Hall turns corner at U.Va. as its QB
David Teel
July 27, 2009
GREENSBORO, N.C.

Vic Hall could have complained. He could have flaunted his credentials, questioned his coaches and divided his teammates.

Any or all of which would have brought a stern lecture from one Frances Hall.

"Growing up my grandmother always taught me to stay humble in what you do," Hall said Sunday. "Anything can be taken from you in a moment."

Virginia's coaching staff took a part of Hall's football soul in 2005 when they moved him from quarterback, the position he played like few others as a high school All-American, to cornerback.

Four years later, he's back, the Cavaliers' best hope of ending an offensive malaise that threatens head coach Al Groh's job.

OK, Hall faces training-camp competition from Marc Verica and Jameel Sewell, Virginia's starters in 2008 and '07, respectively. But clearly, he's the favorite to orchestrate new coordinator Gregg Brandon's spread attack.

Why else would Hall be the dominant image on the cover of the Cavaliers' media guide? Why else would Groh have brought Hall to Greensboro for the ACC's preseason news conferences?

As a goodwill gesture to his BFFs in the press corps? As a ruse to confuse opponents?

No, he brought Hall because this 5-foot-9 senior is going to play quarterback. A bunch.

Desperate for a flicker of hope against Virginia Tech, Groh first used Hall at quarterback in last year's season finale. Hall rushed for 109 yards, with touchdown jaunts of 40 and 16, in a 17-14 defeat.

Not bad for a two-year starter at corner.

"He's a real good athlete, and he kind of brought that dual threat, (even though) he only threw (once)," Tech safety Kam Chancellor said. "Just his running brought a lot to their team."

Hall moved full time to offense during spring drills and began reviving the right arm that passed for a state-record 8,371 yards and 104 touchdowns at Gretna High. Add his rushing totals of 5,039 yards and 66 touchdowns, numbers that would make a tailback jealous, and you understand why Virginia recruited him as a quarterback, lack of prototype size notwithstanding.

But injuries at cornerback midway through Hall's redshirt season prompted his shift to defense, a change Hall not only accepted but also embraced.

"I dreamed about playing quarterback," he said. "It was just something I kept to myself. … I don't have a big ego or anything like that. I'm a team guy. … I put the team ahead of me."

But during the next three seasons, wasn't he occasionally tempted to march into Groh's office and demand change? Didn't he think about questioning Groh's judgment privately to teammates?

"That's my coach," Hall said. "I'm going to stick behind him."

Given that selflessness, no wonder Groh is fond of saying, "In Vic we trust."

Hall's skills were evident on his first collegiate punt return, when he raced 67 yards against Duke in 2007. On his first carry against Virginia Tech last year he gained 14 yards, followed soon thereafter by the 40-yard touchdown run.

If Hall throws effectively to athletic receivers such as Jared Green and Javaris Brown, not to mention tailback Mikell Simpson, the Cavaliers have a chance to avoid their third losing season in the last four years. Certainly with last season's top four tacklers departed — Hall was No. 5 — Virginia doesn't figure to win any defensive struggles.

"It's been pretty natural," Hall said of returning to quarterback. "The biggest thing is mechanics. I'm comfortable, but not as comfortable as I want to be."

The ACC this season is littered with returnees at the sport's marquee position.

There's North Carolina State's Russell Wilson, who last season became the first freshman quarterback to make first-team all-ACC; Wake Forest senior Riley Skinner is the most accurate passer (67.3 percent completion rate) in conference history.

Nor should we neglect Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor, the MVP of last season's league championship game, Duke's Thaddeus Lewis, Georgia Tech's Josh Nesbitt, Maryland's Chris Turner and North Carolina's T.J. Yates.

None of them approached Hall's high school numbers.

"This is a whole different level," Hall said. "I feel like I've got a lot to prove to myself."

Hall is quick to praise his rivals for a job that might be shared. He knows Verica took over last season under trying circumstances after Peter Lalich's disciplinary issues; he realizes that Sewell quarterbacked the Cavaliers to a 9-4 finish in 2007 before landing on academic suspension.

"We know the best man is going to play," Hall said.

