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McGrew lost for season

The loss of senior Michael McGrew to a broken leg leaves the Cavaliers without a wide receiver who has ever started a game in college.

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Michael McGrew, whose 60 career receptions are more than the rest of Virginia's wide receivers have combined, suffered a broken leg Tuesday in practice that will cause him to miss the 2003 season.

    Coach Al Groh said McGrew will undergo surgery today but would not elaborate on the injury.

    When asked if he knew which leg was broken, Groh said, "I sure do, but I've already spoken enough about injuries today. He broke his leg. Now that we've got that fact out there, we're on to the future."

    Tailback Wali Lundy was carted off the practice field last week with a severe cramp and left practice Monday with an apparent hamstring injury, but "Lundy's all right," Groh said Wednesday.

    McGrew, who has started 24 of UVa's 26 games during the past two seasons, was not redshirted as a freshman in 2000 and will have an opportunity to return for a fifth season of eligibility in 2004.

    No other player in the UVa program has started a game at wide receiver. Ryan Sawyer and Ottowa Anderson, candidates for the starting spot opposite McGrew, have 11 and 29 career receptions, respectively.

    "Ryan and Ottowa are equally adept at both," said Groh, referring to their knowledge of both receiver spots. "Those players who are new to the position, I would hesitate to teach them two positions at the same time."

    McGrew's backups were converted cornerback Art Thomas, redshirt freshman Ron Morton and true freshman Fontel Mines.

    "They've got to make plays for us," Groh said, "but making plays and learning the position, the challenge was the same before [McGrew's injury] as it was afterwards."

    Thomas, a senior, started nine games at cornerback during the 2001 and 2002 seasons before being moved to wide receiver in the spring.

    "He's had three real good days," Groh said. "Art's skills at doing this come as no surprise. He's always shown the size (6-foot-2, 205 pounds) and speed and ability to catch the ball. We saw him run back a fumble two years ago 97 yards for a touchdown. We saw him return an interception last year for a touchdown.

    "We've seen him do things on the practice field. When we got here, [there were] no corners on the team. Now that we've begun to develop some corners, we've been able to get him to a spot that maybe it's a shame we couldn't get him to a while ago."

 

 

 

Virginia's McGrew out for the season with a broken leg
By John Galinsky  / Daily Progress staff writer
August 14, 2003
 

When his friend and record-setting teammate Billy McMullen moved on to the NFL, Michael McGrew talked frequently about trying to fill McMullen’s role as Virginia’s go-to receiver.
Unfortunately for McGrew, he will not get that opportunity this season. The senior suffered a broken leg during practice Tuesday and will undergo surgery today, UVa coach Al Groh said Wednesday. He will miss the entire 2003 season.
Since McGrew played as a true freshman, he still has a redshirt year available and could play in 2004. Nevertheless, it is a significant blow to the Cavaliers, who now must replace both of last year’s starting receivers.
McGrew, a two-year starter, has 60 career receptions, including 27 for 428 yards and two touchdowns last season.
Now the likely starters will be junior Ottowa Anderson and senior Ryan Sawyer, who combined for 28 catches a year ago. The good news is the receiving corps still appears deep with sophomore Marques Hagans, senior Art Thomas, redshirt freshman Ron Morton and true freshmen Fontel Mines, Deyon Williams and Emmanuel Byers among those competing for playing time.
“They have to make plays for us,” Groh said of the remaining wideouts, though he said McGrew’s injury didn’t change that fact. “They faced the same challenge minutes before that occurred as afterward.”
The news was better concerning sophomore tailback Wali Lundy, last year’s leading rusher. Lundy suffered a pulled hamstring during Monday’s practice. But, Groh said, “Lundy’s all right.”
Lundy is actually the team’s top returning receiver. Coming out of the backfield, he made 58 catches for 435 yards and four touchdowns last season. Tight end Heath Miller (33 catches) and fullback Jason Snelling (31) also had more receptions than McGrew. Both are sophomores.
The Cavaliers use their running backs and tight ends extensively in the passing game, which may help compensate for the loss of McGrew and McMullen, who made 210 career catches and was a third-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Still, the remaining wideouts must prove they can be dependable threats, especially downfield. Virginia’s coaches and quarterback Matt Schaub have talked about stretching the field more often with longer throws. McMullen and McGrew were the only Cavaliers with receptions of longer than 50 yards last season.
Sawyer averaged 17.7 yards per catch, tops on the team. Another possible deep threat is Thomas, a converted cornerback who has looked good in practice lately.
“Art’s skills come as no surprise,” Groh said. “He’s always shown the type of size and speed and ability to catch the ball. We’ve seen him return a fumble [92] yards for a touchdown (vs. Penn State in 2001). We’ve seen him return an interception for a touchdown (vs. Akron last season). We’ve seen him do things on the practice field.”
Thomas was a star running back in high school and caught 23 passes as a senior. He moved to receiver in the spring and says he is feeling comfortable at the position.
“I’m getting used to catching the ball again,” Thomas said. “I caught a lot of balls in high school. Deep down, I’m an offensive-minded person, so I’d say it’s been a pretty smooth transition. I’m getting back in the groove.”

