Al Groh Press Conference Transcript
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 10/12/2009

QUESTION: Coach we talked about after the game your offense and your defense combined played probably was the best we've seen all season. Can you talk about how things are starting to come together for you guys and how you go forward from here?
COACH GROH: We've seen, I would say, two and a half games of positive progress, say half because not really speaking of the 30 minutes of that third game. But there was a good deal of positive progress just not enough to call it a complete game obviously with the result.
So we just, you know, we seem to be kinda getting our legs underneath us. It's a long ways to go yet but the key thing now is for us to establish for ourselves what level of consistency of performance we're going to get.
To have done it a few times doesn't necessarily lock it in so we're going to have two really I think we feel significantly challenged to try to step up and do that.
QUESTION: With two big cornerbacks who play man-to-man, does that allow you to call plays differently on defense?
COACH GROH: Their size is very beneficial, Zach, but really the key thing there is their athletic skills. We would probably do a number of the same things with Ras I and Chris if they didn't have the same size but if they had the same athletic ability. Certainly we try to take advantage of what they do have and whether we're playing zone or man, some of which we play both, whether they're playing zone or man we want to accommodate what those guys do best.
QUESTION:You started the season with a large pool of receivers that were all fairly young. Who have you seen step up and emerge as the season has gone on?
COACH GROH: Clearly Kris Burd is making some plays for us, and he would be probably the one to put in that category. I don't think there has been anybody else with enough plays to say that they're in that category yet, but Chris has done it here now three games in a row so he would be deserving of going into that "emerging receiver" category.
QUESTION: Kris Burd was not a guy who had a lot of major-college offers coming out of high school. What would have been the major knock on him?
COACH GROH: He was, just raw vertical speed. Chris was we're very familiar with his program. He was in our camp, and we can see what his work ethic was, and how he took instruction. He was one of those players, Jeff, as with many that just fit us.
QUESTION: He may not have that raw talent but he seems -
COACH GROH: He's got good quickness and he knows how to find openings in it and we've had a lot of good players here that were not necessarily high named players, but were guys who fit us well, fit our program, fit this school and that's an important thing in putting your team together.
QUESTION: Jameel has a lot of experience and so does Chris Turner. It seems like the offenses have caught up in the ACC. Is that strictly because of the quarterback experience?
COACH GROH: You're exactly right, 11 teams played Saturday and eight of them scored 40 points or more. I know that I watched the Maryland/Wake Forest video, I saw our game, I saw a little bit of Florida State/Georgia Tech, I read about Duke/N.C. State, and in every one of those cases and I'm sure I'm leaving some out but in every one of those cases the quarterbacks had some real knock out days.
And usually that high scoring is a function of quarterback play. I thought Riley Skinner was outstanding, Lewis at Duke to go 40-for-50 must have had some great throws, so it was certainly a function of that.
QUESTION: Coach, it seems like Jameel and Vic have effective chemistry out there. Is that what you and Greg envisioned when they were out there together it would look?
COACH GROH: I would like to I think over time here, Jay, we'll see what type of connection they have. A lot of it was a function of Vic was pretty open. Most of us would have had good chemistry with Jameel on that play. (Chuckles.)
QUESTION: Coach, you've run a lot of two tight end sets in the last couple of weeks, and there is only four tight ends on the roster, if you wanted to stick with those, is Rashawn a true tight end or would you have to go to some different looks if one of those guys were to go down?
COACH GROH: No, he's a back.
QUESTION: Vic is not an experienced screen receiver. You mentioned the is it good to have a guy who has been through it with so many young guys on your receiving core?
COACH GROH: The answer to many questions like that, Paul, is you certainly wouldn't say "no."
So if it's not "no" I guess it's "yes" but how "yes" it is, how much they're paying attention to what a veteran player does, but one of the beneficial things for young players is whether it's within the total team or within their position to see those players who really know how to go about their business and just to watch them and find out, hey, that's how you do it in college football, that's how you come in early and watch video, that's how you train in the offseason and that's how you practice for every play because there is a big difference, okay?
One thing, the competition just for playing time is so much greater. Most of the players who were recruited to play college football it's because they were the best player on their team, certainly the best player at their position, as such they were probably playing pretty early in their career and now all of the sudden the line at their position is full of guys exactly like them.
