Young Players On Defensive Line Will Need To Grow Up Quickly

With fall practice wrapping up last week, minor injuries kept Virginia defensive ends Richard Burney and Mandy Alonso sidelined for almost all of camp, leaving several younger players to fill the void on what was already a question mark of a defensive line.

As a result, true freshmen Jordan Redmond and Aaron Faumui were taking the bulk of the snaps in preparation for the 2018 season. Making the most of the opportunity, the two have impressed their teammates and coaches along the way.

“Yeah, there was no one else,” explained UVa coach Bronco Mendenhall. “Without Mandy and without Richard, we could not practice as a football team other than using first-years and evaluating first-years. And so Aaron Faumui and Jordan Redmond got the majority of the work with not only the ones, but the twos and every other group that we could put in there because we were out of defensive line bodies.”

Now one of the few experienced Wahoos up front, junior end Eli Hanback has done all he can to help guide the youngsters as they adjust to the speed of Division I college football.

“I am the old guy, it’s come by fast…,” Hanback told the media Monday. “I think a lot of my responsibility with [the younger players] was helping them learn the plays.”

As Hanback went on to explain, a lot of that was answering questions throughout camp on the fly to assist his first-year teammates and get them acclimated to the Cavalier defense as quickly as possible, out of sheer necessity.

It’s all about knowing where you’re supposed to be, what you’re supposed to be doing, and how to execute properly, according to Hanback, who is expected to be rotating from starting right end to the primary backup at nose tackle this season.

“I think I’m comfortable at both positions and I’ll be able to play both positions just as well,” said Hanback, who added that he just needs to remember all the responsibilities from the nose position, from which he started every game in 2017.

Losing starting end Andrew Brown to graduation in the offseason — along with reserve linemen Juwan Moye, Steven Wright, James Trucilla and John Kirven — it left Alonso, Burney and Hanback as the only three returners with any experience up front.

Burney, who will start on the left end this season, recently converted from a tight end himself, and still feels he needs to bulk up from his current weight of 280. He has already added several pounds to his frame since the Military Bowl in December, when he saw his first action since high school on the defensive side of the ball.

Redmond’s emergence as a very quick learner and extremely hard worker has earned him the starting role at nose tackle heading into Saturday’s opener.

“I think in the beginning of camp we had a lot of those young guys taking starting reps and second-team reps, and fill the needs that we needed at the time,” said Hanback, who also was impressed that Redmond never complained about the extra workload. “Jordan knew his plays, learned and picked up the basic stuff pretty early. He’s big enough, and from watching him in the weight room he’s strong enough already, so for him it was I think just getting used to the speed change and technique stuff that we’re learning at a higher level for him.”

With Hanback moving over, it gives UVa defensive line coach Vic So’oto more flexibility, as Mendenhall noted.

“Redmond’s ability to play nose and Eli’s ability to play end now gives us more depth with the same number of bodies,” said the coach.

And there could be more help on the way with Ohio State graduate transfer Dylan Thompson joining the team late last week. Thompson, at 6-foot-5, 280 pounds, could provide a boost of added depth once he familiarizes himself with his new squad.

“He’ll have to learn our system obviously,” admitted Mendenhall, who wasn’t even sure Thompson would be on the team as recently as a week ago. “It’s hard to play without knowing what to do. Then he’ll be integrated as he’s ready and as he earns his way in.”

Junior transfer Cassius Peat — who started his collegiate career at Michigan State before landing at a pair of junior colleges — also recently returned from an injury, which along with fellow reserves Alonso, Faumui, Samson Reed and Tommy Christ, should certainly help take the load off of the starters more and more as the season rolls along.

What once looked like a major concern is beginning to shape up slowly but surely for So’oto and the ‘Hoos.

Mendenhall is happy to finally have everyone healthy, and he may just have some bigger plans in store for the new guys than he once thought.

“We’ll get a few days of [the starters working together] before Richmond,” he said. “But what we have done is be able to establish significant depth with first-years… their development has been accelerated to the point they’ll play significant amounts in game one all the way through the year is my prediction.”