Note. The Cavaliers are holding their “Meet the Team” session today at Scott Stadium from 3:30-5 p.m. Fans can get autographs, try on a football uniform and have their pictures taken with UVa football player cutouts and the Virginia Horse and Cavalier. Parking (in the East and South lots) and admission are free and concessions will be available. 

 

 

 

U.VA. NOTES
Aug 14, 2003

OPEN HOUSE: University of Virginia football fans can meet senior quarterback Matt Schaub and the rest of the U.Va. players, as well as coach Al Groh and his assistants, this afternoon at Scott Stadium.

U.Va.'s annual meet-the-team event will start at 3:30 p.m. Free parking is available in the stadium's east lot beginning at 3 p.m. Fans should enter the stadium through the east gate, where posters and schedules will be handed out.

Admission is free, and concessions will be sold.

FRIENDLY RIVALS: Schaub's backups at quarterback, redshirt freshman Anthony Martinez and true freshman Kevin McCabe, were suitemates at a U.Va. football camp when both were in high school.

"I knew he liked it at the time," Martinez said of McCabe, "but neither of us knew we'd both go here. It's kind of ironic."

Martinez graduated from Ashland's Patrick Henry High. McCabe is from the Pittsburgh area. Martinez enters the season No. 2 on the depth chart, but he'll have to battle McCabe for the starting job once Schaub leaves.

"Kevin and I get along great," Martinez said. "I like competition, and he's a good one to push me."

SOPHOMORE SLUMP? As a true freshman last season, safety Willie Davis started five games, including the Continental Tire Bowl. Davis lost his starting job in the spring, however, and has yet to reclaim it. The Cavaliers' first-team safeties are juniors Jay Dorsey and Jermaine Hardy.

Dorsey, a backup last season, has 15 career tackles, with most coming on special teams. Hardy was the top reserve at cornerback in 2002.

Davis said he wants to start again and is using his demotion as motivation. Still, he said, if the coaches want him to come off the bench, so be it. "Whatever helps us win,"

SPECIAL CASE: Graduate student Kase Luzar's importance to the team should not be underestimated, Groh said. Luzar, who came to U.Va. as a walk-on from Lafayette High in Williamsburg, starts at fullback and also plays tight end, H-back and on special teams. He's a three-year letterman who graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in Spanish.

Asked what Luzar contributes to the team, Groh said, "Glue."

"He's one of those kind of players that just kind of holds everything together," Groh said. "First of all, all the players know that this guy is on top of everything - in the weight room, preparation for the game, his schoolwork. He's very soft-spoken and doesn't speak up very much, but he really adds a presence. And on a team that doesn't have a lot of veteran players right now, that's very important for us."

Luzar's ability to play multiple positions saves "a lot of roster spots," Groh said. "He gives us a veteran player, and he doesn't need a tremendous amount of turns at every one of those spots to be ready for the game."

The Luzar family has been good to college football in this state. Kase's brother, Chris, started at tight end for U.Va. and now plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars. Their father, Rex, played at William and Mary.

GETTING HIS KICKS: Another Lafayette High graduate who arrived at U.Va. as a recruited walk-on is sophomore Connor Hughes. He expected to redshirt as a freshman last season, but Hughes took over as the No. 1 field goal and extra-point kicker in early November and started the final five games.

Hughes made his first field goal attempt - a 47-yarder against Maryland - and finished the season 16 for 17 on extra points and 5 for 6 on three-pointers.

Perhaps as early as this season, Groh almost certainly will have Hughes on scholarship. For now, though, Hughes has other concerns.

"I'm really trying not to think about it," Hughes said. "When it comes, it comes. I'm sure he'll reward me when he's ready."

At Lafayette, Hughes was a two-sport star, and he could have played soccer in college. "I miss soccer a lot," he said, "but I'm learning to love [football]." - Jeff White

 

 

 

U.Va. aide is Heck of a coach
Former Skins lineman prepared for hard work
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Aug 13, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE The pay? Excellent. The hours? Reasonable. The perks? Many.

Such was life in pro football for Andy Heck, who spent the 2000 season - his 12th in the NFL - as an offensive tackle for the Washington Redskins.

In 2001, Heck's perspective changed, and so did his life. After retiring from the NFL, he hired on as a graduate assistant at the University of Virginia, where he began working long, long hours for little pay and less recognition. He didn't mind.

"I was an offensive lineman," Heck reminded a group of reporters recently. "Even though I was a pro football player, the O-linemen, those were the blue-collar guys, so I'm not afraid of hard work."

Heck, a graduate of W.T. Woodson High in Fairfax, had more than a strong work ethic going for him when he joined then-first-year coach Al Groh's staff at U.Va. He had money in the bank, which made it possible for him "to take the time to really get into this new profession, this new career, and kind of learn it the right way," Heck said.

"To have the opportunity to come in and break down film, learn how to be a coach and do all the grunt work, kind of earn my stripes, that was something that I really wanted to do, really wanted to prove I could do, and I'll be a better coach for it down the road."

