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Football
Eight Cavaliers Recognized on All-ACC Team
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Wide Receiver Dontayvion Wicks and tight end Jelani Woods each earned first team All-ACC honors while Keytaon Thompson, Olusegun Oluwatimi and Nick Jackson were listed on the second team. Quarterback Brennan Armstrong and Billy Kemp IV received third team nods and Bobby Haskins was an honorable mention.
First Team All-ACC
WR – Dontayvion Wicks
TE – Jelani Woods
Second Team All-ACC
AP – Keytaon Thompson
C – Olusegun Oluwatimi
LB – Nick Jackson
Third Team All-ACC
QB – Brennan Armstrong
WR – Billy Kemp
Honorable Mention
OT – Bobby Haskins
Five of the eight All-ACC honorees were recognized for the first time in their careers. Jackson, the lone preseason All-ACC selection for UVA, has now earned back-to-back all-conference honors. Kemp was an honorable mention last season and Oluwatimi was an honorable mention in 2019.
The seven selections between the first, second and third teams are the most under head coach Bronco Mendenhall and the most since the 2014 season.
Wicks hauled in 57 passes for 1,203 yards and nine touchdowns over 12 games for the Cavaliers. He broke Herman Moore’s single-season receiving record, becoming Virginia’s first wideout to eclipse 1,200 yards receiving in one season. His 21.1 yards per reception is the highest among ACC receivers and the fifth-highest in the country. He was named the ACC wide receiver of the week in consecutive weeks beginning on Oct. 18, the first UVA wide receiver to win back-to-back weekly awards since 1990 (Herman Moore).
Woods is the first UVA tight end to receive a first team nod since 2008. A transfer from Oklahoma State, Woods made an immediate impact on UVA’s offense. His eight touchdowns were the most by an ACC tight end and tied for the fourth most of any tight end in the country. He is one score shy of tying UVA’s single-season touchdown mark by a TE set by Heath Miller in 2002. Woods totaled 598 yards on 44 catches after seeing action in 11 of UVA’s 12 games. His 598 yards led all ACC tight ends and is the third most by a tight end in program history.
From his “football player” position, Thompson led the Cavaliers in receptions with 78 and accumulated 990 yards receiving this season, 10 yards shy of becoming UVA’s sixth 1,000-yard receiver in program history. In addition, Thompson rushed for 247 yards on 39 carries and found the end zone four times. He is rated by Pro Football Focus as the “most elusive” player in the nation for any offensive player with at least 30 rushes and 50 receptions this season.
Oluwatimi has started every game this season and 32-straight dating back to the 2019 season. Included on the Rimington Award watch list, Oluwatimi has seen action on 910 snaps this season, the most of any ACC center. According to pro football focus, he is rated the No. 2 center in the nation in run blocking (tops in the ACC). He was recognized as the ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week on Sept. 13 after UVA’s 42-14 win over Illinois.
Jackson is the ACC’s top tackler with a league-best, 117 (54 solo, 63 assisted) stops in 2021. A UVA linebacker has been listed on the first, second or third team every season since 2014. Jackson has recorded double-digit tackles in seven games this season, including five of the eight ACC contests this season. He matched a career-high with 16 tackles against BYU, the fourth highest total of any ACC linebacker this season.
Armstrong assaulted the UVA record books setting the program’s single season marks for passing yards (4,449), total offense (4,700) and passing touchdowns (31). His 4,449 passing yards are the second-most in the country and the fourth most in ACC history (144 yards shy of the ACC single season record). He is averaging 404.5 yards per game, no ACC quarterback has ever averaged more than 348 yards per game in a year. His 427.3 yards of total offense per game is tops in the country. He was been named ACC Quarterback of the Week four times in 2021.
Kemp set new career highs in catches (74), receiving yards (725) and touchdowns (6) in 2021. The 74 catches (4th-most) and six touchdowns (T-5th most) rank in the top-five in the ACC. He has caught a pass in 27-straight games dating back to 2019 and ranks fourth all-time on UVA’s career receptions list with 176.
Haskins was honored for the first time in his career after appearing in 10 games at left tackle. The senior started the final seven games of the season and saw action in a total of 654 snaps in 2021. Haskins was part of a UVA offensive front that helped the Cavaliers average 515.8 yards of total offense, the most in the ACC and the third most in the nation.