So how do you compete with playing time with the guys on your team and the other guys got there the for the same reason so how to practice and play on a consistent basis is kind of a new thing.
Now this is a player that had that attitude when he got there. Perhaps Vic profited by watching some other players, but he was one of those guys already. He was a high energy, high motor player. Jeff asked about Kris Burd before having worked with him many camp we could see he was one of those players, so when I talked about guys that were good fits for us, both of those players would fall into that category.
QUESTION: You have commented and the players have, too, that the team has practiced better and that these good performances the last two weeks are a result of better work in practice. Given that you're not always one's-versus-one's, what makes a good practice?
COACH GROH: I guess it's probably the last question and the answer would segue right into this. Players need to learn how to practice at this level, and collectively and, therefore, the team does every year, the more veteran players the more players n whom it should be engrained, but college football has such a rotation that I would say most every year, most teams could talk about the young players that they have on it. Essentially 25 percent of your team is new every year anyway, so I think it's a standard thing. It's part of the life circumstance of college athletics.
But it's how to really develop that mentality as an individual player that every play of every practice is important and players who practice on that basis and learn how to "rev it up" they tend to play that way in the game. We do tend to do a good deal of during certain segments of each practice working each working our first units against each other for the competitive nature of it. We ask each player to challenge the player on the other side, challenge him to perform, in doing so we will find out how well the play really does work.
If you're just a guy absorbing the block or a blocking dummy over there with a real helmet on then we don't know whether the play is working or not and, plus, it doesn't force the guy who is trying to execute the play to get any better.
I know a number of we did a great deal of that last year and a number of the players have commented about how that level of competition was a factor in improvement of the play of the team throughout the year. So we tend to do a good amount of that.
QUESTION: Coach, what elements of the spread have you retained and do you notice a comfort level in the players kinda going back to what you guys have done over the last few years and what they've done over the last few years?
COACH GROH: We certainly have a lot more accumulated turns in some of the things that have been successful over the years so obviously the veteran players, the guys who have been around have a better sense of it.
Now, Tim Smith and Torrey Mack and Colt Phillips and those kind of players, they don't know any difference. They weren't here for the old and they haven't been here very long for the new. So it's only a certain element of the team to which that would apply anyway. But I would say there is probably a good blend of the two circumstances right now.
QUESTION: Al, can you talk about Simpson, what you think makes him such a good back? What made you go after him? He seems like he's not the stereotypical back that you usually get.
COACH GROH: Yeah, the two things about him really, Jerry, it's the same answer to both questions. Amongst the things that we do like in backs and in all positions, but amongst the things we like in backs is versatility. As a high school player, he caught a lot of passes, he returned kicks, he ran from scrimmage, he played some defense, he was a good basketball player, you know, he ran track, he was an all around athlete who showed a variety of athletic skills and football skills.
To bring up Wali Lundy had a good level of versatility, one year he caught over 50 passes, scored 51 touchdowns, Alvin Pearman was a good kick returner for us, good on screens, good from scrimmage, so we prize versatility in that position, particularly that one and he has good vision, sees the flow of the defense and has a good sense of when that flow is going to continue and that there is a backdoor cut and maybe when that flow isn't fast enough to cut him off in the direction that he's going.
When he makes good, quick decisions that's when he runs in the fashion in which he has been running. As we discussed, whatever did it and I'm not sure he really has an answer to it, either, but he got away from that type of definitive cutting last year, but when he played that way, in '07 and the way he's been playing this year he's more definitive with it. One of the things you have to do with a player like that or with any back but is not overcoach the cuts, because not every cut is going to be perfect. There will be some that you might want to have back but as we have over the years reminded all the different running back coaches, if most of us can see it the way those running backs can, then we would have been running backs. But none of us can really see it that way.
There is certain "you shouldn't do's" in there but more or less you have to give 'em their head and let 'em make their decisions. So it was those very things, Jerry that attracted us to him.
QUESTION: Coach, what have you seen from Maryland so far in the season that worries you?
