Now that the 2018 regular season has ended, the Cavaliers sit and wait for their bowl destination to be officially announced. In the meantime, we can take a more thorough look at how the team fared this fall by using the Pro Football Focus grades and the cumulative scores for the offense and defense.
Notes On the UVa Offense
Perkins and Zaccheaus lead the way on offense
As may have been expected, Bryce Perkins (777 snaps) and Olamide Zaccheaus (598 snaps) finished with the highest overall grades at 81.5 and 76.1, respectively. In the passing game, Zaccheaus' 78.2 was the best on the team but Perkins wasn't far behind with his 72.5. Perkins also graded out at 79.5 in the running game, which was a team-high and just above the 76.2 that Jordan Ellis graded out with this regular season.
Reed and Dubois have emerged
Elsewhere on offense, while Ellis (613 snaps) finished with the third-highest overall grade (74.9) Joe Reed finished just ahead of Hasise Dubois to round out the top five. Reed's 73.9 grade on 366 snaps was fueled by his consistency: He finished the fall with a 73.8 in passing, a 67.7 in pass pro, and a 76.7 in run blocking (third on the team). Dubois, meanwhile, was in on many more snaps (517) and graded out at 71.7 overall with a 70.1 in passing and a 79.8 in run blocking, which was second highest on the team. Interestingly enough, it was Terrell Jana (276 snaps) and his 85.0 grade in run blocking that paced the team through 12 games.
Offensive line grades show some good with some bad
Among the players in the top 10 in overall grades on offense, only Dillon Reinkensmeyer (697 snaps) is a starter on the OL. His 68.0 on the season is still midrange but when you look for other starters, they're nowhere close. RJ Proctor (352) is 13th at 61.4, Marcus Applefield (a team-high 794 snaps) is right behind him at 60.2, Ryan Nelson (764) is at 21st with a 57.6, and Jake Fieler (743) is at 23rd with a 55.6. In pass pro, Reinkensmeyer's 73.7 grade was fourth best on the team and best on the line. Applefield's 67.7, Nelson's 67.4, and Chris Glaser (500) and his 63.4 grade were the only numbers higher than 60 among linemen. Finally, on the run blocking side, Reinkensmeyer's 68.6 was best among the O-line with Proctor at 62.8, ninth best on the team. None of the other linemen graded above 60. One last note on the OL: Ryan Swoboda made a lot out of his limited reps this season. Across five games he played 58 snaps and put up a 64.8 overall with a 66.9 in run blocking, fifth best on the team.
Notes on the UVa Defense
Hall finishes the year with a huge number overall
As we switch over to defense, it should come as no real surprise that Bryce Hall—who played a team-high 777 snaps during the regular season—paced UVa on that side of the ball. His 90.4 overall was the highest on the team and third highest in the ACC behind Clemson's Christian Wilkins (92.7) and Georgia Tech's Juanyeh Thomas (91.6). He also finished in the top six on the team in all four major defensive categories, leading in both pressure (83.4) and coverage (90.6).
Secondary was remarkably consistent over the year
Going in, most expected UVa's strength to be in the defensive backfield and that proved correct. All four of the team's top overall grades on defense belonged to DBs with Hall being followed by Joey Blount (85.3), Juan Thornhill (83.2) and Tim Harris (81.9) all being the only defenders to grade out in the 80s. In fact, of the top 10 overall grades, six (along with Darrius Bratton at 74.6 and Brenton Nelson at 68.8) belong to defensive backs. Harris graded out with an 85.1 in coverage followed by Blount's 83.4. Interestingly, Charles Snowden was fourth best in that category with an 80.5 across 139 of his 729 snaps. Blount and Thornhill led the team with an 85.3 in run D. Thornhill had a team-high 89.2 in tackling during the course of the regular season.
What might have been
In the end, Richard Burney's medical issue caused him to miss the last nine games of the season but through three, he had a 76.7 overall grade which still ranked him fifth on the year. That he only played 143 snaps feels like a travesty especially since he still finished with an 84.1 grade in run defense, which was good enough for third best on the team. It was a big blow when Jordan Mack broke his collarbone against Louisville, causing him to miss the next four games. He finished the regular season playing 466 snaps, a solid 300 or so less than he normally would have. It's also tough for UVa that the Cavaliers lost Mandy Alonso during the Pitt game. Though he ended with a 63.9 overall grade, his availability was crucial. And to see Malcolm Cook's career end with just four games and just 134 snaps was also tough, too.
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