Virginia Football Notes: The Grounds Keepers Begin “Take Back Our Grounds”

By: Chris Horne |

University of Virginia, meet the Grounds Keepers.

During his Monday (August 10) press conference, Virginia football head coach Bronco Mendenhall detailed how the Grounds Keepers formed while also expressing his emphatic support.

“With the social issues moving back all the way to George Floyd, our team for almost three weeks had team meetings daily,” Mendenhall recalled. “Those meetings each day had at least two different players talking about their experience with racism and their experience with inequality. It was so moving and so deep and so alarming … it really, it moved our entire team and our coaching staff. At that point I was hopeful that it wouldn’t be, do an event and then forget. It would be somehow to embed substantial and significant things within our program that would keep the issues alive and being visible and tangible and be addressed.”

“Myself and the task unit leaders met first,” Mendenhall continued. “We included them and I asked [Wide Receivers Coach Marques] Hagans to be the task force leader. We had task unit leaders that volunteered and then we hand-selected others to form a group that would be working non-stop. While I’m trying to manage the pandemic and manage our team, that group would be working 24/7 about what we can do to make a difference, starting inside and working out. It wasn’t long before this group had a mission statement and a name – the Grounds Keepers, which is an awesome name because it’s our Grounds and they want it to be an amazing place. And it already is, but there’s things we can improve.”

The Grounds Keepers introduced the “Take Back Our Grounds” initiative this past weekend, almost three years after the “Unite The Right” white supremacist rallies on August 11 and August 12. The significance of these days is not lost on Charlottesville – the site of the rallies – or the University of Virginia. Wednesday (August 12) is the three-year anniversary of the death of Heather Heyer, who was murdered while protesting against “Unite The Right.”

Coach Mendenhall discussed “Take Back Our Grounds.”

“Then there is an initiative – I joined them on Sunday morning – of basically walking the exact opposite way of the group that came in and kind of took over the Grounds with, unfortunately, a death in our own city,” Mendenhall said. “Our players now, less than five at a time, we start at that very place where Heather was killed and we walk the opposite way, kind of reclaiming and adding some sense of positivity and direction and commitment to what we’d like our Grounds to really be. That’s all coming from players, player driven, and Coach Hagans’ leadership, and so I feel really good about the start of this movement. As long as I’m at UVA and head of this football program, we want it to be more than football. We do something similar with our Thursday’s Hero program. We want things that will be lasting and can make a difference, and what these kids are doing on our team is really relevant and really powerful, but that’s part of coming to UVA, right, is to develop citizen leaders and student leaders and making a difference. It’s pretty cool what’s happening.”

“We had a chance on our walk Sunday morning, to stop at the different markers and just ponder and consider, and I saw Grounds in a different way,” Mendenhall said. “I think there could be some unity and some really strong things that come from this, and that’s a great thing for UVA football to participate in.”

More Hoos posted videos and/or pictures of their walks.

Staff Additions Paying Dividends For UVA

Director of Athletics Carla Williams’ recognition of the need to expand the Virginia football program’s personnel was immediate upon arriving in Charlottesville and in her first discussions with Coach Mendenhall.

“It didn’t take me very long to start to realize that we’ve got a structural problem in football,” Williams said in the spring of 2018. She was hired by UVA in October of 2017. “We’re understaffed in some areas. Obviously, we’ve got some facilities issues in some areas. Our budget isn’t where it needs to be, so all of those things need to change to have a consistently competitive football program.”

If you glance at the Virginia Athletics Staff Directory, you’ll see 43 people listed under the Virginia football program. At least 10 (outside of the head coach and assistant coaches) are associated with recruiting, including six scouts – three Senior and three Regional.

During Monday’s press conference, Coach Mendenhall reflected on the impact of the additional recruiting staff, particularly when it comes to the success the program has enjoyed on the transfer front this offseason.

