Virginia is among the oldest teams in college football
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – College football players, you may have heard once or twice over the past couple of years now, are allowed to be paid. They get revenue sharing and NIL money, which is a whole lot more than books, meals and a laundry allowance.
Virginia, which possesses the nation's No. 25 team and faces regional rival West Virginia at 7:35 p.m. Saturday in Charlotte, isn't as big a stretch as you may think that some of them may even get Social Security checks, as old and experienced as this team is.
"They might be the most veteran team in the country. They have two seven-year guys and two six-year guys and a five in the offensive line. It might be the most veteran team by far that we play," Rodriguez said.
"There might not be nearly as many veteran teams like this in the future because of the new five-for-five rule."
That rule has just been put in place, doing away with redshirt years and trying to keep college football from becoming a series of old-timers games. Players coming in now have five years to play five seasons ... they get an extra year of eligibility but due to circumstances things got out of control.
With COVID coming in and giving players an extra year to play, along with a redshirt year, and with many players being held back a year as they went through high school to mature more physically to help their football game, you now have players running around with not only the number on their jersey but also on their Social Security card.
At least that's how it seems.
Take the Virginia offensive line.
"You're talking about two seven-year guys, two six-year guys and five-year guy," Rodriguez said.
Compare that to the WVU offensive line, which features a true freshman in Kevin Brown, a top-line recruit but one who is 18 years old.
"Sometimes I have to remind myself. Nick Krahe is the only returning guy who is starting and he's at a different position. I think they have played pretty well as a group.
"I thought before the season you always want to have a chance to have eight guys who we consider starters, guys we could use, but I think we might have 10, maybe 11 guys we feel comfortable with. They are going to keep getting better."
Fittingly, that Mountaineer offensive line is coached by Rick Trickett, who probably could be a bit more comfortable coaching the gray beards from Virginia, seeing as he is 78.
It's somewhat unusual to have brothers playing on the same team (although WVU does have three sets of brothers on this season's team), but as wide as the gap was getting someone somewhere had to be trying to figure out a way to get a father-son combo as teammates such as the Griffeys were in major league baseball.
The experience they have and the number of years they have been together have allowed them to gel into a unit that plays smart, mistake-free football.
"They don't make any mistakes," Rodriguez said. "I saw a quote from Michael Vick and he said they make you earn every blade of grass they get with their defense, as disciplined as they are."
Vick, the former Virginia Tech quarterback, stole a game away from WVU in Mountaineer Field on Nov. 6, 1999, a game that now is referred to as Virginia Tech's Miracle in Morgantown."
It was a game where Tech's chances at a national title would have come undone had they lost and WVU had taken the lead, 20-19, with 1:15 to go with no Hokies time outs left as a sellout crowd celebrated.
Vick took a snap, rolled out to his right, could not find an open receiver and darted down the right sideline, for a 25-yard gain to the WVU 6.
With 5 seconds left, Shayne Graham kicked a 44-yard field goal to win, 22-20, one of Nehlen's toughest defeats to swallow.
Vick found out first hand just how solid the Virginia team is as he is now coach at Norfolk State and was beaten 59-3 by Virginia.
What Coach Tony Elliott, who has built the team over four years with a pair of 3-win seasons, then 5 and last year a school record 11, is able to do to keep it together in an era marked by constantly moving players.
"It's hard to find a mistake in their offensive line but I have a lot of faith in our defensive line and linebackers fitting the right gaps," linebacker Ben Cutter said. "As long as we can get our cleats into the ground, we'll be able to do what we want and it won't be a problem."