Virginia Football Notes: Proctile Power?

The Virginia football team is less than 10 days away from kickoff.
The ‘Proctile’ combo is shown in action during Virginia football practice as R.J. Proctor and Brandon Pertile team up for a block. ~ Kris Wright

When the Virginia football team kicks off its season in less than two weeks, it’s possible that it will do so with different faces starting at all five offensive line spots.

Jackson Matteo, Michael Mooney, and Eric Smith (he’s on the verge of making the Dolphins’ roster) finished their careers last season, while Jack English will sit due to a suspension for violation of team rules. That leaves Jack McDonald, but the guard is just now returning to practice after a preseason injury.

All of those changes could mean that sophomore R.J. Proctor will start this season right where he left off 2016: as the starting right guard. Proctor made a spot start at Virginia Tech in the finale last season, his only start of the year. He did appear in eight games, however, and believes that experience will be a big boost this coming season.

”Last year, it was great playing beside Jackson Matteo,” Proctor said. ”He taught me a lot of things and to this day, he still wants to meet up and we go over things. It definitely opened my eyes. College football is way quicker. We have some athletes out here. This year, I’m working more on my technique. I have the strength down, I just need to work more on my technique. It’s just little things.”

The other possible starters for the opener with William & Mary include junior Jake Fieler (two starts last season), redshirt freshman Dillon Reinkensmeyer, and graduate transfers John Montelus and Brandon Pertile. Freshmen beyond Reinkensmeyer could figure into the competition as well, including true freshmen Tyler Fannin.

Right now, The Sabre projects the starters (left to right) against the Tribe as Reinkensmeyer, Montelus, Fieler, Proctor, and Pertile. If McDonald is healthy by then, he could emerge as a possibility but both he and Montelus have missed preseason practices with injuries. After English returns from his suspension, Reinkensmeyer becomes a versatile rotation option with work at both tackle and center.

With the pair of graduate transfers thrown into the mix this summer, Proctor made it a point to get to know his new teammates. The friendships have blossomed to the point that the right side of the line gave itself a nickname worthy of a bromance: Proctile. Hoo fans hope the duo, as much as the nickname, brings some bite like a crocodile.

”Me, Montelus, and Pertile are like best friends now. We always hang out,” Proctor said. ”I feel like we had to get that connection outside of football first and then we have a connection inside of football. He calls it Proctile so we’re pretty cool. He moves fast. I really like him. He’s a hard worker.”

The graduate student transfer from Oklahoma State readily confirmed the right side’s moniker.

”Proctile, that’s right,” Pertile said with a smile. ”We’ve been doing a great job at [building chemistry]. We’ve got our catch phrase – ‘Proctile!’ We talk to each other along the line and we’ve got that chemistry going good. I think we’re doing a great job of building that as fast as we can to be ready to come out in September.”

Ultimately, Proctile or any other combinations will need to earn time through an ongoing competition. UVA coach Bronco Mendenhall indicated that the offensive line picture for the opener could take all the way to Thursday of game week to figure out fully. Then with English re-entering the picture after the game with W&M, there could be more shuffling ahead in September.

The message from offensive line coach Garett Tujague has remained the same since his arrival, though. In any given week, he wants to put his best five linemen on the field and then figure out the best positions for each player. Fans have heard the ‘hopefully one of them can snap’ line several times at this point.

Pertile said that’s the message everywhere he’s played. He spent time at Georgia State, Mesa Community College, and Oklahoma State before arriving at UVA.

”That’s kind of how we did it at Oklahoma State. Unfortuantely, I couldn’t snap,” Pertile said. ”I feel like every place I’ve been has that mentality. You want the best five guys to play and hopefully one can snap because if you don’t have the best five guys out there, then who are you putting out there?”

A Different Tone

While the roster continues to take shape, Mendenhall has been much more measure with his words entering his second season. When he first arrived as the Virginia football coach, he made statements along the lines of ‘Don’t make holiday plans’ because we plan to go to a bowl game during a basketball speech and during the annual Paint The Town Orange event last fall.

Don’t expect to hear any similar talk at the downtown event Friday before the Virginia football opener, though.

”I think more tempered,” Mendenhall said. ”If I’ve learned anything, it’s that this will be a process rather than ‘this is a polish and reboot’ and everything’s good. It’s not even a rebuild. It’s more, if it’s business, it would be more start-up oriented. Now that I’ve seen it, I know. So I would, if I were to do it all over again, under promise but that’s lesson learned for me now that I know where I am, where the program is, and what we need to do.”

Virginia Football Notes

  • Live offense vs. defense work for preseason training campwas expected to wrap up Wednesday, depending on what it looked like, Mendenhall said during his Monday media session.
  • Other positions that could take all the way into game week to decide include all the kicker spots: ”We have three kickers for each spot right now,” Mendenhall said with a smile. ”I’m not ready to crown anyone yet.”
  • Mendenhall reiterated Monday that he prefers not to redshirt players if they are capable of contributing on the field as true freshmen. Early projections for true freshmen that will play include Tyler Fannin (OL), Lamont Atkins (RB), Jamari Peacock (RB),
  • Mendenhall said that the Virginia football jersey number draft was even more impactful in his mind this year than last year. He noted that the task unit leaders “wrestled” for a while with the selection order and who got to make picks in the top 50. Like the draft or not, there’s is a little UVA student self governance vibe too.
  • Redshirt freshman De’Vante Cross is expected to play a slash role of sorts between receiver and alternate quarterback. At receiver, Mendenhall said that he’s still learning but has been noticable in practices by making plays with some consistency.
  • Mendenhall’s full media session can be watched here: