When the 2018 football season arrives, one strength for Virginia figures to be the secondary. That group features a blend of experience and potential that gives Bronco Mendenhall a lot of options on defense.
Much of that conversation can start with Juan Thornhill, who enters his senior season after notching third-team All-ACC honors a year ago. He has moved back to safety, a position he was expected to handle last season before an injury sidelined Tim Harris at corner. Thornhill moved into that spot and finished with 63 tackles, four interceptions, and 12 passes defended.
Thornhill is taking on the challenge of organizing the defense after four-year starter Quin Blanding finished his career last fall. That’s not unexpected considering that Thornhill has played all over the defense and understands the concepts employed by Mendenhall. The Altavista High School native has started 23 games the past two seasons and he has the most interceptions on the team during that time with seven.
Thornhill’s experience and versatility should be valuable to not only the secondary, but the defense as a whole. The Cavaliers, for example, could move Thornhill around to help disguise coverages.
“He can play literally anywhere if we need him,” Virginia cornerback Bryce Hall said. “If we need him to play corner, he can play corner. Nickel, he can play nickel. Safety, he’s got exceptional range, he can tackle, he’s physical. So he really can play anywhere we need him. That’s a blessing to have on our part because we can stick him anywhere and we know he’s going to produce.”
The good news is that Thornhill is not the only defensive back with experience, making rotating schemes and disguising coverages an easier task. In fact, Virginia could start four players with 13 or more starts each. In addition to Thornhill’s 21 starts, both Hall and Harris have started at least 20 games each too. Throw in Brenton Nelson, who started every game in 2017, and you’ve got a group that’s been on the field a lot.
That’s one reason why Hall doesn’t think team can really avoid him or anyone else in the passing game. Hall tallied 72 tackles, 13 passes defended, and three interceptions in his first two years. Harris has played in 34 career games with 83 tackles, 14 passes defended, and two interceptions. Nelson’s debut season ended up with 64 tackles, six passes defended, and four interceptions. He was named ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year.
The Cavaliers also have junior Chris Moore and sophomore Joey Blount in the mix. Moore played a hybrid linebacker-safety type of role last season with five starts. He posted 41 tackles, four passes defended, and one interception. Blount started one game last season and spent a lot of times on special teams as well. He recorded 34 tackles and one pass defended. He will be in the safety rotation.
That doesn’t account for Nick Grant and Germane Crowell, who both should be back from injury for the fall, or for Shawn Smith and Noah Taylor, who both got looks in the secondary this spring. Smith spent his redshirt freshman year at receiver, while Taylor enrolled in January as an expected linebacker but got some snaps at safety too.
“We have so many other really dynamic players in our secondary like Tim Harris – he’s started since he’s a freshman and he’s back,” Hall said. “You can try to go at other people, but we’ve got playmakers at every single spot in the secondary so they can go other places but it’s a threat.”
One area the Hoos hope that playmakers and experience might help clean up concerns big scoring plays. Opponents often find a way to crack the UVA defense for at least one big scoring play per game so far in the Mendenhall era. The Cavaliers have allowed at least one scoring play of 25 or more yards in 19 of 25 games the past two seasons, though the 2017 season ended on a good trend in that one category at least because neither Virginia Tech nor Navy joined the list.
Here’s a look at the 19 games with big scoring plays;
2016
- Richmond: 55-yard run
- Oregon: 77-yard pass
- Central Michigan: 85-yard pass
- Pitt: 38-yard pass
- UNC: 40-yard pass, 46-yard pass
- Louisville: 29-yard pass
- Wake Forest: 64-yard run
- Miami: 77-yard pass
- Georgia Tech: 67-yard run, 54-yard pass, 60-yard run
- Virginia Tech: 39-yard pass, 32-yard run, 42-yard pass, 31-yard pass
2017
- Indiana: 29-yard pass, 26-yard run, 32-yard pass
- UConn: 60-yard pass, 30-yard run
- Boise State: 40-yard pass
- UNC: 47-yard run
- Boston College: 76-yard run, 76-yard pass
- Pittsburgh: 25-yard run
- Georgia Tech: 78-yard run, 33-yard pass
- Louisville: 68-yard run
- Miami: 36-yard pass
The secondary’s role, in part Hall says, is to prevent those jailbreak types of plays from turning into touchdowns.
“That’s something we definitely need to work on moving forward, getting the big plays down,” Hall said. “That falls on the secondary. We’re the last line of defense. You could say up front guys are off of their gaps or the linebackers are off, but at the end of the day it falls on the secondary to really get him down before that big play really emerges. That’s something we’re working on moving forward a lot.”
Dubois’ Role
Through his first two seasons at Virginia, receiver Hasise Dubois has shown flashes of playmaking ability. He had four catches for 25 yards against Indiana and three for 20 yards against Duke last season, for example, in addition to a touchdown grab at Pittsburgh. Still, the consistency week to week hasn’t been there yet in mostly a backup role as an underclassmen. Dubois has 24 catches for 219 yards and one touchdown overall.
That showed up in the final spring practice as well. Dubois made the score-settling catch in the scrimmage style action to finish up the day, but then drew an unsportsmanlike penalty flag in the aftermath. That resulted in a “swift” lesson-learning opportunity and some extra work after for Dubois after the practice per Mendenhall.
As Dubois enters his junior season, the challenge is to put things together on a regular basis.
“Consistency and maturity and production,” Mendenhall said. “To this point, he hasn’t been able to put that together. He’s been inconsistent, not necessarily productive, and relatively immature. So we need him mature, become consistent and productive.”
If Dubois can meet that challenge, he’ll carve out a role as a potential target for touch catches and tough yards in the offense. Doni Dowling filled that spot in some ways last season when he made 50 catches for 647 yards and five touchdowns. Dowling was an emotional player as well.
“He’ll have a role. That role will be similar to probably what Doni’s role was a year ago,” Mendenhall said. “There are some similarities, but not identical. There’s probably some similarities in production and mindset.”
Three Kickoff Times Announced
The ACC announced game times for some of the 2018 season football games Friday. UVA fans now know the scheduled kickoff times for three home games as a result.
The Cavaliers open the season with Richmond on Saturday, Sept. 1 at Scott Stadium. That game will start at 6 p.m. On Saturday, Sept. 15, the Hoos host Ohio at 3 p.m. Those games will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra (via the WatchESPN app or ESPN3.com). Later in the season, Virginia will welcome Pittsburgh to town for a Friday night game on ESPN2. That contest is slated for 7:30 p.m.
The remainder of the season’s kickoff times will be announced later. After the first three weeks of the season, game times are announced on a weekly basis by the ACC and its broadcast partners on a 12-day advance notice schedule except for some limited six-day notice selections.
View the full schedule here.