COACH GROH: One is their return game. Torrey Smith, he's one of the really exciting dynamic players in the Atlantic Coast Conference and he's one of those versatile players of which we speak. He has runs reverses, he's caught the ball, he's returned kicks, he does a variety of things.
He's not just a receiver, but he's got good elusiveness, he's got good vertical speed. Early in his career I think he's around 4th or 5th in the history of the ACC in kickoff return yardage.
This isn't about the coach has to talk about who is good on the other team, the numbers speak for themselves early in his career. In all likelihood if all of us keep kicking the ball to him if he's 4th or 5th by the time he's finished he has a chance to be at the top. Dynamic player. They have a veteran quarterback who knows the offense very well who has experience and has had some real big games with them.
Defensively they're certainly out of the norm from what we have played against here recently which have been more conventional 4 3 defenses, so we have work to do on that particular phase of things.
QUESTION: I think ever since you put in that punting formation for the Gator Bowl you have not had a blocked punt, and you've had some good punts from the rugby punt. Why did you go to it and how do you decide which formation to use?
COACH GROH: Doug, it got our attention because it was becoming increasingly popular around the country. Every time we would turn on a video either we were not every time but frequently we were putting the video on and getting ready to play against it.
QUESTION: The rugby punt?
COACH GROH: Just the overall shield punt and the elements that go with it. So we were having to get ready for it or the team that we were preparing for had just played against it, and one of the things that of the two things that were noticeable about it with teams all over is that there were very few punts getting blocked and very few punts getting returned. One of the things it does the spread punt the history of the spread punt, it came about when the NFL changed the rules.
And when the rule change said that you could only release two players down field before the snap of the ball. So once that rule change came, the NFL said, well, if we can only release two players before the kick of the ball we better put them out there wide where they have a lot of room to release, thus was born the modern spread punt, it wasn't because coaches said this was the very best way to do this, it was because the rules dictated that was the only way to it.
Also by rule now it's not the same rule in college football but it's the same protection but de facto is makes it happen. And that requires that the blockers on the line of scrimmage have to retreat in order to make the different pick ups, if you're retreating you're not getting off on the snap of the ball. So what this formation does is because of the shield behind and the different set of rules it allows all the blockers, whether they have an assignment or they're uncovered to come aggressively off the ball and therefore there is quicker vertical coverage down the field on kicks.
So that is certainly an advantage, and it's an advantage to be moving forward rather than be moving backwards. And with that as has happened with lots of different things, whether it's an offense or defense, one an idea starts and coaches take it and are creative with it, then grows the variety of different formations that we're now seeing.
You all probably saw the most extreme from Indiana the other day in which they had a few players around center and quite a few spread out wide with the idea being if the defense doesn't accommodate those players there is the threat that somebody is going to catch the ball and throw it to one of them so you have to cover them as if they are wide receivers, which, in fact, they are, and that takes players away from rushing the punter, at the same time it has more players spread out and by the style of punt now are able to take off on the snap of the ball so you get more coverage from them.
So probably if you ask the question of most people who were employing that, everybody's answer would be similar to that.
QUESTION: What about the rugby punt?
COACH GROH: That came about as another part of the creativity and the innovation that people did with it. It was to change as teams do with their quarterback that sprint out in order to change the passing point so that particular pressures that are aimed at the middle of the pocket now maybe the quarterbacks outside the pocket and it negates the pressure, it's the same idea, teams do it to try to change the kick point as well as get a type of kick that has that roll which, again, makes it more difficult to return and cuts down on that particular challenge.
QUESTION: It seems that Chase Minnifield does not have the fair catch in his repertoire. Is that something that comes from the coaches or is it hoping to get a halo violation or is he just doing it?
COACH GROH: There is no official halo violation anymore, player has to be given a reasonable opportunity to catch the ball which you can see that "reasonable" means that the defender can get quite close to him, it's really the one call that doesn't occur, which is actual kick interference. He's got a lot of confidence in his ability to catch it, he's got a good level of courage to deal with whatever is impending so we just it's one of those things we kinda leave it up to him and we talk about what makes good decisions.
