Football season is (finally) here and as the Wahoos are set to get into their first full week of camp following last Friday’s opener, we wanted to check in on several of the takeaways from the first session.

Since media members only get to watch the first 30 minutes, the comments made after practice by Bronco Mendenhall tend to color a lot. While much of his post-practice time was spent sharing memories of his late father, Paul, the fourth-year head coach had plenty to say about this team and where things are as camp gets going.

Here are our three main takeaways from the first practice:

With Jordan Ellis having exhausted his eligibility, UVa has to replace its workhorse at running back. As we talked about last week, this was always going to be one of the focal points in camp with returners like PK Kier and Wayne Taulapapa as well as newcomer Mike Hollins in the mix. On Friday night Mendenhall framed that position battle, explaining why his desire is to find a guy who can be the go-to at running back for the season rather than chopping up those responsibilities.

“I hope it does shape up,” he said. “I really like PK’s potential and I really like Mike Hollins’ potential. And, man, it’s one of my goals to have a clearer idea by the end of camp who or which one of them can become Ellis-like. It might be both. It might be one. I’m not sure yet. Coming out of spring the player that surprised us most was Wayne Taulapapa. So, he’s the most reliable if we’re saying today. Between those three someone, I hope, is the primary ball carrier. I’d rather it be that then by committee but too early to say right now.

“I prefer it,” Mendenhall said on followup when asked if he wanted a primary back who carried the workload like Ellis did. “I like the continuity and the chemistry between quarterback, running back, offensive line. I prefer that. That doesn’t mean, though, that the other won’t work. So, we’ll do whatever’s best for this team.”

At the end of last season, Virginia’s defensive line would’ve looked like a mash unit if all of the various players had been able to make the trip to the Belk Bowl. And now, it looks like this:

That both the defensive and offensive lines have improved numbers and health with added experience is a good thing. But each has more to prove, especially when it comes to the ground game.

“Man, having Richard Burney back really, really helps,” Mendenhall said of the D-line. “We were so thin [that] a lot of players played. So, [gained] experience but also with more size and strength. The bodies and the strength and size is different…It’s really the first time, besides our starting three, that we can go deeper than that. Feel pretty confident, hopefully we maintain that all the way to the start of the season.”

But when it comes to the front being more physical against the run, Mendenhall was succinct: “We have to be…This will be our best chance to accomplish that.” In order for the program to take a step forward, he said, the interiors on both sides of the ball have to be better. The defense is still closer than the offense Mendenhall explained, saying he wants opponents to average no more than 3.5 yards per carry. “Fourteen years of data says that leads to an 85-percent threshold to win, so that’s 10 wins or more per season. We don’t pay attention to anything under then that,” he said.

As for the O-line, it’s the position that Mendenhall pointed to when asked what worried him most.

“I would love our offensive line to be more dominant and even though our numbers, our scholarship numbers, and the position is healthier I would love to be able to run the football when we want to in any situation to close out a game, if we’re in obvious pass situations to protect the quarterback at a higher level,” he said. “So, while the position is becoming healthier, the dominance of the position in terms of yield on the field still isn’t meeting expectations. We’re going to work hard on that this camp.”

That the Cavaliers were picked to win the division was the first thing Mendenhall said he talked to his team about on Friday when he held their first meeting.

They have a model of performance, he explained, and anything they can’t control they call “interference.” Preseason things are given, not earned. The past three years they worked hard to be considered and relevant.

“All that does really,” he said, “is set the stage for the season. Our play has to take over.”

Asked later if he needed to do things to keep his team humble Mendenhall said, “I don’t think there needs to be much humbling. There’s way too much work to do. That’s what the players hear from me consistently. I think that, while I won’t dismiss the prediction—because of the work it’s taken to become relevant—that certainly has to be accounted for, just enough to then say maybe we’re just beginning. There’s some satisfaction for at least the acknowledgement and the right after the acknowledgement, it’s ‘Okay, we’re done with that let’s practice.’ "

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