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Virginia set to battle Seminoles on Saturday
Freshmen, defense remain bright spots for Virginia after last week's narrow loss
By Joe Lemire
 

Both the Virginia Cavaliers (0-1, 0-0 ACC) and the No. 5 Florida State Seminoles (1-0, 0-0) faced game-deciding plays in the closing seconds of their respective openers last week.

The Seminoles resisted Iowa State's surge on the last play, tackling quarterback Seneca Wallace at the goal line to preserve their 38-31 win. Virginia was not quite as lucky, as Cavalier quarterback Marques Hagans fumbled the ball inside Colorado State's 3-yard line, halting their comeback hopes and ending the game in a 35-29 losing decision.

Virginia looks to better their luck in Tallahassee, Fla. on Saturday as both teams play their first conference game at 3:30 p.m.

Though Virginia was disappointed with the outcome of their season opener, the Cavaliers had a lot of positives to take away from the game -- most notably the play of their freshmen. Running back Wali Lundy led the charge, and received ACC player of the week honors for his performance, totaling 20 carries and 94 yards.

Another positive was the play of redshirt freshman Hagans, who threw for 120 yards and ran for 45 more. He split time with junior starter Matt Schaub, who contributed 73 yards and a touchdown score.

The Cavaliers, especially on offense, are the embodiment of youth; Florida State, however, is one of the ACC's most experienced units. The Seminoles return eight starters, including potential All-American linebackers Kendyll Pope and Michael Boulware.

Speed is the philosophy Florida State is built upon, and Coach Al Groh said he is cognizant of this fact, but confident that his team can still compete.

The Seminoles "still look pretty fast, but that's what we're trying to get," Groh said. "I think it's apparent we have some faster players than what we had available last year."

That team speed extends beyond just defense. Sophomore quarterback Chris Rix -- last year's ACC Rookie of the Year -- is fleet of foot and provides a double threat on attack with his strong arm and scrambling ability. Last year he became the first freshman signal-caller to start opening day in Coach Bobby Bowden's 26-year tenure, going on to finish eighth in the nation in passing efficiency.

Despite Rix's obvious tools, Virginia defensive captain Angelo Crowell

-- who recorded a massive 18 tackles against Colorado State -- and the rest of his squad have little worry when it comes to containing Rix.

"I'm not really worried," Crowell said. "He's a mobile quarterback and we've played against mobile quarterbacks before -- he's not the first one. He's talented and we just have to throw some things at him that will really confuse him."

Last year Virginia held Rix to 52.4 percent passing accuracy and intercepted him twice. Though the Seminoles would ultimately prevail by a count of 43-7, the difference was only a field goal at halftime.

Of Florida State's 33 second-half points, 27 of them came off turnovers, which is not good news for a Cavalier squad that turned the ball over five times last week against Colorado State.

Against the historicallypotent Florida State offense, the momentum of the game can change at any time, especially with the home field advantage going to Bowden and his squad. Virginia needs to minimize its mistakes and hold on to the ball if it hopes to pull out a victory from deep in Seminole territory.

 

 

Hagans making move for starting job again
 By John Galinsky / Daily Progress staff writer
Aug 30, 2002

 
Four years ago, when Marques Hagans was a junior at Hampton High, he began the football season as the second-string quarterback. The starter, a senior named Alphonso Gunter, had been in the program for three years and had paid his dues backing up Ronald Curry.

Because of that, Hampton coach Mike Smith planned to start Gunter but use Hagans, also a starting receiver, on occasion behind center.

Which is what Smith did in the Crabbers' first game, an overtime loss to Heritage. Hagans played better than Gunter that day, so the coach made a change the next week. With Hagans starting at quarterback, Hampton won the rest of its games and captured the state championship.

"I had to make the move," Smith said. "The reason he didn't start at first was the other kid had been around and deserved a chance. But it was pretty clear that Marques was the best quarterback on our team."

That situation bears some similarities to the current one at Virginia, where Hagans is a redshirt freshman. He began the season as junior Matt Schaub's backup, but he outplayed Schaub in last week's opening loss to Colorado State.

