John Rudzinski has a lot of work to do to fix the Virginia defense, which was atrocious in 2021, ranking 14th in the ACC in total defense (466.0 yards per game).
The focus at the outset for Rudzinski, who took over as defensive coordinator after working at Air Force for 14 years, the last four as the DC, is on getting a sense of what he has to work with.
“We have to do a great job as far as evaluating the current talent in the program. It’s a neat opportunity for not only us as coaches, but I know for the players here, to really have a clean slate,” said Rudzinski, whose Air Force defensive unit ranked fourth nationally in total defense (296.5 yards per game) in 2021.
“We’ve first got to number one, identify who we have personnel-wise, which again, that’s always evolving. And then secondly, as far as trying to make sure that we have enough scheme to be able to put guys in a position to make plays, and ideally make it really difficult for an offense to have to identify what we are schematically,” Rudzinski said.
Roster breakdown: D line
The defensive line may be the furthest along with the additions a couple of weeks back of Columbia grad transfer Paul Akere, and Aaron Faumui, an in-house transfer.
Faumui, a 6’1”, 300-pound interior lineman, had put his name into the transfer portal on Dec. 13, but announced on Jan. 31 that he intends to stay on at Virginia.
Faumui logged 460 defensive snaps in 2021, with a Pro Football Focus grade of 53.2, so he’ll bring back experience to a line that will lose Mandy Alonso (617 snaps, 32 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss, 3 QB hurries, 61.3 PFF) and Adeeb Atariwa (38 snaps, 68.5 PFF) to graduation, and Nusi Malani (127 snaps, 29.2 PFF) and Jordan Redmond (123 snaps, 49.6 PFF) to the transfer portal.
Akere, a 6’3”, 240-pound defensive end, was a second-team All-Ivy selection in 2021, with five sacks and 25 total QB pressures on 530 snaps and a PFF grade of 75.7.
Akere joins another transfer-portal addition to the line group, former Michigan State defensive end Jack Camper, a native of Virginia Beach.
Camper, a 6’5”, 250-pound end, missed the final 10 games of the Spartans’ 2021 season with an injury. A backup in Michigan State’s first three games, he was on the field for 31 snaps.
He saw action on a career-high 249 snaps in 2020, with a Pro Football Focus grade of 59.3, and over portion of four seasons, two cut short by injury, he played 532 snaps, had 15 QB pressures, one sack and 29 tackles.
With Akere and Camper on the ends of the line, Faumui will be joined by 6’2”, 315-pound sophomore Jahmeer Carter (496 snaps, 23 tackles, 2 TFLs, 49.4 PFF grade in 2021) atop the depth chart inside.
Depth will come from 6’4”, 270-pound sophomore Ben Smiley III (219 snaps, 30.4 PFF grade) and 6’6”, 280-pound redshirt freshman Olasunkonmi Agunloye (204 snaps, 54.0 PFF grade).
Class of 2021 four-star recruit Bryce Carter, a 6’3”, 280-pounder, only got four snaps this past season, but just based on what the recruiting services thought of him, you’d think he’d be in the mix to earn some two-deep time in the spring.
Another Class of 2021 recruit, Michael Diatta, a 6’5”, 255-pounder, got 35 snaps (with a 59.3 PFF grade) as a true freshman in 2021.
Other names to throw in for posterity: freshmen Lorenz Terry and Andrew Williams, redshirt freshmen Nate Morris and Sam Bond, and incoming freshman TT Jones.
Roster breakdown: LBs
The linebacker corps will be anchored again by senior inside ‘backer Nick Jackson (796 snaps, 117 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 6 TFLs, 6 QBHs, 62.5 PFF grade).
Rudzinski can also build around junior Hunter Stewart (338 snaps, 37 tackles, 2 sacks, 3.5 TFLs, 4 QBHs, 60.7 PFF grade).
But put to rest your visions of teaming Jackson and Stewart alongside senior edge guy Noah Taylor (707 snaps, 69 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 8 TFLs, 8 QBHs, 67.7 PFF grade) and sophomore West Weeks (252 snaps, 31 tackles, 5 pass breakups, 60.4 PFF grade), with Taylor on his way to North Carolina, and Weeks headed to Southern Cal, both via the transfer portal.
