The ACC unveiled its picks for the 2019 all-conference football teams Tuesday morning, and 10 Virginia players were selected across all three teams and honorable mention selections.
Senior wide receiver and return specialist Joe Reed earned two first-team selections as a return specialist and all-purpose player on offense. This is not Reed’s first time being selected to an All-ACC team — last season he received third-team honors as a return specialist. As a kick returner, Reed led the ACC with 764 yards, a 34.7 kick return average and 2 touchdowns. His kick return average leads the entire country and he is fourth in total kick return yards. As a receiver, Reed has caught 70 passes for 627 yards and six touchdowns.
Senior quarterback Bryce Perkins was named to the second team. Perkins also received All-ACC honors last season, earning an honorable mention. As a dual-threat quarterback, Perkins passed for 2,949 yards — second-best in the ACC — and 16 touchdowns, and ran for 687 yards and 11 touchdowns, both best in the conference among quarterbacks. With 51 more passing yards, he will become the second Cavalier quarterback to ever reach 3,000 yards in a season, joining Kurt Benkert, who passed 3,000 yards in 2017.
Senior linebacker Jordan Mack and junior safety Joey Blount were selected to the third team. Mack led Virginia in sacks this season with 7.5, good for sixth best in the ACC and best among linebackers. Last week he won the Jim Tatum Award, which goes to the ACC’s top football-playing senior student-athlete. Blount had a breakout year for the Cavaliers, raising his tackle, sack and interception totals from last season. He led the team with three interceptions and his 79 tackles are second-best on the team.
Senior wide receiver Hasise Dubois, sophomore center Olusegun Oluwatimi, senior defensive end Eli Hanback, junior linebacker Charles Snowden, junior linebacker Zane Zandier and junior kicker Brian Delaney all received enough votes to be honorable mention picks.
Dubois led the team with 849 receiving yards, a career-high and ninth-best in the ACC. He had the best statistical game of his career this season when Virginia traveled to Notre Dame. He recorded nine catches for 143 yards and one touchdown in the loss.
Oluwatimi earned All-ACC honors in his first season of college football. As a freshman at Air Force he did not play in any games, and then had to sit out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. According to Pro Football Focus, he did not allow a sack all season.
Hanback finished the season with 31 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks. His pass rush was huge this season for the Cavaliers, allowing them to finish No. 6 in the nation in sacks. Hanback recovered the fumble that junior defensive end Mandy Alonso forced against Virginia Tech which resulted in a touchdown, the second of Hanback’s career.
After having a breakout sophomore season, Snowden continued to build on that in his junior year. He finished with 63 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 4 sacks. These were all career-highs for Snowden.
Zandier led Virginia with 85 tackles this season, also adding 5 sacks. This puts him in elite company — he is only one of three ACC players and one of six in the entire nation to finish the season with 80 plus tackles and 5 plus sacks.
Delaney went 19 for 23 this season on field goals, with his long coming from 49 yards, a career-best. He also went 44 for 46 on extra point attempts. Delaney nailed the eventual game-winning 48-yard field goal against Virginia Tech with 1:23 to go in the fourth quarter.
This year’s 10 honorees are the most for Virginia since 2014, when the Cavaliers also had 10 players selected. The last time a Virginia team had more than that came in 1999, when 12 players were named to the ACC all-conference team.
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