how competitive, and how violent we are” and said UVa was “making strides, returning to, but not yet arrived.”

Big plays were certainly an issue last fall but it’s clear that he believes the mindset and physicality were too.

“We’ll worry about execution after that,” he added.

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