Associate head coach for offense Tom O’Brien and sophomore outside linebacker Max Valles are leaving the Virginia football program, just as former North Carolina wide receiver and kick-return specialist T.J. Thorpe makes his way to Charlottesville.
O’Brien — also Virginia’s tight ends coach — is set to retire after 40 seasons of collegiate coaching, 17 of them in Charlottesville. The Cincinnati native and 1971 graduate of the Naval Academy joined George Welsh’s Midshipmen staff in 1975 and worked alongside the Hall of Fame coach — first at Navy and then at Virginia — for the next 22 years.
O’Brien helped Virginia to 12 winning seasons, four bowl wins and two ACC co-championships in 15 years under Welsh. He then compiled a 115-80 combined record as a head coach at Boston College and NC State before returning to Virginia in 2013.
Valles elected to enter the draft after weighing his options during the semester break, Virginia head coach Mike London said in a statement released by the program. His decision — made in conjunction with his family, Valles said in his Twitter announcement — came after a breakout campaign which more than doubled his tackle, sack and tackle-for-loss totals from 2013.
Though Valles played just two collegiate seasons, he graduated from St. Joseph High School in 2012 — three years ago — and is thus eligible for the draft. He played a postgraduate season at Fork Union Military Academy before coming to Virginia.
Thorpe will conclude his collegiate football career at Virginia after graduating from North Carolina in December with a degree in exercise and sport science. He will enroll at Virginia this month and is eligible to play right away.
A “SuperPrep” All-American at Jordan High in Durham, North Carolina, the oft-injured Thorpe broke the Tar Heel single-season record for kick-return yards as a freshman in 2011, when he was a finalist for the Johnny Rodgers Award, presented to the nation’s top kick returner. He caught 16 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns last season after coming back from a broken foot sustained in training camp.
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