Virginia
Dontayvion Wicks earned first-team All-ACC honors last season at Virginia and he's receiving plenty of preseason buzz. ~ Photo By Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

As college football season approaches, several Virginia players’ names have started to pop up on various summer lists. Some of the most frequent mentions belong to, unsurprisingly, Brennan Armstrong and Dontayvion Wicks.

Both players made the preseason All-ACC team for Athlon Sports with Wicks landing on the first team and Armstrong on the third team. Keytaon Thompson (second team), Nick Jackson (second team), and Billy Kemp IV (third team) landed a spot as well. The Game Haus released its list this week as well with Wicks (first team), Armstrong (second team), Thompson (second team), and Jackson (second team) making the list.

Obviously, Wicks appears to be getting the most preseason hype. That’s understandable after he broke Herman Moore’s 31-year old school record last season for receiving yards in a season. Wicks finished with 1,203 yards to overtake the 1,190 Moore tallied in 1990.

Here are just a few of the mentions for Wicks already this summer:

  • Profootballnetwork.com named Wicks one of its 2023 NFL Draft sleepers along with Michigan State’s Jayden Reed and others.
  • Fanbuzz.com ranked Wicks No. 8 on its list of receivers “who will light up defenses in 2022.”
  • LastWordOnSports.com tabbed Wicks as the ACC’s No. 3 best returning receiver.
  • FanTrax HQ listed Wicks as a “Cum Laude” pick for college football fantasy rankings.
  • Inside The U ranked Wicks as the No. 2 receiver the Hurricanes will face this season (Thompson was No. 4).
  • Lindy’s rated Wicks as the No. 10 receiver prospect for the 2023 NFL Draft.
  • Phil Steele Magazine picked Wicks as a fourth-team All-American in its preseason rankings.

As more preseason publications get released and college football award groups release names to watch, expect Wicks to appear more places like the Biletnikoff Award Watch List.

Praise For Virginia Receiving Corps

With Wicks, Thompson, and Kemp all on at least one preseason list and Lavel Davis Jr. available again after a 2021 injury, the receiving corps keeps drawing preseason attention too.

That’s understandable. Each of those players posted at least 500 receiving yards in their last active season. Wicks, as mentioned above, tallied 1,203 yards last season, while Thompson had 990 and Kemp had 725. In 2020, Davis finished with 515 receiving yards in just eight games.

Some lists have pointed to the Cavalier receivers as a group to watch in 2022. Bleacher Report tabbed UVA with the best returning group in the conference and Athlon Sports ranked the Hoos as the No. 8 receiving corps in the nation.

Shrine Bowl List

The East-West Shrine Bowl released its watch list with 1,000 names among those they’ll be monitoring for the 2022 season. The bowl uses the number because “approximately 1,000 all-star game eligible players are drafted, signed after the draft, or attend a rookie mini-camp” each season.

The Virginia players listed were Anthony Johnson, Kameron Butler, and Coen King in addition to Armstrong, Kemp, Thompson, and Jackson. Each those guys suited up at UVA last season with the exception of Butler, an incoming transfer from Miami of Ohio. Three former Cavaliers are on the list too as offensive linemen Olu Oluwatimi (Michigan), Bobby Haskins (USC), and Ryan Swoboda (Central Florida) made the Shrine Bowl chart.

ACC Football Kickoff Attendees

The annual ACC Football Kickoff arrives next week and the conference announced which players would be representing the various schools on Wednesday July 20 and Thursday July 21 at the event. For Virginia, Armstrong, Jackson, and Thompson will be in Charlotte along with first-year coach Tony Elliott. Armstrong and Jackson led the ACC last season in passing yards per game and tackles, respectively.