Prior to the Meet the Team event tonight, UVa allowed a few minutes for media members to speak with Bronco Mendenhall. I decided not to transcribe the entire session but did want to point to a couple of things:
- Bronco said that the culture and desire still exceeds expectations right now but the work habits are strong. Will is always emphasized in his program so that's what he would expect to see. Execution, he said, is "right on" with where he could expect it to be. He takes a lot of confidence from the work ethic and desire he's seeing from the players at this point in camp.
- On pace: Bronco said that once guys can go as fast as he wants, they'll look to make guys go faster. He loves the idea of constant learning and growth. He doesn't think you can reach a pinnacle. "There's always another hill," he said. The hardest part with the pace is fully committing to each play knowing there are so many more to come.
- On the QBs: Bronco said that the whittling down among the three guys in the competition "is happening." They've put a lot on Benkert because they haven't seen as much of him because he wasn't there in the spring, so he's gotten a lot of reps. Bronco said "hopefully" by the end of this coming week or the middle of the next "things will become clearer." He said he'd love to have the volume of reps moved to one guy "as quickly as possible" but it has to play out and he's not going to rush it. He added that the team and coaches all need to see it. It needs to be clear. But they don't have enough reps to carry three guys competing through camp.
- On early enrolling: Bronco said that he thinks it will remain a "family decision" for a recruit and his parents. There are advantages to coming to college early but there are also advantages to living the life of a high schooler, which is a life they only get once.
- On position battles: There is competition everywhere and that's by design. He pointed to OLB, DL, and WR as places where the battles are the most prominent. He thinks battles promote growth so he's excited that what's happening at QB is happening elsewhere, too. There isn't time to take a play off.
- On fan expectation in terms of winning, Bronco said he's not sure what the fans expect. Rather than expecting a buffer or period of transition, though, he said he came to UVa to help the players become "exceptional." So to ask for time to for the program to get warmed up isn't the message he's sending to his players so he won't send it to fans, either. "I want to earn the fans' attendance," he said. "I want to earn their trust."
- On the ACC scheduling debate: Bronco said that he's among the minority in that he wants to play nine conference games. His experience as an independent tells him that nine gives you security. The expectation is that it'll be either eight ACC games plus two against P5 teams or nine conference games and one guaranteed game against a P5 team. Having come from BYU, Bronco would rather have the latter. "I think they're going to be startled by how hard it is to find games," he added.
- On the team's health: Bronco said so far, so good. They're being "very intentional" about who practices and how much. The GPS and monitoring systems are giving them great info so they can balance cultural development, work capacity, and execution. He pointed to WR as the position right now that's taken the most hits in terms of wear and tear. "Nothing...at this point," he said, "that I think would be season-altering or something that might change how we manage our season." He added that Olamide Zaccheaus will be back sooner than Andre Levrone and that both will be back.
