Keytaon Thompson didn't throw a pass from the quarterback position, but he certainly produced from a rushing aspect. ~ Photo courtesy Jim Daves/Virginia Athletics Media Relations

Whenever Brennan Armstrong is ready to return to his starting role, Virginia football coach Bronco Mendenhall may have found a way to alleviate some of the pounding the sophomore starting quarterback is subjected to.

Graduate transfer Keytaon Thompson and true freshman Ira Armstead – quarterbacks who play wide receiver when Armstrong is healthy - combined for 16 carries for 117 yards as the Hoos racked up 218 yards rushing in the 40-23 loss to Wake Forest. The duo and redshirt junior Lindell Stone rotated at quarterback, with Stone primarily handling the passing duties.

Thompson’s ability to run the football was proven in his days at Mississippi State, where he graduated from last spring before transferring to UVA. The 6’4”, 215-pound junior rushed 99 times for 672 yards – an average of 6.8 yards per carry – and 10 touchdowns with the Bulldogs. He came to Virginia to compete for the starting quarterback job but suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder in preseason camp. The injury solidified Armstrong as the team’s starting quarterback and prompted Coach Mendenhall to move Thompson to wide receiver. Thompson has been working there ever since ... before this week, that is.

“It felt pretty good, you know, just getting back there and getting to talk to the guys in the huddle,” Thompson said of returning to quarterback. He finished with 71 yards rushing on 10 carries against the Demon Deacons. “I kind of miss it a little bit, but honestly I enjoyed playing quarterback out there today.”

The Louisiana native did not throw a pass against Wake Forest. Coach Mendenhall indicated postgame that Thompson can throw the football but added that passing for an extended period of time is “unsustainable” because of the injury. Thompson’s rushing ability was on full display against the Demon Deacons, though, and the Hoos may seek to utilize that ability more often.

Meanwhile, Armstead showcased his impressive speed with six carries for 46 carries, including a 4-yard run for Virginia’s first touchdown of the game. The 6’3”, 210-pound first year out of South Bend (IN) attempted three passes, completing one for nine yards.

When Armstrong returns, I don’t expect to see Thompson and/or Armstead receive the amount of quarterback snaps they had against Wake Forest. After all, running is also a strength of Armstrong, who is the clear number one quarterback. However, I’d be surprised if they aren’t out there some, whether it’s in short yardage situations or occasionally to spell Armstrong, given that Armstrong is returning from a concussion. The success they had against Wake is eye-opening.

“I think it worked pretty well, to be honest,” Thompson said of the 3-man quarterback rotation on Saturday. “We've been getting out to kind of slow starts and stuff like that and I think it helped us, you know, jumpstart and it helped us in the running game a lot. I feel like Ira’s a great player, you know he's really fast. He got in the end zone and that was really big for us. I got a few carries. I was able to get a few first downs. I feel like it helped you know and all the way up until the fourth quarter I feel like we had a chance. And just a few critical plays, you know we dug ourselves in a hole in the fourth quarter that we just was not able to recover from. So I think it did give us a chance to win but we just made a few critical mistakes at the end.”

Pro Football Focus: Special Teams Improvement

Coach Mendenhall let it be known following NC State that he wanted to see the special teams improve. The unit overall played better, earning its best grade of the season – 75.1 - from Pro Football Focus. The next highest mark for the unit was 63.6 against Duke.

Redshirt freshman safety Chayce Chalmers earned the highest special teams grade with 81.5. Junior Tavares Kelly Jr. turned in UVA’s longest kick return of the season with a 33-yard return in the second quarter. His speed is evident ... decision-making seems to be the key with him, as well as the ability to stay healthy. Kelly Jr. missed the previous two games with injury.

Senior Brian Delaney had his streak of 17 consecutive made field goals snapped with a miss in the third quarter. The timing was unfortunate, as a make would have given UVA a 23-20 lead. He rebounded for the game-tying field goal early in the fourth before the Demon Deacons reeled off 17 straight to win the game.

Delaney’s 17-straight makes is a school record.

Redshirt freshman placekicker Justin Duenkel took over kickoff duty for Delaney this week. Delaney had back-to-back weeks (Clemson and NC State) of booting a kickoff out-of-bounds and drawing a penalty. In six kicks, Duenkel had five touchbacks and one kick out-of-bounds.

Pro Football Focus: Notables

- According to Pro Football Focus, Virginia had its best tackling effort of 2020 with a grade of 74.8. A 66.7 effort against NC State was its next best outing. The Hoos also achieved a season-high grade of 86.5 in the run game. The next best performance was against Duke with 79.3.

(Note: A 65 grade is about an average performance in the PFF grading system. Over 70 is slightly above average. The higher the grade from there, the better.)

