During the 2017 season, Virginia quarterback Kurt Benkert set a single-season program record with 3,207 passing yards. Micah Kiser and Quin Blanding teamed up to lead the ACC in tackles per game for the third straight season. Yet as the new season approaches, another departed senior leaves a question mark with an unclear answer in 2018.
The “99 Virginia Football Thoughts Before Kickoff” series continues.
No. 40 – Go Long
Among Virginia’s seniors last season, several landed with NFL teams this spring. The Rams drafted Kiser, while the Bengals picked Andrew Brown. Benkert signed an undrafted free agent deal with the Falcons and Blanding did the same with the Redskins.
Andre Levrone, meanwhile, joined the Ravens. That signing may not spark the same volume of message board chatter as Benkert or Blanding, but Levrone’s completed career is leaving a big unknown behind at UVA. While injuries prevented Levrone from sustaining an impact over his career, he played a major role in last year’s offense as the most dangerous deep passing threat on the team.
Levrone tied running back Jordan Ellis for the team lead in touchdowns last season with seven, which led the receiving corps. Those seven touchdown catches piled up 295 yards for 42.14 yards per scoring reception! Levrone’s touchdown catches measured 34 (William & Mary), 73 (UConn), 30 (Boise State), 64 (Boise State), 34 (Georgia Tech), 27 (Georgia Tech), and 33 (Miami) yards. The second one against GT secured bowl eligibility for the Hoos.
For the season, Levrone averaged 20.26 yards per catch on 34 receptions for 689 yards. That ranked No. 14 nationally and No. 2 in the ACC behind only the Yellow Jackets’ Ricky Jeune at 21.80 yards per catch. Rice freshman Aaron Cephus led the country at 24.88 yards per catch.
Levrone played a big role in creating more explosive plays for the offense than had come through in recent years. With 74 offensive plays of 20 yards or more in 2017, the most since the Hoos had 80 in 2014. They produced 41 of those plays with the passing attack, the most since UVA had 50 in 2012. Levrone caught 13 of those long gainers, the most since Canaan Severin posted the same number in 2015. Severin caught 14 20+-yarders in 2014, while Darius Jennings has 13 that same season.
That leads to one of the season’s big unknown questions as kickoff approaches. Who will be the main deep threat for the Cavaliers in 2018? Certainly, the scheme will put some players in positions to make those long catches as Olamide Zaccheaus and Doni Dowling each snared long touchdown passes on over-the-top passes last season too. Keeon Johnson and David Eldridge, who transferred out of the program before last season, fit into some of those spots at times the year prior.
Still, you need a consistent threat to go long if you’re going to influence opposing defenses’ coverage on a regular basis. Zaccheaus has flashed that ability throughout his career, but he can’t be used solely in that role because he’s too valuable on so many other patterns too. That’s how he piled up a new single-season program record 85 catches and 895 yards last season. Plus, he can take a short pass and turn into a big gainer just as easily as running past a helping safety. That’s what he did on last season’s longest touchdown reception, an 81-yarder at North Carolina.
The second longest non-Levrone touchdown pass last season went to Joe Reed at Miami. That one measured 75 yards late in the first quarter on what looked like busted coverage from the Hurricanes. Reed could be a candidate to take the lid off the defense on some of those Levrone-style routes. He has good open field speed, something he’s shown on kickoff returns. The key there is whether he has the acceleration to run by defensive backs with a competing angle to get open over the top consistently.
Two other intriguing candidates could be a pair of receivers that played reserve roles last season. De’Vante Cross is a good athlete that should get more of a chance to focus on a position this fall after shifting around in three different spots last season. Terrell Jana, meanwhile, is sort of a forgotten name in receiving discussions, but he’s played in all 13 games last season with one start. While he had just two catches for 21 yards in that limited role a year ago, Jana hauled in 64 catches for 1,308 yards as a high school senior in 2016 – that’s an average of 20.44 yards per catch.
Could someone like Lamont Atkins splitting out as a hybrid running back-receiver be able to go long? Is Riah Burton a candidate after flipping over from cornerback during his redshirt freshman season? What about some of the true freshman with some reported speed like Tavares Kelly, Ugo Obasi, Wooby Theork-Youmans, or Billy Kemp?
This is one area to keep an eye on during training camp and the season a whole. If the Cavaliers can’t scheme players into deep ball catches or if individuals can’t step up to fill that void, then Levrone’s absence may be felt in a big way this season.
The “99 Virginia Football Thoughts Before Kickoff” series has discussed much more. The previous articles are below. Click away.
- No. 99 – The Importance Of A Fast Start
- No. 98 – The Impact Of Early-Ending Careers
- No. 97 – Jordan Mack’s Role
- No. 96 – Welcome Back
- No. 95 – Han Solo Says
- No. 94 -Smart Addition
- No. 93 – The Center Spot
- No. 92 – Finding A Punt Returner
- No. 91 – Facing Running Quarterbacks
- No. 90 – Interceptions
- No. 89 – Kickoff Times
- No. 88 – QB Optimism Not Enough To Tilt Early Predictions Too Far
- No. 87 – It Starts With Jordan Ellis
- No. 86 – Virginia’s Most Dangerous Game
- No. 85 – The Tight End Swan Song?
- No. 84 – Teach A Man To Fish
- No. 83 – No Ordinary Joe
- No. 82 – Now Or Then
- No. 81 – How To Treat The Kickoff Rule Change
- No. 80 – Play, But Still Redshirt
- No. 79 – Which Red Zone Offense Is The Real One?
- No. 78 – Schedule For Success
- No. 77 – Who’s The Worst?
- No. 76 – ACC Coach Rankings
- No. 75 – Keep That Cold Weather Gear
- No. 74 – 1,000 Target For OZ
- No. 73 – Cross Out Cross-Training For Cross
- No. 72 – Punting Plans
- No. 71 – Redshirted … Ready?
- No. 70 – A June Jolt
- No. 69 – Who?
- No. 68 – Stops To Start Second Half
- No. 67 – Root, Root, Root For …
- No. 66 – Wildcard Extras
- No. 65 – Defense Showed Red Zone Improvement
- No. 64 – Welcome Back, Mr. Robinson
- No. 63 – The Florida Footprint
- No. 62 – True Freshmen Will Play, But Who Will Make The Most Impact?
- No. 61 – Four Fireworks-Worthy Moments In The Bronco Mendenhall Era
- No. 60 – Juan Thornhill Primed For An All-ACC Caliber Season
- No. 59 – Rebuilding The Offensive Line Is On Schedule
- No. 58 – Bouncing Back On The Defensive Line
- No. 57 – Underrated Hoos
- No. 56 – Lordy, Lordy, How ‘Bout 40?
- No. 55 – Peace Talk
- No. 54 – Hoos’ Handle On Social Media Bodes Well For Future Recruiting
- No. 53 – Filling The Void At Wide Receiver
- No. 52 – The Sixth-Year Seniors
- No. 51 – Borrowing A Burning Question
- No. 50 – Beat Tech!
- No. 49 – A Resolute Leader
- No. 48 – The Perkins Theorem
- No. 47 – Beat Pitt!
- No. 46 – A Look At Virginia Football’s 2018 Walk-On Class
- No. 45 – I Sense A Trend.
- No. 44 – The Need For (More) Speed
- No. 43 – Progress With Penalties
- No. 42 – Preseason All-ACC Musings
- No. 41 – Designing Sacks
