Billy Kemp IV, a five-year member of the Virginia football team, is headed to Nebraska for a sixth and final year of college football.
Kemp is one of several seniors who was granted an extra year of eligibility after Virginia’s season was cut short due to the Nov. 13 mass shootings that claimed the lives of wideouts Devin Chandler and Lavel Davis Jr. and linebacker D’Sean Perry, and seriously injured two others, including running back Mike Hollins.
He had initially indicated his desire to enter the NFL draft after the 2022 season, but reality being what it is – Kemp is not an NFL prospect – he changed his mind and entered the transfer portal on Dec. 30.
The 5’9”, 172-pounder was limited to action in seven games, four starts, in the 2022 season, recording 16 catches on 28 targets for 116 yards.
In his five-year career at UVA, Kemp, a slot receiver, had 192 catches, 1,774 receiving yards and eight touchdown catches.
His best year was 2021, the final year that the offense was run by Robert Anae. Kemp had 74 catches on 99 targets for 710 yards and six TDs in 2021.
He also put up big numbers in 2020: 67 catches on 97 targets for 644 yards.
At Nebraska, Kemp will play for new Cornhuskers coach Matt Rhule, who was hired in December after his stint as head coach of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers had come to an end earlier in the 2022 NFL season.
The other transfer news of the day involves offensive lineman John Paul Flores, who played one season at Virginia after transferring from Dartmouth, where he had played in 2020 and 2021.
Flores is headed to ACC rival Louisville, where he will play for new head coach Jeff Brohm, who is replacing Scott Satterfield, who bolted for Cincinnati before the Cardinals’ bowl game.
Flores, a 6’4”, 308-pound guard, saw action in nine of Virginia’s 10 games in 2022, getting on the field for 433 snaps, 428 of them at left guard.
Pro Football Focus gave him a grade of 60.6.
On 259 pass-block snaps, Flores allowed 15 QB pressures, but did not surrender a sack.
Flores is one of four players who got starts on the Virginia O line that will not be back next season. Sophomore left tackle Logan Taylor, a former four-star prep recruit, is also in the transfer portal, and seniors Derek Devine and Jonathan Leech have decided not to use their final year of eligibility.
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Chris Graham
