2019 Virginia Cavaliers football team

American college football season

2019 Virginia Cavaliers football

ACC Coastal Division champion
ACC Championship Game, L 17–62 vs. Clemson
Orange Bowl, L 28–36 vs. Florida
Conference	Atlantic Coast Conference
Division	Coastal Division
Ranking
Coaches	No. 25
Record	9–5 (6–2 ACC)
Head coach	Bronco Mendenhall (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Robert Anae (4th season)
Defensive coordinator	Nick Howell (4th season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Kelly Poppinga (2nd as co-DC; 4th overall season)
Home stadium	Scott Stadium
Uniform

Seasons← 2018 2020 →

2019 Atlantic Coast Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
Atlantic Division
No. 2 Clemson xy$^	8	–	0	14	–	1
Louisville	5	–	3	8	–	5
Wake Forest	4	–	4	8	–	5
Florida State	4	–	4	6	–	7
Boston College	4	–	4	6	–	7
Syracuse	2	–	6	5	–	7
NC State	1	–	7	4	–	8
Coastal Division
Virginia x	6	–	2	9	–	5
Virginia Tech	5	–	3	8	–	5
Miami (FL)	4	–	4	6	–	7
Pittsburgh	4	–	4	8	–	5
North Carolina	4	–	4	7	–	6
Duke	3	–	5	5	–	7
Georgia Tech	2	–	6	3	–	9
Championship: Clemson 62, Virginia 17
^ – College Football Playoff participant $ – Conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 2019 Virginia Cavaliers football team represented the University of Virginia during the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cavaliers were led by fourth-year head coach Bronco Mendenhall and played their home games at Scott Stadium. The team competed as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Coming off an 8–5 season in 2018, Virginia was considered the favorite to win the Coastal Division. The Cavaliers began the season with four straight victories, but then lost three games in a four-game stretch to Notre Dame, Miami, and Louisville. The team rebounded with four straight victories to close out the regular season, including a win over rival and 24th-ranked Virginia Tech to secure Virginia's place in the ACC Championship Game. It was Virginia's first win over Virginia Tech since 2003, and it was the school's first appearance in the conference title game, concluding a seven-year stretch in which all seven members of the Coastal Division won the division. In the Championship Game, Virginia lost to Clemson, 62–17. The team received an invitation to the Orange Bowl to play Florida, where they lost 36–28, to end the season with a 9–5 record.

Virginia was led on offense by quarterback Bryce Perkins, who finished with 3,530 passing yards and 22 touchdowns, and was named second-team all-conference. Perkins also led the team in rushing, finishing with 769 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground. Wide receiver and return specialist Joe Reed was named first-team all-conference as an all-purpose back. On defense, the team's leading tackler and sacks leader was linebacker Zane Zandier.

Preseason

Preseason media poll

In the preseason ACC media poll, Virginia was predicted to win the Coastal Division, but received just one vote out of 173 to win the ACC Championship Game.

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
Media poll (Coastal Division)
1	Virginia	1003 (82)
2	Miami (FL)	992 (55)
3	Virginia Tech	827 (20)
4	Pittsburgh	691 (8)
5	Duke	566 (6)
6	North Carolina	463 (1)
7	Georgia Tech	302 (1)

Rank	Team	Votes
Media poll (ACC Championship)
1	Clemson	170
2	Syracuse	2
3	Virginia	1

Regular season

In September, the Cavaliers defeated the Seminoles for the Jefferson-Eppes Trophy.
In early November, the Cavaliers defeated the Tar Heels in the South's Oldest Rivalry.
In late November, the Cavaliers defeated the Hokies for the Commonwealth Cup.

Bronco Mendenhall became the first coach to bring both trophies to Charlottesville at the same time. The Jefferson-Eppes Trophy may remain in Cavalier hands until at least 2025, as FSU does not appear on the ACC schedules for Virginia through 2024.

As projected by the pre-season media, Virginia won the Coastal division for the first time despite an early season-ending injury to the team's highest NFL prospect, Bryce Hall, in the game against Miami.