As a quarterback, Vic Hall never has been anything else.

 

After biding time, Hall gets QB wish
July 27, 2009 12:36 am
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.
GREENSBORO, N.C.

--While growing up in rural Gretna, Vic Hall often listened to his grandmother's advice.

Frances Hall always told him to stand behind his leader and be humble.

That came into play when Hall became a football player for the University of Virginia in 2005.

He was a star quarterback who broke several Virginia High School League records at Gretna High, but played cornerback for the Cavaliers for three seasons without showing any discontent toward head coach Al Groh.

"I was always taught, 'That's my coach and I'm going to stand behind his decisions,'" Hall said. "I never questioned it. I never asked him about it."

Now that he's a senior, Hall is getting his shot at quarterback. He's working full-time at the position because the Cavaliers finally have the cornerback depth to make Hall's switch plausible.

Hall admits quarterback is where his heart has been all along, but he didn't want to cause distractions for the Cavaliers (5-7 in 2008), so he remained quiet.

"To be honest, I dreamed about playing quarterback a lot, but that was just something I kept to myself," Hall said. "I never thought I'd be playing it in my last year, but it feels good to have the ball and be able to help my team."

In his senior season, Hall has become the face of the Cavaliers.

He's plastered on billboards in Charlottesville and on the cover of the Cavaliers' media guide.

He and right tackle Will Barker represented U.Va. at yesterday's Atlantic Coast Conference media day.

With all the attention he's receiving, that's where the second piece of advice from Frances Hall comes in.

"Growing up, my grandmother always told me to be humble in whatever I do because any day it can be taken away from me," Hall said. "Even through high school, none of that [attention] ever appealed to me because I feel like it's what you do on the field."

That's where the question remains for Hall.

What type of quarterback will he be for the Cavaliers?

He's in a three-way fight for the starting job with 2007 starter Jameel Sewell and 2008 starter Marc Verica.

Hall has the least experience of the three because he has started just one game--the 2008 season finale against Virginia Tech. He ran for 109 yards and two touchdowns in the 17-14 loss, but threw just one pass--an incompletion.

"He's a real good athlete. He kind of brought that dual threat," Virginia Tech safety Kam Chancellor said. "Just him back there running the ball, he was a weapon for [Virginia]. He brought a lot to the table."

Still, Chancellor said it's "too early to tell" if Hall can be an effective full-time starting quarterback. He said the Hokies caught on to the Cavaliers' game plan quickly because of the lack of passing plays for Hall.

"We just kind of played more downhill," Chancellor said. "It was kind of the same plays, just different blocking schemes. It was kind of easy to catch on after a while."

But Hall had limited time to work on the Cavaliers' game plan leading up to the Virginia Tech game.

He has had all offseason to hone his passing skills. He said he's not at a disadvantage with the more experienced quarterbacks because Virginia is installing a new spread offense that everybody has to learn.

Hall, who admits he needs to become a more vocal leader, completed 11-of-16 passes for 98 yards in the Cavaliers' spring game.

However, questions still remain.

For one, is he too short for the position at 5-foot-9? And can he see over tall offensive linemen like the 6-foot-6 Barker and 6-foot-7 left tackle Landon Bradley?

Hall said he gets inspiration from former Virginia quarterback Marques Hagans, who started for the Cavaliers in 2004 and 2005 at the same height.

"He had more heart than anybody I've been around," Hall said of Hagans. "To see him do it, I feel like I can do it."

 

Virginia's Vic Hall and Will Barker opt for different graduation routes
Virginia's Vic Hall and Will Barker chose two different paths regarding college graduation.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Vic Hall and Will Barker, fellow Virginia football players and anthropology majors, followed paths that would have enabled both to graduate in four years.

The fact that Hall will be playing this season as a graduate student and Barker as an undergraduate speaks to the different options available to players at the end of their college careers.

Because Barker chose not to graduate, he will be required to complete only the one course needed to obtain his degree. Hall, because he elected to graduate on time, is required to enroll in graduate school and take a minimum of nine credit hours (three courses).

Those are the NCAA rules and the two players have learned to make them work to their advantage.

