Hammond Soaking Up Older Hoos' Lessons

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Kam Butler, who’s in his seventh season of college football, is 24 years old. Chico Bennett Jr., in his sixth season, is 23, and Jahmeer Carter, in his fifth season, is 22.

At 19 years of age, the other starter on the University of Virginia defensive line is a mere youngster by comparison.

“So it is a little bit of an age gap,” sophomore tackle Jason Hammond said, “but it’s something that you enjoy, too. Being able to pick the brains of older guys is definitely something that’s fun.”

Hammond, who played in seven games as a true freshman last year, made his first start as a Cavalier last weekend, and his second is expected to come Saturday night in Winston-Salem, N.C. In the ACC opener for both teams, Virginia (1-0) meets Wake Forest (1-0) at 7 o’clock at Allegacy Stadium.

The 6-foot-1, 295-pound Hammond recorded four tackles—one of them a sack he shared with defensive end Ben Smiley III—in UVA’s 34-13 win over Richmond at Scott Stadium.

“I went in last week with the mentality to be my best, but I think this week I can take it to another level,” said Hammond, who turns 20 late this month. “I just don’t want to let the guys down. Any [outstanding] team that you see, the D-line is always what stands out, and with these guys, I don’t want to be the weakest link on the line. I’m filling in some big shoes for Aaron [Faumui] and I don’t want people to say, ‘Jason’s the one that’s letting us down.’ ”

Faumui, whose eligibility expired at the end of last season, made 36 career starts on the Wahoos’ defensive line. Hammond tried to soak up as much knowledge as he could from Faumui last season, and he’s taking the same approach with his more experienced teammates this year.

“Guys like that you can learn from,” Hammond said. “It’s a big thing for me, just sitting back and listening. So I just try and be quiet, listen to what they say, and I try and pick their brains as much as I can. Even Aaron. I texted Aaron last week, ‘I’m having my first start. What was it like for you when you first started? What was your mentality going into the game? What did you see? What did you watch during the week?’ So it’s things like that, just trying to get better.”

Associate head coach Kevin Downing, who oversees the Cavaliers’ defensive tackles, said his group “played pretty decent” overall against Richmond, an FCS program. “I thought guys did a really good job of playing for one another, playing extremely hard,” Downing said. “Fundamentally, we’ve still got to continue to grow. Usually you see a big jump from week one to week two, so I’m excited about this week.”

Asked about Hammond’s performance, Downing said, “I thought for Jason’s first start, he did a nice job. With your first time starting, and being in there for that many snaps, sometimes you can circuit-break, but he did a nice job executing the game plan. We’ve talked about some of the things I think where he can grow, and he’s looking at those things, but I’ve been pleased with him thus far, and he’s been a really good teammate.”

Downing has been rotating four players at tackle: Carter, Hammond, senior Mike Diatta and sophomore Anthony Britton. Butler and Bennett are ends, as is another veteran, the 23-year-old Smiley, who’s in his sixth year at UVA.

Injuries limited the 6-foot-3, 311-pound Britton to four games as a true freshman last year, but like Hammond he has tremendous potential, Downing said. “I think we hit a home run with both of those guys. Those guys are going to be really good players here.”

Hammond is from Pembroke Pines, Fla., about 25 miles north of Miami, and he attended two schools with storied football programs: Chaminade-Madonna College Prep and St. Thomas Aquinas High. Hammond transferred to St. Thomas Aquinas after his sophomore year and immediately attracted the interest of FBS programs, including Iowa State.

He committed to the Cyclones in March 2022, as an 11^th-grader. He had a change of heart, though, after visiting UVA in December 2022. It helped that two St. Thomas Aquinas graduates were already in head coach Tony Elliott’s program—Dawson Alters and Blake Steen—and that one of Hammond’s classmates at the Fort Lauderdale school, tight end TeKai Kirby, was committed to the Cavaliers.

Moreover, Chaminade-Madonna graduate Anthony Johnson, an All-ACC cornerback for the Hoos in 2022, was one of Hammond’s hosts on his visit to Charlottesville.

“He helped recruit me, too,” Hammond said.

So did Steen, who recommended Hammond to the coaching staff. Downing was already aware of Hammond but wanted to “see him live and get to know him to make sure he was a really good fit for this university, because I didn’t know him as well.”

In the fall of 2022, impressed by new game film he’d seen of Hammond, Downing met him. “Of course, Steen knew him, so that was big,” Downing said, “but we had a chance to see him, see his family, meet his family, and they were a good fit. For me, that’s really important.”

Hammond is an excellent student who made the ACC’s All-Academic team as a freshman, and he’s a natural fit at UVA.

“You gotta have the talent. You gotta have size,” Downing said. “But for me, you gotta be a champion man, what Coach E is trying to build. You gotta be a Virginia man. And for me, he’s a Virginia man. So any guy we take on the interior D-line, I’m gonna get a chance to see him before we extend [a scholarship offer].”

That Hammond, who lives with defensive end Mekhi Buchanan and safety Caleb Hardy, came to UVA from a high-profile high school program eased his transition to college football. ESPN carried the first game of his senior year, St. Thomas Aquinas’ 48-37 win over St. Joseph’s Prep (Pa.) in Fort Lauderdale.

“It was something special,” Hammond said of the experience. “For me, I think that’s what really showed that I could take it where I want to take it.”

Britton starred at Lake Taylor High in Norfolk, another perennially successful program, and that’s benefited him and Hammond at UVA, Downing said. “It’s still a cultural adjustment for them, but they handle it well.”

Hammond’s impact on the field last season was minimal—he was credited with three tackles in 2023—but No. 91 said the experience he gained is paying dividends this year.

“It’s one thing to come out here and practice and practice versus these guys,” Hammond said, “but the game is a different animal. The game moves a lot faster. It’s hard to diagnose things so quickly. That’s why I try and get with Kam and Jahmeer so much, because those are guys that think and play fast. They’ve been in college five, six years. They’ve seen just about everything.”

Carter said Hammond has “made a lot of progress, and I see that every day when he comes to work. The jump that he’s made from his first year until now, I think, is something that’s noticeable.”

A significant challenge awaits the Cavaliers in Winston-Salem. They’ve dropped five straight to the Demon Deacons, whose trademark slow-mesh offense has baffled many opponents during Dave Clawson’s tenure as head coach.

“The game is going to be won in the trenches,” Elliott said. “Our guys offensively have to catch all the movement that [the Deacons] do, and then defensively we’ve got to find a way to create a new line of scrimmage in their backfield to hopefully disrupt a little bit of the timing on the zone RPO stuff that they do.”

Hammond said he believes Virginia has “a great game plan to just try and disrupt what [the Deacons have] going on. We’ve looked at some teams that have had success in beating them, like Notre Dame, Clemson, some other good D-lines, and seen what they did to beat them. I think we have a good game plan. So I’m ready.”

To receive Jeff White’s articles by email, click the appropriate box in this link to subscribe.