The Cleveland Browns shored up the depth of their receiving corps on Monday by signing University of Virginia product Ra’Shaun Henry, who entered the league last season as an undrafted free agent.
Originally signed by the Carolina Panthers following the 2022 NFL draft, Henry made a name for himself in Charlottesville as a reliable target who could make opposing defenses pay with his speed and creativity after the catch.
He tallied 34 catches for 603 yards and three touchdowns for the Cavaliers in 2021, good for an average of 17.7 yards per reception in his standout senior season.
Despite his proven production at the collegiate level, Henry should be considered a longshot to make the Browns’ 53-man roster, though he may have upside as a developmental piece of their practice squad. Watch for Henry to do his best to make a good impression on Cleveland’s coaching staff during the team’s mandatory minicamp as he tries to secure his place on the Browns’ depth chart for the 2023 season.
Virginia’s Mike Hollins details the shooting that left him wounded and 3 Cavalier teammates dead
Virginia football player Mike Hollins related the events that led to him being shot and three Cavalier teammates being killed in an incident after a class trip in November.
Hollins, who underwent multiple surgeries and is on the road to recovery, told Ryan Clark of “The Pivot Podcast” what happened on that fateful day when a former Virginia walk-on senselessly started shooting. Hollins was wounded, another student was also wounded and Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler, and D’Sean Perry were killed.
Hollins had gotten off the bus after it returned from a class trip to a play in Washington D.C. but returned when he heard gunshots.
“We locked eyes and I just felt so hopeless in that moment,” said Hollins. “I can’t even explain it. It felt like he had all the power in that moment, even though I’ve never been a physically vulnerable person ever…I couldn’t do anything. I knew my boys were in there and I didn’t know if they were alive or breathing. Once we locked eyes, it felt like all of that immediately went through my mind before I could take off running.
“I could see him lift the gun when I turned while I was running. And all I could do was pray. I felt him hit me in my back, but he was going to have to hit me more than once for me to stop. I was still running and I ran through and into a parking garage and I didn’t see him chasing me no more. I was still feeling like I was in a movie or something, and I had a bullet hanging out of my stomach…All I could remember was being on the bus listening to gospel music 15 minutes ago.”
You can watch the entire podcast here:
Hollins was asked what he would say to the shooter.
“First, I would ask if It ever crossed his mind how many people this would affect?” said Hollins. “Also, I hate to say why, but what would provoke him and what was going on in his life that made him think that this was the only answer. Knowing those answers would help a lot of people in the future not make the same mistake. I can’t imagine someone knowing that hundreds of people would be affected, that they’d make that same decision.”
Sadly, Hollins’ detailing of his story to the “The Pivot Podcast” is not without some sort of controversy.
Thursday morning, Clark sent tweets accusing “Good Morning America” of breaking a deal they had to release their interviews on the same day. Later, he spoke to The New York Post.
“I thought a show like @GMA would operate with integrity since they have fooled us into thinking thy [sic] care about things like truth,” Clark tweeted Thursday morning. “After what GMA producer @JennLeongABC did this morning I now know that’s false. Schemed, stole, & lied all to be first. Long as you win right? It’s crazy that @JennLeongABC & @GMA manipulated a young man & mother that have been through so much. We are so grateful Mike Hollins & his mother Brenda trusted us to sit down with him first. Still, @thepivot can stand on delivering every promise we made to their family.”
“We had an understanding,” he said. “We both worked together on when we were going to release it, what we could do with the clips as far as promotions, so there could be some synergy between their show and our show as to how we released it. Also, a part of it was they didn’t want us to release anything before they could, with them being a big-time morning show, and wanting something of an exclusive — which, obviously it was not, because we were not only doing it as well, we did it first.
“They’d agreed to hold it till Friday because that’s when we were releasing our show. We agreed it couldn’t be called an exclusive, because obviously it’s not.”
Clark, who works for ESPN, which is owned by Disney as is ABC, said he had a phone call later in the day where GMA execs tried to clear the situation up.
