After learning a lot last fall, Boley is embracing a bigger role

As Virginia prepares to wrap up with Saturday’s Spring Game at Scott Stadium, all eyes will be on the offense to discern what improvements have taken place this offseason.

The line will certainly be under the microscope, with a new position coach and a young group looking to improve on a tough 2022 campaign.

UVa will need a few young linemen to step up and play ACC level football, despite lacking the experience that many other lines around the conference will have. Perhaps the player being counted on to make the biggest leap is McKale Boley, who has been slotted in at left tackle throughout spring practice.

Boley, a rising sophomore, has only been playing offensive line for a few years now, picking up the position late in his high school career. The son of former NFL linebacker Michael Boley, McKale seems to be a natural who is raw but has the talent and physicality to develop into a quality starter on UVa’s offensive line.

Cavalier fans have already seen a bit of Boley, who has a pair of starts among his six games played as a true freshman. He was thrown into the fire, starting the first two games of the season which of course were also the first two of his collegiate career.

While UVa passed the test against Richmond, the entire offense, including Boley, had a rude awakening against Illinois in Week 2 of the season. Still, Boley learned a lot from the experiences he had on the field last fall that should help him take on a larger role this year.

“It meant a lot to me that they had enough trust to play me that early,” he told media members of his playing time as a true freshman. “I thought coming in I was ready but I wasn’t really ready. So when we played Illinois that was kind of like a wake up call, that this is Power 5 football. So I realized I had to grow up, get stronger. But I feel like having that playing time then is helping me now. I like where I’m at in the spring, I like where I’m at right now.”

Despite some ups and downs in the 2022 campaign, it’s clear that Boley learned plenty from the playing time he earned and it puts him in a better position to attack the 2023 season.

“I think I’ve grown a lot,” he explained. “When I first came into UVa I was still trying to learn fundamentals and stuff, because in high school you’re just playing,. There’s not a lot of fundamentals and stuff. And I got up here and I was like ‘yeah, you’ve got to focus on the little stuff.’ But I think I’ve grown a lot in that perspective.”

In addition to growing personally and getting to a better place fundamentally Boley, like the rest of the offensive line group, had to adjust to a new coach this spring. Terry Heffernan was hired in January to replace outgoing offensive line coach Garett Tujague and was tasked with turning around a young group. Boley seems to be getting along well with his new position coach, one he was excited to work with.

“He’s a very funny dude,” Boley said of Heffernan. “I wasn’t really expecting that. He came from a very good background; he was with the Bills, Stanford, so I know he’s coached a lot of good guys. So I knew he was going to come in and get us right.”

Like the rest of the offensive line, Boley has been the subject of Heffernan’s detail-oriented style. UVa’s new O-line coach has high expectations for his group and it starts with mastering the little things.

“To me it’s just how detailed he is on the fundamentals. Every day in practice it’s always about the little things,” Boley said of Heffernan’s approach this spring. “Your first step, your second step. It’s not about the big picture. Once you get all the fundamentals down, everything comes easy.”

As for what Boley needs to work on? He came up with that answer right away when asked.

“Really it’s just finishing my blocks,” he said. “I can get my hat placement right and stuff, but then I’ll pull up a little bit. He just wants me to keep fighting through the block. That’s the main thing he’ll get on me about.”

College football players usually take a big step forward from Year 1 to Year 2. Boley is one of a few Cavaliers that are really going to need to take advantage of their development, as they’ll be asked to play a lot this fall.

Tony Elliott’s practices mirror the way that he wants his offense to play: Fast. That can make the adjustment even tougher for a young player but Boley seems to be more comfortable after his first season in the program.

“I’m a lot more used to the pace now,” he said of practices at Virginia. “Fast pace, we’re a tempo offense so you have no choice but to get used to the pace here.”

And while adjusting to life in college football, the talent players have to compete with, and everything else involved, UVa’s players all had to learn new schemes last season. That change was certainly bumpy at times and the offense struggled to find the end zone throughout the season. Heading into their second year, there have been plenty of personnel changes but the players who were around last season also have had a lot more time to soak in their schemes. Every player that has talked to the media this spring has said that they feel better about the schemes heading into the 2023 season.

“Everyone is definitely more comfortable,” Boley said. “There’s a sense of confidence across every group on the offense. We’re way more confident this year in what we’re doing because everyone is more invested in their playbooks and stuff.”

Virginia’s offense has plenty to work on and based on what Boley and others have said, there have been some encouraging days and disappointing ones throughout spring. As the group prepares to finish off spring on Saturday afternoon and turn their focus to fall camp, being good to great every day is a priority.

“Consistency,” Boley said, when asked what the team needed to work on. “We come out every day, we’ll have a good practice…We’ve seen what we can do at practice. We’ve had great practices but we’ve also had very bad practices. But we’ve just got to be consistent.”

UVa added one veteran offensive lineman for spring practices that should be helping with the group’s focus and consistency. Ugonna Nnanna came over from Houston and brings more playing experience than most of the rest of the line has at this point. Nnanna has been working alongside Boley at left guard and it seems that the two are getting to know each other better and develop some chemistry.

“He’s a great dude. I love playing next to him, him at left guard,” Boley said of Nnnana. “He knows what he’s doing, he brings a little bit of experience; (he’s) someone bigger. I just like playing next to him. He’s locked in all the time, he doesn’t take plays off; he’s good.”

And while UVa brought in a veteran like Nnanna to not only play but to help lead the room, Boley feels like he’s quickly going from a younger player in the position group to a leader, using his voice more.

“When I first came in I was very quiet,” he’s said. “I was maybe leading by example but I wasn’t talking a lot. But I definitely talk a lot more now.”