Virginia adds RB, pair of O-Linemen over weekend

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia continued to mine the NCAA transfer portal this weekend and added three more players to its roster, including a running back and two offensive linemen.

The Cavaliers, now with 26 incoming transfers, including seven since the spring game, are presently ranked the No. 28 best transfer class in the nation by both On3 and 247Sports.

UVA added a fourth running back (three transfers) in former Wyoming tailback Harrison Waylee, who has amassed 3,199 yards rushing and 16 rushing touchdowns during his career, which began at Northern Illinois in 2020.

Waylee rushed for nearly 2,000 yards over three seasons for the Huskies, his best season coming in 2022 when he was third-team All-MAC with 899 yards on the ground, 5 TDs (81.7 ypg), good enough to place him among the top 50 rushers in the nation.

He transferred to Wyoming in 2023 and played in 10 games (nine starts) and put up 947 yards and five scores. That season, he averaged 94.7 yards per game rushing for the Cowboys (5.8 per carry), which ranked him fourth in the Mountain West Conferce and No. 24 in the country.

An early season injury cost Waylee most of last season, as he made it back for the last four games, which allowed him to keep his redshirt status.

UVA also added two more players to open holes for Waylee & Co.

David Wohlaburg, Jr., who formerly played at Syracuse and Kentucky, committed to Virginia along with Makilan Thomas, a transfer from Arkansas State.

Wohlaburg, whose father David Sr., played at Syracuse and in the NFL for nine seasons, is a 6-foot-6, 301-pound lineman, who played at Kentucky, then transferred to Syracuse for the 2023 and ‘24 seasons.

He redshirted his first year at Kentucky and then played in eight games (one start) in 2022 for the Wildcats.

Wohlaburg started the ‘23 season for the Orange, playing at right tackle, where he didn’t surrender a sack, but then suffered a season-ending injury. Last season, he played in nine games (three starts), primarily at left tackle, where he gave up only two sacks on 174 drop-back snaps according to Pro Football Focus, who graded him out at 80.0 on pass blocking.

Thomas, 6-3, 300, played 38 games over four seasons at Arkansas State, where he was second-team All-Sunbelt Conference in 2023. During that spectacular performance, he gave up only one sack, 22 pressures on 836 snaps according to PFF and graded out 81.2 on pass blocking, the best in the Sun Belt and was 25th nationally.

Last season, he missed the first four games due to injury, but bounced back and started the last nine games and still allowed just three sacks, earning the third-best pass blocking grade on the squad.

Thomas played right tackle the last three seasons at Arkansas State.