Virginia Football Notes: Quick Take With Victor Oluwatimi & More

After enrolling as a transfer at Virginia last spring, sophomore lineman Victor Oluwatimi has emerged as a possible candidate at center this spring. Oluwatimi played at Dematha Catholic in Maryland before originally going to play for the Air Force Academy. He transferred from there after his redshirt freshman season.

Oluwatimi, who has one brother that plays on the defensive line at Maryland, said that coming to UVA mid year helped him get used to the school and program before football season started.

“I got acclimated to this school, how things work here, practicing in the morning, lifting, training with the strength program,” Oluwatimi said. “Learning the playbook, that was huge. Coming in in the spring, I didn’t really have to worry about learning the playbook.”

Here’s more from Oluwatimi in a ‘Quick Take’ Q&A.

TheSabre.com Quick Take

Sabre Editor Kris Wright: Did you play center a lot before UVA or is that new? What about with this particular style of offense?

Victor Oluwatimi: “I’ve been playing center since I was a sophomore in high school. It’s very similar to what I had to high school, mostly in the gun. In high school, we were probably a little bit more up tempo but we’re like an up tempo huddle team. The only thing is the verbage of the offense, that’s all I really have to adjust to here.”

Sabre Editor Kris Wright: Did you pick that up pretty quickly or is it pretty robust?

Victor Oluwatimi: “I picked up the concepts pretty quick, but I have to know the offense in and out as a center. I have to communicate and the others on the O-Line have to have trust that I know what I’m doing so they can follow.”

Sabre Editor Kris Wright: Is that part a work in progress then? It takes time, it just does right?

Victor Oluwatimi: “That’s not something that you master in a year. You’ve got to grow. Even pros, they get better and better at that.”

Sabre Editor Kris Wright: When you came here were you impressed, obviously that’s part of why you came here, but with how everything ran last year?

Victor Oluwatimi: “This is a team that’s on the rise. Coach talks about unbroken growth. That’s what we’re trying to do going into his fourth year here. We’re just trying to win more games, win the right way, and do the right things.”

Sabre Editor Kris Wright: Did you adjust to the school part here quickly too? Air Force is a great school so that part was probably pretty easy?

Victor Oluwatimi: “Just got to do what you’ve got to do in class, take care of your business. It was not that hard adjusting to coming from a private high school and Air Force Academy is very structured.”

More On The Motto Of Unbroken Growth

Virginia practices have a different feel to them than when Bronco Mendenhall first took over and Mendenhall himself seems much more at ease than then as well. That doesn’t mean anyone is resting on their laurels, but there is a definitive air of confidence around the program after it qualified for bowl games in consecutive years and won the Belk Bowl last season. The ‘unbroken growth’ motto that Oluwatimi mentioned likely factors into the feeling of a growing momentum around the UVA program.

“We all always want to be building momentum,” linebacker Matt Gahm said. “It’s important not to take the past too much into the present or the future and always keep your head on your shoulders, but absolutely we have every bit of confidence in ourselves and not only because of what we did last season but because who we know we are, what kind of players we are, and what kind of coaches we have. So we’re definitely very excited for the upcoming season.”

Spring Opportunities

The Cavaliers wrap up spring practice with an offense vs. defense ‘spring game’ this Saturday at Scott Stadium at 1 p.m. One thing that Coach Mendenhall has noticed over the previous 14 practices is that a handful of players have emerged with increased opportunities this spring. Those chances came about due to some injuries for other team members.

Entering the spring practice period in mid March, Mendenhall noted that offensive linemen Chris Glaser, Dillon Reinkensmeyer, Gerrik Vollmer, Bobby Haskins, and Micah Mariteragi, defensive ends Richard Burney, Mandy Alonso, and Isaac Buell, defensive backs Chris Moore, Myles Robinson, Joey Blount, Brenton Nelson, and Germane Crowell, receivers Joe Reed and Ugo Obasi, and kicker Hunter Pearson were among the players dealing with varying degrees of injury rehabilitation. On the good news front, it looks like Moore, Burney, and Alonso, who all three have starting experience on defense, are cleared to return, though that may not mean for Saturday’s final practice.

With so many different players unavailable, that’s where others have gotten a chance for increased reps and Mendenhall has seen several rise to the occasion.

“There are six to seven players emerging that wouldn’t have had that chance without some players being hurt, which just made us deeper and when you play in the ACC and you compete for the Coastal and you do it late in the season, you need numbers,” Mendenhall said. “There’s actually been a hidden benefit from that.”

As seen in the list above, the offensive line is probably the “biggest and most noticeable group” seeing that benefit. With several players out of action, including Glaser and Reinkensmeyer that played heavily in the rotation last fall and Vollmer and Haskins who saw some snaps as well, there have been additional reps for other personnel this spring. Mendenhall mentioned Derek Devine and Ryan Swoboda at tackle, Ryan Nelson getting time at guard (he’s played mostly tackle in games), and Victor Oluwatimi and Tyler Fannin (who is making up for lost time with his own injury in the fall) at center.

Elsewhere on offense, the Cavaliers are working this spring to figure out how to replace the production of Olamide Zaccheaus. With Reed out of action, Mendenhall credited Terrell Jana and Hasise Dubois as having “really done a nice job all spring” even though both of them are dealing with or coming back from their own injuries. On the other side of the ball in the defensive backfield, Shawn Smith at corner and De’Vante Cross have caught Mendenhall’s eye as emerging players.

NFL Draft Watch

The NFL Draft begins Thursday night at 8 p.m. as teams make their first round picks. Rounds 2 and 3 begin Friday at 7 p.m., while round 4 through 7 start Saturday at noon. Safety Juan Thornhill is expected to be the first Cavalier picked and is projected as either a first or second round pick by many analysts. He ran a 4.42 40-yard dash, posted 21 bench press reps, and leaped to 44 inches on the vertical leap at the NFL Combine.

It’s possible that Thornhill could hear his name called in the first round Thursday night as he appears to be picking up buzz leading up to the draft. The most often predicted landing spots in the mock drafts include Seattle (picks No. 21 and No. 29 in the first round), Green Bay (picks 12 and 30 in the first round, no. 44 in second round), and Dallas (no first round pick, No. 58 pick overall in the second round). Of note, Packers beat writer Bob McGinn forecasts Thornhill to Green Bay in his final mock draft from Wednesday.

Here’s a video on Thornhill from NBC Sports Washington with commentary from Anthony Poindexter, who recruited Thornhill while at UVA, and Coach Mendenhall.