Wohlabaugh is a big pick up as is Umamba. Both of those guys are big, experienced, and carry 80 PFF pass pro grades which is very high. Given the sheer numbers in the OL room and their experience, there’s little question that the staff understands that while development is important, it’s go time. I don’t think that this means anything about shifting to run heavy at all, it’s just about being able to run and pass and to execute what we need to do for a particular opponent.
So far as the “no excuse” meme goes, what we’ve done isn’t so much putting together a dominant team, but we’ve certainly shut the gap between us and our peer opponents.
The VT game will always be key, and right now I think the matchup ought to favor us. But I’ve seen that before. Under Bronco there were at least 3 years where we were clearly the better squad but still managed to lose, often self-inflicted. Last 2 years I saw the game more 50-50 going in only to be really surprised. Lot of reasons for that I think. Helps to have a QB who can really play the game and a defense that doesn’t get absolutely crushed.
Rising 5th year RS Senior. Missed the bulk of the 23 season with a torn Achilles in their second game. Made it back to play last year as a key member of the 2 deep at safety, but missed spring ball to rehab a shoulder. Versatile enough to play across multiple positions in the secondary.
I already bet the over because I think there’s no shot this team is worse than last year against this schedule with more talent, but I am excited to see how this staff disappoints me once again.
I look at it as either a win or my karmic financial contribution towards a new HC.
ugh reading the whole “they’ve done a great job in the portal but they’re still a shit staff” is just so tiresome tbh. Nothing against your post, I’m just sick of reading that crap literally everywhere lol
I understand the frustration around the losing, but it’s hard for me to not think a signficant talent/depth improvement will improve the on-field results. The only thing that would hamper that is that we’re bringing in a lot of guys. You lose control when you have this many new guys so we’ll see. But the fact of the matter is that we’ve had a bottom 3 roster in the ACC these past 3 years. Seriously, I don’t think we lost to a single team last year that didn’t significantly overwhelm us from a talent perspective. The only one that was even kinda close was Maryland and even they completely overwhelmed us talent-wise on the lines.
Now that they’ve had adequate NIL support, we’ve started to see how competent this staff actually is when they’re in their element. Recruiting and retention. That was always what Elliott was about from day one, having worked under one of the great culture gurus in the modern era. The fact that they’ve retained very well over these last couple years despite the losing is a sign to me of a strong culture. And in this sport, culture+talent is what ultimately wins out. That bodes well for UVA
We added like half a dozen guys in the Spring portal and only lost Steen, our QB3 and a handful of former walk-ons. Gotta be pushing 90 or 95 scholarship players I think. An actual 2-3 deep where the backups can be real contributors and not just inexperienced space fillers.
Wonder how the depth chart’s going to shake out. And if we’re going to have to turn the roster over this much again next offseason. How many of Elliott’s HS recruits are starting (especially if you credit most of the 22 guys to Bronco except the late commits after Elliott took the job)? Boley, Twitty, Brown, Robinson, maybe Hammond?
