99 Virginia Football Thoughts Before Kickoff

By: Kris Wright |
Virginia kicks off the season in fewer than 20 days.
Ricky Brumfield was hired to guide UVA’s special teams. ~ Kris Wright

As curiosity grows around new quarterback Bryce Perkins for the Virginia football team, some fans are probably daydreaming about option keepers to the house and touchdowns for days. That’s certainly more probable than some fans dreaming about a nice open field tackle on the third punt of the game.

Because let’s face it, if fans had their way, they’d hope to never see their team punt at all. As long as there are no turnovers, that would mean the offense is getting a chance to score. With that said, punting and punt coverage play a crucial role in field position and that impacts the scoreboard. The latter is something the Hoos need to improve entering the 2018 season.

The “99 Virginia Football Thoughts Before Kickoff” series continues.

No. 19 – Covering Punts

Over the past four years, UVA has featured one of the nation’s best punters by average. In 2014, Alec Vozenilek averaged 42.47 yards per punt to rank 39th nationally. In 2015 and 2016, Nicholas Conte followed with two strong seasons. He averaged 44.65 yards per punt to rank 14th nationally in 2015 and 44.31 to tie for 14th again in 2016. Last season, Lester Coleman inherited the role and he too played well. Coleman averaged 43.71 yards per punt to rank 24th nationally.

Of course, punters are only part of the equation when it comes to the punt coverage. Everything from accurate snaps to shield protection to beating the jam at the line of scrimmage to hang time to lane integrity to open field tackling must go right consistently to put together a good coverage unit. The Cavaliers have not been nearly as consistent with the big picture over these four years and that shows in the rankings too.

The Hoos have landed in the bottom 30 of the Football Bowl Subdivision in opponent return yard average for twice in the last four years and have not cracked the top 50. In 2014, opponents averaged 10.5 yards per return and that sat 102nd nationally. That year saw UVA give up two blocked punts that were returned for touchdowns, which obviously can skew the return stats. In 2015, the Hoos were better by allowing 7.83 yards per return and that ranked 61st nationally.

In Mendenhall’s first two years, they’ve had split results too. In 2016, UVA allowed 7.87 yards per return (65th nationally) and in 2017, that jumped to 12.84 yards per return (118th nationally). Last season’s average was again skewed by two returns for touchdown, a 75-yarder by Pitt’s Quadree Henderson and a 44-yarder from Indiana’s J-Shun Harris.

Net punting statistics show mixed rankings for the four years. In 2014, the Cavaliers posted 33.68 net yards per punt to rank 115th nationally. In 2015, they recorded 38.39 net yards per punt to rank 44th. In 2016, UVA produced 40.28 net yards per punt to rank 15th. In 2017, the Hoos tallied 36.08 net yards per punt to rank 109th.

It’s clear that despite having strong punters, the coverage has been average or worse for most of the four years. In terms of yards per return, the highest mark was 61st nationally. With net punting, one year was strong, one was near the middle of the pack, and two years were rough.

One way to mitigate that issue is to allow fewer returns that need to be covered, which can be accomplished with hang time or directional kicking. Only once in the four years did the Hoos limit returns, though. In 2014, they covered 24 returns (98th tie). In 2015, it was 23 (99th tie). In 2016, they covered just 15 (36th tie). In 2017, they covered 25 returns (109th tie).

The Cavaliers may be able to carve out some improvement here this season. First, with the NCAA allowing an additional assistant coach on staffs, Mendenhall elected to hire a full-time special teams coordinator. That brought Ricky Brumfield to Charlottesville from the University of Texas at San Antonio. UTSA, of note, ranked 54th nationally in 2016 (37.84) and 35th nationally (39.36) in 2017 in net punting. In punt return yards allowed, the Roadrunners ranked 52nd in 2016 (6.86 yards per return) and fifth nationally in 2017 (2.88 yards per return). Last season, UTSA only covered eight punts, tied for 10th nationally while only punting 47 times (just eight teams punted fewer times).

Compared to the last two seasons, UVA is also building depth among the skill positions that can make special teams units more effective. There are a lot of solid run-and-tackle types at linebacker, defensive back, receiver, and running back to choose from in that regard. Joey Blount made a name for himself in that role last season as did Lamont Atkins. The more of those players you have available, the better chance your special teams coverage units will evolve into a strength.

The “99 Virginia Football Thoughts Before Kickoff” series has discussed much more. The previous articles are below. Click away.