Virginia defensive end Trent Corney is a social media star on YouTube and Instagram where a few videos have become stuff of legend after footage emerged of him doing flips in the sand pit and leaping directly out of a pool from a standing position. He enters his senior season much further from the spotlight on the football field where he’s seen limited action for his first three years, tallying a total of 15 tackles with two sacks.
But make no mistake, the videos are impressive.
The obvious question from observers: When can that athleticism translate to football games?
“Jump on the back of the quarterback or sack the quarterback, yeah?” London said. “That’s the big thing. I joked to him the other day about the whole transformation from Canadian ball to American ball and understanding the different things. He said he spent the summer becoming a better student of the game, not just learning the defensive calls but also learning how to play the position. He’s another guy when we talk about names that can step up for us.”
Corney has picked up momentum this offseason as a possible contributor. He had a solid spring and is getting some first-team reps so far in fall camp. Even defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta, a stickler with praise, is seeing signs of progress for the Ontario native.
“Trent had an outstanding spring,” Tenuta said. “Trent does an outstanding job for us, I’m telling you what. Obviously he’s a tremendous athlete, but now football is starting to come a lot easier for him. … Trent’s done a heck of a job for us.”
Corney is gaining confidence after studying film this summer, but more important, he said, is teammates’ belief that he can contribute. Add in more reps with the top of the defensive depth chart and he feels more comfortable out on the field. Whether he will rise to the occasion when games arrive next month remains to be seen, but with his final year of eligibility already here, he is at least making steps in the right direction.
During the summer, he tired to focus on the details of football that have been holding him back while NFL players like Eli Harold and Max Valles rushed off the edge. That duo combined for 16 sacks last season before leaving school early for the NFL Draft. Harold went to the 49ers, while Valles landed with the Raiders. Now, he’ll be in competition with fellow seniors Mike Moore and Kwontie Moore as well as younger players trying to scratch their way into the conversation.
“I’d say the biggest thing is watching film,” Corney said. “We have iPads with all the different opponents games and I’ve really been trying to watch a lot of film. For me, I had a good spring and coming in to the fall, I didn’t have any huge, glaring weaknesses. Right now, I’m just trying to polish off little minor details and weaknesses. I’m going more in detail with the whole football IQ and trying to be the best defensive end I can possibly be.”
As for those videos, Corney said the sand trick is harder than the pool trick.
“I’d say the backflips,” Corney said. “The pool thing actually wasn’t that hard for me for some reason, I don’t know why. But the backflips, I don’t like to be put upside down and the sand is really hard to get pop off the ground.”
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