White: Simpson Looks To Recapture Magic
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 08/14/2009
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE - After carrying four times for all of 5 yards against the Miami Hurricanes, Mikell Simpson came off the field in obvious pain. He did not return.
His left collarbone was broken, and his junior season at UVa was over. Somehow, the injury seemed a fitting end to a forgettable season for the tailback from Harrisburg, Pa.
"Pretty much," Simpson said after a recent practice. "Everything was going downhill. It just finished it off."
One of the more compelling stories in college football in 2007 was the emergence of Simpson, known to his teammates as "Juice." He'd been lost in the depths of the depth chart, but pressed into service because of injuries to Virginia's other tailbacks, Simpson responded with a performance for the ages. He totaled 271 all-purpose yards - 152 receiving and 119 rushing - and scored two touchdowns, including the game-winner, as UVa rallied to edge Maryland at Byrd Stadium on Oct. 20, 2007.
No one-game wonder was Simpson. He rushed 20 times for 170 yards against Texas Tech in the Gator Bowl that season - his most memorable carry was a 96-yard TD run - and UVa players, coaches and fans expected more of the same from Simpson in 2008.
In the opener, however, Simpson gained only 18 yards on six carries against Southern California. Unfortunately for the 'Hoos, that wasn't an aberration. Only once last season - against Maryland, naturally - did Simpson rush for more than 38 yards. After averaging 5 yards per carry as a sophomore, Simpson saw his average plummet to 3 per carry in 2008.
"I just came out and put too much pressure on myself," he said. "I wanted to make big plays instead of just letting the game come to me. And it worked out for the negative for me. I gotta take that and learn from it."
Once his collarbone healed, Simpson focused, as Cedric Peerman had after a disappointing 2006 season, on limiting himself to one cut on runs. Simpson's 2009 reviews have been encouraging. In UVa's spring game, he had a 48-yard TD run, and he's done well in training camp this month.
Simpson has shown "very good focus and a real high level of consistency," Al Groh said this morning.
His confidence, which once was lost, has steadily returned, said Simpson. "After the season I sat down and realized why I didn't have a successful season out there last year, and once I got into practices, I started applying that, and things started happening the way they did in '07."
How much the 6-1, 200-pound Simpson is able to contribute, Groh told reporters last month in Greensboro, N.C., will "be a very significant thing, clearly, and for all the other issues that we've addressed here, questions that people have asked about different spots, that's probably one of the bigger questions on the team.
"If we have the Mikell Simpson that did just a terrific job for us the second half of '07, then we'll have the type of back that any team would like to have. If it's the way it started out last season - I mean, you watched it, it was painful sometimes.
"He lost his way along in there somehow, his style of running, but the same thing had happened to Cedric a couple years before, and he got back on track with it, so we're hoping that the same thing happens here."
Simpson's struggles in some ways mirrored those of the team. Virginia, which won nine games in 2007, dropped to 5-7 last year.
"It was a big disappointment last year, especially coming off the season I had and the season that the team had," Simpson said. "But we learned from that and are using it as motivation coming into this season."
Simpson is the Cavaliers' most experienced tailback. The most talented is probably Torrey Mack, a 6-0, 190-pound redshirt freshman. Other candidates for playing time at that position include senior Rashawn Jackson, junior Keith Payne and sophomore Max Milien.
History suggests that UVa will need more than one tailback this fall. As Groh heads into his ninth season as coach at his alma mater, he knows all too well the toll that injuries have taken on his top tailbacks, from Antwoine Womack to Alvin Pearman to Wali Lundy to Jason Snelling to Peerman to Simpson.
"It is a position where durability's an issue," Groh said. "If you have two players, say as Clemson was able to have with [James] Davis and [C.J.] Spiller, over the course of the season, it's probably advantageous for your team in a lot of respects.
"You really have to have three put-in-the-game players in order to always have two available. So while we do have in Mikell and Mack two players who have good open-field skills and long-range speed, they're not necessarily of the big-back variety, so the durability issue there is certainly one that has the possibility of coming back.
"We'd like to say that in a perfect world you could give the ball to one guy 25 times a game for 12 weeks, but there are not many guys who can hold up to that."


 

Name to remember: Cam Johnson
Aug. 14, 2009
1:58 p.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - In 2007, UVa's football team got 14 sacks from Chris Long, nine from Clint Sintim and seven from Jeffrey Fitzgerald.

In 2008, with Long and Fitzgerald gone, Sintim raised his total to 13 sacks, but no other Cavalier had more than five. And now Sintim is gone, too, leaving Virginia without a player who's proven to be a big-time pass-rusher at the college level.

Looking at the 2009 'Hoos, it's reasonable to ask: Where are the sacks going to come from?

Keep an eye on Cameron Johnson, a 6-4, 255-pound outside linebacker from Greenbelt, Md.

At Gonzaga High in D.C., Johnson's rare athleticism was on full display. He played wideout and defensive back in football and also starred in basketball. At UVa, he played in six games as a true freshman in 2008 before suffering a season-ending ankle injury.

Fifth-year seniors Aaron Clark and Denzel Burrell have been working with the first team at outside linebacker, but Johnson starts on the nickel and dime packages, and he's in the rotation when UVa is in its base defense, too.

Of Johnson's seven tackles last season, three were for loss, and Al Groh expects more big plays from No. 56 this year.

"He's like a hunting dog that's starting to get the scent of what he can really be," Groh said on a teleconference this morning. "While he's got tremendous physical gifts to play the position that he's playing right now, it's a very different position than what he played in high school.