Now the question UVa coach Al Groh needs to answer is: Is Hagans the best quarterback on the team?

The answer probably isn't as clear to Groh as it was to Smith – and for good reason. For one thing, it's difficult to judge either quarterback after one game. Hagans remains inexperienced and unproven. Schaub has size and obvious potential as a passer. Each brings a different set of skills to the position.

Also, no one expects a fairy-tale ending, with Hagans starting the rest of the season and leading the Cavaliers to the national championship.

The only real parallel to his high school situation, in Hagans' mind, is his own attitude.

"I just try to always stay ready and have confidence in myself," he said. "Then if I get a chance, I try to make the most of it."

Hagans has a history of doing just that. At Hampton, he won 22 straight games as the starting quarterback. Still, because of his 5-foot-10 stature and 4.5 speed in the 40-yard dash, most colleges recruited him as a defensive back.

He was set to go to Georgia as a cornerback before the entire coaching staff was fired the day after his official visit. He ended up signing with Indiana as a quarterback, but low SAT scores forced him to enroll at Fork Union Military Academy.

At FUMA, he quickly endeared himself to coach John Shuman, who calls Hagans "one of my favorite guys." In one year, he threw for nearly 2,000 yards and ran for 900 more.

"The kid has a lot of heart," Shuman said. "When it was time to battle with the [Division] I-A guys, we'd have two or three guys shrink back, and two or three guys who would emerge. He'd battle the big boys every time. He's a leader."

Hagans also caught the attention of Groh, who lost recruiting battles for several other highly-regarded passers. Hagans ended up being the only quarterback in Groh's first class, though the coach worked almost exclusively with tall, dropback passers in the NFL.

"The first thing I heard is that he won a lot of games," Groh said. "You don't have to be a very smart coach, which I'm often not, to put a tape in."

Groh clearly likes the athletic ability Hagans brings to the position. Hagans offers a sharper contrast to Schaub than Bryson Spinner did last year. Hagans ran 11 times against Colorado State, more than Spinner did in any single game.

"The player last year was a good runner," Groh said. "This is one of the fastest players on the team."

Hagans completed 10 of 13 passes for 120 yards against the Rams, though most of those were short throws to running backs and tight ends. His arm remains a question mark. Still, Smith insists that Hagans is a better passer than former college standouts of similar size, including Georgia Tech's Joe Hamilton, Virginia Tech's Michael Vick and Clemson's Woody Dantzler.

"He's going to be a great college quarterback," Smith said. "He's special. Don't get me wrong. I think Schaub is a good quarterback, too, but Marques will be a great one. He does everything so well."

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said Hagans appears to have similar skills to Iowa State senior Seneca Wallace, who threw for 313 yards against the Seminoles in a 38-31 loss last week.

Wallace "is way ahead in maturity," Bowden said. "But this kid's ability is probably going to match him as he comes up. He looked good last week, I know that."

Hagans wasn't perfect. He slightly overthrew open receiver Billy McMullen on a deep pass. He also fumbled on Virginia's final offensive play.

After leading the Cavaliers from their own 18-yard line to the Colorado State 3, he sprinted to his right and tried to run it in. Knowing there wouldn't be time for another play if he was tackled, he attempted what Groh called "a bounce pass" into the end zone, hoping his team would recover the fumble. It didn't work.

"That was a mistake," Hagans said. "Sometimes you've got to learn the hard way. I'd love to have it back, but I've got to move forward."

Groh has declined to say who will start against the fifth-ranked Seminoles on Saturday, but he has strongly implied that both quarterbacks will see action.

Because of that, Hagans said, starting "isn't important. It's important that when my coach puts me in, I make the most of my opportunity."

 

 

Young running backs star in combined effort
 By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
Aug 30, 2002

 
Obviously Al Groh believes that if you have a big gun, shoot it. Groh's big gun is loaded with a lot of bullets - Alvin Pearman, Wali Lundy, Michael Johnson and Marquis Weeks - and Virginia's head coach doesn't mind squeezing the trigger.