It's not a question of Laissez-faire coaching but it's not micromanaging the circumstance and allowing a player to use his skills.
QUESTION: How familiar were you with Torrey Smith in high school and did you foresee him becoming the player he is now?
COACH GROH: Clearly if we foresaw him being the type of player that he is now, he would be returning kicks for Virginia. So, we're not above admitting that there is a player that certainly has turned out to be superior to what many people thought, including ourselves. He's regardless of what the circumstance was in the past he's a superior college football player.
QUESTION: Would Simpson need to practice to play or does a player with his experience even need to practice before a game?
COACH GROH: Pretty much would be the case. You would want him to familiarize himself mostly, Zach, in the area of pass protection. The runs are going to be pretty much the same. Particularly because Maryland does bring a variety of different looking schemes which will be challenging, not only to the offensive line, but particularly to the backs.
Those are the guys who often have the dual pick up, lineman, if they stay with their roles where linemen get in trouble is they get disconcerted by different moving parts, and a guy will get off a play he should have stayed on because he thinks, oh geez, I've got to take this guy. Backs often have a lot more dual pick up or moving linebackers, and they've got to sort it out so that will be the particular issue there.
QUESTION: Now that Vic is playing both ways, how do you manage his practice time?
COACH GROH: Kind of like a tennis ball. You know, we do, we kind of bat him back and forth from field to field, and we do try to stagger things, so in the past for example both offense and defense would be working on goal line at the same time and both would be working on third down.
Because he's not an integral part of either goal line, but is important to third downs, maybe the offense will work on goal line while the defense works on third downs, and he will go over to the defense, and when the defense is working on goal line and don't need him, he goes up to the offense for third down. And we just try to make sure that he gets the plays that he needs on each side. So, it's worth a few more minutes of organization because he brings a lot to both sides, we just have to it's not complicated, it just takes time management.
QUESTION: How much of Jameel's improved play the last couple of weeks is kinda him getting the rust off, how much of it is the blended offense that he was more familiar with? How much is the running game and maybe how much is his preparation has gotten better?
COACH GROH: Preparation, running game, rust, and familiarity, I would say about 25 percent of each.
QUESTION: Coach, after the game you alluded to the fact that going up to College Park is typically one of the more challenging experiences you guys go to every other year. What is it about this rivalry, understanding you take every game the same, what is it about this rivalry that makes it different?
COACH GROH: In most conferences, Mark, when you have border teams play, it's usually pretty traditional rivalry, in the Big 12 you've got Kansas and Missouri; in the Big 10 you have Michigan and Ohio State, Indiana and Illinois, so most of those border school rivalries are amongst each schools most significant, whether it's students come from both sides of the border or people graduated from one school and get a good job offer in the state of the other school, that's pretty common in most of these rivalries.
QUESTION: Coach, you touched on Jameel's success over the past couple of weeks. How much better do you think he can get over the course of the rest of the season?
COACH GROH: Let me get my crystal ball up here! (Chuckles.) We certainly don't want to put a cap on that, but that would be hard for me to speculate. If I could do that I would buy stocks low and sell high.
QUESTION: You mentioned Mikell's variety of athletic experiences he had in high school, another one of your players like that is Cam Johnson. Can you talk about how he's progressed in his first season as a linebacker?
COACH GROH: Yeah, really, you really have wrote the first paragraph of my answer, just talking about if people are familiar with him, you know what David was talking about, he's one of the outstanding in one of the outstanding basketball leagues in the country, was a real good player, most are familiar with how good DeMatha is historically in that league, well Gonzaga is in that same league, they went 37 0 and won the big Catholic School national tournament at the end of the year.
And he was one of the best players on the team. Most of his high school was at wide receiver and safety, but he was a player with a lot of athletic skill and obviously a lot of height and good versatility that just the way nature usually works we could see was going to grow out of all of those things, Mother Nature lived up to her reputation and fortunately that was the case and he's gone from being in the lower 200s when we first met him to being in the plus 250s now and obviously bringing that same level of athletic skill.
Sports makes basketball was the same way, we could see that when you watched him play, he had a sense of how to move and how to get open, when to be off-side on rebounds and when to be in front of the basket, sports made sense and ball movement and all those things and it's been the same way in football, the game makes sense to him.
