By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The skill with which University of Virginia safety Ethan Minter brings down ballcarriers in the open field suggests he’s been making tackles since he first laced up his cleats.
Not so. In Minter’s four years on the varsity football team at Thomas Dale High School in Chester, he “might have played five plays on defense,” head coach Kevin Tucker said.
Minter was a four-year starter at quarterback for Dale, a perennial power in the Richmond area, and he graduated with several school records. When Minter was a senior, the Knights’ coaches planned to use him more in the secondary, but he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a freak collision in practice early in the 2023 season, and that ended his high school career prematurely.
In March of his junior year, Minter had committed to play for head coach Tony Elliott at Virginia, knowing he’d probably be slotted at safety. He had opportunities to play quarterback “at quite a few Group of 5 schools, and some FCS schools,” Minter said. “But I really just wanted to play for Coach E and his staff, regardless of which position.”
Never mind that there was little videotape of Minter on defense in high school. “He was a football player,” Elliott said. “That was really the confirmation.
And generally at the high school level, your best athletes play quarterback for you. And I had a chance to go observe him both football-wise and then playing basketball, and you saw from a basketball perspective that he was a physical kid. He would get up there and wasn’t afraid to use his body to play defense.”
After hurting his knee, Minter had reconstructive surgery to repair his ACL. About four months later, in January 2024, he enrolled at UVA, where he continued to recover in almost record time.
“He attacked rehab and just worked his ass off,” Tucker said.
Minter’s injury didn’t scare off Virginia, but “what we didn’t know was how quick of a healer he was going to be,” Elliott said. “Really, you have an idea, but you don’t know until you get [players] in your environment … what’s their work ethic, what’s their work habits. And his are amongst the best that I’ve seen.”
Minter had extra motivation in his rehab. “Coming in and learning a new position, it was really important for me to be able to get those reps,” he said. “So I was definitely pretty determined to get back for spring ball.”
UVA’s medical staff cleared Minter around the start of spring practice last year, after which he immediately impressed in the secondary. He never doubted he could do so.
“I think I just have belief in my ability,” Minter said, “but also the belief that Coach Elliott had in me, and the man that he is and that the men that these coaches are, really made me want to come here and play regardless of which position I was playing. So it’s really more about the people than the position switch.”
Tucker, a former standout at Dale himself, believed Minter could have thrived as an FBS quarterback. But he was equally confident that Minter would excel in the secondary.
“His athletic ability was freakish,” Tucker said. “You saw the things he could do out there on the basketball court. And basically the colleges were like, ‘What do you see him as?’ And I said, ‘Well, to be honest with you, if he doesn’t play quarterback for you, I think you play him at safety. The kid’s one of the smartest kids I’ve ever had.’
“Could he play wide receiver? Yes, definitely. But the kid was just so far above everybody else, as far as an athlete on the field. You kind of cheat sometimes with those guys at quarterback, because you can’t play them on defense like you want to.”