Fortunately for the Commanders, Heinicke has been buying a lot of shoes lately, with Washington winning five of its previous six games, including four of those wins with Heinicke under center.
Ahead of Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons, Heinicke had another new pair of shoes, this time they were customized to honor the three shooting victims from the University of Virginia.
UVA football players Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry were tragically killed after returning from a field trip on Nov. 13. Last week; the Commanders wore decals on their helmets honoring the three victims, while head coach Ron Rivera, tight end Logan Thomas and kicker Joey Slye wore University of Virginia shirts. Thomas and Slye played college football at Virginia Tech.
Beth Lillie, a fifth-year at Virginia, won’t take a moment at Augusta National for granted.
Beth Lillie has never been past the gates at Augusta National Golf Club but, like many golf fans who have been to Augusta, Georgia, she’s quite familiar with the view of Magnolia Lane from Washington Road.
When Lillie’s Virginia team played the Valspar Augusta Invitational, head coach Ria Scott detoured the team van past the entrance, as you do.
“We laid down on the grass and did the whole tacky thing,” Lillie said. “It was probably pretty brutal to watch.”
This is the week that Lillie gets inside, having earned an invitation to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur with the rest of the nation’s top female amateurs.
Lillie’s is a name that flies under the radar. She’s currently ranked No. 65 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open in 2016 when she was 16 years old, qualified for the NCAA Women’s Championship last year as an individual and finished ninth and has finished runner-up in two of her last three college starts.
Despite all that, Lillie just wasn’t ready to check out after four years. The Virginia victory lap brought a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with the ANWA invitation. It’s a big platform for a deep thinker like Lillie, who earned a Bachelor of Arts in politics and is now working on a masters in intercollegiate athletic administration at Virginia.
Beth Lillie (Photo courtesy UVA Athletics)
Playing at Augusta is sometimes hard to comprehend, Lillie said.
“But it’s obviously so special and I feel like it’s something that probably will take a long while to soak in how special it is for me, especially that I’m a fifth year and this is probably my only chance of ever playing in this tournament,” she said.
Savoring the moment has been just as important to Lillie throughout this season as it will be this week. Three days before the start of the ANWA, Lillie was teeing it up with her team across the country at the Ping/ASU Invitational, and that was her sole focus.
Asked how she’d been prepping for Augusta, Lillie said she was just prepping for each college tournament as it came.
“Physical prep, I feel like I’m doing what I normally do to get ready for tournaments,” she said. “I feel like a big part of it is mental preparation and trying to keep my energy up, keep my schoolwork up, and know that I’m going to be missing a lot of class coming up.
“I don’t want to miss the team events for the world and that’s the most important thing this semester for me and the Augusta thing will just be an added bonus.”
Scott names being present as one of Lillie’s greatest strengths. That’s been key not only in her Augusta preparation, but in the few times this season when Lillie found herself in a playoff for a position in the lineup. Sports psychologists at Virginia have encouraged players to downplay situations – make them less important.
“I think Beth is really good at playing the game that’s in front of her,” Scott said. “Yes, Augusta is grand and important and the biggest stage in women’s amateur golf, but I think you’ll see Beth Lillie just soaking in every moment when she’s there.”
Some of that may come from Lillie’s ability to see the big picture. As part of her Masters program, she had to select an internship. From a wide-ranging list, some in athletics and some having nothing to do with athletics, Lillie chose a job in the football video services office despite having no experience in video production.
At Virginia, the football team’s Thursday’s Heroes program brings a child or adult in a difficult circumstance (medical, physical, cognitive, etc.) to team practice each Thursday. The day involves a tour of the facility, sitting in on a practice and then a day-ending gift-giving ceremony. Lillie’s job was to film each guest’s experience and make a video out of it.
Sometimes she’d find herself tearing up over the computer as she put together the footage.
Beth Lillie during her video services internship at the University of Virginia. (Photo courtesy UVA Athletics)
“Some people, maybe outsiders, look at college sports as just college sports, that’s all you’re doing it for,” Lillie said. “But to me, I know that my golf team, it feels like we matter in bigger ways than that and it’s a bigger part of our identify and I feel like for the football team, part of their identity was this huge commitment to the community. Really being men of service.”
On the golf team, Scott and assistant coach Marissa Dodd encouraged the adoption of three guiding values: latitude, fortitude and gratitude. During the pandemic, with less golf being played, they were thoughtful conversation starters.
The latter two are easy enough to grasp, but Lillie described the first as having grace for yourself and others and understanding that even from your own place in the world, you can make a difference. From that grew the latitude project. Every week in a team group message, a player would share something that mattered to her. Lillie discussed a research project on equal pay for women’s college coaches but voting rights, economic access to golf and mental health were other topics.
All that will travel with Lillie to Augusta, a latitude with unparalleled impact in the golf world.
“Just knowing what a big thing it is and how impactful it can be, it just reinforces how much I need to go and live so much in the present and just have fun above literally everything else,” she said.
The Virginia Cavaliers followed up their impressive 2021 NCAA Swimming and Diving championship with an utterly dominant showing this year to repeat. Virginia finished with 551.5 points, lightyears ahead of second place Texas (406 points). Junior Kate Douglass and sophomore Alex Walsh — both medal winners in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — each went 3-for-3 in their individual events.
Walsh won the 200-yard individual medley, 400-yard individual medley and 200-yard fly events. Freshmen Emma Weyant and Gretchen Walsh (the younger sister of Alex) were among the bevy of Cavaliers that also collected podium finishes.
Virginia then won NCAA titles in four relay events — the 200-yard medley relay, 400-yard medley relay, 200-yard free relay and 400-yard free relay. They also set NCAA records in the 400-yard medley relay and 400-yard freestyle relay, and an American Record in the latter.
— Virginia Swimming and Dive (@UVASwimDive) March 20, 2022
While all the Cavaliers impressed, it was Douglass who truly stole the show. Douglass not only touched first in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard butterfly and 200-yard breaststroke events, she set new American Records in each of them. It’s not unusual for a swimmer to excel in freestyle and butterfly events, but breaststroke is usually a specialized event. Think of it as if Tom Brady won the NFL MVP, Super Bowl MVP, and then also won the NBA three-point shooting title.
Douglass set the record in the 50-yard free in the preliminary swim with a 20.84, but nearly matched it in the finals with a 20.87.
— Virginia Swimming and Dive (@UVASwimDive) March 18, 2022
Her 49.04 time in the 100-yard butterfly set the American Record for that event, and she closed out her individual events with a blistering 2:02.19 time that broke Lilly King’s record from 2018.
— Virginia Swimming and Dive (@UVASwimDive) March 19, 2022
With Douglass, Weyant and the Walsh sisters all returning as Virginia’s core for next year, the Cavaliers could be looking a the three-peat. Saturday night’s team title is the University of Virginia’s 30th NCAA team championship.
Former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott was introduced with his first press conference at the University of Virginia on Monday. Watch the full press conference and see what Elliott has to say about his new job and the Tigers.
Former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott was introduced with his first press conference at the University of Virginia on Monday.
Watch the full press conference and see what Elliott has to say about his new job and the Tigers.
It’s no secret Dabo Swinney has been reluctant to use the NCAA transfer portal. However, comments from Clemson’s head coach recently have indicated that he could be changing his stance on the portal. “There’s not a school in the country that’s not …
It’s no secret Dabo Swinney has been reluctant to use the NCAA transfer portal. However, comments from Clemson’s head coach recently have indicated that he could be changing his stance on the portal.
“There’s not a school in the country that’s not going to have to recruit the portal,” Swinney said in November. “That’s what’s been created. There’s not a school, anywhere, everybody in Division I football is going to have to deal with the portal in some form or fashion because you’re gonna have gaps in your roster, somewhere. Again, you have until May 1 to say ‘I’m out’ and that’s the world we’ve created now. It’s just the way it is. I don’t like it, but that’s the way the world is. You just deal with it.”
Well, it appears as if the Tigers are indeed starting to dip their toes into the transfer portal.
