Tujague ready to rebuild foundation of UVa o-line

Start with a handful of under-recruited high school prospects with long-term potential. Add a few graduate transfers to bolster the existing roster and allow those recruits some time to develop.

It’s a recipe that Virginia offensive line coach Garett Tujague is familiar with. It’s the story of the incoming class of reinforcements he’s recruited along the o-line entering the 2022 season—as well as the tale of UVa’s 2017 recruiting class at the position. Tujague is hopeful that over time, UVa’s incoming class can prove can have the same effect in both the short and long term as that collection of players the Cavaliers brought on board five years earlier.

The two grad transfers in that 2017 class were starters on the UVa team that went to the Military Bowl that fall. Three of the five freshmen recruited in that cycle developed into longterm starters for the Hoos. This year’s incoming class includes six freshmen and a pair of grad transfers—and with the Hoos losing their top six linemen from last year, including those last three members of the 2017 class, they’ll face a steep learning curve upon arrival in Charlottesville.

“Guys have got to get ready quick,” Tujague admitted during his appearance this week on the CavsCorner Podcast. “I think that there should be a few first-years that should be ready or could be ready, and then obviously laying heavily on the grad transfers to come in and play a role, an impact role immediately.”

The exodus began in the days following UVa’s announcement that the football team was opting out of its December appearance in the Fenway Bowl. Super senior Chris Glaser was out of eligibility. Left tackle Bobby Haskins (USC), center Olu Oluwatimi (Michigan) and top reserve Joe Bissinger (SMU) all departed via the transfer portal. A few weeks later, Ryan Swoboda left for Central Florida, while Ryan Nelson passed on a final college season to enter the NFL Draft.

Glaser, Nelson and Swoboda were all part of that 2017 offensive line recruiting class, along with Tyler Fannin and Gerrik Vollmer (plus grad transfers John Montelus and Brandon Pertile). All but Glaser redshirted in 2017, the final season before the NCAA amended its rules to allow players to appear in four games while still retaining an additional year of eligibility.

Glaser played in five games with two starts at right tackle as a true freshman. He went on to start 42 more—35 at right guard and seven at left guard. After redshirting in 2017, Nelson started every game for UVa the next four seasons, with 27 at left tackle and 22 at left guard. Swoboda made 23 career starts at right tackle and one on the left side.

(Oluwatimi was also a member of the 2017 recruiting class, originally targeted by the UVa staff as a preferred walk-on. He initially spent a season at the Air Force Academy before joining the Hoos as a transfer, starting 32 consecutive games the past three years after sitting out the 2018 season. He was a finalist for last year's Rimington Trophy, given to the top center in the country.)

With his own job status in limbo following former coach Bronco Mendenhall’s decision to step down, Tujague could only watch as some of those players made plans to move on—and as the linemen committed to UVa’s 2022 class flipped elsewhere. Shortly after new UVa head coach Tony Elliott informed Tujague on Christmas Eve that he’d remain the Hoos’ o-line coach, he set out in search of reinforcements. None of the linemen who signed in February were offered by UVa until the weeks leading up to Signing Day.

“It was crazy. I just said, ‘These are the guys I want. Let’s go get them,’” Tujague recalled. “And that involved some red-eyes, some turning and burning but again, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I felt like I was on fire.”

Tujague was supposed to visit Simpsonville (SC) Hillcrest tackle Houston Curry at school—until it was snowed out. Tujague called an audible, visited Curry at his home, and the 6-foot-7 prospect committed two days later. While in Florida to visit St. Thomas Aquinas center Dawson Alters, Tujague made a last-minute stop to see Alters' teammate Blake Steen—and almost missed a flight as a result. UVa landed them both. Dartmouth grad transfer left tackle John Paul Flores was sold after Tujague, Elliott and offensive coordinator Des Kitchings visited him at school. Lehi (UT) Skyridge guard Snoop Amaama committed while that same trio paid him a visit in Utah.

“I am a people person, man,” Tujague said. “And I think in order to help my players reach and obtain their goals, I’ve got to be in their home. I have to be in their high school. I have to see where they’ve come from. I have to see what makes them tick.”

Tackle McKale Boley, guard Noah DeMeritt and Georgetown grad transfer Mac Hollensteiner are UVa’s other 2022 offensive line additions, all scheduled to arrive this summer. Tujague has been sending them videos of o-line drills, then providing feedback after they record themselves running those drills. The transition will be both physical and mental for the newcomers; even as they adjust to the speed of playing at the ACC level, he is confident it will go smoothly for the grad transfers.

“Having guys that have been grad transfers that come in with experience, that’s invaluable,” he said. “You can’t put a price tag on that, regardless of the level.”

On that 2017 team, Montelus started 10 games at left guard and Pertile started 11 at right tackle. They provided one-year stopgap solutions to supplement an o-line group that included veterans Jack English at left tackle and Jay Fieler, who split time between center and right guard. English had made 18 starts prior to that 2017 season; Fieler had made two.

The group Tujague will be working with this spring lacks even that level of experience. Rising redshirt junior Jonathan Leech started one game at left tackle and one at right tackle last season. They’re the only two career starts among the 12 returning linemen on the current UVa roster. Players like Leech and rising senior Derek Devine, who missed last season, have emerged as leaders this offseason, Tujague said; so have redshirt freshmen Noah Josey and Logan Taylor, admittedly earlier in their careers than they may have anticipated.

Those group was able to learn behind the Hoos’ longtime leaders on the o-line. With those players gone now, Tujague is counting on those veterans, even the younger ones, to apply those lessons when the next generation arrives this summer. It’ll be Tujague’s job to identify what each of his players is capable of, and put them in position to be successful in the new UVa offense without asking them to do too much.

“There’s going to be some learning curves,” Tujague admitted. “You look at some of those guys I coached for five years. How do you replace that inside of a month? That’s gonna be hard to do. But I do feel confident in the guys that are here.”

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