Cavalier Corner

June 2016

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Warren Craft on the outside. "We need more depth, and luckily that's been addressed with the freshman class coming in," Mendenhall added. "Just being able to sustain practice is difficult with those few of bodies [at wide receiver] to keep go- ing as we track their distances and their load with our GPS system. I like what they're capable of, but we lack consistency in the pass game as of today." Clearly, the Wahoos have two players on offense that Anae will scheme for more than any others: Fourth- year running back Taquan Mizzell and second-year running back turned wide re- ceiver Olamide Zac- cheaus. Mizzell, a third-team All-ACC selection a year ago, broke the ACC record for receiving yards in a season by a running back with 721. And his 75 receptions were the second most in ACC history by a running back and second most all time at UVA regardless of position. Pairing Mizzell, who has the nickname "Smoke," with Zaccheaus, a dynamic 5-8, 190-pound receiver who played running back in a spread offense in high school, is going to give opposing defenses fits. "Any way we can get him the ball," Men- denhall said of Zaccheaus, "we're going to get him the ball. … Two of the most dy- namic players in the program and maybe [the ACC]. … Certainly Smoke and O, they need to touch the ball a lot. "Smoke will be in the backfield and O will be in the slot," he added with a smile. "Or they could both be in the slot at the same time. Or they could both be in the backfield at the same time. Or they could both be at receiver at the same time. Or any combination." Ultimately, Men- denhall wants to see more out of his team. But he likes the prog- ress they've made, especially when it comes to the way they are approach- ing the work they've done both in offsea- son workouts and then during spring ball. "I'll put it in con- text," Mendenhall ex- plained. "It's in terms of the mindset and the team's willingness to do what I ask them to do. I'm not saying in terms of how far along we are as a program in terms of execution and performance. "What I am saying is that I expected a lot more resistance and I expected it to be harder in terms of the buy in. They want to buy in. They want to be good. So, we're ahead in that regard." With spring ball concluded, Mendenhall laid out a detailed view of the next couple of months for both him and his staff. After conducting exit interviews prior to the end of the semester, he began the offseason analysis All-ACC running back Taquan Mizzell, who accounted for 1,392 yards from scrim- mage and eight touchdowns in 2015, will be featured in the Cavaliers' new spread attack this fall. PHOTO COURTESY UVA

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