"I definitely could have graduated," said Barker, who has started UVa's last 37 games at right offensive tackle. "I could have walked. I could have done all of that, but, after meeting with advisors, I decided the best answer was to drop one class."

That was a route taken last year by fifth-year UVa linebacker Clint Sintim, whose only requirement for December graduation was a physics class that met once a week. Sintim had his best year as a collegian and was a second-round draft pick of the New York Giants.

"Obviously, I talked to Clint," said Barker, whose lone class this fall will be in anthropology, his major. "It makes a lot of sense. I've got that one class in the fall and, the rest of the time, I've got nothing to worry about but football.

"To me, personally, this is my biggest year, and it's also a big year for the team."

One mock NFL draft has Barker, who said Sunday that he is carrying 320 pounds over a 6-foot-7 frame, going as early as the second round. After a slow start in 2008 that included a legal issue, Barker played his best football over the second half of the season.

"My advisors felt this was my best bet," said Barker of the reduced course load. "I'm not sure what some of [UVa's other fifth-year players] are doing. I can't speak for other people."

Hall, fighting for the starting job at quarterback after nearly four full seasons on defense, probably could use all of the preparation time he can get.

However, he went ahead and graduated on time.

"I never considered postponing graduation at all," said Hall, also an anthropology major. "I felt like, 'The opportunity's here right now. Why not take it?'"

Going through May graduation ceremonies was important to Hall, who was supported by nearly 20 family members and friends.

"It was a big deal," said Hall, who joined Barker as UVa's representatives at the ACC's Football Kickoff.

"Nobody from my family had ever graduated from a big university like this. I had a cousin who graduated from Radford last year and we were the first two to graduate from college. I also had a cousin who graduated from a two-year school."

It turns out Barker was at Hall's graduation.

"I didn't stay the whole five hours or whatever, but I was there," Barker said. "Actually, I could have walked, too, but I didn't find that out till later.

"I can't say that I would have done that, but for me, this [approach] makes complete sense."

Note

Missing from the UVa media guide distributed Sunday was Rod Wheeler, a redshirt freshman from Highland Springs. Wheeler, son of ex-Virginia Tech basketball player Rod Wheeler, is the second tight end to leave UVa's program since the start of the spring. Andrew Devlin earlier had transferred to Pittsburgh.
 

The man on fans’ minds
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: July 27, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Vic Hall showed up at the ACC football kickoff on Sunday and was immediately smothered by inquiring minds that wanted to know if he would be Virginia’s starting quarterback come Sept. 5.

Well, at least the Cavalier quarterback wasn’t asked if he was still a virgin, as was the case with Florida’s Tim Tebow during the SEC football meetings earlier in the week.

Hall, who hasn’t a hint of ego, humbly replied that he was practicing at quarterback and not cornerback — a position he played his first three years at UVa — and that he is one of three candidates for the starting QB job.

“Will you be taking the first snap?” one scribe questioned.

“We’ll see,” Hall said.

“Could you end up playing cornerback?”

“Right now, I’m really focusing on offense,” Hall said politely.

Hall will battle Jameel Sewell and Marc Verica, both of whom have more starting experience at quarterback, for the starting job. The smart money, however, is on Hall, who brought some hope, some excitement back into Virginia’s offense for a few fleeting moments against Virginia Tech last November.

Coaches don’t send second-team players to the ACC football kickoff to handle the media horde. Hall was accompanied to the interviews by four-year starting offensive tackle Will Barker.

Sewell and Verica were nowhere in sight.

While the other two QBs have some advantage over Hall in their starting experience on offense, that was somewhat evened up when coach Al Groh hired Gregg Brandon as the new offensive coordinator. Brandon brought with him from Bowling Green, where he had been head coach for six seasons, a no huddle, spread offense, which all the quarterbacks had to become familiar.

All things being equal, Hall wins this horserace — perhaps not by a staggering difference in skill, but with his heart.

One gets the impression from chatting with insiders that Hall’s teammates would follow him through Hell in a gas truck. That’s how much they love this guy and believe in him.

Now, if they can just win with him.

That’s the hard part.