The only other guy with significant game action in 2021 was junior Josh Ahern (241 snaps, 25 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, 2 QBHs, 44.6 PFF grade).
Depth will come from junior D’Sean Perry (71 snaps, 5 QB hurries, 55.3 PFF grade), sophomore edge guy Mike Green (38 snaps, 4 tackles, 65.3 PFF grade), and sophomores James Jackson (15 snaps, 68.1 PFF grade) and Sam Brady (4 snaps, 54.5 PFF grade).
Also in the LB room heading into the spring: senior Chico Bennett Jr. (274 snaps at Georgia Tech in 2020, 59.1 PFF grade), sophomores Kendall Cross, Jack Hardy, Joseph Holland, Jonathan Horton, Josh McCarron and Brayden Sheffer, and freshmen Stevie Bracey and Trey McDonald.
Roster breakdown: Secondary
The secondary is going to need the most work, with the losses of safeties Joey Blount (664 snaps, 87 tackles, 5 TFL, 3 INTs, 3 PBUs, 3 QB hurries, 77.7 PFF grade) and Nick Grant (544 snaps, 50 tackles, 9 PBUs, 3 TFLs, 67.1 PFF grade).
The foundation for the unit will be senior cornerbacks Anthony Johnson (777 snaps, 44 tackles, 3 INTs, 6 PBUs, 68.6 PFF grade) and Darrius Bratton (473 snaps, 30 tackles, 6 PBUs, 65.6 PFF grade), alongside senior safeties Coen King (506 snaps, 41 tackles, 3 PBUs) and Antonio Clary (361 snaps, 42 tackles, 62.1 PFF grade) and junior cornerback Fentrell Cypress II (297 snaps, 16 tackles, 1 INT, 53.6 PFF grade).
The depth will come from sophomore safeties Langston Long (55 snaps, 57.4 PFF grade) and Donovan Johnson (5 snaps, 51.4 PFF grade), and sophomore cornerbacks Jonas Sanker (58 snaps, 60.3 PFF grade), Elijah Gaines (42 snaps, 48.8 PFF grade) and Dave Herard (16 snaps, 65.5 PFF grade).
The rest of the secondary room heading into the spring: junior safeties Chayce Chalmers (16 snaps in 2020) and Jake Dewease (also 16 snaps in 2020), and sophomores Micah Gaffney, Aidan Ryan and William Simpkins III.
Time to get familiar
“We’re super encouraged by the young men here in the program,” said Rudzinski, who spent the bulk of his first few weeks on the job on the road recruiting, both the high school ranks and the transfer portal.
Now that Rudzinski and his staff are back in Charlottesville, they’re getting to know the student-athletes, both personally and football-wise.
“You talk about a bunch of young men that are invested here with the University of Virginia and the football program. You see it by their work in the weight room, and again, just their diligence,” Rudzinski said. “I know that Coach Smo (head strength and conditioning coach Adam Smotherman) and the weight staff and conditioning staff have been doing a tremendous job of taking advantage of these early-morning workouts. You just look at even this morning, those guys cranking it up this morning at 5:30, that there’s great energy, and a bunch of young men that that are hungry to get better and stack good days on top of each other as we go forward.”
Rudzinski hasn’t committed yet to anything in terms of scheme – be it a 3-4 front or a 4-3 front as the base.
Scheme will come, basically.
“You’ve got to install your scheme, but at the same time, it’s one of those which the focus has got to be as far as how technically sound can our players get, and that, frankly, you can get too caught up in the x’s and o’s and forget that, frankly, if we’re going to play good football, if we’re going play complementary football as a team, we’ve got to make sure that we were fundamentally sound, and it’s no different than any other life skill. If you don’t read well, you’re not going to be very effective in college. If you don’t take care of algebra, you know, calculus is going to be pretty darn difficult,” Rudzinski said.
“Our objective as a staff is to put the best 11 on the field,” Rudzinski said. “That’s the fun part about this. It’s looking at these guys finding out, number one, who has the skill set, but then secondly, guys that can process at a really high level. And that’s what’s fun being here at Virginia, is that you get a chance to recruit a bunch of guys that academics are important to, and when you have guys that have not only a great physical skill set, but are great processors of information, it’s fun to see what they’ll accomplish.”
Story by Chris Graham
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