There is something to be learned on his part every day, even if it's not something that's taught David in the meetings it's something that happens on a play in practice that you couldn't forecast but now that it's there, there is a good teaching moment. He gets it right away. Whereas there are some players particularly those that are at a relatively new position for them, maybe you've got to go in and show 'em the video the next day and explain it to 'em, he gets it right there.
If you'll repeat that play, make a mark on the practice schedule, okay, if we have time I'm going to repeat play 14 so Cameron gets a chance at what we just talked about, if you repeat play 14, he's usually right on it. Same thing in the game when we talk about things on the sideline during the game that have just occurred, if they occur later in the game or in a subsequent series he's usually on it pretty good.
So his capacity to do that is excellent. There is a lot more for him to be exposed to in that his season was pretty well cut short last year he's a second year player without the benefit of most of his first year, so we're very well pleased with the position that he's in right now and see significant growth potential within that I would say on a daily basis because of his capacity to get it.
Really kind of the way he was, we I remember the day that Mike London and I went to the school. I walked out like, whoa! I loved this guy! The action wasn't that it was probably more basketball action on him than football at that particular point but you're right. When we saw I mean that was one of the guys who fit what we're looking for, it wouldn't have made any difference if nobody was interested in him, he fit what we were looking for.
QUESTION: Since we started the press conference Ras-I Dowling was named defensive player of the week and Torrey Smith was the specialist of the week for Maryland.
COACH GROH: That will be a good match up.
QUESTION: Another guy from the Catholic League, Nick Jenkins, his stats don't jump off the page, but what kind of year is he having?
COACH GROH: Very good. He's one of the tough minded and physically gritty players on the team. Of course that's necessary to play that position. It wouldn't fit everybody but he really likes it. And it's a position which some players can have whether it's as a college player, NFL player it's a position in which some guys can have a terrific career and it might be their only position. He's one of those players. You know, he's clearly not he's a defensive lineman who is a nose. He's not an outside rush end but it fits him well and he's going to have he's the kind of player we need.
And we're the kinda team that players like Nick need, because we've got a spot for them that's unique to which most are offering him and he's got a talent unique to what we're looking for, so we're fortunate to have him and to think he has so many more games he's played very well at each stage for a player who is in the early stages of his career, which I guess until a guy kind of belies the idea that just because a player is not a five year veteran he can't be a proficient player.
QUESTION: What would you consider the best nose tackle that you had here?
COACH GROH: By the time he was finished, Andrew Hoffman was a good nose tackle. He was a player that really didn't fit the pro-type body wise he would have been a good end for us, also, but we had other ends at the same time and it was a way for us to get everybody in there at the same time.
QUESTION: Coach you talk about your five games in your season, in the ACC you're one of two teams who doesn't have a loss in the conference, talk about the conference play.
COACH GROH: Well it looks like it's shaping-up as some of the previous races that at the early stage, it's anybody's race. The two divisions look a little different but in any case it still looks like it's going to be a run to the finish. I haven't actually seen a lot of the teams play very much, so I know the results but especially those teams that we haven't had reason to overlap with their opponents and their videos, I haven't seen 'em very much.
As I say, I know what the standings look like, I don't know how some of the teams are playing so it would probably be outside my level of awareness to try to tell you much else about that.
QUESTION: Coach, due to the success you had recently and the success that you've had against Maryland, do you feel that there is confidence around your team heading into this game?
COACH GROH: I think the players feel positive about themselves concerning what they've done the last few weeks, and they can see themselves getting better.
You know, the players are pretty smart, they've got eyes and ears and they can see they don't always need the coach to tell 'em. When a player can see that he can do things better than he could do them before, sure, that makes everybody feel better, whatever we're doing, so I think we feel positive about ourselves in those circumstances. I think it's unlikely that any of us feel that previous games with Maryland have any bearing on how this game is going to go. This one is about the level of preparation that we have, how everybody understands and embraces the plan and most particularly how we execute on Saturday.
QUESTION: In speaking about player development you said there were certain players that you could see would be contributors to the team but would not start until around mid season. Is that starting to happen? Who are those players?
