Virginia opens the season against William & Mary.
Virginia guard Chris Glaser works on blocking at practice. ~ Photo courtesy Jim Daves/Virginia Athletics Media Relations

The first game of Chris Glaser's college career didn't come until November. Most true freshmen, if they're going to play, debut long before then. At that point in the early stages of the Bronco Mendenhall rebuilding effort, however, the Virginia football program still needed one more win for bowl eligibility.

The Hoos had four games remaining to get to that six-win plateau, but injuries had hit an already thin offensive line group and one of the season's final two home games was on deck with Georgia Tech. Glaser, an inexperienced 280-pound freshman at the time, got the call. The Wahoos won 40-36 and secured the first bowl bid of the Mendenhall era in the process. The Military Bowl spot ended up coming against Navy, a special moment for the Glaser family as Chris Glaser Sr. served 20+ years in in the Navy. With that victory in the pouring rain against Georgia Tech and the additional game, however, Glaser's chances of a redshirt season dissolved.

As it turned out, the NCAA extended an extra year of eligibility to student-athletes due to the 2020 pandemic season. Glaser is back for a fifth year after all. That's the starting point for the latest "50 Thoughts Before Virginia Football Kickoff" article - "What Will Chris Glaser Do With A Bonus Year At Virginia?"

The unexpected chance to return proved to be an easy choice for Glaser. As it turned out, he played the 10 games of 2020 with a torn labrum in his hip and needed surgery to repair the injury. That would make any pro football dreams difficult to chase as he needed to be on the rehab shelf until the spring. Plus, like many of his fellow "Super Seniors" that decided to return, the 5-5 campaign didn't sit well for one of the early recruits to buy into the UVA rejuvenation effort.

Glaser, who had experienced a similar injury and rehab previously, knew what he needed to do to get back on the field. He knocked out the rehab in 4.5 months and picked up some late spring practice time as a result. His return helped further fortify an offensive line unit already scheduled to be flush with experience. As kickoff for the new season approaches, the Cavaliers have six players back with starting experience up front - Glaser, Ryan Nelson, Olu Oluwatimi, Ryan Swoboda, Bobby Haskins, and Joe Bissinger. Glaser has made 23 starts at right guard the last two seasons and he owns 32 career starts overall.

The 2020 season turned out, bad hip and all, to be Glaser's best yet at Virginia. He picked up honorable mention All-ACC recognition and landed on the Pro Football Focus All-ACC third team as well. UVA credited him with 20 pancake blocks in one-on-one blocking situations in the nine ACC games and he allowed only one sack all season. The offensive line as a whole ranked No. 1 in the ACC and No. 12 nationally in tackles for loss allowed per game at 4.2 - no other conference team allowed fewer than 5.4. The Hoos were also No. 2 in the ACC in sacks allowed per game (tied at 2.0).

“He’s done a phenomenal job and I think in all of his years at Virginia, last year was his greatest jump in production - it’s not even close," Cavalier offensive line coach Garett Tujague said. "Went from being maybe an average player to a good player in the ACC. I’m anticipating him taking that same jump this year, but with a better, much more functional hip."

Tujague's assessment isn't in a vacuum. ESPN's David Hale pointed out how "terrific" Glaser played last season and hailed him as an All-American candidate for 2021. Hale's Tweet embedded below includes a chart that showed Glaser with a 0.60% missed block rate last season, among the best nationally at the guard position. You can see Olu Oluwatimi’s numbers at center as well.

There's more Pro Football Focus (PFF) data to provide context for Glaser's year. Among the 19 guards that took at least 450 pass block snaps a year ago, he ranked fifth nationally in the Power 5 with a 98.7 efficiency rating (a signature PFF stat measure pressure allowed on a per-snap basis). Three of the other four guards on that list - Dareuan Parker/Mississippi State, Jack Anderson/Texas Tech, and Aaron Banks/Notre Dame - are getting a shot in the NFL right now, while Clemson's Will Putnam returns to the ACC as well. Glaser's pass blocking grade of a 78.0 also rated favorably with those NFL hopefuls with Anderson at 86.2, Parker at 82.2, and Banks at 80.8. Bryce Hargrove, another NFL signee out of Pittsburgh, checked in at 82.1 in pass blocking and 98.6 in efficiency. Putnam registered a 99.1 efficiency mark, but just a 65.1 pass blocking grade.

In other words, Glaser's work protecting the pocket compared favorably to the best guards in the nation last season. So, Hale's point to include him as a possible All-American candidate isn't off base there.

What about the other piece of blocking duties in the run game, though? Glaser didn't put together quite as strong of an execution grade there in the PFF data, but he still compared well to other ACC guards. With a 63.9 grade, he was 10th in the ACC at that position for players that took at least 150 snaps at guard. That fell just outside the top 100 in the FBS. The season-closing stretch hurt his numbers there as he picked up four run blocking execution grades below a 58.4 (below average) in the last six games with Abilene Christian and Boston College being the outliers.

That's clearly the biggest target for improvement in 2021 and it is an attainable goal. He has put up a higher number before. Glaser posted a 71.8 run blocking grade in 2019. Even with the 63.9, the combination of run blocking and pass blocking grades were the highest for his career in the PFF data. The 63.9/78.0 run/pass split topped the previous three years of 71.8/50.9, 53.4/63.1, and 52.8/71.0. In other words, he posted the highest pass blocking grade of his career and the second highest run blocking number too.

What if Glaser manages to put together the bonus year with a 70+ grade in both blocking categories? Only 10 Power 5 guards who took at least 80% of their teams snaps last season put together a 70-70 year. Of those players, six are getting a crack at the NFL and the others are back in college football. Hitting the 70/70 mark is not too common.. In the Mendenhall era at Virginia, fewer than 20 guards accomplished the feat in any given year. Only seven Power 5 guards qualified in 2019, three in 2018, 11 in 2017 (that included UVA's Jake Fieler with a 71.0/78.5), and 17 in 2016. With a minimum of two guards per team for the 65 Power 5 teams or 130 guards, that’s less than 15% of the players.

Glaser will have a shot to chase those numbers with the unexpected bonus season. He is healthy and up to 305 pounds entering his final season. He’s tough. He’s experienced and motivated. It should be fun to watch him up front with an offensive line projected to be a strength on this year’s team.

“I just love his warrior mindset. It’s huge,” Tujague said “I think it’s carried on to the other players. It’s been good because it wasn’t like that when he first got here. He had his little favorite thing, he’d always do this [grabs his back area] to try to tell me he’s hurt or something. He’s gritting it out now. It’s been a lot of fun.”