UVA Football lost its top transfer-portal O lineman, Monroe Mills, to an ACL injury in spring practice, so head coach Tony Elliott and O line coach Terry Heffernan had to hit the portal to add some depth.
That’s how I’d characterize the pickup that we learned about on Monday, Wallace Unamba, who spent the spring at Kentucky after transferring in December from New Mexico.
Unamba is depth, not necessarily a one-for-one replacement for Mills, a four-star portal recruit who figured to be the starter in the fall at left tackle.
ICYMI
Unamba, a 6’4”, 330-pounder, got a 64.0 Pro Football Focus grade for his work in the 2024 season at New Mexico, where he played for former UVA Football coach Bronco Mendenhall.
He was durable, logging 699 snaps, most of them at right tackle, allowing a total of nine QB pressures, and notable, not allowing a sack, on 395 pass-blocking snaps.
The 2024 season at New Mexico is Unamba’s lone full season at the D1 level.
He spent a year at Florida Atlantic, in 2023, but was only on the field for four snaps.
In three seasons as a JUCO at Kilgore (Texas) Community College, Unamba was an NJCAA All-American, and he didn’t allow a sack in any of three three seasons there.
Elliott and Heffernan are still looking for a solution at the left-tackle slot, which Mills, a 6’7”, 315-pounder who was on the field for 566 snaps at Louisville in 2024, grading out at 82.3, per PFF, wand was a seven-figure NIL/transfer portal pickup when he committed to the UVA Football program in January, was supposed to fill.
Tyshawn Wyatt, a JMU alum, is in the mix at left tackle, along with two returning guys who split the snaps at left tackle in 2024 – McKale Boley (463 snaps) and Jack Witmer (358 snaps).
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Chris Graham
