CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The first tug and pull Bronco Mendenhall felt from the University of Virginia came near the end of the past regular season in a small, sparsely decorated room inside Brigham Young’s football facilities, where the former BYU coach sat with then-offensive coordinator Robert Anae.
Anae, who now holds the same position with the Cavaliers, had turned to Mendenhall with a rhetorical question and answer: You know where you’d fit really well, with who you are and what you do? Virginia, said Anae.
It was a moment Mendenhall stored away, to be reflected upon just weeks later, following Mike London’s decision to resign from Virginia after six seasons.