"You're 5 foot nothin', 100 and nothin', and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for two years ... In this life, you don't have to prove nothin' to nobody but yourself. Am I making myself clear?"
Fortune's famous words from "Rudy" still have a presence today. And when repeated, they just might trigger the image of redshirt freshman wide receiver Staton Jobe, a walk-on. .
Last season, Jobe was a normal first-year student, lost in the sea of faces and attending orientation activities like everyone else.
"It was definitely a little overwhelming when I got here my first year," Jobe said. "I didn't really know many people. I was kind of in the background."
He could have decided he had proven everything he had to prove while playing on the scout team.
"Week in and week out I tried to perform my best on [the] scout team and show them the abilities I have, and I started inching my way up and eventually I got into the position I am [in] now," he said.
Now, after a year on the scout team, Jobe will be at center stage in front of a different sea -- the Sea of Orange -- when he gets his second start as wide receiver for the Cavaliers in their first home game of the season against Duke Saturday. His first start came last Saturday against Wyoming when he caught two balls for 27 yards.
Junior wide receiver Maurice Covington, the veteran among the receiving corps, could tell in practices that Jobe and his young teammates would be ready for action.
"[The young receivers are] doing real good," Covington said. "They'll definitely be ready."
Jobe acknowledges the quick adjustment he has undergone but said he does not think his inexperience will be a factor this season.
"It's definitely a big step up from last season from being on the scout team and being red-shirted to accelerated in this type of role," Jobe said. "I don't really think about the inexperience factor. The team expects me to step and make plays and I plan on doing that."
Recruited by colleges such as Texas Tech, Duke and Southern Methodist, Jobe chose Virginia without the benefit of a scholarship.
"I think due to my lack of size ... [my other possibilities] fell through," he said. "I was happy to be given the chance to play here at U.Va."
Jobe, who hails from Texas, said he did not, however, come to Virginia on a whim.
"I was always interested in U.Va.," he said. "I came up to the camp the summer before my senior year and fell in love with the school and the program. I was real excited with the opportunity to come up here and play."
The opportunity to battle for the starting job began as a misfortune for the Cavaliers when probable junior starter Kevin Ogletree went down in the spring with a knee injury.
"It was awful when Kevin went down for the whole team but it was an opportunity for me even knowing how much we need Kevin," Jobe said. "He's an awesome receiver for us. I felt like I was ready to step up and take a role on this team and fill in for him."
Though outsiders may be surprised that such an unknown recruit could rise to a starting job so quickly, Jobe is not.
"I came in here with the intention of playing," Jobe said. "Even just walking on I had confidence coming in. It's definitely been a little bit of a surprise as to how quickly my role has been accelerated. But I'm ready to step up and perform."
With the obvious offensive struggles the Cavaliers suffered at Wyoming, it will be important for Jobe to continue his progress as a wide receiver throughout the season and to take a bigger role in the improvement of the offense.
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