Remember back to that gray day in Lane Stadium last fall when Virginia was reeling and had small chance of upsetting the Hokies on their turf, or any turf for that matter.

Hall gave the Cavaliers hope. He gave them a chance. His teammates believed in him because Hall believes in himself.

Recently he said that he has confidence that if Virginia needs a first down, if it needs him to complete a pass, if it needs a touchdown drive, if he needs to gain five yards to keep a drive going, then he is supremely confident that he can get the job done. That type of confidence is rare and from which leaders are born.

No wonder that former UVa quarterback Marques Hagans, who was about the same height as Hall — 5-foot-9 — is one of Hall’s heroes.

Critics said Hagans was too small to play quarterback in major college football, that he was too short to see over the line and spot receivers downfield, that he was just too small.

All Hagans did his senior year (2005) was put up 2,802 yards of total offense, the third-highest in UVa history (All but 310 yards of that was passing).

All Hagans did was bewilder No. 4 Florida State’s defense to the point that Coach Bobby Bowden kept referring to “that dadgum No. 18” all night long in a stunning, 26-21 upset.

That’s when Hall, then a redshirt freshman, first noticed Hagans.

“Marques had more heart than anyone I have ever been around,” Hall said Sunday. “He was like a big brother to me and Jameel.”

Some of UVa’s holdover coaches from that era see the same heart in Hall that they saw in Hagans.

Hall, a brilliant, record-setting quarterback at Gretna High School, was recruited to Virginia at that position but was shifted to defensive back due to a lack of talent in the Cavaliers’ secondary.

Now, he’s back where he belongs.

“It’s just like riding a bike,” Hall chuckled about switching to quarterback. “I have dreamed about playing quarterback a lot.”

It’s no longer a fantasy.
 

Colorful games in store?
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: July 27, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Virginia in blue jerseys, Virginia Tech in maroon for the two rivals’ annual clash at Scott Stadium in late November?

It could happen under new NCAA rules for the 2009 football season.

“Both teams can wear their dark color jerseys beginning this season if both teams agree (the agreement must be in writing) and there has to be a sufficient contrast in the jersey colors,” said Charlottesville’s Doug Rhoads, who oversees football officiating for the ACC.

Previously, only the home team could wear a dark colored jersey, while the visitors were limited to white. The change was prompted by last season’s USC-UCLA game.

Rhoads pointed out that the old standard of stark contrast in jersey color was created mostly for the benefit of the days where there was only black and white television.

There are few new rules in college football this season, and even fewer significant ones, but any changes will be around for a while. College football decided that rule changes in the sport could only occur once every other year, so this season’s rules will be in effect for both 2009 and 2010.

One of the more significant rule adjustments defines the so-called “tackle box,” which is now extends five yards on either side of the center position.

Quarterbacks that throw the ball away must be outside the defined tackle box or suffer a grounding penalty and loss of down. Horse-collar tackles will be permitted only within the tackle box, and the new “rugby-style” punters will receive no “roughing” protection should they run outside the box.

Add grabbing the chinstrap as a 15-yard penalty, just as it previously had been for grabbing the facemask or the helmet.

There will be mandatory reviews of flagrant fouls and ejections by league officials a day or two after games this season in order to assure it was an accurate call as it may have related to the safety of players.

Rhoads reviewed last season’s instant replay and deemed it a success and a positive move for ACC football, as well as the 40-second play clock and other timing changes, which shortened the overall length of conference games by 12 minutes. As a result, there were nine less offensive plays in those games by average, which essentially meant each team lost one offensive play per quarter.

“In instant replay, we had 184 stops that averaged one minute and 24 seconds per stop,” Rhoads said. “There were 46 reversals, which roughly meant one of every four are reversed.”

He said those numbers were consistent with other BCS conference statistics.

Barker Primed for Senior Season
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 07/26/2009
By Jeff White
jeffwhite@virginia.edu

GREENSBORO, N.C. – To an illustrious list that includes Bob Olderman, Jim Dombrowski, Ray Roberts, D’Brickashaw Ferguson, Branden Albert and Eugene Monroe, Will Barker hopes to add his name.

