Countdown to Virginia Football: #62 Sean Karl

Position: OG
Height: 6’6”
Weight: 310
Year: Redshirt Senior
Hometown: Manorville, NY

Now entering his 5th year on the team, Karl is finally in line for some real playing time. Though he’s played in 22 games, he’s only been on the field for about 300 offensive plays. He’s also been involved in another 200 or so special teams plays. He’s also missed some time with injuries.

Karl was a 3-star recruit coming out of HS and was ranked the 56th best tackle in the nation by Rivals. He had a number of other offers, but none from so-called football powerhouses. His best offers other than the Hoos were BC and Syracuse.

Karl was raw when he got to Charlottesville, and was an easy redshirt decision. Finally saw action late in the Hoos blowout win over VMI. Fans may remember that game was when Mike London and co. burned the redshirts off half a dozen true freshmen in the late stages of a blowout. Or, they may remember that as Daniel Hamm’s breakout game. Depends on your perspective, I suppose. Anyway, that was Karl’s only action that season.

As a sophomore, Karl saw action in every game, but almost exclusively on special teams, though he saw action on offense in 3 games. Last year, Karl was still involved in special teams, but was also a regular on the OL. He was hurt for part of the year, but was a major part of the teams’ win over Georgia Tech. In that game, the Hoos rushed for 241 yards at over yards per carry. They were therefore able to keep the ball away from the Jackets’ powerful offense.

The fact that Karl was a big part of the Hoos running success is no surprise. He’s always been a better run blocker than pass blocker. He’s big and he’s strong. He’s also got a bit of a mean streak, which shows up in the video above, as he finishes his blocks strongly. The video also shows him playing some DT, and that mean streak also shows up there.

This year, there is space on the OL for Karl to be an every down player. With just 10 scholarship players on the OL (not including 2 or 3 incoming freshmen), everybody is on the 2-deep. As one of 4 seniors, the likelihood is that Karl gets one of the starting nods, probably at RG. The Hoos figure to play a spread offense, which means the OLs have more ground to cover. That doesn’t bode well for the 310 pounder. But, they will also likely be running the ball quite a bit, which plays into Karl’s strength. He could be in line for a big year.