"What the target was, what the model was, to be a great player [at outside linebacker] was probably somewhat unfamiliar to him. But he's got a very clear picture now of what that is, and he's pursuing it very diligently."

-- Jeff White

Six players to serve as captains for U.Va.
JAY JENKINS MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Published: August 15, 2009

To most on the outside, including a host of former players, it seemed rather unique.

Virginia's football team rolled through the summer months without a single captain to lead workout sessions.

According to those in training camp, that designation was not needed for a group longing to take the program to just its second bowl game in four seasons.

"The leadership on this team has been better than I have ever seen," said quarterback Jameel Sewell. "It was never an issue."

After delaying the voting process, Virginia coach Al Groh announced the results earlier this week.

Two offensive players, right tackle Will Barker and quarterback Vic Hall, were joined by outside linebackers Denzel Burrell and Aaron Clark, defensive end Nate Collins and cornerback Chris Cook in the final balloting.

"We have a lot of different leaders that are not captains but the ones we picked are great," said wideout Raynard Horne. "I voted for the offensive guys and [Barker and Hall] were the guys that I voted for. I think we got it right."

In years past, Virginia settled for a smaller number of captains, typically four, but Groh did not want to differentiate among those who tied in voting on his side of the ball.

"Like Coach Groh said, the team picked captains and there are four people on defense that will assume the exact same role this year," Collins said. "He said it didn't seem fair to him to narrow it down to just two so we have four on defense and two on offense.

"I truly think it is a good thing."

Collins said he was thrilled that he was bestowed with the captain title, but it was not envisioned when he took the field as a true freshman in 2006.

"It is not something you think about over the years, but it's certainly a role that you want," he said. "Being taken under the wings by guys like Chris Long, Clint Sintim and John Phillips, who were my roommates, you kind of adopt the nature that they took. It is important and not something I take lightly.

"It was a huge honor to find out that my teammates chose me as a captain this year."

Barker said the designation changed little in his preparation for the season, one that starts on Sept. 5 at home against William & Mary.

"I came into the season trying to be a leader, whether I was a captain or not, so nothing is going to change for me," he said. "I am still going to try to lead everyone by example."

Jay Jenkins covers U.Va. football for The Charlottesville Daily Progress. Contact Jenkins at jjenkins@dailyprogress.com


 

Jaguars, No. 1 pick Monroe finally have deal
Offensive tackle signs 5-year contract, then practices.
By Michael C. WrightStory updated at 2:47 AM on Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009

Eugene Monroe ended his 12-day holdout on Friday, with the rookie offensive tackle signing a five-year contract with the Jaguars worth as much as $35.4 million, including $19 million guaranteed.

The No. 8 overall pick signed the deal and was on the practice field Friday night. To make room for him on the roster, the club waived rookie receiver Maurice Dupree.

Monroe finished organized team activities and minicamp as the starter at left tackle, but has since tumbled down the depth chart after missing 22 workouts. The question now is whether Monroe, whose guaranteed money is the most in team history, will be able to make a significant contribution, given all the time he’s missed.

Monroe met with the media after the evening practice with sweat streaming down his face after he was matched up with James Wyche and then twice with last year’s top draft pick, Derrick Harvey, in a mini version of the Oklahoma drill. He won all three and appeared to dominate Harvey.

“A little one on one. Went right in the fire. It was good,’’ Monroe said.

Negotiations between Monroe and the Jags heated up Friday morning, once news circulated about Green Bay defensive lineman B.J. Raji agreeing to terms on his five-year contract, which included $17.71 million in guaranteed money. Raji received a 40 percent increase in total value over last year’s No. 9 pick (Keith Rivers), and an increase of approximately 15 percent in guarantees.

Asked if the Raji deal opened the door, Monroe said, “It did. It gave a better idea of where I should be. I just wanted to get here as soon as possible. I wanted to be here but I hired an agent to do his job and now I’m here.’’

And now that he is, Monroe said he expects to be under the microscope.

“That’s how it should be,’’ he said. “They drafted me in the first round and with that comes a lot of responsibility.’’

Jaguars general manager Gene Smith said he’s pleased to finally have Monroe in camp.

“I walked up to him after practice and it looked like it was Christmas morning for him,’’ Smith said. “I’m so happy he feels that way to be here after missing out on so much.’’

Prior to Raji’s signing, Monroe and the Jags sides seemed far apart on the structural terms of the contract.

Monroe’s representation wanted more money tied into the contract in the form of incentives and escalators. The Jaguars had made similar concessions last year during negotiations with Harvey, the No. 8 pick of ’08 who held out 33 days.

Although he’s widely considered the most polished of the rookie offensive tackles, Monroe will need to absorb a lot of information relating to the offensive system before moving in to protect the blind side of quarterback David Garrard.

“It just feels good to have our whole team here,’’ Garrard said. “We’ve been missing the big guy and we’re very happy he’s here and everything’s been settled.’’

The club hasn’t yet determined how it will handle Monroe’s workload, and didn’t say if he’ll play in the team’s preseason opener at Miami on Monday night.

“He’s behind and he’s got to battle. But he’s a quick study,’’ Smith said. “I know he’ll come in and compete.’’

While veteran Tra Thomas continues to draw rave reviews for his production thus far at camp, it’s likely that Monroe could regain the starting job, The club quietly moved him to No. 1 on the depth chart coming out of minicamp and OTAs.

Earlier in the week, coach Jack Del Rio questioned how much Monroe could help, given all the time he’s missed.

“I’m glad he’s in,’’ Del Rio said after Friday night’s practice. “The team is happy to have that question put to rest.’’