The Cavaliers rushed the football 49 times against Colorado State last week for 221 yards and wore down the Rams defense as the game progressed. If Groh has his way, UVa opponents will get a steady diet of tailbacks for the rest of the season.

Weeks, a sophomore, earned the start last week because of his superb training camp. But after the offense stalled early, Weeks came out and didn't go back in.

Part of the reason why was that Wali Lundy ran more like a seasoned veteran than a true

freshman playing in his first game. Lundy rushed 20 times for 94 yards. Another freshman, speed merchant Michael Johnson, rushed five times for 37 yards but fumbled. Sophomore Alvin Pearman, who led the team in rushing last season, got nine carries for 54 yards.

"We put 'em in there to kind of get a sense of who's ready for this, who might have a hot hand, who would get an early feel for the game, and then we'd just play it from there," said Groh. "Wali went in and had pretty good success right away."

Groh equated Lundy's play to bringing in a guy off the bench in basketball. If the sub hits three or four treys in a row, you don't jerk him out.

Only once last season did UVa rush as many times as last Thursday night, that was the 50 rushing plays against Penn State in the season finale when a semi-healthy Antwoine Womack returned. The Cavs didn't smell 200 yards on the ground in any of those dozen games.

If you can't run the football, your options are limited. Teams can force you to throw, blitz your quarterback unmercifully, take all sorts of chances and control the game.

"Running it like we did last week gives us a lot more diversity and makes a play caller's job easier," said Groh. "Last year we might have a good running play but seldom put together multiple good running plays. The pleasing thing is to run the ball play after play, advance the ball, move the chains and make first downs."

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden certainly noticed Virginia's new found running attack.

"I was impressed with their young runners," Bowden said Wednesday.

FSU had a ton of missed tackles in its narrow win over Iowa State, something that has concerned Bowden since last Saturday's game.

"The good news is we have a lot of good backs," said Groh. "The bad news is that now you have to deal with the fact that all of them are playing less than they want to. If all those guys are really happy, that's nice."

So far, there doesn't seem to be a problem with the four's timeshare on the tailback's spot. They all say they've bonded during training camp, all hang out together, play video games together, eat together, encourage each other, help one another.

"I think it's fun having so many good backs who can do different things," said Lundy. "When you can come out and get rested and go back in there fresh, I think that's always good."

Pearman agreed.

"If anything, it's going to help us," said the talented Charlotte product. "This is a 13-game season. The more running backs we have, the easier it's going to be on all of us. So many times in the game against Colorado State we were able to throw a fresh running back in against a tired defense. We subbed running backs on almost every drive, kept things fresh, kept things going."

The late Bear Bryant used to wear out defenses by rotating as many as six backs out of his wishbone attack in the '70s.

Weeks said he realized that whoever produces is going to play the most and that's fine with him.

"I'm not a ball hog," he said. "I like having a bunch of tailbacks. Defenses are going to have to prepare for all of us and we're always going to have fresh legs."

Johnson, who can get bonus time as a punt returner and possibly as a receiver, said that sharing time at tailback is new to him but something he has to live with.

"I'm not going to say I'm used to sharing. The only time I had to do that was my sophomore year when I was the second running back but I got a lot of playing time," said Johnson, a Parade All-American tailback. "I haven't had to share like this, so it's a big switch for me right now.

"Can I get used to it? I'm going to have to get used to it," said Johnson. "I've got my punt returns where I can make an impact. So when I get my offensive carries or catches, I can make an impact and come at them from different angles."

A solid running game should help offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave open up the passing game a little as well, particularly when backup Marques Hagans is in at quarterback because of his ability to run the ball. Defensive backs and linebackers can't afford to cheat up on the line of scrimmage so much without risking getting burned on a big play from the passing game.

"I think we can do the same thing will all of them," said Groh. "At any time in the game, we ought to have a guy with good legs under him."

Considering all four will be around for three or four seasons, Virginia's running attack will only get better as the offensive line gets bigger and more experienced.

Groh can't wait.

The opponents sure can.