Joe Torchia sees a lot of opportunity in the new offense.

With the implementation of a new spread offense, Virginia’s days of “Tight End U” might be coming to a rapid close. But you wouldn’t know it from talking to junior Joe Torchia . The team-oriented Torchia remains ready to be a playmaker this season, no matter how his role has evolved.

When he came to Virginia, the 6’6″, 255-pound Torchia was well aware of Virginia’s talented NFL pipeline of tight ends (Heath Miller, Tom Santi , Jonathan Stupar , and possibly 2008 teammate John Phillips ). After playing in seven games last season without recording a catch, Torchia potentially was next in line when the Cavaliers hired a new offensive coordinator Greg Brandon, who would bring with him the spread offense. Torchia climbed his way to the top of what seemed at the time like an endless depth chart only to find that his position, long the stalwart of Virginia’s offense, had been reduced in many ways to just another receiver role.

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