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	7:30 p.m.	at Pittsburgh		Heinz Field Pittsburgh, PA	ACCN	W 30–14	47,144
September 6	8:00 p.m.	William & Mary*		Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA	ACCN	W 52–17	45,250
September 14	7:30 p.m.	Florida State	No. 25	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA (Jefferson-Eppes Trophy)	ACCN	W 31–24	57,826
September 21	7:00 p.m.	Old Dominion*	No. 21	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA	ESPN2	W 28–17	44,573
September 28	3:30 p.m.	at No. 10 Notre Dame*	No. 18	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN	NBC	L 20–35	77,622
October 11	8:00 p.m.	at Miami (FL)	No. 20	Hard Rock Stadium Miami Gardens, FL	ESPN	L 9–17	54,538
October 19	3:30 p.m.	Duke		Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA	ACCN	W 48–14	52,847
October 26	3:30 p.m.	at Louisville		Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	ACCN	L 21–28	48,689
November 2	7:30 p.m.	at North Carolina		Kenan Memorial Stadium Chapel Hill, NC (South's Oldest Rivalry)	ACCN	W 38–31	50,500
November 9	12:30 p.m.	Georgia Tech		Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA	ACCRSN	W 33–28	44,596
November 23	12:00 p.m.	Liberty*		Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA	ACCRSN	W 55–27	37,329
November 29	12:00 p.m.	No. 24 Virginia Tech		Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA (Commonwealth Cup)	ABC	W 39–30	52,619
December 7	7:30 p.m.	vs. No. 3 Clemson	No. 23	Bank of America Stadium Charlotte, NC (ACC Championship Game)	ABC	L 17–62	66,810
December 30	8:00 p.m.	vs. No. 9 Florida*	No. 24	Hard Rock Stadium Miami Gardens, FL (Orange Bowl)	ESPN	L 28–36	65,157
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings after November 5 released prior to game All times are in Eastern time

Personnel

Coaching staff

Staff as of 2019.

Name	Position
Bronco Mendenhall	Head coach
Nick Howell	Defensive coordinator, secondary coach
Kelly Poppinga	Co defensive coordinator, Outside Linebackers coach
Shane Hunter	Inside linebackers coach
Vic So'oto	Defensive line
Robert Anae	Offensive coordinator, inside receivers coach
Mark Atuaia	Running backs coach
Jason Beck	Quarterbacks coach
Marques Hagans	Wide receivers coach
Garett Tujague	Offensive line coach
Ricky Brumfield	Special teams coordinator

Roster

2019 Virginia Cavaliers football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
WR	`2`	Joe Reed	Sr
QB	`3`	Bryce Perkins	Sr
TB	`5`	Lamont Atkins	Jr
TB	`6`	PK Kier	Jr
WR	`8`	Hasise Dubois	Sr
QB	`10`	Brennan Armstrong	Fr
WR	`13`	Terrell Jana	Jr
WR	`18`	Ben Hogg	Sr
WR	`19`	Chuck Davis	Jr
RB	`20`	Mike Hollins	Fr
TB	`21`	Wayne Taulapapa	So
FB	`27`	Jamari Peacock	Jr
TB	`31`	Chris Sharp	Sr
QB	`36`	Lindell Stone	So
RB	`37`	Perris Jones	Fr
QB	`40`	R. J. Harvey	Fr
TE	`44`	Tanner Cowley	Sr
TE	`46`	Christian Baumgardner	Jr
FB	`46`	Andrew Yavinsky	So
OT	`50`	Tommy Christ	So
WR	`51`	Jalen Harrison	Jr
G	`52`	Joe Bissinger	Fr
OT	`54`	Ryan Nelson	So
C	`55`	Olusegun Oluwatimi	So
WR	`59`	Andrew Spaziani	Jr
C	`63`	Tyler Fannin	So
G	`64`	Ben Trent	Jr
OT	`65`	Jonathan Leech	Fr
OT	`67`	Derek Devine	Fr
WR	`68`	Sean Moore	Fr
OT	`69`	Chris Glaser	Jr
OT	`70`	Bobby Haskins	So
OT	`72`	Ryan Swoboda	So
OT	`75`	Ja'Quay Hubbard	Fr
WR	`77`	Josh Clifford	Fr
G	`79`	Dillon Reinkensmeyer	Jr
HB	`80`	Billy Kemp IV	So
WR	`82`	Brandon White	Fr
WR	`83`	Hayden Mitchell	So
WR	`84`	Dorien Goddard	Fr
TE	`85`	Grant Misch	Fr
WR	`86`	Ugo Obasi	So
WR	`87`	Dontayvion Wicks	Fr
WR	`88`	Tavares Kelly Jr.	So
WR	`89`	Dejon Brissett	Sr
RB	`96`	Seneca Milledge	Fr
G		Kariem Al Soufi	Fr
WR		Nathaniel Beal III	Fr
G		Charlie Boxley	Fr
WR		Terrell Chatman	Sr
OT		Alex Gellerstedt	Fr
OT		Landry Gerbers	Fr
WR		John Izlar	Fr
OT		Jack Keenan	RFr
WR		Zack Kindel	Fr
TE		T. J. Kitts	So
TE		Mike Kosar
G		Micah Mariteragi	RFr
QB		Jared Rayman	Fr
G		Zachary Teter	Fr
C/G		Gerrik Vollmer	So
G		Martin Weisz	RFr
QB		Luke Wentz	Fr
RB		Justin Zollar	Sr

