Forget playing time, Virginia football players must earn jersey, too

An individual college football team will carry more than 100 student-athletes on its roster, including those not on scholarship, making it inevitable that at least one jersey number will be shared by two or more players.

It’s even led to an NCAA rule stating that two players with the same number cannot be on the field simultaneously, though that hasn’t always stopped a few teams – such as Lane Kiffin-coached Southern California, for one – from searching for loopholes.

No such problem exists at Virginia, however, where first-year coach Bronco Mendenhall and the Cavaliers have taken a wholly unique approach to assigning jersey numbers.

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Mendenhall took away the Cavaliers’ jerseys when he was hired during the winter, instead assigning players matching black shirts to wear during offseason workouts – taking a cue from a book he had read, Legacy, about the All Blacks rugby team in New Zealand. The roster then had to earn their jerseys, akin to how Ohio State has newcomers earn the “black stripe” on their helmets during spring and fall camps.

It wasn’t until this past weekend that Mendenhall began handing out numbers, and even then with a twist: He split the team into “platoons,” with each group’s leaders choosing the order in which their teammates selected a number.

“It was an amazing night,” Mendenhall said. “I would say one of the most memorable of my coaching career to this point – really, really special.”

The process was “peer-driven,” he added.

“I thought that would have a lot more impact on the players knowing when they were selected by their peers to choose a number. I think it allowed really a lot of transparency as to what their teammates valued. It doesn't take long before you see a thread of what the team members were selecting on.”

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As of now, with the opener against Richmond just days away, 61 players have earned a jersey number. The Cavaliers will dress no more than 72 players in a given game, Mendenhall said, so 11 numbers remain untaken – likely to be held by first-year players, who weren’t involved in this past weekend’s selection process.

“There are 11 current spots remaining,” he said. “The players know that. The coaches know that. The equipment manager knows that. There's urgency to every practice. That means that standard is pretty high.”

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