It’s no secret that in recent years, transferring in collegiate athletics has grown in popularity. The football team, in particular, has seen its fortunes tied to the transfer market.
The Cavaliers brought in wide receiver T.J. Thorpe from North Carolina a season ago, but more times than not during the coach Mike London era, Virginia was on the unfortunate end of the transfer news.
From 2014 starting quarterback and team captain Greyson Lambert to 2013 leading receiver Jake McGee, the Cavalier faithful have come all too accustomed to getting up in arms over highly touted players leaving.
So when news broke May 10 that freshman running back Tre Harbison was transferring from the football program, the reaction from the fanbase was rather surprising: calmness.
Harbison, who enrolled in January to participate in spring practice, was Virginia’s most highly touted player in a class without a lot of flare or razzle dazzle. The 5-foot-10, 218-pounder was ranked as the nation’s No. 34 running back by 247Sports. He rushed for 5,770-yards and 100 touchdowns in his high school career, leading Crest High School to back-to-back state championships. Harbison won MVP honors in both games.
Normally, losing a player of Harbison’s caliber at an impact position like running back would have sent the fan base into an uproar. That’s what happened when players like Lambert, McGee and 2011-12 starting quarterback Michael Rocco departed, at least.
But this transfer, along with the others that have affected Virginia since coach Bronco Mendenhall’s arrival in December, was met with little resistance. Perhaps it’s because fans never witnessed Harbison don the orange and blue on game day, but I think it goes deeper than that.
Rather, the lack of outcry is due to one simple reason: Virginia fans finally have a coach they trust in Mendenhall.
Under London, players transferring from the program left with more credibility than the head coach. When Rocco said, “It’s an unhealthy environment for any quarterback at U.Va.,” fans believed him. When McGee had his spat with position coach Tom O’Brien, fans took the playmaker’s side, rather than the coach’s.
After years of roster mismanagement and recruiting rankings not translating into wins, London had little authority to make light of the transfers in the fans’ eyes.
With Mendenhall though, the situation is different.
The former Brigham Young coach has a clear vision for the program. From day one, his vision was explicit. He was going to run a 3-4 defense, install an air-raid offense and rebuild the program through accountability, discipline and effort.
So far, he’s stayed true to his word, and given his 99 wins in 11 seasons at the helm of the Cougars, fans trust him.
When Harbison transferred, few panicked. When fellow early-enrollee kicker Holland Corbett was dismissed from the team, leaving Virginia’s placekicking situation unsettled, few batted an eye. And when once highly-touted quarterbacks Nick Johns and Corwin Cutler left the program, the fan base’s reaction was minimal.
If London were still the coach, odds are these moves would have gained a lot more traction.
Mendenhall’s trust goes even further than the transfer market. By focusing his attention on recruiting the offensive line — including landing North Carolina transfer Jared Cohen — he has built goodwill with the fan base, which has been accepting of his radical schematic changes.
Virginia will run an air-raid attack this season, despite the fact that its No. 1 receiver, junior Doni Dowling, had just one catch for minus-one yard in eight games in 2015. And whether it’s Matt Johns (who tossed 17 interceptions last year), Connor Brewer (who attempted eight passes in 2015) or East Carolina transfer Kurt Benkert under center, the Cavaliers will be airing it out with an underwhelming quarterback.
Defensively, the 3-4 alignment is a big change in both formation and technique for the front-seven. In addition, it is usually harder to recruit for the 3-4 base defense than the 4-3, as players of a certain build are required to make the defense most effective.
Yet, despite these drastic changes and once-projected starters leaving the program, the Virginia fan base is at peace. Unlike the London era, they see a coach who knows X’s and O’s and has a firm vision in place for the program. His background in business management and efficiency is an added bonus.
Until Mendenhall proves otherwise, he has the fans’ support. His message resonates, and like he did at BYU, he believes he can win with any athletes as long as they fit the mindset of his program.
For now, when a player like Harbison transfers, the fan base sees little cause for concern. It’s all part of the Mendenhall’s reclamation project.
In Bronco, fans trust.
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