Alters was a reach and the staff likely knew it. Heās just too short (heās way shorter than his roster height). Heās a specialist Center so not a bad emergency option to have on the roster but heās probably not someone the staff had big plans for. Also, itās good to keep a pipeline at his HS.
Curry was always going to be a developmental piece given his body. The reviews on him have always been positive, heās either just been banged up or had someone more experienced in front of him. Heās only a true Junior so itās not like heās behind or anything. This is the year youād probably expect to see contributions from a guy like him. Hopefully he can step up if called upon, but I think they guys ahead of him are still likely better options if healthy.
I was fine taking the chance on both of them, at that point we needed to add bodies to be able to fill out a three deep along the OL (though I do wish we wouldāve hit the portal even harder that offseason to add more playable depth, think even Elliott has lamented about that). We ended up getting like 6 OL commits in late January with Boley/Steen/Amaama/Curry/Alters/Flores which is an absurdly late time to have to fill out that many spots. It just hurts to really only have 2/6 of those guys be current starters given how poor our OL play and overall depth at the position has been.
Curry still has weight to put on, he was only listed at 265 coming out of HS but is currently at 283 on our team roster page. I understand putting on good weight as an OL is incredibly hard but I wouldāve hoped heād be around 295 by this point, heās got the frame to be 300+ easy as a Tackle. I do hope heās able to step up when called upon assuming heāll be on the two deep, with how thin we are already having lost Metcalf/Hartsoe for the season weāre almost definitely gonna need our backups to give us quality snaps this season.
Apparently the hill seats are gonna be student overflow and student guest tickets exclusively this season, with wall access points forcing you to provide student ID in order to sit there.
Love when our administration makes decisions that will make it so we have even less people in the stadium, canāt wait for the hill to be a replica of what it is in CFB 25.
From what was being described on TheSabre, thereās walls being built to act as access points for RMC members to check IDās and tickets. No idea how strict the enforcement will actually be in practice though.
Apparently this is in response to opposing fans being able to rush our field easily from the hill, which if true is a massive overcorrection of a response.
Yeah thereās a reason season ticket numbers are as low as theyāve been in years, I understand a large part of that is because of the product put on the field but we do ourselves zero favors with our overall gameday experience. Parking is a shitshow, concessions are horrible and overpriced, the WiFi is spotty, acoustics for the band are bad, the seats are uncomfortable, etc.
At the very least weāre getting a nice big video board but thereās sooooo much weāre doing wrong in terms of making sure the fans actually have an incentive to want to come to the stadium.
I was pleasantly charmed and disappointed when I went to a game last year and realized that in 7ish years nothing had changed in the game day experience, and that previous experience was the same that it had been since I was in HS 10 or 15 years before that.
As a football fan and a Virginia fan the gameday experience is not as important to me because Iāll make my own fun. But if you want to expand the base beyond diehards, which any program looking for a sellout needs, then you have to do something to bring in the casuals. Itās especially glaring when I look at it through a parents eyes.
Putting any effort into making sure kids and teenagers have a positive gameday experience past that cringy ass Adventures of Cavman cartoon they used to make would be a good start. Thatās how you build lifelong fans.
The real answer is a stadium remodel, and Iām not sure why its not talked about more. I guess just because we havenāt had long enough sustained success to justify it?
Would assume itās next up on the docket for our athletic department, though that could still be light years away given how long it took us to fundraise and get approval for the indoor practice facility.
Yep, thatās where Iāve been. With a young childā¦
gotta walk a mile from parking to the stadium (and back)
Dip nāDots line took 45 min because they couldnāt connect their credit card device
Vendors ran out of hot dogs and pizza
bench seats kinda suck (minor gripe)
Used to like having the hill to spend some time just chilling on the grass at the top. Guess thatās not an option.
All minor gripes and my son will age out of that soon, but does make it more tempting to watch the game in the backyard or the living room most Saturdays.
If weāre being completely honest football needs so much work done from a fan experience perspective that I really donāt know that they can fix it completelyā¦ parking is a nightmare. Even with a reserved pass. Even if that reserved pass is in the west lot. Food/drink options have gotten ābetterā but still could use a ton of work. Luckily they figured out a semi efficient way to sell alcohol. New light system was cool the one time it was used last season, and the video board should be awesome. This hill thing is a terrible way of āfixing a problemā.
I donāt mean to sound harsh, I support this team and program as much as possible but with all the availability of seeing others games now paired with the rising cost and complete hassle that going to a game is, I often would rather watch at home now.
The issues with Scott are so fat gone that a complete remodel is the only option. That is difficult for a lot of reason. Fundingwise I have no appetite for that. Physical limitations are another major challenge. No way they expand or redo the stadium properly without taking a chunk out of the aquatic center. Something has to give
That could work out just fine in CTEās offense. Itās odd that I still donāt have a good feel for what exactly the staff is aiming for. But I know Iāve seen clean route runners and more explosive after the catch guys succeed in his previous systems.
Given the status of the line I imagine thereās going to be a lot of shorter to mid mesh style stuff where a hard runner with good vision and instinct can thrive.