UVA Football: Kitchings looks to get more productivity from his tight ends

I was about to give Virginia offensive coordinator Des Kitchings a hard time for not being able to get more productivity out of his tight ends, but then I looked at the numbers.

My memory told me that Robert Anae got more out of his tight ends, like Grant Poljan (38 catches/61 targets, 411 yards, six TDs in 2020) and Jelani Woods (44 catches/71 targets, 598 yards, eight TDs in 2021), but while their individual numbers were noteworthy, Kitchings’ units as a whole have been as productive as Anae’s were.

The data

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• 2016 (Anae): 12 catches/16 targets, 78 yards, 2 TDs
• 2017 (Anae): 36 catches/47 targets, 290 yards, 3 TDs
• 2018 (Anae): 20 catches/27 targets, 209 yards, 2 TDs
• 2019 (Anae): 29 catches/38 targets, 317 yards, 2 TDs
• 2020 (Anae): 38 catches/65 targets, 411 yards, 6 TDs
• 2021 (Anae): 48 catches/84 targets, 598 yards, 9 TDs
• 2022 (Kitchings): 29 catches/44 targets, 294 yards, 0 TDs
• 2023 (Kitchings): 14 catches/25 targets, 164 yards, 1 TD
• 2024 (Kitchings): 51 catches/75 targets, 492 yards, 4 TDs
• 2025 (Kitchings): 43 catches/68 targets, 444 yards, 6 TDs

Anae season average (six seasons): 30.5 catches/46.2 targets, 317.2 yards, 4 TDs
Kitchings season average (four seasons): 34 catches/53 targets, 348.5 yards, 2.8 TDs

Looking to 2026

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Kitchings has four guys with game experience to build around for 2026:

• Dakota Twitty (2025 at UVA): 11 catches/18 targets, 129 yards
• John Rogers (2025 at UVA): 9 catches/12 targets, 101 yards, 1 TD
• Connor Cox (2025 at UNC): 5 catches/5 targets, 21 yards
• Lucas Ungar (2025 at New Mexico State): 3 catches/8 targets, 14 yards

Twitty is a former four-star wideout who grew into being a tight end after hitting the weight room in college.

Rogers was a three-star whose other offers were from Group of 5 and FCS schools who has grown into being a productive Power 4 tight end.

Cox and Ungar were used more as blocking tight ends at their previous stops, but Kitchings will want them to develop into pass catchers.

The transfers, per Kitchings, “both have a very, very good IQ of football and a passion, you know, with some leadership about them.”

“Throughout the summer, you saw Dak and Connor working out together, you know, both of them elevating themselves competitively. John Rogers and Lukas are probably similar type skills and body types. Dak and Connor are probably very similar there,” Kitchings told reporters in a post-practice interview session on Friday.

“There’s a lot of things Dak’s got to improve upon, John’s got to improve upon. We need John to be a consistent contributor for us, right? I like where Connor’s at through three practices, and from the 15 in the spring,” Kitchings said.

Personally, I’m looking for a breakout season from Twitty, who should be in a comfort zone now after having made the switch from wideout to the inside.

Kitchings said he has seen a lot of growth in Twitty from last fall to where we are now.

“And it’s not so much the physical growth as the mental growth and having a better understanding of playing the tight end position and all aspects of it,” Kitchings said. “My challenge to him this offseason was to grow mentally, understanding defensive structures, right? Alignment, secondary rotation, linebacker alignment, so that, pre-snap, we’re getting a picture to play faster post-snap, and he’s showing that.”