UVA Football Releases First Round of Jersey Number Selections

32 Cavaliers have earned their numbers so far and ten players will be sharing their numbers this season

Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics

Bronco Mendenhall has instituted a number of traditions during his time as head coach of the UVA football team. One tradition which has been an annual ritual in the UVA football program since Mendenhall arrived in 2016 has been that student athletes do not get to wear a number on their jersey until the coaching staff feels they have earned it through their effort and progress in training camp and practice.

Last week, the first round of players earned their jersey number selections and 32 athletes now have their official numbers for the 2021 UVA football season. Here are the main takeaways.

There are five pairs of players sharing a number this season that have been announced so far. Safety De’Vante Cross and receiver Ra’Shaun Henry will both be wearing #2. Cross wore #15 and Henry wore #17 last season. Defensive back Anthony Johnson and receiver Dontayvion Wicks will share #3. Wicks wore #3 last season and Johnson wore #27 at Louisville in 2020. Linebacker Elliot Brown and receiver Billy Kemp IV will both wear #4. Kemp was #80 his first two seasons at UVA before switching to #4 last year, while Brown wore #43 last season. The #5 jersey will be worn by both Quarterback Brennan Armstrong and defensive back Chayce Chalmers, who switches from his #40 jersey that he wore last year. Finally, running back Mike Hollins and linebacker Noah Taylor will share the #7 for the second consecutive season. Multiple players having the same jersey number is not unheard of at UVA, but in past years, usually at least one of the players with the number does not play that season, as was the case with Mike Hollins, who sat out in 2020.

Jelani Woods, a tight end who transferred from Oklahoma State this year, is taking #0, which was worn by Zane Zandier, who was the first player in the Bronco Mendenhall era to wear the number zero at UVA. Woods wore #89 at Oklahoma State. Defensive back Fentrell Cypress II selected #23 after wearing #39 last season.

Every other player who earned their jersey number in the first round retained their number from last season, including Keytaon Thompson, who is sticking with the unorthodox #99 for the second season in a row.

Bronco Mendenhall has successfully instituted a principle of “earned not given” in the Virginia Cavaliers football program and no tradition better exemplifies that idea than UVA’s jersey selection process.