Virginia Football Needs To Reverse Turnover Trend

Virginia football's tunover margin has not been good since 2008.
Bronco Mendenhall continues to try to rebuild the Virginia football program, but reversing the turnover trend will need to be part of the effort. ~ Mike Ingalls

When studying what’s needed to rebuild and revive the Virginia football program, plenty of items make the list. Quarterback stability, roster management, talent acquisition and retention, and scheduling to name a few all get mentioned. And so on.

Bronco Mendenhall set out to correct some of those things immediately. He’s brought in graduate transfers, including ECU’s Kurt Benkert, to address the quarterback question and numbers issues on the offensive line. There is a clear recruiting model taking shape as the staff targets an inner ring within 4 to 6 hours drive and an outer ring beyond that to supplement roster needs. The success there is a hot debate topic among fans studying star ratings and the rest of the ACC.

Still, beyond all of these big picture items, there are some micro-level things that have to be addressed too. Red zone defense, tackling consistently, first down production offensively, and run blocking could all be considered for example. Mendenhall and company track many stats to try to fix football concerns and the Cavaliers played full contact football for most of the spring. That’s expected to continue in training camp when it begins in late July.

The No. 1 thing on the field that must be fixed, though? Turnovers. Too many given and not enough taken.

...