A graduate assistant in 2001 and'02, the 36-year-old Heck got a new title this year. Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave left U.Va. for the Jacksonville Jaguars in January, and Groh opted to promote from within. Offensive line coach Ron Prince also became the offensive coordinator, receivers coach Mike Groh added the quarterbacks to his class of pupils, and Heck took over as coach of the tight ends, with whom he'd worked as a graduate assistant.

Heck's relationship with his boss dates to the mid-1980s. Then Wake Forest's coach, Al Groh tried unsuccessfully to lure him to Winston-Salem. Heck headed instead to South Bend. At Notre Dame, after three years as a tight end, he shifted to offensive tackle as a senior. Smart move. Heck was named an All-American in'88 and was captain of the Fighting Irish's national championship team.

Seattle drafted Heck with the 15th pick of the first round in 1989. Groh moved up to the NFL that year too, joining the Giants' staff as an assistant. Their paths rarely crossed, but "I was always well aware of where he was, whether it was playing at Notre Dame or, particularly, when he was in the NFL," Groh said.

"He had a reputation of being a very smart guy and a highly competitive guy. That sounds like the kind of guy you want to be coaching for you."

The 6-6 Heck spent five seasons with the Seahawks, five with the Giants and two with the Redskins. He played at 298 pounds in Washington, and he's still an imposing figure who, even as a graduate assistant, has proved to be a gifted recruiter.

"Having played in the NFL has been a huge plus for me," Heck said. "I've been where these kids want to go, and so now we've got something to talk about, something they can relate to, and that's been a very big tool for me."

Heck and his wife, Jennifer, have four children: a 9-year-old son, Jonathan, and 6-year-old triplets, Charlie, Molly and Evelyn. Like Heck, his family has had to adjust to the coaching life's demands.

"As a player, really, you can kind of keep normal 9-to-5 hours, and you have a lot of time off in the offseason," Heck said. "For me, to come to a new town and have an instant peer group in this coaching staff, to have a job I love, it's made that transition easier. For them, they had to move to a new place, get into a new school and be without Dad for a while."

Such challenges aside, Heck clearly is enjoying himself. When he called Groh about a job in 2001, it was not only because Heck wanted to work for the man who once recruited him.

"It was coach Groh, but first and foremost it was the fact that this is the University of Virginia," Heck said. "I'm a Virginia guy, and while I didn't go to school here, I grew up here and I've always admired what the school stood for."

NOTE: Virginia quarterback Matt Schaub is a candidate for the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, having been placed on a watch list of 42. The award is given annually to the nation's top college quarterback.

 

 

 

For UVa's Pearman, it's full speed ahead
By John Galinsky  / Daily Progress staff writer
August 13, 2003
 

For months after undergoing surgery to repair the torn ACL in his right knee last November, Alvin Pearman kept one date in mind: Aug. 6.
By the start of Virginia’s 2003 football training camp, the junior tailback wanted to be back. Not easing back, gingerly testing the knee to see if it would hold up. But all the way back, showing the same form that made him one of the team’s most versatile and valuable offensive weapons the past two years.
Judging from the first week of preseason practice, mission accomplished.
“I feel great. The knee feels great,” Pearman said. “Every day I worked hard with my rehab, so when I got to this point I’d be as prepared as possible. Now I’m reaping the benefits of that.”
Pearman has looked like his old self during practice, darting and jetting past defenders and sliding out of the backfield to catch passes. Other than the supportive sleeve on his right knee, there is no evidence of his major reconstructive surgery just nine months ago.
“He looks just fine,” said UVa coach Al Groh, who has often praised Pearman’s toughness and athletic ability.
In 2001, Pearman led the Cavaliers in rushing (371 yards) and all-purpose yards (1,167). He shared playing time with Wali Lundy last season but still had 343 rushing yards and 21 receptions before injuring the knee against Penn State in the season’s 10th game.
After undergoing surgery, Pearman spent four months rehabbing in the training room, building strength in the knee. Gradually he began running, cutting and jumping, regaining the agility, speed and elusiveness that make him special.
“Alvin is a tough kid,” said UVa strength coach Evan Marcus. “He has a lot of determination.”
If anything, Pearman was pushing himself so hard that he had to ease up at times. He developed tendonitis in the knee from overwork, but for the most part he made steady progress toward his goal of total fitness.
“To tell the truth, on the first day [of practice] I had to work a few kinks out,” said Pearman, whose brother Andrew, a high school senior, has committed to the Cavaliers. “But after I took my first hit, I felt good. Everything’s fine. I’m cutting on it, doing everything I did before. I’m just playing football now. I’m not worrying about my knee at all.”
Now Pearman can focus on trying to earn playing time in a crowded backfield. Besides Lundy, junior Marquis Weeks and sophomore Michael Johnson are talented tailbacks on the roster.
“It’s such strong competition, but the good thing is we’re all friends,” Pearman said. “We all motivate each other. They supported me when I was coming back from my injury. It’s not good for a team if the competition is ugly. Here it’s friendly and we’re all trying to make each other better.”