U.Va. finally on the brink of opener with Duke after 3 months of workouts, perfect coronavirus testing results
Charles Snowden waits for what he calls “the eruption” from his teammates after they listen intently to Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall’s announcements. Snowden heard a lot of those reactions during the summer.
Since July 24, every time Mendenhall has gathered the team to reveal coronavirus testing results, he’s been able to tell the players there have been no new positives. It’s part adherence to stringent prevention protocols instituted by U.Va.'s athletic programs, but Snowden recognizes there’s also plain old good karma involved in getting Virginia within arm’s reach of its long-awaited opener Saturday against Duke (0-2, 0-2 ACC).
“This virus is really unpredictable,” Snowden said. “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, so I don’t know if we’ve been any better or worse than other programs, but I’m just really proud of my guys for kind of following those protocols.”
Four times U.Va. thought it knew who its first opponent was going to be. The fifth time appears as if it will be the charm.
U.Va. had its first scheduled opener Aug. 30 against Georgia in Atlanta canceled when the Southeastern Conference moved to a conference-only schedule. Then, a game against Virginia Military Institute slated for Sept. 11 was canceled after VMI and its fellow Southern Conference members postponed their season until the spring.
It looked for a while like U.Va. would open Sept. 19 in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech, but coronavirus issues at Virginia Tech pushed that game to Dec. 12. After that postponement, U.Va. appeared destined to have to wait until Oct. 3 to kick off the season at Clemson, but Duke, U.Va. and the ACC successfully and quickly negotiated moving the Duke-U.Va. game from Nov. 14 to Saturday.
“I was counting or calculating today,” U.Va. coach Bronco Mendenhall said Monday afternoon, adding that offensive tackle Alex Gellerstadt, who transferred in 2019 from Penn State, has become the fifth Cavaliers player to decide to opt out of the season. “I think my team has been back (in Charlottesville) 12 weeks. We’re anxious to play football, and they’ve done an absolutely remarkable job of managing the virus. As of (Monday), we’re still zero positive tests within our team, and that’s an amazing accomplishment by them.”
While U.Va. has yet to take the field, it’ll play a Duke team that has already lost 27-13 at then-No. 10 Notre Dame and 26-6 last weekend at home against Boston College.
Mendenhall admitted it’s a “significant concern” to be playing a team that has already gotten a read on some of its strengths and weaknesses, but U.Va. wide receiver Terrell Jana said he feels like the Cavaliers have worked to make sure they’re peaking at the right time.
“Going into this week, I think we have a good approach again," Jana said. "It’s just about trying to maximize our performance — our mental, emotional and physical performance — come Saturday.”
Managing the thrill of finally getting ready to hit somebody other than teammates is part of the challenge of the week for Snowden, who will try to help U.Va. extend its winning streak against Duke to six games.
“The way I’m looking at it is it’s Monday, and it’s game week, and so I’m just trying to keep that as normal and as simple as possible," Snowden said. “I’m just really excited to kind of get out there and finally play a game and not just practice.”
Norm Wood, 757-247-4644, nwood@dailypress.com
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