UVa kicked off spring practice this afternoon, and the media was invited to watch the first half hour or so. We didn't see any "real football" and I spent most of my time just trying to identify new players and see how they looked. Here are my quick notes from this afternoon at the Hardie Center:
-As always in the spring, a bunch of guys are out as they work through offseason procedures or other injuries. A bunch of guys were out today or not fully participating anyway, and I didn't even bother to try and get all of them because we're not close to any games so most of these absences will have zero impact on the 2025 team. With that said, among the players not fully dressed out: Blake Steen, McKale Boley, Kam Robinson, James Jackson, Karson Gay, TyLyric Coleman, Noah Josey, Jim Harris; there were others as I said, but these were the ones I jotted down. I didn't see any of the new transfer guys not participating. None of the guys were on crutches or anything and some did go through stretching.
-Looking at the roster, it's remarkable how old this team looks. They have the "Year" next to the name, and there are a bunch of 6th year guys, and even a few 7th-years, including Jahmeer Carter.
-Dak Twitty broke the team down to begin practice, he looks more like a tight end than a wide receiver every time I see him.
-The offensive and defensive line additions are big dudes. Hunter Osborne and Kevin Wigenton and Monroe Mills stood out size wise, and UVa simply hasn't had a ton of guys that look like them physically. I also did a double take when I saw a big guy wearing #23, thinking UVa had the biggest fullback of all time, but it was Fresno State transfer Jacob Holmes.
-It was good to see Mekhi Buchanan, now sporting #8, back on the field. He's another guy that looks physically imposing and I think he has the potential to break out this year.
-I was impressed with what I saw from the receivers. It's a group with a bunch of different body types, but holy moly Jahmal Edrine looks like a monster out there. He towered over some of the other guys. Trell Harris looked good out there, and freshman Josiah Abdullah caught my eye. He's not the tallest guy but he looks physically ready to play.
-Transfer RB J'Mari Taylor looked smooth running routes. Unfortunately there were a bunch of drops in one catch out of the backfield drill because the backs were looking directly into the sun to catch the football. Taylor taxed himself with some pushups after the drop, but ran a nice route and made the catch on his next attempt.
-I watched the two transfer QBs for a while, too. Chandler Morris is small (think Baker Mayfield), but looks like a guy that's played a lot of football. Got the ball out quick and on target. Danny Kaelin is more of a prototypical pocket passer, big guy with what seemed to be a solid arm. He was a little more stiff in the running drills but not totally unathletic.
-Kam Butler was at practice today in his new GA role.
-Among those at practice today watching: Jonas Sanker, Elijah Gaines, Shawn Moore and Carla Williams.
I'm headed back over to the Hardie Center to hear from Tony Elliott and a few players, will have more updates as spring practice progresses. We're getting about one open practice a week on average, but won't have another until St. Patrick's Day.
