A fourth Virginia offensive lineman has entered the transfer portal: 6’10” tackle Ryan Swoboda, who played 787 of UVA’s 928 offensive snaps in 2021.
Swoboda joins second-team All-America center Olusegun Oluwatimi, tackle Bobby Haskins and guard Joe Bissinger as O linemen to enter the portal since coach Bronco Mendenhall stepped down.
Swoboda, a senior, graded out at a career-high 70.3 this season by Pro Football Focus. He allowed a unit-high five sacks and 32 QB pressures as the right tackle, the blind side for left-handed QB1 Brennan Armstrong.
It’s notable that his entry into the portal comes after the announcement that Mendenhall will be replaced by former Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott.
The other three linemen in the portal had submitted their names after Mendenhall’s surprise announcement and the news of the new hire.
If all four were to end up leaving, they’d be taking with them a total of 2,740 O line snaps from 2021 – 59.1 percent of the total across the line.
This in addition to the pending loss of right guard Chris Glaser (864 snaps) to expired eligibility.
Left guard Ryan Nelson (806 snaps) has a year of eligibility left. Jonathan Leech, who split 183 snaps between the two tackle spots in 2021, has two years of eligibility left.
Outside of those guys, it’s guys who got garbage-time snaps, didn’t see any action, or the transfer portal.
There were zero offensive linemen in the 2022 signing class announced on Wednesday.
Story by Chris Graham
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