Mims and UVa's receivers keep building on early success, depth

In Tony Elliott’s third year leading the UVa football program, the roster has changed considerably across the board. Among those that have changed, the receivers group looked like arguably the strongest when the new staff got to Charlottesville but has shifted considerably.

Coming off his first year when little was expected from his charges, Adam Mims has seen his receivers were a bit of a bright spot, with one impact transfer setting school records, a younger receiver emerging as a potential impact guy, and several freshmen being worked into the rotation.

As the Hoos work through spring football, the receiver room again looks different but what they put out there in the fall gives hope that the new crop, combined with what the Cavaliers bring back, can provide the weapons needed on the edge.

“Spring is a period for evaluation,” Mims said after practice Thursday. “Seeing the movement skills, seeing the retention. Getting a base understanding of who are the ones that are going to be able to help us. For the most part we have a lot of guys that have played at a high level. So you have a good idea of those ones, but you try to find those surprise guys, the ones that surprise you a little bit. Spring is great because everyone gets an opportunity to showcase their skillset. That’s not only on the field, but its in the classroom, in the meetings, in the weight room. There’s an abundance of opportunities and how they take advantage of it day to day, that’s the coolest thing to see.”

Mims continues to preach to his receivers that every day is an opportunity and that the spring is their chance to make a statement and earn trust from the staff that they can make plays on Saturdays in the fall.

“When we go out in practice and the guys get these opportunities, I tell them what they put on film is their resume,” he explained. “You see the ones that take advantage of it, some, they take a little longer. We’ll continue to use that time and continue to press these guys, challenge them and encourage them to be the best version of themselves they can be. And at the end of the day, the cream is going to rise to the top.”

The second-year assistant is happy with how the group is competing but also with their progress in working together off the field.

“I’ve been extremely pleased by how close they are as a group, how tight knit they are as a group,” Mims said. “The guys have been working hard, and that’s across the board. Not just the receivers but our entire team. The buy in is completely there, and that is the one thing that you hope for, that you ask for in the offseason, just guys that will work hard.”

A big part of the chemistry for the receivers is how the new faces fit in. Virginia brought in three talented transfers, Chris Tyree from Notre Dame, Andre Greene from North Carolina and Trell Harris from Kent State, three players who have either had significant productivity at the collegiate level, were top-end talents coming out of high school, or both. Mims explained to the returnees that they had a lot of production to replace and the Cavalier staff was aggressive in getting that done.

“I explained to the guys back in December that my job is to find the best players and we were able to find some pretty good ones to come in and fill some of the holes that we had,” he said. “It’s healthy competition. I encourage these guys to have healthy competition and push each other to be better.”

While the staff wants to add the best players they can find, they also know guys have a lot to learn in a short time and there are still unknowns even after that process has played out.

“Recruiting has changed, big time, especially with the addition of the transfer portal,” Mims said. “December is like speed dating, and you’re just trying to find out as much about a kid as possible, and you just hope and pray that you’ve uncovered every stone and there aren’t any red flags. Over the past two years we’ve been extremely fortunate to bring in some guys that have really helped this team, helped our room, and been such great teammates and great people for our program.”

And though UVa is only a few practices into spring ball, the returns on the three incoming transfers appear to be good thus far.

“When you talk about Chris Tyree and Andre and Trell Harris, those guys have come in they’ve done extremely well,” Mims said. “They’ve been great in the locker room, they’re smart, they thirst for knowledge.They compete, they’re already good players, which we know.

“They’ve already developed a really, really good rapport with the rest of the team, just with their day in, day out mentality of just coming to work,” he added. “I’ve been really pleased with the development of those guys and how they’re coming along. We’ve still got a lot of growing to do with them but they’ve been really, really good additions.”

UVa was able to land those three players in part because of the opportunity left following Malik Washington’s production and departure but also because his success in one season at UVa shows what’s possible for other incoming transfers.

“It’s helped tremendously,” Mims said of using Washington’s success as an example on the trail. “I can’t say enough about Malik Washington and what he was able to do for our program. You look at Malik and what he did in the span of a year, on the field and off the field, he really is the standard of what we want out of our players. Being able to go into homes and talk to receivers we were recruiting, and give that example, not only in a football sense, but academically, socially, it’s helped us.”

The Wahoos also bring back a good amount of experience back with Malachi Fields, JR Wilson, Suderian Harrison and Jaden Gibson in the mix. When asked how UVa was able to keep the existing receivers on the roster and out of the portal, Mims gave the credit to the program’s culture and to his boss.

“It’s a testament to Coach (Elliott) and what he’s building over here,” Mims explained. “This day and age, where a lot of kids kind of try to venture out and see what else is out there, we’ve done a pretty good job of just retaining our kids. A lot of that is Coach E and his message and what it is that he’s building, the care and love we show to our kids.

“They know they’re going to get coached hard and they know that it’s going to be tough but they know they’re going to get love as well,” he added. “They understand the importance of academics here, and they understand the education piece and what they can acquire, not just from playing football here but being a scholar here.”