Wilt back to guide UVa’s defensive line

It could make for a great SAT analogy. That’s the way that new defensive line coach Chad Wilt sees it.

In essence, former defensive end Chris Canty was to Chris Long what Nate Collins can be to an undetermined first-year player at Virginia.

Having seen the impact that older, savvy veterans have had at the grueling position over the years for incoming first-year players, Wilt knows the importance that comes with providing leadership in practice and meetings.

With that in mind, and shortly after leaving Liberty University to join the Cavaliers’ coaching staff, Wilt approached Collins, a senior.

“I have been challenging him pretty much since Day One when I got here,” said Wilt, who served as a graduate assistant at Virginia in 2004 and 2005. “Nate was my only senior in the group. I told him that the legacy that you leave isn’t going to be for the next year or two.

“When these freshmen that are coming in right now — Brent Urban, Justin Renfrow, Will Hill and Jake Snyder — when they take their first cue from a senior leader, it is huge. One day when they are seniors, more than likely, they will emulate the first senior that they saw.”

Wilt has been impressed with what Collins, defensive end Matt Conrath and nose tackle Nick Jenkins have done verbally and through their actions to lead that promising, yet unproven, crop of youngsters.

“Five years down the road those guys are seniors and hopefully they’re displaying to another group of freshmen what it is supposed to look like,” Wilt said. “You can have a generational

legacy that every four, eight, 12 years when you come back into the program and you are 35 years old and hopefully what you left was passed on to a guy like Brent Urban was left for someone else.”

Collins has embraced the added role with the youngsters and was even named a team captain, one of four seniors on defense to be bestowed with that honor. It helped, he said, that he played as a first-year player.

“A lot comes with that but it is something that I wanted,” he said. “It is a big challenge, but I learned watching Chris Long and others and I can only hope that the young guys pick up something from me.”

Wilt, who replaced former defensive line coach Levern Belin, admits that he was fortunate to walk into a job with experienced players as starters.

Collins is a senior and Conrath and Jenkins logged valuable snaps as redshirt freshmen last year.

“It helps me tremendously. When I am in the classroom and I put something on the board they get it,” he said. “They have seen it and they have been through those battles on Saturday afternoons.

“They know the expectations of what it takes to prepare yourself for a game.”