At Stanford, Heffernan worked for a coach, Shaw, whose best teams were known for their powerful offensive lines and productive running games. Those are arenas in which Elliott and offensive coordinator Des Kitchings want the Wahoos to improve, and they don’t need to convince Heffernan that a potent running game is valuable.
“If you want to consistently win in college football, you have to be able to run the ball,” Heffernan said. “There’s never a bad day to run the football, whether it’s raining or snowing. When you get into late-season games, where you’re playing in Boston or something like that, the ability to run the football is always really important. That came up certainly early in my interview process, where they said, ‘This is something we’re committed to.’ ”
Heffernan said he’ll be asked not only to help his linemen become better run-blockers, but to assist Kitchings “with scheming and figuring out the most efficient, effective ways to run the football.”
Happy National Pancake Day! 🥞 Dig in and get to know a little bit about @Coach_TerryHeff!
1.15.41🕊️#UVAStrong | #GoHoos⚔️ pic.twitter.com/vvB1pyWRV6— Virginia Football (@UVAFootball) February 21, 2023
From its 2021 team, the Hoos lost their top six offensive linemen, and there’s been additional turnover in that group since the end of last season, too. Two starting linemen, Jonathan Leech and Derek Devine, have given up football, and two others, John Paul Jones Flores and Logan Taylor, transferred to Louisville and Boston College, respectively.
“All those things happened before I got here,” Heffernan said, “and I don’t dwell much on what I can’t control. And so this is the group that I’ve got, and I’m excited to have these guys. I think they’re young and they’re hungry, and so there’s definitely some benefit to that. Guys are excited to have a significant role on the team, to play a lot of snaps. We have an absolute ton of work to do, but that’s true in a lot offseasons.”
Offensive tackle Ugonna Nnanna, a transfer from the University of Houston, enrolled at UVA last month, and Cole Surber, a 6-foot-6, 285-pound offensive lineman who’s a senior at Patriot High in Northern Virginia, will join the program this summer. The Cavaliers’ returning linemen include Ty Furnish, McKale Boley, Noah Josey, Jestus Johnson III, Houston Curry, Noah DeMeritt, Charlie Patterson, Blake Steen and Snoop Leota-Amaama.
Several of those…