On coaching fast track
Ron Prince remains the offensive line coach and takes over as coordinator from
Bill Musgrave, who resigned for an NFL job.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES
CHARLOTTESVILLE - When given an opportunity three years ago to work for Tyrone
Willingham, Ron Prince accepted an offer from a head football coach he had never
met.
"If you know anything about Coach [Al] Groh," Prince said, "you know he's a
pretty persuasive recruiter."
Instead of going to work for Willingham, then the head coach at Stanford, Prince
agreed to coach the offensive line at Virginia.
It was the sixth coaching stop for Prince, who took his biggest step this past
winter, when he was promoted to offensive coordinator.
"All I ever wanted was to be the best offensive-line coach I could be," Prince,
33, said.
Prince did not campaign actively for the position that came open when former
coordinator Bill Musgrave resigned to join the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars and
he's not sure how much his role has expanded.
"We have the same leader, Al, and essentially the same players," Prince said.
"There's not a whole lot that has changed. If you have a really good
organization, you could pick any of the assistant coaches to be the coordinator.
Somebody has to write the scripts."
At the start of this week, Groh still hadn't revealed how the play calling would
be done or who was going to do it. Last year, Musgrave surveyed the field from
the press box. Prince said he would prefer to stay on the field.
"A lot of head coaches call plays," Groh said. "Bill Walsh did it. Mike Holmgren
does it. They're on the field. So are Andy Reid and Jon Gruden."
For that matter, so does a guy named Steve Spurrier in Washington.
"He hasn't said anything," said UVa quarterbacks Mike Groh, another assistant
who is accustomed to being on the field, "but I think you can assume that Coach
[Al] Groh has a plan."
Part of that plan would be to make the transition as smooth as possible for
Prince, who coordinated the running game in the second of his two seasons at
Division I-AA Cornell.
"I had an identical role [to this] at Cornell before I came here," Prince said.
"I'm not going to equate the two levels, but I've been the organizational leader
on the offensive side of the ball. Plus, it's really been a collaborative effort
here for the last three years."
At the time he was hired at Virginia, Prince was out of a job following the
resignation of then-Cornell head coach Pete Mangurian in 2000. It was the
opportunity to work for Mangurian, now the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta
Falcons, who had prompted Prince to leave James Madison after the 1997 season.
At JMU, Prince had coached the offensive line under head coach Alex Wood, now
the receivers coach with the Cincinnati Bengals and previously the quarterbacks
coach for the Minnesota Vikings.
Prince's departure came one year before Wood resigned at JMU, "but both the
president and [athletic director] asked me to stay," Prince said. "I just felt,
if I wanted to advance, that I needed to be around more of a pro style.
"Here's a guy [Manguarian] who had been in the NFL for 14 years. At the time, I
didn't know Colgate from Cornell. I couldn't have told you Cornell was in the
Ivy League."
Prince is from Grand Junction, Kan., where he grew up as the adopted, only child
in a sports-minded military family.
"I had a pretty good sense that I was adopted," Prince said. "I was a relatively
light-skinned African-American and both my parents were dark-skinned. In my
neighborhood, nobody noticed. It was a very diverse town, with a lot of military
people. There was little sense of anxiety.
"I didn't understand a lot of the racial issues that you heard about in other
parts of the country."
Prince went to Dodge City (Kan.) Junior College in hopes of establishing himself
as a college prospect and later played two seasons at Appalachian State, where
he graduated with a major in history. At one time, his dream was to go to law
school at Georgetown.
Prince met his wife, Zoe, who is white, when he was attending a meeting of the
Black Coaches Association and she was doing public relations for a basketball
tournament connected with the BCA. He was at another BCA convention when
contacted by Groh, and he has passed up few opportunities to advance his career.
Prince went to training camps with Jacksonville, Washington, Atlanta and New
York as part of the NFL Minority Fellowship program from 1996-2000.
Eventually, Prince said he would like to be a head coach, but he does not have a
grand plan .
He is aware that only four of 117 Division I-A programs have black head coaches.
However, he does not fear that he will be passed over because of his race.
"If I'm good enough," he said, "I'm absolutely convinced there's no place in
this profession I can't go."
Groh not happy with OL
Like everybody else, I have been
writing for the last 10 days about Michael McGrew's season-ending knee injury
and assessing the impact it will have on Virginia's football team. Just out of
curiosity, though, I checked the Cavaliers’ game-by-game statistics from 2002
and had one of my suspicions confirmed the other night.
In the last four games of the season, McGrew had a total of three receptions,
one on a "trick play" against Maryland on which he caught a 37-yard touchdown
pass from fellow wideout Billy McMullen. You could argue that McGrew was even
more vital to UVa fortunes in the absence of McMullen, a third-round pick of
the Philadelphia Eagles, but consider what happened when McMullen was injured
on UVa’s first series of downs in the Continental Tire Bowl. McGrew had one
reception for 7 yards but the Cavaliers still wallopped West Virginia 48-22.
