Virginia football coach Bronco Mendenhall didn’t mince words when discussing the defense and the need for improved play at cornerback in 2021. The Cavaliers have addressed secondary concerns this offseason with coaching changes and recruiting. The Hoos brought in two transfer corners in Louisville’s Anthony Johnson, who joined the program this semester, and North Dakota State’s Josh Hayes, who will come to the program this summer.
Johnson and Hayes bring 84 games worth of experience to Charlottesville, making the cornerback spot one full of veteran players. Nick Grant has appeared in 48 games for the Hoos, including 24 straight starts. Darrius Bratton has appeared in 32 games with 5 starts, but saw his career interrupted by an ACL injury that cost him the 2019 season and still saw him slowed in 2020. He performed well this spring, though. With Joey Blount and De’Vante Cross at safety thank to unexpected extra eligibility courtesy of the NCAA’s eligibility freeze due to the pandemic plus young players like Antonio Clary and others looking for chances too, the competition for playing time should be a storyline throughout the coming season.
Mendenhall said the plan is to push the players and use that competition to make the position better.
“It is as fierce a competition as we can develop to put the best five football players on the field,” Mendenhall said. “If that ends up being five corners, that’s five corners. If it’s one safety and four corners, that’s what it is. In the game of college football now, there’s so much RPO, so much covering the slot, and so much tackling, the best five cover and tackle players will be on the field for us regardless of position.”
Johnson interested the coaches as a graduate transfer from Louisville. As a fellow ACC member, the Hoos were able to see apples to apples film since Johnson played against many of the same quarterbacks and receivers. Mendenhall said that gave UVA an accurate assessment and “carried a lot of weight” in the decision. Johnson received a 73.3 coverage grade in 2019 and a 67.2 coverage grade in 2020 from the Pro Football Focus stats service. Those grades would have led the UVA secondary’s regulars in either season (Brenton Nelson tallied a 72.3 in 2019 and Blount posted a 65.4 in 2020). The biggest area in improvement for Johnson to target will be in tackling grades where he had below average numbers in both season.
At 6’1″ and 205 pounds, Johnson does offer another big and physical option at corner. Mendenhall credited the Louisville coaching staff for giving an honest assessment of Johnson despite being UVA’s yearly cross-division partner and noted that they praised his work ethic and character. Still, you don’t know how a player will fit into your program’s culture until they are there. Johnson impressed on that front too this spring.
“He’s probably at this point exceeded expectations in terms of his intent, his practice habits, what kind of teammate he is,” Mendenhall said. “Then also, he’s urgent. That’s one of the things that graduate transfers are providing and that I really like. When they come in, like Tony Poljan a year ago, they know their clock is running. I like the urgency and the mindset that brings. Anthony fits right into that mindset.”
Increased Pressure
Over the past two seasons, the defense has turned up the heat on opposing quarterbacks and the Cavaliers would like to continue that trend. After averaging closer to 2 sacks per game through the first three years of the Bronco Mendenhall era, the Hoos jumped above 3.2 sacks per game each of the last two seasons.
The increase is clear in the numbers: 25/2.08 per game (2016), 28/2.15 (2017), 26/2.0 (2018), 46/3.29 (2019), 32/3.2 (2020). UVA ranked in the top 15 nationally the past two seasons.
Even so, the Wahoos looked to build more consistency with its pass rush beyond blitzing this spring.
“We have a lot of schemes that we’ll blitz and run a lot of different patterns,” Cavalier co-defensive coordinator Nick Howell said. “We’ve made a really big focus this spring on trying to straight rush and win one on ones, hoping that that will make us better one on one but it will also enhance our packages when we do change the patterns and things like that. There’s been a real emphasis on that with Coach Sintim and Coach Poppinga to really straight rush and help us there and with our blitz packages as well.”
The pass rush may get a boost driven by personnel this season as well. Virginia has Mandy Alonso, Adeeb Atariwa, and Elliott Brown back this season for a bonus year since the NCAA froze eligibility last fall. All offer some pass-rushing ability that could be enhanced as experienced players. Noah Taylor, who played through injuries much of last season, is healthier this spring. Plus, Aaron Faumui returns to the team after taking an opt-out season in 2020. Faumui piled up a team-leading 32 pressures in 2019. He also had 6 sacks behind only Jordan Mack’s 7 that season.
“Aaron is a guy you notice. … Having Aaron and Mandy in there together is a little more juice,” Howell said. “You still have Noah and Elliott, some of those guys. There are some young guys coming along as well on the D-Line. You’ve got Ben Smiley. Jahmeer [Carter] as big as he his presses the pocket in certain packages and things like that. Adeeb rushes the passer well.”
Position Change
During the spring practice period, Perris Jones flipped from offense to defense for the Hoos. The junior has played as a running back to date in his career, but shifted to cornerback during this spring’s practices.
Jones, a regular on special teams as part of the kickoff teams, provided depth in his new spot. He had 3 carries for 12 yards as a reserve running back in 2020.
“We have some corners out this spring so just from a sheer numbers point to run practice we just tried to find a player with traits that would help us get through spring practice,” Howell said. “He’s a very selfless player and he’s really been able to help us with the wear and tear of injury. That was the motive behind it. He’s done a nice job and I’m grateful for him.”
The staff has not committed to whether Jones will remain at corner or return to running back.
Like to see the young DL get mentioned. Lots of depth on the down defensive lineman and should make fall camp intense as they fight for playing time, which will hopefully make them all better and the Offensive line for going against them in practice. Like the focus on the defense. All for a wide open hard to predict offense that scores points ( a lot of points), but the best teams put a lid on opposing teams and consistently gets either 3 and outs or turnovers. It’s going to be interesting to see if improved coverage leads to more turnovers and the pass rush being able to eat or if the pass rush increases even more because of returning talent and gives opposing QB’s less time to make critical decisions. Either way it seems like the defense is close to becoming a dominant unit again, but still think there is another piece or two that could make all the difference.