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UVA Football alum Olamide Zaccheaus has Super Bowl shot with Washington Commanders

Chris Graham
olamide zaccheaus uva football
UVA Football alum Olamide Zaccheaus. Photo: UVA Athletics

UVA Football alum Olamide Zaccheaus has emerged as one of the top passing-game weapons for the Washington Commanders, who have a shot this weekend at reaching the Super Bowl for the first time since way back in 1992.

The Commanders will face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, Fox), in a rubber match between the two NFC East rivals.

In the teams’ second regular-season matchup, a 36-33 Commanders’ win, Zaccheaus had two TD catches, finishing with five catches on eight targets for 70 yards.

Zaccheaus had three catches on three targets in Washington’s 23-20 wild-card win over Tampa Bay on Jan. 12, but pitched a shutout in the 45-31 divisional-round win over Detroit last weekend – no catches, no targets, and he left the game with a groin injury.

Word out of the Commanders’ camp on Friday is that Zaccheaus is a full-go for Sunday.

Zaccheaus, a 2019 alum of the University, who had 250 catches in his four college seasons, from 2015-2018, is third on the Commanders with 48 catches on 67 targets, 525 yards, 10.9 yards per catch, and three TDs.

All are career-highs for Zaccheaus, a sixth-year pro, who has 153 catches in his stints with Atlanta, Philadelphia and now Washington, which signed the wideout to a one-year, $1.275 million deal in March.

Zaccheaus is the only UVA Football alum playing in this weekend’s championship games.

Other players with Virginia college ties on the championship game rosters include:


  • Commanders CB Bobby Price (Norfolk State)
  • Commanders DT Norell Pollard (Virginia Tech)
  • Eagles long snapper Rick Lovato (ODU)
  • Chiefs S Chamarri Conner (Virginia Tech)

Price is a member of the Commanders practice squad. Pollard is on injured reserve.

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham, the king of "fringe media," a zero-time Virginia Sportswriter of the Year, and a member of zero Halls of Fame, is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].