As the football team works its way into and through the dog days of camp, with the season opener now less than three weeks away the focus is on daily improvement and the compilation of a two-deep at all positions.

There is healthy competition across the team, but arguably none more crucial than at offensive line, a young group with a lot to prove this season.

One of the Cavalier linemen looking to make a leap this fall is sophomore tackle McKale Boley, a player who was thrown into action last fall as a rookie and acquitted himself quite well in the process.

The Mississippi native started his very first collegiate game and ended up playing in six, which speaks to both UVa’s lack of depth and experience last season but also to Boley’s potential.

It’s worth remembering that Boley didn’t play offensive line until his senior year in high school. So in this month’s fall camp he is prepping for his third season of offensive line play, and is probably one of the blockers the Cavaliers are most depending on.

Boley has come a long way from where he was a year ago, admitting that while he embraced the opportunity to play, he quickly found out that he had work to do.

“I think I was ready for the first game,” he recalled. “I know when we went to the second game and played Illinois, it was a wake-up call. Their defense was a pretty legit defense, they had D-linemen going to the league and all that. I think I was ready physically but mentally, I wasn’t there yet.”

Now listed at 6-foot-4, 302 pounds, he has grown a lot as a player over the last year,as he continues to learn the position and improve his technique. But he’s also seen growth in his ability to be a vocal leader on an offensive line that is still quite young.

“When I first got here I didn’t talk to anybody, I was a quiet soul and just did what I was supposed to. Now I feel like people want me to shut up, I’m always talking,” Boley joked. “People say I’m soft spoken but I definitely talk a lot.”

In his second year with the program, Boley feels that he’s quickly gone from a young player looking to fit in and find his way to more of a vocal leader who has more of a leadership role in the locker room.

“It feels good, I’m more comfortable around everybody,” he added. “As a I think we’ve gotten closer, I can be myself a little bit more.”

While he is still so new to the game, and relatively new to UVa, he has more experience than most of the linemen in this year’s group. Virginia’s youth led the coaching staff to go out and find some veteran transfers to compete for playing time, and help the younger guys along. After Ugonna Nnanna came in last winter, UVa added Penn State’s Jimmy Christ and Dayton’s Brian Stevens to the roster in the spring. Boley said that their experience in college programs has been a big asset to the entire group.

“Jimmy came in, he’s a big dude. He’s a great guy to be around,” Boley said. “Brian definitely brought a veteran mentality. He’s played a lot in his career at Dayton. I feel like he came in with a mindset and he’s teaching the young guys. We’re a young group, and he has a lot of knowledge that some of us don’t have, so he spreads that to us.”

While those transfers and many of the returnees are competing for playing time at several different spots, Boley seems to have a specific role in store for this year and it’s the same role he played a year ago.

“I know for some of my other teammates they’ve been cross-training, but for me, I’ve been specifically at left (tackle) so far,” he explained.

“I can play either or,” Boley added of the two tackles positions even though he hasn’t been doing that in camp. “I feel comfortable on both sides but the coaches just have me at left tackle right now.”

And while he played left tackle last year, it was a bit of an odd role. UVa had a left-handed quarterback in Brennan Armstrong, so the right tackle was actually the blind-side blocker. So now, Boley will continue on the left side, but will have to get used to a more traditional pocket with right-handed quarterbacks behind him.

“It was honestly kind of weird, because playing on the left side you expect that you’re the blind side but then with a left-handed quarterback it’s the right side, so that was kind of weird,” he said.

Boley seems to be in a great place to play quite a bit this season but he still has a lot of room to grow as a player given how new he is to the game.

His new offensive line coach Terry Heffernan is a stickler for the details and that is benefiting Boley in fall camp.

“Coach Heff has really locked down on the fundamentals,” he said. “With me really not playing O-line that long, it’s great to have a coach like him who really focuses on the basics and fundamentals. The little things are able to improve my game. Overall, I’m an athletic person, but him being able to hone in on the little things can make a big difference.”

When asked if there’s anything specific that Heffernan has asked him to work on, Boley said you have to take in the instruction he is giving everyone in the group.

“Everything he yells at us about, it’s for the whole group to do,” he said. “If he’s yelling at someone, an individual person, it’s probably for the whole group to hear. So if he’s yelling at someone you want to listen so you’re not making that same mistake.”

Though Boley is getting pushed by his position coach and fellow linemen, he also has a talk task in front of him on the other side of the ball in each practice. UVa’s defensive line might be the best position group on the team, with a lot of experience and talent back this year. UVa’s offensive front is a work in progress heading into the 2023 season, but they’ll certainly see what they’re made of every day in practice against a solid group.

“Honestly I think it’s great,” Boley said of going against UVa’s veteran defensive line every day in camp. “I believe our defensive line will probably end up being the best in the ACC, that’s just where I stand. Going versus them every day in practice, you have no choice but to be at your best, every single practice. And if you’re not at your best, you’re going to get cooked. Going against guys like Chico, Kam, Paul, for me, that makes me better every single day.”