Is This Heaven? No, It’s A Full Room Of Virginia Offensive Line

Garett Tujague knows a little something about offensive lines. He started at left guard for LaVell Edwards at Brigham Young, and later became Bronco Mendenhall’s line coach at both BYU and Virginia.

When he walked into the Cavaliers’ offensive linemen’s meeting room this week and saw 20 players greeting him, he was in football heaven.

“I had to make sure I’m not in a dream,” Tujague (pronounced TOO-Jay) said after Friday night’s opening of UVa’s fall training camp. “It’s nice to have good numbers, good quality kids guys that are all about Bronco and his program, about hard work and will.”

Mendenhall’s eyes lit up as well when those numbers were mentioned during his post-practice chat with media. Virginia’s offensive lines had become depleted over the past few years due to injuries and defections and depth was razor thin. Depth is still a concern, mostly because the numbers are boosted by young, inexperienced players. Still, it’s nice to have a roomful of possibilities.

“I would say we’re staffing a first five, a comfortable six, and a stretch seven,” Mendenhall said about his offensive line. “We’re still trying to accelerate the growth of the young guys, adding grad transfers to patch, while we’re developing.

“Eventually we’ll grow, but the room is full,” the head coach added. “This is the first time when I went into fall camp [at UVa] and went into [the O-Line meeting room] and it made me smile because it was a full room. That’s the sign of a healthy program.”

Mendenhall believes a team needs enough Big Uglies in order to practice in a more physical, demanding manner, a style that he prefers.

For the first two years of the Mendenhall era at Virginia, his team had to rely heavily on the past because the Cavaliers simply couldn’t move the ball consistently on the ground. Most of the reason was the offensive line struggled to open holes.

With a new offensive scheme and a stronger line, Mendenhall hopes that won’t be a problem in his third season at the helm of the Cavaliers.

UVa finished last in the ACC in rushing in 2017 with an average of only 93.5 yards per game and a conference low 10 TDs rushing.

Tujague hopes that’s a thing of the past.

“They’re moving a lot of steel,” Tujague said of his line after the summer of strength and conditioning work under new coach Shawn Griswold. “The numbers in the weight room have skyrocketed.”

He believes his line looks better, is a lot stronger and moves a lot faster than the past two years.

On paper, the Cavaliers return only two starting offensive linemen (not counting tight end Evan Butts): sophomore center Dillon Reinkensmeyer and senior right guard Jay Fieler.

However, junior R.J. Proctor, who was working at right guard in Friday’s practice, had five starts last season; sophomore Chris Glaser, working at left tackle, had two starts in ‘17; and sophomore Ben Knutson, a guard, had two starts.

Then there’s Marcus Applefield, a graduate transfer from Rutgers, who started 10 games for the Scarlet Knights last season, who is working at right tackle (See Scott Ratcliffe’s story on Applefield also on the website).

Sidelined temporarily is Tyler Fannin, a 6-3, 305, redshirt freshman from Hoschton, Ga., who was expected to be in the mix until he suffered a leg injury in early June. He hobbled around practice Friday on crutches but is expected back “pretty soon.”

There’s also an intriguing player in 6-foot-10, 290 redshirt freshman Ryan Swoboda, from Windermere, Fla., who’s listed as an offensive tackle, among the 20 linemen in camp.

Applefield brings experience and leadership to the O-Line, something the Cavaliers are in desperate need.

“The first thing I would want to say is, that’s what they’re supposed to look like,” Tujague said of Applefield. “That’s what an NFL body looks like.

“For guys to watch the way he eats, the way the trains, the way he hydrates, that’s been invaluable to my young players,” the line coach continued. “I want them to emulate everything that he does. He’s really serious about it. That example of leadership, it’s been awhile since [the offensive line] has had that here.”

The coaches had hoped Fannin would be able to push Rinkensmeyer or even beat him out at center, so they could move Rinkensmeyer to another offensive line spot, but there’s a void until Fannin recovers and rejoins the mix. Tujague wants to crosstrain as many of his linemen to play multiple positions as possible, because that kind of versatility is priceless, particularly in a program short on depth.

However, he’s not going to push a player to a second position until that player has mastered one first.

Glaser brings confidence and athletic ability, but Tujague wants him to become mentally tougher in terms of finishing every down.

“When he’s on, he’s on, but when he’s off, he’s off,” the coach said of Glaser. “I’m looking forward to him grow more through camp.”

Then there’s Knutson, who accepted Tujague’s challenge in the spring to improve his body. The 6-9, 310-pounder from Indiana did just that.

“Now it’s getting to be able to play every down quicker,” the coach said. “As far as being able to transfer the information he has in his head to his body and being able to execute the block. I’m really looking forward to him pushing some dudes around and maybe start again. That would be really nice with a big body like that.”

All things considered, Virginia’s offensive line could be at its best in the Mendenhall era, and it couldn’t come at a better time.