Virginia Football Notes: O-Line Depth, Punting

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Eric Smith has started 32 straight games for UVA. ~ Kris Wright

As summer wound down and preseason practice approached, Virginia’s offensive line numbers dwindled. Eric Tetlow and Sadiq Olanrewaju retired for medial reasons, while UNC transfer Jared Cohen opted not to play. Counting Grant Polk’s decision to transfer in the spring, UVA had lost a lot of names from the depth chart.

Cavalier coach Bronco Mendenhall was undeterred, however, noting during the first week of preseason practice that the coaching staff anticipated those moves. So while there are only 14 offensive linemen listed on the roster at the start of preseason practice, including two walk-ons, Virginia believes it has enough depth to manage the upcoming season. Mendenhall said seven is enough, while eight is preferable.

“We’ve got enough good players that I’m confident as a result of our training that five, six, or seven guys will surface,” UVA Offensive Coordinator Robert Anae said. “That’s really all you need is a rotation of about seven, maybe eight. I do believe we have more than that. We have to develop reliability. That’s what practice is all about.”

”Since I’ve been here we’ve always had problems with depth on the offensive line, but I actually feel like we’re deeper this year,” senior tackle Eric Smith said. ”We have so many more experienced guys who have actually played. I have no worries at all. This is actually the most confident I’ve ever been since I’ve been to UVA.”

The reason for that confidence can be found in experience. Smith himself has started 32 straight games for the Hoos, a stretch that dates back to his final eight games as a true freshman in 2013. He’s tallied more than 2,000 plays in his career, mostly at right tackle but he can flip to the left side too. In the middle at center is Jackson Matteo, who made all but one snap last season and has 15 career starts. Michael Mooney, meanwhile, has started 14 games in his career. That included five starts last season before a lower leg injury at Pittsburgh in October ended his season.

That’s 61 combined starts among the senior trio, while junior Jack English added seven starts of his own after Mooney went down. Those four players have been among the seven to eight players in the mix early in camp. English and Smith opened at left and right tackle and Matteo was in the middle at center. Mooney subbed in at left tackle, while English can flip to the left side to spell Smith. That tackle rotation along with Matteo could be a good starting point for the line due to the experience.

At the guard spots, senior Sean Karl (left side) and junior Jack McDonald (right side) both picked up experience a year ago. Both had two starts. Throw in sophomore Jake Fieler at guard and that’s seven bodies in the possible rotation. Fieler has yet to play a snap in college after a redshirt season and an injury season in 2014 and 2015, respectively. Smith mentioned back-up center R.J. Proctor, sophomore guard Steven Moss, and redshirt freshman tackle Ryan Bischoff as viable options in his eyes as well.

The experience and talent is enough to create optimism for Matteo, the clear leader on the line.

”I think we have eight or nine guys that can really play football,” Matteo said. ”Right now we’re only rotating seven, but we’ve got guys. We’re deep.”

Targeting Improvement

Philadelphia native Olamide Zaccheaus initially debuted at running back in preseason practice last season, but he found his way to the field as a receiver. That’s where he found spots to contribute with 21 receptions for 216 yards and 1 touchdown to go along with 33 carries for 262 yards and 1 touchdown. Most of the running production came on sweeps from the receiver spot.

Zaccheaus, who has missed practice time with an apparent hamstring injury, is only taking receiver reps now with the new staff, but he’s comfortable with that role. He played inside receiver frequently for St. Joseph’s Prep. Still, after playing that spot at the college level last season against ACC competition, he has worked hard to improve his skills. Among the top targets? Better releases off the line.

”That’s one thing we work on every day, just being quick and not taking too much time on your release,” Zaccheaus said. ”Using our hands too in our release. That’s one thing I needed to work on because a couple of times against Virginia Tech, I remember getting held up at the line and it happened a couple of times in other games. Reacting with your hands and winning with your feet is one thing we work on and preach every day.”

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Punter Nicholas Conte drops the ball for a practice punt. ~ Kris Wright

Punting Look

One player that understands the hamstring issue facing Zaccheaus is punter Nicholas Conte. The senior from Roanoke missed spring practice with a minor hamstring injury of his own. He’s back in action at the start of preseason practice, taking the first-team reps at punter as well as working as a potential holder on field goal attempts.

”I’m feeling great. I’m feeling stronger,” Conte said. ”From a punting standpoint, I feel like I’ve been improving my punting, both hang time and distance and then being able to [stop] punts inside the 10-, 20-, 15-yard line.”

At BYU last season, junior Jonny Linehan ranked 39th in the nation by averaging 42.73 yards per punt. Many of those kicks came on rugby style kicks, which made sense. Linehan joined the team after winning three straight National Championships with the Cougars’ rugby team.

Conte said that rollout punts aren’t required, though.

”No it’s not a requirement,” Conte said. ”They know my strength is to be straight-on punter so that’s what we’ve been working on. But as a punter in any league at any level you want to be able to do whatever your coach asks you so if I’m asked to roll out, I’ve been working on that as well to be able to do that.”