Virginia vs. Virginia Tech: A Clash of Epic Proportions

Jon Stupar, Tom Santi, and John Philips are Virginia’s three tight ends that have carried on the Virginia Cavaliers’ tradition as “Tight End U.” The Cavaliers passing attack features two of the best tight ends in college football in Tom Santi and Jon Stupar. This season the trio has combined to haul in 80 passes for 858 yards and 6 touchdowns.. Stupar is more of a possession tight end and is not excellent after the catch. Santi is probably the most talented of the trio and has the ability to gain yards after the catch. Phillips is the youngest of the trio and while he still has some improvements to make, has shown great promise and potential.  Their production on Saturday will be very critical in stretching the Hokie pass defense, which ranks 27th in the nation in that category. Look for the tight ends to be a huge factor on Saturday, especially in one of the Cavaliers “bread-and-butter” plays, the play-action bootleg to the left side of the field to the tight ends.

The closest thing to a deep threat the Cavaliers have is receiver Maurice “Mo” Covington. While Covington might not be the most dangerous receiver in the world, he has still hauled in 19 passes for 236 yards and 2 touchdowns. The few passes that he has caught have been very important ones. Covington has displayed the ability in the past few weeks to elude tackles after the catch and escape to the end zone, something he did against both Wake Forest and Miami. The Cavaliers “secret weapon” is perhaps the most versatile athlete in the game on Saturday. That man of course is former Virginia High School football legend and current receiver/punt returner/placeholder/cornerback Vic Hall. He was one of the most decorated signal-callers in Virginia High School football history and broke Ronald Curry’s record for total yardage in a career. He racked up 13, 770 yards of total offense during his career for the Gretna Hawks en route to leading his team to back-to-back state titles his junior and senior seasons.

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