Nah, no way theyâre below replacement level. Replacement level (at least as used in the WAR metric in baseball) are guys you can freely obtain from the minors or off the street.
Our guys are probably above P4 average. Theyâre all older guys with experience and good size and half have played together for multiple years. That alone makes the OL better than the P4 average. Elite? No, not even close. Good enough to effectively run our offense? That we donât know. But definitely good enough to not be a noticeable weakness.
Any believer in the notion that football games are won in the trenches should be excited about next yearâs squad. Both lines are deep and have options. Good mix of experience, size, athleticism, and talent.
We are definitely better on both lines. Will it be enough? I dunno. Looks like a typical ACC collection which is a step change improvement. I am sneaky excited about the transfer QB Morris.
Eh. More big and strong bodies on the OL is always good, but I still want us to pick up someone young in the spring. Isnât 80% of the OL 2-deep in their final year of eligibility now?
Definitely out of eligibility after this year (5): Wyatt, Wilson, Wigenton, Sipe, Metcalf
Supposed to be out but could utilize the âtragedy waiverâ (3): Boley, Josey, Witmer
Due to be back next year (2): Steen, Surber
After that thereâs three guys who are in a questionable spot: Curry (probably ages out without ever cracking the rotation), Alters (make or break year), Hartsoe (PWO but gets good pub),
Then the six Freshmen (True or RS) who itâs just too early to project at all (Ellinger, York, Wleklinski, Adair, Harris, Reid)
Has the tragedy waiver been granted to anyone who started school after 2019 yet? IOW wouldâve been in their 4th year of eligibility in 2022 absent any other waivers or redshirts?
I ask because the reporting at the time used the wording âThe NCAA will grant an extra year of eligibility to any graduating Virginia football playerâ
So I assumed that it applied to anyone who was in their last year of eligibility in 2022. But later situations granted waivers to guys who still had eligibility after 2022, but in all the cases I can think of, everyone who has gotten one enrolled in 2019 or earlier so that 2022 couldâve been their last year of eligibility if a redshirt or Covid situation didnât extend their eligibility. And even if they did take a Covid or redshirt year before or after 2022, the shooting waiver still applied.
So Iâm not sure if guys who entered in 2020 or later and would not have been out of eligibility after 2022 under any circumstance would still be eligible for the shooting waiver.
Agreed. There was a single year under Bronco I felt good about the OL going into the season (either 2019 or 2021, I forget), and before that season it had been a long time since Iâd felt good about the OL (though to be fair, the later CML teams had so many issues I didnât specifically think about the individual units as much).
Anyway, I feel about as good about the OL this coming year as I did that âgoodâ year. And I think the ceiling is higher, just that more of the guys are new and getting the entire OL onto the same page can really take a while (which is why I consider adding another young guy to be such a need).