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
CB	`1`	Nick Grant	Jr
ILB	`4`	Jordan Mack	Sr
FS	`7`	Chris Moore	Jr
DL	`9`	Samson Reed	Fr
OLB	`11`	Charles Snowden	Jr
OLB	`14`	Noah Taylor	So
FS	`15`	De'Vante Cross	Jr
DE	`16`	Richard Burney	Sr
OLB	`17`	Elliott Brown	Jr
ILB	`22`	Robert Snyder	Jr
CB	`23`	Heskin Smith	So
DB	`25`	Joseph White	Fr
FS	`28`	Brenton Nelson	Jr
FS	`29`	Joey Blount	Jr
DB	`30`	Antonio Clary	Fr
CB	`30`	Myles Robinson	Jr
CB	`32`	Darrius Bratton	Jr
ILB	`33`	Zane Zandier	Jr
CB	`34`	Bryce Hall	Sr
ILB	`38`	T. C. Harrison	Fr
CB	`39`	Jaylon Baker	Fr
CB	`41`	Germane Crowell	So
41	`41`	Darnell Pratt	So
ILB	`42`	Nick Jackson	Fr
ILB	`45`	Reed Kellam	Sr
OLB	`47`	Dre Bryant	Jr
DB	`49`	Coen King	Fr
DB	`53`	Fentrell Cypress II	Fr
OLB	`56`	Matt Gahm	Jr
OLB	`57`	Colin Dixon	So
DT	`58`	Eli Hanback	Sr
DB	`60`	Chayce Chalmers	Fr
OLB	`66`	Jairus Satiu	Fr
S	`71`	Darren Klein	Fr
DB	`74`	Jake Dewease	Fr
NT	`76`	Jordan Redmond	So
DB	`90`	Major Williams	Fr
DE	`91`	Mandy Alonso	Jr
DB	`92`	Tenyeh Dixon	Fr
OLB	`93`	Hunter Stewart	Fr
DT	`94`	Aaron Faumui	So
DE	`95`	Ben Smiley III	Fr
OLB	`98`	D'Sean Perry	Fr
DT	`99`	Jowon Briggs	So
ILB		Josh Ahern	Fr
DL		Isaac Buell	So
DB		Jude Carlon	Fr
CB		Mark Chichester	RFr
LB		Evan Clark	RFr
DE		Sam Galletta	Fr
ILB		DaJuan Moore	RFr
LB		Aidan Saunders	Fr
S		Vinnie Vladic	RFr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`26`	Brian Delaney	Jr
K	`43`	Justin Duenkel	Fr
LS	`61`	Enzo Anthony	Fr
LS	`62`	Lee Dudley	Fr
PK/P	`81`	Nash Griffin	Jr
PK	`89`	Hunter Pearson	Fr
PK	`95`	A. J. Mejia	Jr
P		Brendan Farrell	Fr
LS		Tucker Finkelston	Fr

Head coach

Bronco Mendenhall (Oregon State)

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Robert Anae (BYU)
Offensive coordinator, inside receivers
Marques Hagans (Virginia)
Wide receivers
Mark Atuaia (BYU)
Running backs
Garett Tujague (BYU)
Offensive line
Jason Beck (BYU)
Quarterbacks
Vic So'oto (BYU)
Defensive line
Nick Howell (Weber State)
Defensive coordinator, secondary
Kelly Poppinga (BYU)
Co-defensive coordinator coordinator, outside linebackers
Shane Hunter (BYU)
Inside linebackers
Rickey Brumfield (Utah State)
Special teams coordinator
Patrick Hickman (BYU)
Director of football operations
Justin Anderson (BYU)
Director of player personnel
Jordan Arcement (Nicholls State)
Assistant director of player personnel
Shawn Griswold (Utah State)
Director of football training & player development
Matt Edwards (BYU)
Football analyst
Kirk Garner (Virginia)
Graduate assistant
C.J. Stalker (Virginia)
Graduate assistant
Jackson Matteo (Virginia)
Graduate assistant
Andrew Meyer (Wisconsin)
Graduate assistant

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2018-07-27

Depth chart

Defense

FS
Joey Blount
De'Vante Cross
⋅

WLB	BLB	MLB	SLB
Noah Taylor	Zane Zandier	Jordan Mack	Charles Snowden
Matt Gahm	Robert Snyder	Nick Jackson	Elliott Brown
⋅	⋅	⋅	⋅