COACH GROH: We spoke last evening, there was a question about Zane Parr, he certainly is one of those players. He was a few plays actually last year on the nickel and dime was a player that because of his athletic skills we could see where he would fit but the role didn't really take.
His playing time decreased there. He wasn't getting much time on the regular defense, then he hurt his knee and was lost for the season. Spring practice was okay, but found his footing and got some traction with his game and has come on very strong, doing a real nice job. He's one of the players that here repeatedly, Zach on Thursdays the Thursday video should highlight the teams preparation and the players' preparation, in other words, everything that's been covered during the course of the week happens on Thursday. There have been a number of Thursdays, man, where we said, wow, this guy has had one of the better practices of the week.
So he is one of the those players who it was discussed earlier about practices and the like, he's one of those that has learned how to practice like a college player. He's prepared for the games and improving his game and as y'all can see by watching him play it's showing up in terms of production.
He would be a player to come to mind. I would say that we talked about chase, somebody asked about Chase Minnifield, but he's one of those players that we can see that happening with, Landon Bradley on the offensive line is one of those players who's game continues to progress. He went against that Quinn down at North Carolina, who is a terrific player and it won't get much more challenging than that for him over the course of the rest of the season and the next few years, but that was a big challenge to be exposed to and then he came back with these two guys this week who had real credentials, those two kids from Indiana that wasn't the coach talking about, we're playing against the greatest guys in the history of the universe, these guys had credentials, they had been nominated for national awards and they flipped him, so he and Will got each of them during the course of the day, he handled that nicely. He's another player similar to what we talked about with Cam Johnson, he's another player amongst his skills are his ability to take instruction and put it to use and that's a significant skill in a kid becoming a good player.
Those are the things that no rating service can tell you. For that matter, lots of coaches in the evaluation, it's difficult to come across that. In fact, unless you really know the people that you're asking the questions of, it's really hard to get that. You certainly can't get that by watching a video. If you get somebody's combine times, that can't tell you how well the player can pick things up. We've had a couple of players here over the course of time that have been amongst our best have had amongst the best grade point averages on the team. They couldn't play because they just couldn't get the football, make those split second, on their feet decisions. But they're on the academic honor roll. It's a different type of decision-making. And when Landon is one of those players at the early stages of his physical development and not ready to go into the game it was apparent that he was going to be able to play the game. That's another thing that attracted us to Cam even when he was much smaller than he is now, he had good athletic ability for the position and he was really he was a sponge for information, and Dave was working with him in the camp just as he is here.
He was very impressed with how quickly he could learn things and that's such an important thing at that position. Those are a few of the guys that I'm sure I've left out a few, they're the only guys that are improving on the team, Zach we probably would not have gotten to where we are but those are guys that are significant.
QUESTION: Every team has lots of guys that are cause for concern, but when you face a team that has its backs against the wall, is that something extra that you look at?
COACH GROH: No, we go I don't really look, I'm having a hard time coaching this team, you know, just taking care of one team. I don't have much time to try to think about what's going on with another team. I think most coaches are probably that way. Coaching this team is a full time job much less trying to think about the mind set of another team.
From that standpoint since you only get 12 chances at this, I think we're pretty accurate in assessing that every team is going to be pretty desperate to win every game. How many of those can you afford to give away?
QUESTION: You were spoiled early in your tenure by having a quarterback who completed around 70 percent of his passes. Is Jameel capable of completing 60 percent of his passes on a steady basis?
COACH GROH: Well, he's had those kind of he had those kind of games in '07 and principally as he began to pick it up, but kind of back to what David was asking about the quarterbacks in the league, one of the things that you can see with every year is there are certain teams because of their stature in college football, they got a good quarterback every year. USC has a good quarterback every year. Ohio State has a pretty good quarterback every year. Texas has a good quarterback, those kind of places, that's where the quarterbacks are going. All the rivals, top-5 quarterbacks in the country, that's where they are.