Under George Welsh and his successor as University of Virginia football coach, Al Groh, offensive linemen have moved regularly from UVa to the NFL, and Barker may well be next in that procession.

He has the size to play at the next level – the fifth-year senior from the Philadelphia area stands 6-7 and weighs 320 pounds – and for stretches he’s shown the requisite skills. Barker has started 37 consecutive games, the most of any returning Cavalier, and you’ll find him listed in mock NFL drafts for 2010.

Entering his final college season, however, he has yet to earn even honorable-mention all-ACC recognition. That’s partly because he’s been overshadowed by such teammates as Albert and Monroe, but also because inconsistency has marred his career.

“Obviously you look back when it’s all coming to an end,” Barker, 22, said today at the ACC Football Kickoff, “and you think about what you could have done differently, how you could have played, how you could have handled different things. But the past is the past to me. I’ve experienced a lot, and I’ve kind of learned from my mistakes.”

As a redshirt freshman, Barker struggled for much of the season, but he started every game at right tackle, and he followed that with a solid 2007 campaign. Given the progress he made in ’07, much was expected of the mammoth redhead in ’08. But the first month of the season was a nightmare for Barker.

There were extenuating circumstances. On the eve of the Cavaliers’ training camp last year, Barker and teammate Dave Roberts had been arrested and charged with petit larceny after an incident at an after-hours nightclub in Charlottesville. They were acquitted of the charges, which earned the players unwanted notoriety on Internet sites, but not before Virginia had played five games.

“I really don’t like to think about it,” said Barker, who’s scheduled to graduate in December with a degree in anthropology. “It happened, and I’m over it. It’s not an issue anymore, and I don’t want it to be an issue anymore.

“Obviously it was a distraction. When it was over, that’s when I could start to focus on football, and that’s when things started to roll.”

On an offensive line that returns four starters, Barker is by far the most experienced player. And his role has changed with the departure of Monroe, a first-round pick this year.

“Those guys respect Will,” quarterback Vic Hall, who entered UVa with Barker in 2005, said today. “They know he knows his job. He’s done it for four years and been successful.”

Barker said: “I’ve done my time. I’ve played a lot of ball, and I guess that kind of makes me a leader. I have to be a leader.”

More than that, Barker knows, he must lift his level of play. The starter at left tackle is likely to be sophomore Landon Bradley, who’s appeared in only one college game. The starter at left guard, sophomore Austin Pasztor, won’t turn 19 until December. Barker’s importance in the Wahoos’ new spread offense can hardly be overstated.

“I just know I’ve gotta play every play like it’s my last,” he said. “I’ve got the mindset that I need to have a great season, not only for myself, but for this team. I know this team needs me to have a great season.”

And if he has that kind of season? Then he might be considered a worthy successor to such luminaries as Dombrowski and Ferguson and Monroe.

“I’m proud to be in a place with such great tradition as that, especially linemen,” Barker said. “It doesn’t happen everywhere. Just the fact that there’s been all these great players here, and at the same time I’ve started for four years, it’s kind of surreal.”

EXTRA POINTS: Media guides were distributed yesterday, and several players with eligibility remaining were missing from the UVa book.

Tight end Rod Wheeler and defensive end Kevin Crawford have left the program, and defensive end Andrew Devlin, who arrived at Virginia as a tight end, has transferred to Pittsburgh. Offensive tackle Morgan Moses, a Parade All-American from the Richmond area, is headed to prep school, as expected, to bolster his academic credentials.

 

Cavs relish underdog status
By Jay Jenkins
Published: July 27, 2009

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Will Barker admitted that he could care less where the final tally placed his football program on paper.

In fact, the Cavaliers’ elder statesman on the offensive line said he did not desire to know the results.

Yet today, at the annual ACC football kickoff, the media’s preseason predictions will be announced for the 34th straight year with Virginia widely expected to be pegged to finish fifth or sixth in the Coastal Division.

Last year, the Cavaliers were picked to finish fifth in their division and did just that after losing their final four league games.

“I kind of like being the underdog,” Barker told reporters at the Grandover Resort. “It will be nice when we prove people wrong, but you can’t predict how the season is going to go.”