It was my recollection that head coach Al Groh said last spring that he
anticipated one of his wide receivers catching 50 or more passes this coming
season. Keep in mind that McMullen had 83 and 69 receptions, respectively, in
his two seasons in Groh's offense. On Wednesday, Groh claimed that he had been
misunderstood and that there was no need for a wide receiver to have 50
receptions because there is so much receiving talent at running back (Wali
Lundy and Alvin Pearman), tight end (Heath Miller and Patrick Estes) and
fullback (Kase Luzar and Jason Snelling). Those six players combined for 170
receptions last season.
In McGrew's defense, he did appear to be holding onto the ball better than any
other receiver when I observed the Cavaliers' practice Aug. 9. He runs precise
routes and he was the best blocker among UVa's wide receivers, but his speed
will not stretch defenses. Art Thomas, Ron Morton and freshman Deyon Williams
have the best chance to do that.
One of the most revealing statements Groh uttered in a teleconference
Wednesday came when he said that Thomas and Ottowa Anderson have been running
with the first team when UVa is in two-wide formations. I would have bet that
the best candidate to start would have been fifth-year senior Ryan Sawyer.
McGrew, Sawyer, Anderson and Marques Hagans were all playing the same receiver
spot and that sounded like an overload to me. It looks like Hagans will be
getting a lot of his time in three-wide sets, but I'm a little confused as to
where Sawyer fits in. I figured that Groh would have moved him to flanker, a
spot where Sawyer had some experience, but it appears that Groh will give
Thomas every effort to win the job.
AT THIS TIME a year ago, Groh said that his preference would be to have seven
or eight serviceable linemen but that he came out of spring practice with only
four. When asked Wednesday what that figure was this year, Groh responded,
"2_." Was that counting 6-foot-6, 333-pound offensive guard as "1" or "1_,”
Groh was asked. Groh finally settled on "1" and said that the other four
prospective starters were a combined "1_."
Another indication of Groh's general dissatisfaction with the offensive line
came when he was asked for his plans for Kevin Bailey. Bailey, considered the
Cavaliers' best offensive lineman to start the 2002 season, still has not been
cleared medically after the knee operations that resulted from a torn anterior
cruciate ligament suffered at Florida State in the second game of the season.
"He's going to play Saturday night [Aug. 30] even if he isn't cleared till
Friday," Groh said. Groh said that he's been able to use Bailey and another
rehabilitating offensive lineman, Mark Farrington, on an increased basis.
UVa gets good reception south of the border
Back in the spring, Virginia coach Al Groh joked that he had to make do
with 4˝ offensive linemen. Four members of that unit were out with injuries
and illnesses: Kevin Bailey, Mark Farrington, Brian Barthelmes and Zac
Yarbrough.
The situation has been somewhat better this preseason. Barthelmes and
Yarbrough are back, while Bailey and Farrington have been in uniform but held
out of contact drills.
Still, Groh indicated that the offensive line remains a significant source of
concern going into the season opener eight days from now.
“Who am I really happy with right now?” Groh said when asked about the line.
“Two and a half. It’s true.”
Groh said the only lineman who has had a strong training camp is right guard
Elton Brown. “So you can cut up the other 1˝ among the remaining four”
starters, he said.
For now, the starting offensive line consists of Brown, right tackle Brad
Butler, left tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson, Yarbrough at center and Barthelmes
at left guard. It’s a young group. Butler, Ferguson and Barthelmes are
sophomores, while Brown and Yarbrough are juniors.
Groh said the only backup who is certain to play against Duke on Aug. 30 is
guard Ian-Yates Cunningham, a true freshman. Several of the other second-team
linemen also are true freshmen, including tackles Gordie Sammis and Eddie
Pinigis, but they are not ready yet, the coach said.
That makes the return of Bailey and Farrington crucial to enhancing Virginia’s
depth. Both are coming back gradually from knee injuries. Bailey, a senior,
has started 13 games at center and right tackle, while Farrington, a junior,
played in 12 games last season, three as a starter.
Bailey, in particular, would provide a big boost. He entered last season as
the team’s top lineman and a candidate for the Rimington Award, which goes to
the nation’s best center. But he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in
the second game and missed the rest of the season. He later reinjured the
knee, slowing his progress, and still has not received medical clearance to
take part in full-scale workouts.
“As soon as he’s cleared, he’s gonna play,” said Groh, who indicated Bailey
likely would be the top backup at center and tackle. “That would give us two
more players.”
Even when Bailey returns, Yarbrough probably will remain the starting center.
Yarbrough started the final 12 games last season, then missed the spring after
undergoing surgery for a double hernia.
