KYLE GREEN The Roanoke Times

Sophomore Oday Aboushi is projected to start at right offensive tackle at Virginia this fall.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- It wasn't too long after his commitment to Boston College in the fall of 2008 before Staten Island, N.Y. offensive lineman Oday Aboushi started to get negative vibes about the Eagles' coaching situation.

Aboushi's concerns proved to be well-founded when the Eagles eventually dismissed then-coach Jeff Jagodzinski.

Less than 11 months after Aboushi's commitment to UVa, the Cavaliers were searching for a new coach after cutting ties to Al Groh.

Aboushi appears to be none the worse for the coaching change and enters his sophomore year as the Cavaliers' No. 1 right offensive tackle. Aboushi (6 foot 6, 305 pounds) was one of 14 members of UVa's 2009 recruiting class to see action as a redshirt freshmen, many in a limited capacity.

Aboushi was one of the lucky ones. While he saw action in only one of UVa's first eight games -- and for only five plays, at that -- he frequently spelled left tackle Landon Bradley during the season's final month and played 30 plays against Virginia Tech and 23 against Miami.

"I think I'd have more of a learning curve now if I hadn't played last year," he said. "I got to learn the tricks of the trade early on. I think I played well. Assignment-wise, I could have done better, but I didn't give up any sacks."

On a Virginia team that surrendered an ACC-high 41 sacks last season, that was no small feat.

All of Aboushi's playing time last year was on the left side, but the biggest change has been physically. When he arrived at UVa in the summer of 2009, he weighed 315. He got into the low 290s this summer before reporting at 305.

In his first year in UVa's weight program, he was able to lower his body fat from 24 percent to 17 percent.

"I haven't really studied it," he said, "but from what I hear, it's pretty good for a lineman to get under 20 percent. It was a glaring [reduction] as far as I was concerned."

After spending his first season under former offensive line coach Dave Borbely, whose charges generally spoke highly of him, Aboushi now works for former NFL offensive lineman Ron Mattes.

"They're two totally different people," Aboushi said. "Coach 'Borbs' was a great offensive line coach but things turned out the way they did and he had to move on. Coach Mattes brought in a lot of techniques from the NFL."

The Cavaliers ranked near the bottom of Division I-A in multiple offensive categories last year and never seemed to adjust to the spread offense installed by one-year coordinator Gregg Brandon. They were one of seven I-A teams out of 120 that rushed for fewer than 3 yards per carry.

Sack yardage accounted for some of that, but Aboushi said there has been a "huge emphasis" on the running game in the preseason. UVa has had three offensive linemen selected in the first round of the NFL Draft since 2005 -- D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Branden Albert and Eugene Monroe -- but you wouldn't know it from the numbers.

"We're going to pass when we want to, but we're going to run most of the time," Aboushi said. "We're going to get down in the trenches and become a physical team. We know last year wasn't exactly the best year for our offensive line."

Aboushi first came to UVa's attention during a big-man camp in the summer of 2008 and there was some talk that he might commit on the spot. He subsequently received offers from BC, Maryland, Rutgers and Iowa.

Aboushi, who also visited Penn State unofficially, committed to the Eagles on Nov. 23 but took a visit to Virginia three weeks later and committed to UVa on Jan. 8, 2009.

"The pressure got a little overwhelming," he said. "Being from New York, I'm more of a city kid. I felt I would be getting away from home, but it was still close enough where I would be in my element. But, once I took my official visit down here, I knew this was a place where I could grow."

Aboushi is the ninth of 10 children, including an older brother, Aymen, who played football at Fordham. Their parents both were born in Palestine before moving to the United States as pre-teens, and Arabic is still spoken in their home.

"Most of our conversations are in English," Oday said, "but we mix it up. Traditional sayings are used a lot. I can understand most of it, things that they've been telling me since I was a kid, like 'don't do that' or 'listen to this.' "

While it does not appear that Aboushi was scarred by the UVa coaching change, he finds it refreshing not to have to deal with an issue that has hung over him since high school.

"I had no problem with the old staff," he said, "but around here, around the McCue Center, in the locker room and on the field, there's just a totally different feeling."