Virginia’s 2019 roster shows strength and development program paying off

With the release of the Virginia Cavaliers depth chart heading into the season opener against Pitt, we wanted to revisit one of the big storylines from the leadup to the 2018 season: how many of UVA’s players have ACC caliber size?

As 2018 camp opened, we compared player weights from 2017 with the updated roster. Forty-four players added weight, including five offensive linemen adding at least 20 pounds. Thirteen players dropped weight.

The transformations are far less dramatic this year: only 30 players increased their weights, while 18 lost weight from 2018.

No player matched Isaac Buell’s eye-popping thirty-five pound gain from a season ago. Not even one offensive lineman hit the twenty-pound mark that five players saw before 2018. There are as many linebackers in the gains group (six) as offensive linemen.

But that’s about what one would expect from a program entering its fourth season under the same coaching staff. Recruits are coming in closer to their position group’s target sizes. The offensive linemen who signed as slightly undersized commits in 2017 are now juniors and redshirt sophomores—they SHOULD be pretty much at the weight they need to play Power Five football.

Jordan Redmond led all 2018 players with 30 pounds lost. That’s a bit surprising for a nose tackle, but it could reflect a defensive line philosophy that tilts more to one-gapping and penetration than relying on a planetoid behemoth in the middle occupying two blockers. Christian Baumgardner also lost a significant amount of weight from his last appearance on a UVA roster in 2017, which isn’t surprising given his transition from defensive line to tight end.

How about the new arrivals?

Previous weights here are again pulled from signing day information; for baseball convert Jalen Harrison, from his UVA baseball profile.

Kariem Al Soufi dropping weight is probably a good thing, as a high schooler’s 350 pounds is not likely going to be good weight. Same for Ben Smiley: losing bad bulk to get to a more athletic defensive end is a good move for his development. All of the other changes appear to be mainly maintenance or little tweaks instead of major body overhauls.

One thing that stood out reviewing the roster: more guys are slotted to a specific position (e.g., offensive guard instead of just offensive line, inside or outside linebacker instead of just linebacker) than on the 2018 preseason roster. That speaks volumes about players coming in with the coaches envisioning them in a particular role, or developing into those roles over time. The depth—even beyond the two-deep—looks much healthier when players have been taking reps at their individual spot instead of just being generally talented but inexperienced.