UVA senior linebacker Jordan Mack has been named the recipient of the 2019 Jim Tatum Award, given annually in memory of the late Jim Tatum to the top senior student-athlete among the league’s football players.
Tatum, a two-time ACC Coach of the Year, coached in the 1950s at both Maryland and North Carolina.
Mack will be recognized this weekend during activities surrounding the 2019 ACC Football Championship Game between Atlantic Division champion Clemson and his Coastal Division champion Virginia squad, which is set for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.
Mack carries a 3.47 GPA and is on track to graduate later this month in three and a half years with a degree in education and an emphasis on youth and social innovation.
The Lithonia, Ga., native is a two-time ACC All-Academic Team member and a three-time ACC Academic Honor Roll selection.
He also volunteers with Kindness Café + Play, which employs people with cognitive disabilities, and he has participated in UVA’s “Thursday’s Heroes” program, hosting medically ill children and their families at the school’s football facilities. He also mentors elementary school students at the Boys & Girls Club and visits sick children at hospitals throughout the year.
“Jordan’s work ethic, integrity and maturity are representative of the standard our players have established for the program,” UVA coach Bronco Mendenhall said. “He has developed into a leader on this team and accomplished that by earning the respect of his teammates because of his dedication to being a fantastic football player, and a great ambassador for our program and the University in our community. He is a no-nonsense player who loves the game of football and respects what it can do to transform young men into tomorrow’s leaders.”
Mack is the eighth Virginia student-athlete to be recognized as the ACC’s Jim Tatum Award recipient and the first since tight end Tom Santi in 2007.
On the field, Mack leads ACC linebackers with 7.5 quarterback sacks in 2019. He has recorded 69 tackles, 8.5 total tackles for loss while forcing two fumbles and 13 quarterback hurries.
A four-year letterman, Mack earned Honorable Mention Freshman All-America honors from Campus Insiders and Second Team Freshman All-ACC recognition from Athlon Sports.
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