Blue and Gold Illustrated

GAME PREVIEW: VIRGINIA Not everything was sunshine and roses for the Cavaliers through the pre‑ season and week one, though. The in‑ jury bug bit down hard on the wide receiver corps, which is a unit that was expected to be one of the stronger groups for the team this year. Fifth‑year senior T.J. Thorpe, a gradu‑ ate transfer from North Carolina, broke his right clavicle during a scrimmage Aug. 13 — an injury was expected to keep him sidelined for at least 10 weeks. "If there was one guy that the Cava‑ liers just could not afford to lose this training camp it was T.J. Thorpe," Franklin said. "He was a great fit for them as an immediate transfer. They really needed a slot guy, someone they could use in the kick and punt return game, and he looked great in those roles both in the spring and this summer. But then he suffered the injury, so he'll miss probably the first half of the season. "Not having him has caused them some problems. They've had to acceler‑ ate the development for a couple of true freshmen, guys who probably wouldn't have played much if Thorpe hadn't got‑ ten hurt." Defensively, coordinator Jon Tenuta has built an aggressive unit capable of interrupting any rhythm an opposing offense tries to build. The Cavaliers pro‑ duced a tackle for loss, a pass defended or a forced fumble at least once every five plays (21 percent) last season, a rate that ranked fourth nationally according to Football Outsiders. However, that unit loses a lot of pro‑ duction from last season's front seven, including 14.5 tackles for loss and seven sacks by defensive end Eli Harold (a third‑round selection of the San Fran‑ cisco 49ers in the 2015 NFL Draft). Vir‑ ginia will try to replace some of that production with senior defensive end Trent Corney, an incredible athlete off the gridiron that they hope can translate his raw talent into production on the football field. "I think I'd still call the defensive end group a work in progress," Franklin said. "The real wild card there is Trent Corney. He's a decathlete who came to Virginia from Canada, hasn't played a lot of American football, but physically is a freak of nature. He posts clips on social media where he flat‑footed stands in a pool and jumps out of it, or dunks a basketball standing off of one foot. The question is can he take that athleti‑ cism and apply it to football? He's the guy that we're all interested to see on a game‑by‑game basis now; has the light really come on for him, or is it more of a situational deal? "They're really strong at defensive tackle; they probably have three guys who could almost push to start on any team in the ACC there. So they're hop‑ ing maybe they've got more options at defensive end than they realized, and that could help solve the question of where will the pass rush come from this year." The secondary might feature the most complete group that Notre Dame will see this year. Sophomore safety Quin Blanding finished with 123 tackles as a true freshman, earning second‑team All‑ ACC honors. Rivals ranked Blanding as the No. 1 safety and No. 5 overall player nationally in the class of 2014. Additionally, senior cornerback Mau‑

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