Honestly itās hard to say. We carried 17 scholarship OL this past season on our roster but that number could stand to go up, both because of the scholarships increasing and also because itās generally good practice to have 19-20 OL on your team when youāre a non-powerhouse.
The number weāre at currently on paper if you include incoming 1st years from our 2025 class is 16, but it seems like weāre pursuing interior OL pretty heavily in the portal. If I had to guess weāll add at least 2-3 guys, maybe more if we see any additional attrition. Right now thereās clear needs for depth at Center and a starting caliber Right Guard.
Iāve got us at potentially 15 scholarship OL for the moment:
RS SR Drake Metcalf 6, GP, 4 GS Last Season at UCF
RS SR Ethan Sipe - 10 GP, 10 GS Last season at Dartmouth
SR McKale Boley - 8 GP, 8 GS
RS SR Noah Josey - 12 GP, 12 GS
RS SR Jack Witmer - 12 GP, 5 GS
RS JR Blake Steen - 12 GP, 12 GS
RS JR Houston Curry
RS JR Dawson Alters
RS JR Noah Hartsoe (PWO)
RS SO Cole Surber
RS FR Grant Elllinger
RS FR Benjamin York
RS FR Dane Wlekinski
FR Jon Adair
FR Jim Harris
FR Grayson Reid
Of course this supposes no additional losses. For instance, Joseyās mom was vocal on twitter about things not going well, maybe saying VT would be his last game, so maybe itās premature to start counting chickens.
But either way, weāll say up to four guys with starting experience at UVA and 11 others weāve never really seen (those other returners, including walk-ons, combined for 9 games appeared in with zero starts this past season).
Zero idea who out of that group of depth will be ready for rotation action this coming offseason, hopefully two or three of rising 3rd and 4th years acquit themselves well, but we definitely need at least two guys who can push for starting time, preferably guys with a couple years of eligibility remaining so we arenāt stuck replacing them again next year the same time weāre having to replace five graduating seniors.
I know wanting to get closer to 19 'ships would be ideal, but it just feels like itās a big ask to get maybe 4-5 guys in the Portal to make that happen.
JFās scholarship list on the 247 board has Jimmy Christ with one more year of eligibility, so that would be 16 if true.
The way I see it weāre in need for at minimum one Center and two Guards. Need someone to start at RG unless the staff really like what theyāve seen from Surber along with a quality backup in case of injury, and need another Center as I donāt think you can trust Metcalf to make it a full year with his injury history.
Our numbers at Tackle are fine but I do question how much of that depth is playable. Witmer looked fine last year in the games he started but then who do you trust after that, as you said itās a list of guys who are either upperclassman that havenāt shown much in the time theyāve been here or younger developmental pieces.
Looking at DL, the other side of the trench, where the need is probably even greater than on the OL:
DTs Starter-Level: RS SO Anthony Britton (12 GP / 8 GS), RS SO Jason Hammond (4 GP / 4 GS before injury) Depth Options: RS JR Terrell Jones (11 GP / 1 GS) Warm Bodies: N/A Soaking: RS FR Tyler Simmons (still needs mass), FR Sichan John
Verdict: 5 total, Some decent young options but lacks depth, could add one, maybe two to round out a two-deep.
DE/Edge Starter-Level: None Depth Options: RS SO Mekhi Buchanan (12 GP, 20 TKLs, 1.5 TFL as a true freshman, missed last year with injury), RS FR Jewett Hayes (appeared in final four games), RS FR Billy Koudelka (4 appearances as a PWO) Warm Bodies: RS SO Miles Greene (no appearances in two years), Soaking: RS FR Chase Morrison, FR Evan Ward
Verdict: 5 on scholarship plus PWO Koudelka. Some young talent to work with as depth options, but none you can count on as starters. Need two starters in the Portal, one SDE and one EDGE, plus maybe additional depth options after spring.
Yeah 3 adds feels right. Preference would be a center, a guard, and a tackle. Tackle doesnāt have to be a clear starter but a playable option. Guard and center being able to move around the 3 interior spots would also be preferredā¦
Thought the exact same. Makes me chuckle. As does the talk of Ahmad Bradshawās son. Um, not sure UVa is high on the Bradshaw familyās list of favorites.
My favorite example of this was when Bol Bol was in high school and someone on the Sabre wondered if weād have a good shot because his dad died in the UVa hospital.
We were a very legitimate contender for Xayvion Bradshaw out of HS, even considered the favorites for quite a while. Lindell Stone stayed five years, got his degree here and Iāve never heard him say a bad word about us. Also thereās already been talks that thereād be mutual interest from both us and Preston if he were to enter.
If this is true no excuses to be badā¦ in all complete seriousness why can we not be Indiana? Schedule all BS teams and run up gaudy records. Duke is also following the modelā¦
Interesting non-con with the non-con NC State gameā¦
2025
Aug. 30 Coastal Carolina Charlottesville, Va.
Sept. 6 NC State (non-conference) Raleigh, N.C.
Sept. 13 William & Mary Charlottesville, Va.
Oct. 18 Washington State Charlottesville, Va.
TBA Florida State Charlottesville, Va.
TBA Stanford Charlottesville, Va.
TBA Virginia Tech Charlottesville, Va.
TBA Wake Forest Charlottesville, Va.
TBA at Cal Berkeley, Calif.
TBA at Louisville Louisville, Ky.
TBA at Duke Durham, N.C.
TBA at North Carolina Chapel Hill, N.C.