There are a lot of teams that run their offense and defense about the same from year to year. That is pretty good. But the results aren't always the same. A team that I would cite to you would be Michigan State. Michigan State has been the reason I cite them is because I know some of their people, I follow what they're doing, the secondary coach there is a guy that I once coached.
Everybody out there tells me they're doing a really good job coaching, they're recruiting really well. Their quarterback last year is now the back up quarterback in New England so they're going through a quarterback transition, they're probably not scoring like they did when they had a guy who was good enough to be Tom Brady's back up. But that doesn't mean they're not playing the same quality of overall football.
And I didn't know this until last week but somebody told me in the Notre Dame versus Michigan State game is Michigan State had a guy open and he overthrew him. If Brian Hoyer was still playing for Michigan State he wouldn't have overthrown him and they would have had a great victory. I think you see that with the great places, always looking for that type of player. We're fortunate to have a player like Matt Shaub who was 70 percent yesterday, against the highest level of competition so he's staying up there around 65 percent or so throughout his career.
We were talking about quarterbacks with the staff the other day and I mentioned Chad Pennington, who I am familiar with because we drafted him when I was with the Jets, and I happened to hear this recently, but for all the great quarterbacks in the league, Sammy Vaughn, Johnny Unitas, Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Chad Pennington has the highest completion percentage of any quarterback in the history of the league.
It's no coincidence that every team that Chad's been on has been a good team. Marshall won two or three national championships when he was there. If you're in one of those places and Chad Pennington is there, that's your time to make hay because they don't come around all the time. So we're in that circumstance and the teams that are scoring in our league are teams that either have high talent quarterbacks or kids who have been in the system for a long time and have developed their skills and got the reads and know where to go with the ball and they're proficient in their accuracy and that's what produces points.
It's those guys that you can get open and they hit 'em when they're open. And you try to scheme up a lot of stuff and you get 'em open and you just miss 'em, you don't miss 'em by much you just miss 'em, it affects what the scoreboard looks like. That's how points get scored. He's had those kind of games, he had 'em a couple of years ago, what I think Jameel's up side is, I've always been a Jameel fan. We've always felt that he had tremendous ability to have a highly versatile game, which he has demonstrated on many occasions. I would certainly never be the person that would put any limitations on how high his game can rise.
QUESTION: Al, Will Barker was talking about how frustrated the line me know have been with themselves and how determined they were to get things turned around in practice. Can you sense that frustration as a coach? How do you guys go about helping them to get to where they feel like they need to be?
COACH GROH: Jerry, I wouldn't say I sense it as frustration. I guess that's what was the catalyst to what I did see. Staff wise what we did see was very determined effort on their part, but which really didn't make that group any different than a lot of other positions that wanted to see our team play better.
It was a real strong determination just to keep grinding and I think that's occurred collectively within each position either from the reinforcement or whatever that the players got from their teammates to do so.
QUESTION: How cognizant are you of crowd size, and what role does the role of a college coach have in responsibility of helping to put fannies in the seats?
COACH GROH: The head coach's role is however extensive it's asked to be. Whether it's in the area of academic counseling or recruiting or boosters, or fans in the stands. We are happy for the fans. We are appreciative for the fans who are there for us and for the players and as you can see this is a high energy, high character bunch of kids who are deserving of all the support that anybody would choose to give them.
QUESTION: Maryland has been using Turner a little more to run the last couple of weeks or so. How much of a different dimension does that give them and how much of a different look is that for you?
COACH GROH: He's been effective doing that and has opened some things up and certainly when a player has shown at that position just as we do with our players sometimes, those one back formations are actually two back formations, you can't consider the quarterback just to be the quarterback. We dealt with that in a number of games this year so it's certainly a factor. That's part of the thinking of some of those teams that employ some degree of this so called "Wildcat" formation.
Those quarterbacks who are in the pocket as a quarterback, if they've got another dimension it makes them that much more difficult and so, too, do those backs that the teams but back there in this Wildcat, if the player has the capability to throw the ball it makes for no matter who is back there, it's the old deal about having balance with the things that you can do and the more versatility in the scheme the more challenging it is for the defense.

