When the Los Angeles Chargers released their depth chart the other day, a familiar name to UVa fans was listed at the starter at kickoff return. Unfortunately for the Wahoos, Joe Reed is no longer suiting up in orange and blue.

And that’s the challenge for special teams coordinator Ricky Brumfield this summer, as the program looks to replace easily its most valuable player at that spot.

In his third year at Virginia, Brumfield is looking to settle on not just a kickoff specialist but also a punt returner. Junior Billy Kemp returned all but three punts in 2019 but with UVa bringing in grad transfers like Towson’s Shane Simpson as well as JMU’s D’Angelo Amos, there’s a good competition going on everywhere.

“At really both of them, kick return and punt return, we’re still trying to figure it out,” Brumfield said yesterday. “We do have some great candidates, way more candidates than we've ever had in the program. From a kicker-return perspective, obviously Joe Reed was the guy but this year we’ve got a lot more guys. We’ve got Shane Simpson, we got Tavares Kelly, we’ve got Billy Kemp, we’ve got Perris Jones at the other off returner as well. So right now, we're still trying to figure it out. We're close to figuring it out and we kind of had guys in mind who we think is going to be the guy.

“Right now,” he added, “probably leading the pack is Tavares Kelly as far as the kick return position. And he did a great job when he was filling in for Joe last year. He did really well. From a punt return perspective, we have Billy Kemp, who's doing a really good job. D'Angelo, Shane's doing a really good job as well and Kelly's doing good in that aspect as well. So, right now for punt return, we're trying to just figure it out, give guys as many reps as possible. We all know what Shane did at the college he was at. We all know what D’Angelo did at the college he was at, with five touchdowns. And Billy Kemp is very good as well. So, still trying to key in on that one. I think in a couple of days, we'll get that nailed down.”

Kemp hasn’t backed down to the challenge of the new faces even if his coach has seen his mindset shift amid the competition.

“I like his confidence,” Brumfield explained. “He stepped up to the challenge. He is probably the one that has stepped up to the challenge more than anybody else. He never said anything. He never had any bad attitude or anything. But, you know, his demeanor was almost like he was insulted, you know what I mean? Like, ‘I’m gonna show you what I'm about.’ And that was really impressive. He's done a great job and he’s been even better. He's confident when he catches the ball, he looks falling into the tuck every single time, he has the quickness to make things happen after the catch. So, I was more impressed with his demeanor, his confidence that he's had throughout camp, and he's doing really well. And it's starting to show. It’s really starting to show.”

It was important to the veteran assistant coach to be up front with Kemp, as he would any other position, about the additions

“I always talk to the players because I think a lot of the game, in my personal opinion, is psychological,” he said. “And I know some people don't believe that, but I always tell a kid ‘Hey, this is what's going on, this is who we’re bringing in, this is why we're bringing them in.’ Same thing with Grant (Misch) when we brought in Tony (Poljan). I called Grant and said, ‘Hey, we're bringing in Tony and this is why we're bringing him in, this is what we're doing.’ Same thing with Billy. This is why we’re bringing this guy in. It's not because you're not good. We need depth. We need to bring in competition and competition brings the best out of every single person. You have to have that. If one thing happens to one person, you need to bring somebody up. Next man up. So he was aware of why, he understood why, but his demeanor did change as far as wanting to compete.”

Elsewhere on special teams, Brumfield has an interesting problem on his hands. Brian Delaney went 20-for-24 on field goal attempts with a long of 49 yards while Nash Griffin averaged 41.9 yards on his 57 punts, 24 of which were downed inside the 20.

But Delaney is pushing hard to not only be UVa’s kickoff and placekicker but to also be the punter.

“It’s good,” Brumfield said. “It’s really good. When you have a good kicker, a good punter, again you can do multiple things. And those two are still fighting for the punting [job]. Delaney is just, like Billy’s mindset, he's competing. He wants the opportunity to do all three. He wants to punt but Nash is also competing as well. And he wants to punt and. They're doing a great job competing with each other and pushing each other. Delaney’s doing a really good job kicking as well and doing the field goals.

“I think, even besides those two, we have options in those areas as well,” he added. You know, Brendan (Farrell) is doing a good job. Justin Duenkel is doing a good job and Hunter Pearson is doing a good job as well. So, all of those guys are competing and pushing each other and all of them want to play. It's only one punter that can get on the field and there's only one kicker being on the field one, one guy kicking off. They're all competing for it and they’re pushing. So, they’re doing well.”

Though doing all three kicking duties is tough, Brumfield said he would have no problem giving those jobs all to Delaney if he wins out.

“It's tough,” Brumfield explained. “People have done it before obviously, but it definitely is tough. It's a little strain on your leg but in all actuality, he does it pretty much every day in practice anyway because if he's not the starting punter, he’s the backup punter. So he has to practice punting regardless and then when we go into games, you know, he has to warm up being a kicker, field goal kicker, kickoff kicker, and a punter as well. So, he's kind of doing those things already anyway. I know from a mental standpoint, it is a little more mentally draining but I think it's something he could do. If he wins that job, it’s something that he'll be good at, all three of them.”

And then there’s the snapping, where Danny Caracciolo, Tucker Finkelston, and Lee Dudley continue to battle.

“I think Dan is doing a good job,” Brumfield said. “I know he's got his number, a transfer that we had come in. Tucker's done a good job as well. And then Lee is doing well as well. So they're all kind of competing. We haven't solidified that spot yet either. Rotating those guys in at the puny position, at the field goal position as well, and with the numbers that we have, and the guys that we have in a competition, we're able to kind of keep that elongated competition going because we wanted to be perfect.

“On a short snap, field goal we want the laces at 12 o'clock, we want to snap right where it's supposed to be, and the same thing with punts, we want to ride that to the hip and we want the speed of the snaps to be a whole lot faster,” he added. “They're all doing a good job and right now honestly, they're all kind of fairly even with each other. Lee, Tucker, and Dan, it’s pretty much an even battle right now. So I don't know when that one will be solidified, probably by the beginning of next week so we can let those guys get their their mind frame ready to roll.”

For a special teams coach, the idea that he doesn’t have to worry about eligibility this year could be a big help especially considering that UVa’s efficiency in coverage slipped last year as injuries mounted.

“Yeah, with the rule [change] I'm working guys to get them ready because before it was kind of like you kind of want to play maybe one of them in the beginning and then kind of keeping towards the latter part of the season,” Brumfield said. “And you get to the latter part of the season and you're like ‘Alright, we’ve got four games left. Let's get these guys in. Let's get them ready to roll.’ But now, knowing that we can play guys all throughout the year, we're getting guys ready now. We're getting a lot of those first-years ready now and some of those guys are doing a really good job. Sam Brady and Jonathan Horton and Brandon Williams. We’ve got a lot of guys that's doing a really good job young, and we’re going to prepare them early. And so that's the good thing about it all.”

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