The bye week was good for UVA Football, with head coach Tony Elliott telling reporters on Tuesday that offensive linemen McKale Boley and Ty Furnish back and listed atop the depth chart being the big news.
Boley was the projected starter at left tackle going into the season, after playing 847 snaps in 2023, with a 62.7 Pro Football Focus grade, but he went down in training camp with an ankle injury.
Jack Witmer, a converted tight end, has filled in admirably at left tackle, with a 75.3 PFF grade through four games, over 254 snaps.
Whoever gets the start at left tackle is going to have his hands full with Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku, who has six sacks and 17 QB pressures in the season’s first five games for the Eagles (4-1, 1-0 ACC).
“They got to be ready to go,” Elliott said. “This is what you look forward to as a competitor, to play somebody, I think he’s one the best in the country. He has a bunch of sacks. He is very disruptive. He plays on both sides. You can’t get away from him.
“Boley has to be ready to go. Obviously with a couple weeks of practice we feel good. We will see how his conditioning is when we get there. Just like any great pass rusher, you have to have a plan for him. Got to know where he is at all times,” Elliott said.
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Furnish (PFF grade: 60.1), the right guard, was out for the win at Coastal Carolina in Week 4 with an undisclosed injury. Ugonna Nnanna (PFF grade: 59.8) played well at right guard in Furnish’s absence, grading out at 76.2 in the Coastal game.
The returns of Boley, Furnish and Charlie Patterson, listed at #2 at right guard behind Furnish on the depth chart, means the O line will be at basically full strength for the first time this season.
Even with the unit having to move guys around to account for the losses to injuries, it’s done its job well – paving the way for a ground game that ranks third in the ACC, and largely keeping QB Anthony Colandrea upright with time to look for receivers downfield.
“Just testament to Coach Heff,” Elliott said, referencing O line coach Terry Heffernan. “I enjoy sitting in his offensive line meetings. Throughout the course of the week, I’ll pop in and sit in different meetings. I love listening to him teach. He has a great way of teaching. The guys have really embraced it.
“I think they’re starting to understand it doesn’t matter who is in there, what the expectation is, and the confidence comes from the preparation. Man, just excited those guys are getting some recognition for the success.”
UVA favored in Week 6 matchup
That should be a big help with BC next on the schedule. Virginia (3-1, 1-0 ACC) is a surprising 1-point favorite against the Eagles, who have wins over Florida State and Michigan State, and a one-score loss at #9 Missouri.
“It’s all about what’s in front of us, man, and we got BC, a football team that really should be undefeated, couple plays away,” Elliott said. “Man, they went to Tallahassee, right, they went to Tallahassee and they won. Then they went on the road to Missouri and could have won that game. Then they beat a really good Big 10 team at home. And then they overcame some adversity last week with the quarterback being down.”
Who plays at QB for Boston College?
The wild card going into this weekend is the status of BC’s starting quarterback, Thomas Castellanos, who missed last week’s game, a narrower-than-expected 21-20 win over Western Kentucky, in which the Eagles had to rally from 13 down in the fourth quarter.
Castellanos was a participant at practice on Tuesday, according to published reports, and first-year BC coach Bill O’Brien said after practice that he thinks Castellanos is “doing alright,” though he wouldn’t commit to his starter at QB for the weekend.
Florida International transfer Grayson James got the start in place Castellanos last week, and was 19-of-32 for 168 yards, one touchdown, and one interception through the air, and led the fourth-quarter comeback.
“We have two guys that can play, no doubt about it,” O’Brien said.
Last year
BC defeated Virginia in Chestnut Hill last season, 27-24, rallying from a 21-7 halftime deficit, completing the comeback with a 42-yard field goal from Liam Connor with 2:11 left in the game.
“I think we all understand what happened in that game in the second half,” Elliott said. “They wanted it more than we did. They started leaning on us, and they went back to doing what they do and run the football, and we didn’t accept the challenge.”
Castellanos was 16-of-26 for 183 yards, two TDs and two INTs through the air, and had 78 yards on 16 attempts on the ground, in the win.
BC outgained UVA 266-39 in the second half.
Defending the home turf
The message from Elliott to his team: “they’re coming to take what we want.”
“We need to be a football team that defends our home stadium. That’s really been the message and the motivation, if you want to be honest,” Elliott said Tuesday.
To that point, Virginia, under Elliott, who is now in Year 3 on the job, is 5-9 at home since the 2022 season.
“We have not been good in Scott Stadium under this coaching staff. I want that to change. I believe the players want that to change. BC is not going to give it to us. We got to go take it, even in our home stadium.”
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Chris Graham