SABRE
Brenton Nelson
Chris Moore
⋅

CB
Nick Grant
Jaylon Baker
⋅

DE	NT	DE
Eli Hanback	Jowon Briggs	Richard Burney
Mandy Alonso	Jordan Redmond	Aaron Faumui
⋅	⋅	Tommy Christ

CB
Bryce Hall
Heskin Smith
⋅

Offense

WR (X)
Terrell Jana
Terrell Chatman
Billy Kemp IV

WR
Joe Reed
Tavares Kelly Jr
Chuck Davis

LT	LG	C	RG	RT
Ryan Swoboda	Ryan Nelson	Olusegun Oluwatimi	Chris Glaser	Dillon Reinkensmeyer
Bobby Haskins	Joe Bissinger	Tyler Fannin	Ja'Quay Hubbard	Derek Devine
⋅	⋅	⋅	⋅	⋅

TE
Tanner Cowley
Grant Misch
⋅

WR (Y)
Hasise Dubois
Dontayvion Wicks
Dorian Goddard

QB
Bryce Perkins
Brennan Armstrong
Lindell Stone

Key reserves

KO Brian Delaney

RB
Wayne Taulapapa
PK Kier
Lamont Atkins

Special teams
PK Brian Delaney
PK Justin Duenkel
P Nash Griffin
P Brian Delaney
KR Joe Reed KR Perris Jones
PR Chuck Davis PR Tavares Kelly Jr
LS Lee Dudley LS Enzo Anthony
H Nash Griffin

Game summaries

At Pittsburgh

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cavaliers	10	3	10	7	30
Panthers	0	14	0	0	14

William & Mary

	1	2	3	4	Total
Tribe	0	3	7	7	17
Cavaliers	21	14	7	10	52

Florida State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Seminoles	0	14	3	7	24
No. 25 Cavaliers	3	7	0	21	31

Old Dominion

	1	2	3	4	Total
Monarchs	10	7	0	0	17
No. 21 Cavaliers	0	7	7	14	28

At Notre Dame

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 18 Cavaliers	7	10	0	3	20
No. 10 Fighting Irish	14	0	14	7	35

At Miami (FL)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 20 Cavaliers	0	3	0	6	9
Hurricanes	7	0	0	10	17

Duke

	1	2	3	4	Total
Blue Devils	0	0	7	7	14
Cavaliers	0	17	24	7	48

At Louisville

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cavaliers	7	7	0	7	21
Cardinals	7	0	7	14	28

At North Carolina

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cavaliers	7	10	21	0	38
Tar Heels	3	14	14	0	31

Georgia Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
Yellow Jackets	14	7	0	7	28
Cavaliers	14	10	0	9	33

Liberty

	1	2	3	4	Total
Flames	7	7	7	6	27
Cavaliers	10	14	14	17	55

Virginia Tech

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Hokies	3	3	21	3	30
Cavaliers	13	0	7	19	39

Clemson (ACC Championship game)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 23 Cavaliers	7	0	7	3	17
No. 3 Tigers	14	17	14	17	62

Vs. Florida (Orange Bowl)

	1	2	3	4	Total
No. 24 Cavaliers	7	7	0	14	28
No. 9 Gators	14	10	3	9	36

Rankings

Further information: 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	Final
AP	RV	RV	25	21	18	23	20	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	22	RV	RV
Coaches	RV	RV	RV	22	18	22	19	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	22	25	25
CFP	Not released										—	—	—	—	23	24	Not released

Players drafted into the NFL

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
5	151	Joe Reed	WR	Los Angeles Chargers
5	158	Bryce Hall	CB	New York Jets

References

^ "Clemson Favored to Continue ACC Football Championship Run". theACC.com. Atlantic Coast Conference. July 22, 2019. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
"Virginia Announces 2019 Football Schedule". VirginiaSports.com. University of Virginia Athletics. January 16, 2019.
"Mendenhall Adds Eight to Coaching Staff" (Press release). Virginia Cavaliers. December 12, 2015. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
"Mendenhall Announces Defensive Coaching Switch" (Press release). Virginia Cavaliers. March 18, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
^ "DEPTH CHART" (PDF) (Press release). Virginia Cavaliers. August 26, 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 30, 2018. Retrieved August 26, 2019.

v t e Virginia Cavaliers football
Venues	Madison Hall Field (1888–1912) Lambeth Field (1913–1930) Scott Stadium (1931–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Florida State: Jefferson-Eppes Trophy Maryland North Carolina: South's Oldest Rivalry Virginia Tech
Culture & lore	"The Cavalier Song" "The Good Old Song" Cavalier Marching Band 1990 Georgia Tech game 2022 shooting
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders W. A. Lambeth
Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917–1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

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