The depth chart for #18 UVA this week has no changes on the offensive line, but there should have been an asterisk beside two names, unfortunately for coach Bronco Mendenhall, his two options at center.
C1 Olusegun Oluwatimi and C2 Tyler Fannin are both … whatever the equivalent of questionable would be, if college football used the NFL availability status system.
Mendenhall told reporters at his weekly Monday presser for Notre Dame game week that he wouldn’t have an update on either until “maybe Thursday.”
So, there’s that.
And also: the line was downright awful in the 28-17 win over ODU in Week 4.
Virginia gained just 244 yards total offense, and the run game generated a net 87 yards on 27 tries, accounting for the two sacks of Bryce Perkins that the Monarchs were able to register.
With Oluwatimi and Fannin ailing, true freshman Jonathan Leech got some snaps at tackle.
The three-star recruit was a high school teammate of Fannin at Mill Creek High School (Hoschton, Ga.). Mendenhall said the plan has been to try to save a redshirt year for Leech, but injuries have forced the staff’s hand, at least for now.
“Jonathan earned his way into the two-deep a couple weeks ago. Now there continue to be injuries and wear and tear, and so it won’t be the last you’ll see him. The circumstance required it. Now we’ll try to make the most of it now that he’s played,” Mendenhall said.
Not exactly the best way to be heading to Notre Dame Stadium to face the 10th-ranked Irish, who are coming off a narrow 23-17 loss at #3 Georgia on Saturday, a game in which the Notre Dame defense held the potent Bulldogs to 341 yards total offense, including a relatively pedestrian 154 yards on the ground.
Virginia is obviously going to need a much more productive day from its offense, and particularly its offensive line, to be in the game with Notre Dame in this one.
Mendenhall concedes that, right now, the O-line lacks “consistency and continuity.”
“Every time there is a change from one spot to another, our players shifting here or there, it’s not quite as precise as what you would have hoped if it was just the same five all the time. It would be the same in the secondary. It would be the same with the quarterback throwing to receivers,” Mendenhall said.
“The offensive line is unique because the reactions have to be so fast and the time frame to make decisions is very tight and shrunken, reduced, to how they communicate with each other, how they react and who they’re playing next to really matters. It still is affecting us. Would love to get the right five and keep the same five healthy. Seems like just when we kind of get that there is an injury or two. So, we haven’t yet got it dialed in,” Mendenhall said.
Story by Chris Graham
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