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24 ◆ CAVALIER CORNER The loquacious Mendenhall became stumped on a question about how much of an impact was made by the return of Quin Blanding, Virginia's star safety who was busy drawing his own crowd of cameras and recorders to Mendenhall's left. "Big isn't a descriptive enough word," Mendenhall said. "What's bigger than big? Large, that doesn't do it." In search of positivity and optimism fol‑ lowing a struggle of a debut season with the Wahoos, Mendenhall got it on Dec. 26, 2016. It was then, exactly a month following Virginia's ugly 52‑10 loss to Virginia Tech, when Blanding announced he'd be returning for his fourth‑year season. "Monumental, that's close," Mendenhall said, continuing through a list of adjectives to describe what the news meant to his pro‑ gram. "Giant, ginormous, no. Whatever's bigger than ginormous, that would be the closest way I could explain that." Blanding could be in an NFL training camp right now. Instead, he's spending a fourth consecutive August on Grounds. "I believe in the system," Blanding said. "I trust the system. I trust the process. You know, why not go one more year and go out with a bang and increase the status of Vir‑ ginia? I want to go out with a bang." From an individual standpoint, there's not much left for Blanding to accomplish. The five‑star recruit out of Bayside High School in Virginia Beach enters this fall 78 tackles shy of becoming UVA's all‑time leader. He's a two‑time All‑American and the 2014 ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year. The above facts made it natural for Bland‑ ing to submit his name to the NFL's College Advisory Committee a week or two after that 2016 finale in Blacksburg. When the evalua‑ tion returned, Blanding and his mother, Cory Lee, began a series of intense discussion. "We left no stone unturned," Lee said. "We went through everything, from the let‑ ter that came from the NFL and what he needs to work on and what they thought. "But then there was like the shoulda coulda wouldas. What if he comes back and gets hurt? What if he goes in and doesn't get drafted in the first four rounds and gets dropped to the bottom? There was just so much going on. "I told him, 'This is your choice. You make it. I back you 100 percent.' I didn't sway either way. I just said, 'This is the good and the bad with all of it. At the end, you got to make a decision. I can't make it for you.'" The 6‑2, 215‑pound Blanding wants to be a top three round draft pick. Once he learned that wouldn't be guaranteed, his decision became clearer. "I was going to take the criticism that they [NFL evaluators] gave me and the critiques that they saw and go from there," Blanding said. So he'll be back in his familiar No. 3 jer‑ sey this season, headlining UVA's defense, but also trying to will the Wahoos to a place they haven't been in six years. ROUSING RETURN Quin Blanding Could Have Been An NFL Draft Pick, But Instead Will Lead The Cavaliers One More Time Blanding is a two-time second-team All-American, earning the notice from USA Today in 2015 and Sporting News in 2016. PHOTO BY PETE EMERSON/COURTESY UVA BY ANDREW RAMSPACHER B RONCO MENDENHALL NEEDED A THESAURUS. The Virginia head football coach was seated at one of three tables representing the Cavaliers along the back wall of a hotel ballroom. It was a mid‑July morning in Charlotte, N.C., more than a month away from UVA's 2017 opener against William & Mary in Charlottesville. Reporters were on hand for the Atlantic Coast Conference's annual media day event.