“It’s essential,” Mendenhall said. “The fastest way to accelerate a program isn’t necessarily the culture. It isn’t necessarily the infrastructure. The fastest way is to improve the who, the talent part. To not only get additional resources, but the right additional resources, and then have real clarity in terms of our roster assessment of what we need, and then our personnel department is just relentless in watching and seeing who’s available. That had already been established in relation to what we absolutely had to have and what those specifications were, so when someone came into the portal, or a league that cancelled and someone came into the portal that happened to match those specifications, that allowed us to operate so quickly. Without Carla’s help and without those resources, we’re still slow. But we’re not slow any longer. We’re fast, we’re efficient, and we’re accurate. So, it has been huge.”

D’Angelo Amos, who starred at safety and punt returner at JMU, is one of six graduate transfers – seven transfers in total – Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall has added to the program this offseason. ~ Photo credit: James Madison University Athletics

Former James Madison University standouts Adeeb Atariwa and D’Angelo Amos are the latest graduate transfer additions to the Virginia football program. The standout defensive tackle and 2019 All-CAA safety/punt returner signed with the Hoos this past Sunday. Virginia has inked four other graduate transfers – Keytaon Thompson (QB, Mississippi State), Ra’Shaun Henry (WR, St. Francis (PA)), Tony Poljan (TE, Central Michigan), and Shane Simpson (APRB, Towson). The Hoos also added transfer running back Ronnie Walker Jr., who left Indiana University after two years.

“After I’ve seen our team through the 8-hour period, the 20-hour period, and now starting camp, it’s just become clear where players are in terms of their health, their well-being, and how they’ve managed the virus, and where their recoveries are from any injury,” Mendenhall said. “That gave me a clearer perspective on the team. It gave me a clearer perspective on what depth and what positions right now might be at risk and what we needed to do about it. That just happened to coincide with some leagues dropping and some players wanting an opportunity to play. It’s probably the most NFL-like thing that I’ve ever been through as a college coach. Almost like free agency and waivers. But to find the young men, starting with Tony, our tight end from Central Michigan, he is a very good football player and a perfect fit in our program. We have already in our program, Ra’Shaun Henry, a wide receiver who’s doing a very nice job. The exact right fit and the exact right player. And then we have three more. Two from James Madison that you’ll get to know about in a defensive lineman, Adeeb and also D’Angelo, a safety, as well as Shane Simpson from Towson. All just amazing young men, academically motivated, really good players with unique stories that also fit a need that I’ve seen now within our program, and should we play, depth is going to be at a premium, having as deep a roster as you can have with as good a players with some of the unknowns that might manifest. It just seemed to be a win for everyone involved and that was the motive behind it.”

More Roster Notes

Ronnie Walker Jr. finds open space during Virginia’s opening day of fall camp. ~ Photo credit: Jim Daves, Virginia Athletics Media Relations

– While all six graduate transfers have immediate eligibility, the same cannot be said for traditional transfer Ronnie Walker Jr. … at least not yet. The Hopewell (VA) native is awaiting word from the NCAA on whether his waiver application to gain immediately eligibility will be approved. Coach Mendenhall provided the latest update on Walker Jr.’s status on Monday.

“His waiver has been submitted,” Mendenhall said. “Hopefully an answer this week. That’s normal timeframe. That would be a great thing for he and our program.”

– Mendenhall noted there are five players who are not currently not with the team. He did not name the specific players, though we know that sophomore linebacker Jairus Satiu is not currently listed on the team’s roster after being there last spring.

“We have five players now that have, for one reason or another, and not all are COVID related, but we have five that are not with us currently,” Mendenhall said. “That number, it’s steady and has been for quite some time. I would love to be able to go more into that now. It’s probably not the right time. We have five, but they are all not specific to COVID in terms of effecting our roster.”

2 Responses You are logged in as Test

  1. One more sport and team I will drop my tickets for. Could care less about your SJW opinions.

  2. Playing big time college football, crusading for social justice, staying healthy in the midst of a pandemic. Who has time for classes and studying?

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