Barker used the 2008 season as an example. After losing three of the first four games, the Cavaliers were perfect in October and controlled their own destiny in the Coastal Division race.

“I thought we were a good team, but obviously things didn’t work out for us in the end,” said Barker, referring to the late-season slide that left Virginia 5-7 overall and 3-5 in the league. “If you think about it, going into the last three games we still had a shot at winning the ACC title even not with a stellar record.

“I think we were all disappointed in the result. We expected to do better than we did. It is what it is.”

When the dust settled after the season, former offensive coordinator Mike Groh and defensive line coach Levern Belin departed. Former defensive coordinator Bob Pruett and secondary coach Steve Bernstein retired.

Optimism eventually returned for head coach Al Groh’s program, however, as he gave new offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon complete autonomy to run and install a spread offense.

“This year, it is almost like a fresh start, a fresh offense, a lot of new players. I think we will do big things,” said Barker, who said he is currently 320 pounds. “I think this is going to be a good year. We have a new offense, a lot of depth on offense, as well as defense. We have a lot of leaders and a lot of guys that have played in big ballgames before.”

Despite knowing that Al Groh will need a resurgence to keep his post, Barker said there is no added pressure on the team in that regard.

“I think just as much for him as for all of us, it is going to be an exciting year and a good year at Virginia,” he said. “I think that people are expecting a lot and we are going to show a lot. That’s pretty much as far as it goes.

“We want to prove to everybody that Virginia football can be where it has been in the past and stay there. I think this is the year that we can do it.”

Under center

Last year, Virginia entered training camp with a quarterback controversy.

Conventional wisdom held that that label was assigned to motivate former quarterback Pete Lalich.

This time, a full-fledged battle for the top spot is expected between converted cornerback Vic Hall, junior Marc Verica and senior Jameel Sewell, back from a one-year, school-imposed suspension.

“It’s definitely nice to know that we have all this potential [at quarterback],” Barker said. “No matter who wins the starting job, whoever is the quarterback is going to be a great quarterback.”

Barker said he fully expects Virginia to use all three during the season based on opponents and situations.

“Even if one person wins coming out of camp, I think all of them are going to play at one point or another this fall,” he added. “I think it would be stupid not to have them on the field because they have all won games and they are all great players.”

Sewell, according to Barker, has been impressive in numerous facets since returning to school in January.

“Jameel came back with some fire,” the right tackle said. “He had something to prove. I obviously can’t speak for Jameel, but I feel like he came in and wanted to make up for that year both on the field and to his teammates.

“He has done a great job. He knows what it takes to win and having him back is huge.”

Welcome aboard

The Cavaliers have four starters returning on its offensive line.

That leaves one vacancy at left tackle, but a position battle is not expected.

Landon Bradley manned the position throughout the spring and appears stronger and more athletic in Barker’s eyes.

“He has had a tremendous summer workout,” Barker said. “He played really well in the spring. I think he is going to be a hell of a left tackle.”

Size may be Bradley’s lone drawback — he is listed in Virginia’s newly-released media guide as 6-foot-7 and 275 pounds.

“He may not be as big as past left tackles, but I think he holds his own pretty well,” Barker said. “He goes against defensive ends in practice that play on Saturday’s and he does fine.

“I think Landon has done a great job stepping up and I think he is going to have a great year.”

Extra points

Virginia’s incoming class has arrived in Charlottesville and is currently enrolled in summer school and working out with the team, including voluntary 7-on-7 drills as their schedules permit. Well, almost all the players are there. Barker said offensive tackle Morgan Moses has not been there and is expected to enroll at Fork Union to play for postgraduate coach John Shuman’s team. … Hall was peppered with off-the-wall questions throughout the sessions with the media. The oddest? He said he was asked when the last time he cut his hair. The answer? He thinks it was in 2005. … Barker was asked who had the best fans in the ACC. He replied: “Virginia.” The worst reside in Maryland, he joked. … For now, defensive end Kevin Crawford is not listed on the team’s roster. It is unclear if that will change prior to the start of training camp.