The Clemson Insider has confirmed that Clemson has been in contact with Olusegun Oluwatimi, a grad transfer center from the University of Virginia.
TCI was told by a source close to Oluwatimi at Virginia that the Tigers have reached out to him, and that there is mutual interest between him and Clemson.
A native of Upper Marlboro, Md., and DeMatha Catholic product, Oluwatimi spent the 2017 season at the Air Force Academy, but did not play in any games. After transferring to Virginia, he sat out the 2018 season to serve a year of residence due to the NCAA transfer rule.
This season, Oluwatimi earned second-team All-ACC honors and was one of three finalists for the Rimington Trophy, which is presented annually to the most outstanding center in NCAA Division I College Football. He started all 12 games of this season and 32 straight, which dates back to 2019.
Oluwatimi played 910 snaps during the 2021 season, the most by any ACC center. According to Pro Football Focus, Oluwatimi was rated the number two center in the nation in run blocking and led the ACC.
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The Chargers signed defensive lineman Andrew Brown and linebacker Josh Watson to the practice squad on Wednesday, the team announced.
After promoting defensive tackles Forrest Merrill and Breiden Fehoko from the practice squad to the active roster, it left two vacant spots.
Brown, a fifth-round pick by the Bengals in 2018, played in 21 games over his first three seasons, 18 with Cincinnati and three with the Texans. He was on the Colts prior to being released ahead of the 2021 season.
In that time period, he posted 17 tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, and three quarterback hits.
Watson, on the other hand, played his collegiate career at Colorado State before being signed as an undrafted free agent by the Broncos in 2019. In two seasons, he appeared in 17 games and totaled seven sacks.
Between getting drafted and getting engaged, Jets CB Bryce Hall had had quite the week.
Bryce Hall took an unexpected freefall in last weekend’s draft due to concerns over a fractured ankle suffered during his senior year at the University of Virginia. The Jets took a chance on Hall in the fifth-round, though, betting on his potential and getting the sign-off from their medical team.
If Hall had left following his junior season, he could have likely been a first-round pick. Instead, he returned to Virginia to bet on himself and get his degree.
Now, the Jets are getting a talented cornerback with a chip on his shoulder. They’re also getting a cornerback who is officially off the market. Hall took to his Instagram to share his marriage proposal to his long-time girlfriend, Anzel Viljoen, a New Zealand native on Virginia’s field hockey team.
Now engaged, Hall has had quite the week since being drafted by the Jets. If all goes well, he’s now in two long-term commitments.
Hall played on his last name, saying that his fiance is now “in it for the long Hall.” The Jets are hoping that Hall will be with them for the long-haul as well.
Here are four things to know about Jets’ new CB Bryce Hall, who New York selected with the 158th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
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With the Jets’ fifth-round pick, they stopped the free-fall of Virginia cornerback Bryce Hall.
Hall may have fallen victim to the lack of access to medicals due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Teams were unable to bring him in for a physical and have their own team physicians give their opinions. Rather than a team rolling the dice on his potential early on, he fell to the Jets at No. 158, which is terrific value for Gang Green.
Hall had considered bypassing his senior year in favor of the NFL draft but elected to return to the University of Virginia instead. While the injury to Hall dropped him in the draft, he’s going to come into training camp with a chip on his shoulder.
With that said, let’s get to the know the Jets’ newest addition to the secondary. Here are four things to know about Hall.
Devastating Injury
(Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports)
Bryce Hall was on his way to cementing himself as a first-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but his body had other ideas.
Hall broke his fibula and tore his deltoid ligament. Essentially, Hall dislocated his ankle, broke those bones and tore that ligament. In Week 6 of the 2019 college football season, a Miami Hurricanes player rolled into his leg, ending his career at Virginia.
Although the Jets are under a new regime, New York is taking a flier on Hall much like they did Blessaun Austin a year ago. That gamble has paid off so far, Austin looks like a more than capable NFL cornerback. While his surgically repaired ankle is medically cleared, Hall doesn’t have full range of motion yet. Right now, Hall expects to be 100 percent medically cleared for training camp.
