Time and time again leading into the end of the regular season, it was commonplace to hear Bronco Mendenhall mention the improvement of UVa’s offensive line. And as the Wahoos closed with four wins, including a Coastal-clinching 39-30 victory over Virginia Tech, it was common to hear fans also discuss the importance of the improved line play.

And then there was this after the season, per PFF College:

According to PFF, center Olusegun Oluwatimi had the 46th-highest grade on the year as well as the 29th-highest grade in pass pro (76.2).

So, what else does that data tell us about how the Hoos improved and became the Coastal’s best offensive line?

Let's take a look at the data week to week throughout the 2019 season:

Takeaways: We attached the offensive rating each week as well as the national ranking for the offense to give some context to the connection with the offensive line play. While points isn’t directly reflected in the grades, it’s no surprise that as the grades improved along the line so too did the offense as a whole.

As you look through the data, what's evident is that once the Cavaliers started blocking better things picked up. It’s hard to believe that the group finished north of 74 in run blocking considering that it started out almost a 10 full points below that mark. And in terms or pass pro, the cumulative grade got as low as the upper 40s before rebounding and finishing a full 20 points higher. And the fact that UVa's grades went up after facing Bud Foster's defense (as well as Clemson and Florida) is also a pretty interesting feather in the cap, in addition to jumping 30 spots nationally before the season was done.

In his first season on the field, Oluwatimi had a stellar year and provides a very stable group of returning linemen—UVa isn’t expected to lose any of its major contributors—with a very stable piece to build around in the middle. Through the course of the season, Oluwatimi was extremely consistent. Outside of a rough afternoon in South Bend in Week 5, the pass pro grades were typically all in the high 60s/low 70s with a season-high of 80.3 and 84.3 in Weeks 10 and 11 respectively, wins over Carolina and Georgia Tech. And he had his best run blocking grade of the year (75.5) against Florida in the Orange Bowl.

At guard, both Ryan Nelson and Chris Glaser improved as the season went along, putting together some of their best games after the Week 9 loss at Louisville.

Nelson had his highest grade of the season against Clemson in the ACC Championship, posting an 85.8 in pass pro. His best overall game came against the Jackets, when he posted a 72.3 overall (85.3 in pass pro and 70.1 in run blocking) before putting up his second-best overall performance in the Week 13 win over Liberty (71.2).

Glaser, meanwhile, had a team-high 71.8 run blocking grade on the season. Despite struggling in pass pro, where he finished with a 50.9 on the year, he too had a great game against the Tigers, with a 74.8 in pass protection.

Where UVa needs to improve is on the edge, as regular starters Bobby Haskins and Dillon Reinkensmeyer struggled in pass pro but graded out much higher in most categories toward the latter portion of the year.

Haskins was much better against Clemson (72.0 grade in pass pro) than just about every other game outside of the Duke win, when he put up a season-high 81.3, and the Louisville loss, when he posted a 72.8. He also had a team-high 89.0 grade in run blocking against Liberty as well as a 75.9 in that facet against the Gators.

Reinkensmeyer, who played hurt for a good part of the year despite there being little talk of it, started slow but finished strong. His best overall games came against the Flames and the Hokies. In the former, he had a season-high 76.7 overall grade thanks to a 78.9 in pass pro and an 81.6 in run blocking. The following weekend against Tech, he had an 86.6 pass pro grade, which included 31 of his 53 snaps for the game.

Lastly, Ryan Swoboda also was in the mix at tackle, though he played far less snaps overall (367) than Haskins (929) and Reinkensmeyer (777). Still, he finished with a solid 68.6 grade in run blocking, which was the best among the tackles.

Swoboda had three games where his pass blocking grade was above 70: William & Mary (78.8), Liberty (79.4), and Clemson (78.1). And in run blocking, he also had three games north of 70: Florida State (75.6), Liberty (72.5), and Florida (74.5).

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