On Thursday, Virginia got a verbal commitment from four-star Class of 2021 offensive lineman Noah Josey of Brentwood, Tenn., where he plays for Brentwood Academy.

COMMITTED!!???@UVAFootball @UVACoachBronco @Coach2J @theBAFootball @Rbcoachdgraham pic.twitter.com/kGnR9spd6Y

— Noah Josey (@NoahJosey) October 2, 2020

Josey is listed at 6-foot-5, 285 pounds on Rivals, which ranks him as a four-star recruit, the No. 10 guard in the country, and the No. 6 player in Tennessee. 247Sports pegs him as a three-star recruit. ESPN has him as a three-star player as well. Josey chose UVa over a host of Power Five offers, including Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Ohio State, Penn State, Vanderbilt, and Virginia Tech.

It’s been a long few years since the days when the Mike London-led ‘Hoos were perennially undermanned on the offensive line. But that has been changing under coach Bronco Mendenhall, who made the OL a priority when he began his stay in Charlottesville. The program has steadily been stocking up on big guys since then, and it is beginning to pay off. The line looked really solid against Duke in the victory last weekend.

UVa’s Class of 2021 is up to 21 verbal commitments, with four of those being offensive linemen. Also don’t forget that the Class of 2020 included four-star tackle Andrew Gentry, who is on a Mormon mission for two years and won’t enroll until 2022. A position of weakness for quite a few years seems to have become a strength and could remain that way into the future.