Davis was forecast to be a starter this season on the heels of a highly productive freshman year with 20 receptions for 515 yards and five touchdowns. At 6-foot-7, Davis was a coverage mismatch, and his uncommon length allowed him to make a handful of acrobatic receptions in tight spaces.
His injury was especially disheartening given the Cavaliers entered the spring with a focus on improving the deep passing game. Last season Virginia completed 34 passes of 20 yards or longer, which ranked 10th of 15 teams in the ACC.
“He’s a really good player,” Mendenhall said Monday during a Zoom conference call with reporters, adding the injury took place when Davis, who suffered a similar injury in high school, got his feet tangled with a defensive back. “We expected and knew that he’s capable of even more than he did a year ago.”
Davis started in seven of the eight games he played last season, leading the ACC in yards per reception (25.8) and finishing seventh nationally among freshmen in receiving yards. He was the only player in major college football with at least 500 receiving yards on 20 or fewer receptions.
Ra’Shaun Henry and Dontayvion Wicks are next in line to start at outside wide receiver.
Henry transferred from Saint Francis (Pa.) and played in nine games last season, catching seven passes, four of which were for touchdowns, and averaging 29.4 yards per reception. He had a season-high 95 receiving yards with a touchdown Dec. 5 in a 43-32 win over Boston College.
Wicks did not play last season because of an injury suffered during preseason camp. He played in 10 of 14 games as a freshman in 2019, catching three passes for 61 yards and a touchdown.
“What I have seen is Ra’Shaun Henry has had an amazing spring, and Dontayvion Wicks, who sat out last year, basically is doing a really nice job also,” Mendenhall said. “And so we’re kind of trading Lavel for Dontayvion, one for one. Our hope was to have both.”
The Cavaliers were seventh in the ACC in passing offense last offseason, averaging 260.6 yards behind sophomore quarterback Brennan Armstrong. The dual-threat left-hander threw for 2,117 yards and 18 touchdowns in nine games, missing time while in concussion protocol.
Before the injury to Davis, Virginia had counted on having back five players who caught at least one touchdown pass last season. Davis’s five touchdowns last year are the most among players on the current roster. His first season included a 90-yard touchdown catch against Abilene Christian.
Billy Kemp IV, a senior, led the Cavaliers in receiving yards (644) and catches (67) and is slated to start again.
“The only way to avoid that is not to practice in the spring,” Mendenhall said of the injuries to Davis and Bennett, who had been in the mix to play extensively on the outside after transferring from Georgia Tech, where he led all freshmen in tackles (17) before a lower-body injury ended his 2019 season.
Bennett’s injury occurred in a noncontact drill while planting his foot and attempting to change direction, Mendenhall said.
Sophomore Hunter Stewart is a candidate to start at one outside linebacker spot with Bennett unavailable. Noah Taylor, a senior from Silver Spring, is the other starter following a season in which he set a program record for longest interception return by a linebacker (85 yards for a touchdown).
If Bennett and Davis are unable to play when the Cavaliers host Notre Dame on Nov. 13 in their first game of the month, the rest of the schedule features games at Pittsburgh on Nov. 20 and vs. Virginia Tech on Nov. 27 in the Commonwealth Cup, this year at Scott Stadium.
“The ACLs take a long time, right?” Mendenhall said. “That’s a hard rehab, a hard recovery. In Lavel’s case, he already did it once, in high school, so he knows how to do it.”