- Virginia turned in its worst PFF defensive grades - aside from the Clemson game - in the following categories: Coverage (49.8), overall defense (60.9), and pass rush (62.2).

- Interestingly, Virginia had its worst run-blocking grade (58) but its best overall rushing grade of the season.

- The Wake Forest grade was Virginia’s best overall grade (66.9) since Duke, when PFF graded the Hoos out at 81.2.

Ryan Swoboda had one of his best games as a Virginia Cavalier according to Pro Football Focus. ~ Photo by Kris Wright

- Top individual overall grades on offense: Keytaon Thompson (90.6), Iraken Armstead (85.5), offensive tackle Ryan Swoboda (79.7), running back Wayne Taulapapa (77.8), and tight end Tony Poljan (72.3).

- Ryan Swoboda had a very good day according to PFF. Playing 85 snaps, he had the highest overall grade and the highest run-blocking grade of any of the offensive linemen. He had the third-best pass-blocking grade of any of the offensive line.

- Sophomore offensive guard Joe Bissinger received 62 snaps according to PFF, the most he has received in any game in his career. He finished with a 62.1 overall grade, including the highest pass-blocking grade (87.4) of any offensive lineman.

- Top individual overall grades on defense: Inside linebacker Zane Zandier (73), outside linebacker Matt Gahm (72.5), defensive end Richard Burney (70.7), and sophomore safety Antonio Clary (70.3) scored over 70 for the defensive unit.

- Two young defenders who saw significant snaps against Wake Forest: Antonio Clary and cornerback Fentrell Cypress II. Clary played 36 defensive snaps according to PFF, impressing most in the tackle category (79.9). The sophomore nearly came through with the first interception of his career in the third quarter but couldn’t corral Sam Hartman’s pass.

Cypress II, a redshirt freshman, played 24 snaps according to PFF and finished with a 66.6 overall defensive grade. He was mentioned by senior cornerback Nick Grant in the preseason as a player to watch at cornerback if he can stay healthy.

More On The Hoos

- As Sabre Editor Kris Wright noted in his recap, Virginia’s defense allowed too many explosive plays.

After allowing two explosive touchdown plays in total against Duke and Clemson, the Hoos surrendered two explosive touchdowns against NC State and two more in the loss to Wake.

UVA’s defense yielded an average of two explosive touchdowns per game in the final seven games of the 2019 season. Bryce Perkins and the offense were able to pick up their production, though, on their way to an ACC Coastal title.

- Wake quarterback Sam Hartman averaged 19.3 yards per completion.

“Yeah, the secondary is giving up a just too many too many deep passes not playing the ball well,” Mendenhall said postgame. “And so the yardage jumps really fast when we're not making plays on the football. The secondary more than any other position controls points. And so not only knock the ball down but we need to tackle well.”

Injuries in the defensive backfield crushed UVA’s defense last season. Against Wake, UVA saw safeties Joey Blount and Brenton Nelson as well as cornerback De’Vante Cross exit due to injury. Coach Mendenhall did not know the status of those players following the game.

- Wake Forest was penalized 12 times for 119 yards but had zero turnovers.

- Virginia had five penalties, two of which were very costly, and three turnovers.

An illegal formation penalty at the end of the first half cost the Hoos a chance at a Brian Delaney field goal attempt and a chance to take the lead into halftime.

Early in the fourth quarter, a 15-yard personal foul penalty on sophomore tight end Grant Misch gave Virginia a 1st and 21 from the Wake 33 instead of a 2nd and 6 from the Wake 18. UVA settled for a 42-yard field goal from Delaney to tie the game at 23-23, but a touchdown was within reach prior to the penalty.

Crucial turnovers continue to haunt Virginia. As mentioned, the Hoos had three turnovers against Wake, bringing the 2020 total to 12. Two of Virginia’s three miscues came in the fourth quarter, and Wake capitalized with 10 points that helped them score the win. Opponents have outscored Virginia in points off turnovers to the tune of 47-21 this season.

- Running back Ronnie Walker Jr. did not play due to illness. The Indiana transfer, who just received permission from the NCAA to play this season, likely would have played against Wake if not for the illness.

- True freshman Jonathan Horton (#93) was on the sideline in pads but did not play. He is an imposing looking outside linebacker with considerable athletic talent.

- Last but not least, defensive lineman Jowon Briggs notched two sacks against Wake Forest and now leads the team in sacks with three. Briggs, who has four tackles for loss in total, is coming into his own in his sophomore campaign.

Coach Mendenhall says he has seen “more consistency” from Briggs, who is “picking up where he left off” last season and “moving forward.”