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OCTOBER 2022 23 There might not typically be much cross- over in the chess and football worlds, but for Thompson it started as a way to connect with his brother Kayden, who is six years his junior. His little brother taught him the game — he played competitively and needed some practice at home. The first couple of games, Keytaon started to get a sense that he wasn't being taught all the strategy and details needed to be successful at the game, so he went to work. Keytaon read all sorts of books and learned how to really play the game to fi- nally get up to Kayden's level. It took about a month of studying and practice to be able to beat Kayden every now and then. The willingness to learn has served Thompson well not only in chess but in the wide receiver room. He made a giant leap from Year 1 as a wideout to Year 2. That comes as no surprise since the UVA wide receiver room has been one of the best un- der the guidance of Hagans. Of the 15 wide receivers among UVA's all-time top 20 in receptions, nine of them have learned under Hagans, who is in his 11th year on the Cavalier coaching staff. The big step forward from 2020 to 2021 helped the Virginia offense become one of the best in all of college football. Front and center was Thompson, who led the Cavaliers with 78 receptions and 990 yards receiv- ing, 10 yards shy of becoming the sixth UVA wide receiver ever to reach the 1,000- yard mark. True to his do-it-all capabilities, Thompson also chipped in 247 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns in the run game. Some of his success can be attributed to his "elusive rating" ffom data extrapolated by Pro Football Focus (PFF), a service that uses customized advanced metrics to analyze just about every Division I college football player that steps on the field in a given year. This is a statistic pioneered by PFF that measures the success and impact of a runner with the ball independently of the blocking. During his breakout 2021 season, his elusive rating was a 175.5, the second highest of any non-running back in all of college football with 20 or more attempts. With the ball in his hands, he's very dif- ficult to bring to the ground. A simpler way to measure his impact was his 453 yards after the catch, the third-most in the Atlantic Coast Conference a year ago. Throw around all the fancy statistics you want, his teammates and coaches alike will just call him a good football player. His instincts from playing a multitude of posi- tions over a half-decade sometimes can't be measured. Quarterback Brennan Armstrong raved about his block on a Miami linebacker. "He's just a battler," Armstrong said. "He loves football, everyone knows that. Every- one calls him the 'Football Player' — he's just that guy." Football players are tough, but Thompson was in a different stratosphere in 2021. Against North Carolina in the fourth game of the sea- son he suffered fracture in his wrist. Thompson proved that a cast on the hand of a wide receiver played little or no effect on his produc- tion. According to Pro Football focus, Thompson had only 5 drops on 111 targets in 2021. WHAT'S NEXT? The final chapter of Keytaon Thompson's college football journey will be under the guidance of Elliott, a former receiver himself at Clemson. "He has everything he needs to be dominant and successful at this level, but I desire for him to accomplish his goals beyond the University of Virginia, and I don't just want him to get to the NFL," Elliott said. "I want him to stay in the NFL. He needs to just continue to improve the small technical aspects, because he has all the big things." It's apparent that the new coaching staff is not going to allow Thompson to be satis- fied with having one good season. And Thompson is very aware of that fact. "Coach Elliott has been really adamant about getting on me," Thompson said before camp. "He's trying to get me out of my com- fort zone, and he's done a good job at it. I'm really thankful for that and how he's pushed me since he came in." "Yes, he's done a lot of things, right," of- fensive coordinator Des Kitchings said. "It makes him good at a lot of things, but not necessarily great at something. We're trying to refine his skills as a receiver so he could be elite and be different in that regard." UVA fans are all eagerly awaiting what Thompson has in his bag of tricks for 2022. As a prep player in New Orleans, Thompson led Landry-Walker High School to the Louisiana 5A state football championship and also helped the school win back-to-back state championships in basketball. (Photo courtesy UVA) " Coach [Elliott] has been really adamant about … getting me out of my comfort zone, and … I'm really thankful for that." THOMPSON ON UVA HEAD COACH TONY ELLIOTT