“I wouldn’t want to commit to that, but it’s about competition and right now
he’s got a big lead,” Groh said.
The Cavaliers averaged just 127 rushing yards per game last season, a number
Groh would like to see improve considerably. With all of his running backs
returning, the coach believes his team should be superior in the ground game.
But much of that depends on the line.
“We’ve got to be better at running the ball with authority,” Groh said.
“That’s one of the big challenges that faces our team and one of the big
challenges facing the offensive line.”
U.VA. NOTES
Aug 22, 2003
HOT CORNER: Philip Brown, perhaps the state's top high school football player in
2002, confirmed yesterday that he plans to sign with Virginia again in February.
"Absolutely," Brown said in a media day interview at Hargrave Military Academy,
where he plays cornerback for coach Robert Prunty's postgraduate team.
Brown, who helped Hampton's Phoebus High win Group AAA, Division 5 titles in
2001 and'02, signed with U.Va. last winter but was a long shot to meet Division
I academic requirements for'03-04. He transferred from Phoebus to Fork Union
Military Academy at the semester break, hoping to improve his transcript, but
dropped out after about a month at FUMA.
He'll repeat the 12th grade at Hargrave. Brown, who turned 18 on Aug. 12, said
he took two classes at Newport News' Heritage High this summer - English and
algebra - and got an A in each one. Brown realizes that if he wants to enroll at
U.Va., he can't afford another misstep.
"This is my last shot," Brown said. "I thank Hargrave, I thank U.Va. for just
believing in me. This is my last chance, and I am going to make it work."
Brown cited Laveranues Coles, who was dismissed from the team at Florida State
but has since become a standout NFL receiver. Coles "got a second chance, and he
made the most of it," Brown said. "This is my second chance, and I'm trying to
seize the moment."
An all-Group AAA cornerback at Phoebus, for which he also returned four punts
and two kickoffs for touchdowns last season, Brown expects to make an immediate
impact as a Cavalier in 2004.
"This is going to be my redshirt year pretty much," Brown said, "because when I
get to Virginia, I'm going to be ready to fly."
FOUR'S A CROWD: In sophomores Wali Lundy and Michael Johnson and juniors Marquis
Weeks and Alvin Pearman, U.Va. has four tailbacks talented enough to start. They
give third-year coach Al Groh a lot of options, but they also make his job
difficult.
"You can't get space for all four of them in one game," Groh said. Still, he
added, it became clear last season "that there was plenty of room for all four
of them. We needed all four, and we're going to go in with that mentality here
and let circumstances dictate the actual use of all four players."
Nagging injuries slowed Lundy for part of the season, though he played in all 14
games. Johnson missed five games because of a high ankle sprain, Weeks sprained
an ankle against Maryland, and Pearman tore his right anterior cruciate ligament
Nov. 9.
ALMOST THERE: Kevin Bailey, considered U.Va.'s best offensive lineman heading
into last season, suffered a season-ending knee injury Aug. 31 at Florida State.
The 6-6, 295-pound senior is expected to be cleared for full contact soon and
could play in next weekend's opener against Duke.
"As soon as he's cleared, he's going to play," Groh said. "If he gets cleared
next Friday, he's going to play Saturday."
HEADED OVERSEAS: Former U.Va. star Travis Watson has signed to play pro
basketball in Greece. The 6-8, 255-pound Watson, the ACC's top rebounder in
2001-02 and'02-03, will play for the Athens-based Panionios club.
Watson, a four-year starter at U.Va., wasn't chosen in the NBA draft in June.
The Philadelphia 76ers invited him to play for their summer-league team but
later cut him.
ON THE RADAR SCREEN: Players whom U.Va. is recruiting in men's basketball
include forwards Emmanuel Willis and Adrian Joseph.
The 6-7, 215-pound Willis, who's from Mississippi, signed with Southern Miss in
November, but he failed to meet NCAA eligibility requirements and recently
enrolled in Hargrave Military Academy's postgraduate program. Willis has
re-opened his recruiting, Hargrave coach Kevin Keatts said, and isn't expected
to sign with Southern Miss again.
The 6-7, 200-pound Joseph will spend his 12th-grade year at Brewster Academy in
New Hampshire, where he'll play for the powerful postgraduate team. Joseph, a
native of Trinidad, is considering U.Va., Penn State, Notre Dame, St. Joseph's
and Vanderbilt.
Joseph attended Bergen Catholic High in New Jersey last season, but he turns 19
next week, Brewster coach Jason Smith said, and so would be too old to play at
Bergen as a senior.
Also, Virginia's staff won't have to travel far to scout 6-4 guard Jose Garcia,
one of the state's top 11th-graders. Garcia, a native of Angola, has transferred
from Holy Cross in Lynchburg to St. Anne's-Belfield in Charlottesville, where
he's a boarding student. - Jeff White