The top three pass catchers from the at times prolific UVA Football offense from a year ago are gone.
Trell Harris (59 catches/82 targets, 847 yards, five TDs) stretched the field at wideout. Cam Ross (53 catches/79 targets, 543 yards, two TDs) attacked defenses with game-breaking speed in the slot.
Jahmal Edrine (46 catches/72 targets, 564 yards, one TD) was a matchup nightmare with his size (6’3”, 221).
Virginia offensive coordinator Des Kitchings is pretty much starting over with his 2026 wideout room.
He does get Kam Courtney (25 catches/37 targets, 234 yards in 2025) back, and there was plenty of talent from the transfer portal.
- WR Jacquon Gibson (UMass): 63 catches/95 targets, 616 yards
- WR Da’Shawn Martin (Kent State): 33 catches/48 targets, 507 yards
- WR Rico Flores Jr. (UCLA): 26 catches/37 targets, 274 yards
- WR Tyson Davis (Central Michigan): 25 catches/33 targets, 323 yards
Where they were used last season
- Jacquon Gibson (2025 at UMass): 255 snaps at wideout, 81 snaps in the slot
- Da’Shawn Martin (2025 at Kent State): 203 snaps at wideout, 38 snaps in the slot
- Rico Flores Jr. (2025 at UCLA): 150 snaps at wideout, 85 snaps in the slot
- Tyson Davis (2025 at Central Michigan): 143 snaps in the slot, 15 snaps at wideout
- Kam Courtney (2025 at UVA): 128 snaps in the slot, 19 snaps at wideout
The word of the day
Kitchings, talking with reporters after a practice on Friday, was asked his impressions of his wideout room.
The word that kept coming up: “flash.”
As in: “Rico has flash. Jacquon has flash. Kam Courtney has flash. You know, they all do.”
“We’ve got to build the competitive depth in the room,” Kitchings said. “We talked about going into this fall camp, really being able to come out of camp, our hope is to come out of camp with a six-to-eight-man kind of depth at that position, because three or four guys, it’s just hard on them to say, hey, three or four receivers, go play that much.
“As a former receiver myself, we all think we could play every snap, but to play 75 snaps at the caliber we need you to play for an extended period of time, that’s really just not doable, honestly. So those guys, just every day we challenge them. Everybody’s been challenged.”
Go-to guy?
Just based on their 2025 numbers, you could expect Gibson, with all those catches, all those targets, last season at UMass, to be WR1.
I’ll throw you a curveball here: Kitchings is thinking of Gibson, listed at 5’11”, 196, working in the slot.
“I tell you what I like about and appreciate with Jacquon, obviously his experience, but you can tell he’s a football mind. He loves football,” Kitchings said. “I don’t know what production he’s going to have this year, so not to project anything, but his personality traits, his work habits, his positivity is very similar to Malik Washington, to Cam Ross, guys that played in the slot for us that have done very well for us here. I just think his DNA of him and his competitive spirit that he’s going to do some good things for us this fall.”
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Chris Graham