White: Maryland's Smith is One Who Got Away
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 10/13/2009
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- He starred at Stafford High School, where he played several positions, including quarterback. But Torrey Smith didn't impress the UVa coaching staff enough to earn a scholarship offer, a decision Al Groh regrets now.

"Clearly, if we foresaw him being the type of player that he is now, he would be returning kicks for Virginia," Groh said Monday at John Paul Jones Arena.

"So, we're not above admitting that there is a player that certainly has turned out to be superior to what many people thought, including ourselves. He's -- regardless of what the circumstance was in the past -- he's a superior college football player."

Smith is a 6-1, 200-pound redshirt sophomore at Maryland, UVa's next opponent. The Terrapins (1-1, 2-4) host the Wahoos (1-0, 2-3) at 4 p.m. Saturday in College Park.

He's also the ACC's specialist of the week. Wake Forest scored early and often in its 42-32 win over Maryland this past weekend, and Smith returned six kickoffs for a career-high 194 yards. At wide receiver, he caught a career-best 10 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown.

Smith leads the nation with 236.7 all-purpose yards per game, and with 1,926 career yards on kickoff returns, he already ranks eighth in ACC history.

"Dynamic player," Groh said.

That same is true for UVa cornerback Ras-I Dowling, the ACC defensive back of the week.

A junior from Chesapeake, Dowling forced a fumble, intercepted a pass, recorded his first career sack and made a team-high nine tackles in Virginia's 44-7 rout of Indiana at Scott Stadium.

Dowling was the only Cavalier to make the preseason all-ACC team selected by media members in July.

NIGHT AND DAY: Groh is generally not a rah-rah guy in the locker room before games. He believes preparation and execution win football games, not fiery pep talks.

His players, though, have cranked up their volume in the minutes before kickoff the past two Saturdays, with impressive results. After losing their first three games, the 'Hoos beat North Carolina 16-3 in Chapel Hill on Oct. 3 and then destroyed Indiana a week later.

"It's been the kind of football you dream about playing and being around the past two weeks," senior linebacker Aaron Clark said Monday. "It's been amazing."

Check this link on VirginiaSportsTV.com for a glimpse of the locker-room scene before the Indiana game. The video clip doesn't tell the whole story, though.

"I'm sure all of you guys would have liked to have been a fly on the wall in the locker room before this game," Clark said. "It was incredible. About six or seven minutes before kickoff is when we all start kind of getting ready to go out, and it went from two or three of us screaming and yelling, trying to get everybody jacked up, to the entire locker room out of their chairs jumping around. It was something to see. Something I'll remember."

Clark, a team captain, said the played noted a lack of emotion in the locker room early in the season, and they decided to change that, starting with the UNC game.

"If you're not ready and jacked up for that first play, then that's going to set the tone for the whole game," Clark said. "So that was pretty important for us to change, and we noticed that had to be a point of focus.

"One of our points of concern in the first couple games was that our locker room just wasn't what it had been. Everybody was anxious for the game, but I think some of that anxiety was in a bad way. So it was time to refocus the locker room and to get everybody ready to play a football game. It's a battle out there, and you gotta go out there at the highest intensity level that you can muster yourself.

"I think it was a good change for us to get back [to being] rowdy before a game, and to get everybody juiced up for the first play that would eventually lead to how we're going to play the rest of the game."

That said, Clark acknowledged, emotion will carry a team only so far.

"You gotta make plays," he said. "You can go out there jacked up to the moon if you want to, but if you get beat on the first couple plays, that's energy's going to deflate really fast. So you have to go out there and make plays. The first drive [in the Indiana game], Ras-I stripped the ball, Rodney McLeod took off and re-sparked the team. Even though we were still riding high, things like that really set the tone. And we had enough plays that game to really sustain the energy for 60 minutes."

PICK YOUR POISON: Throughout his college career, Vic Hall has shown the ability to contribute in myriad ways. He's returned punts, held for extra points and field goals, and played cornerback, quarterback, safety and, now, wide receiver.

The touchdown Hall scored against Indiana was his first on a reception, but the graduate student from Gretna has reached the end zone in a variety of other ways as a Cavalier.

In 2007, as the holder, Hall ran for a TD on a fake field goal. In 2008, he returned an interception for a TD against Richmond in UVa's second game and ran for two TDs versus Virginia Tech in the season finale.

In the opener this year, Hall started at quarterback and rushed for a touchdown against William and Mary.

PLAY IT AGAIN? After losing its opener at Wyoming in 2007, UVa ran off seven consecutive victories. A year later, after a loss to Duke dropped the Cavaliers' record to 1-3, they won four straight games.

And now the 'Hoos head to College Park seeking a third consecutive win.

"You would like to think that we're going to pull off another one of those Virginia streaks right now, but you have to take it week to week and game to game," Clark said. "I know in the past those streaks have been fun. That was an incredible run [in 2007] ... So you'd like to think you could do something like that, but we've just got to keep grinding and keep working diligently every week to get better and to make our team better so that we can keep producing."

PERFECT TIMING: It's not coincidence, Clark believes, that the Cavaliers' turnaround began on their bye week. After playing -- and losing -- on the first three Saturdays of September, UVa was off on the 26th.

"When you're on a winning streak, I think bye weeks are bad things," Clark said, but "the way we started, I think the bye week was very needed. It came at a crucial point in our season, and I think it was what the doctor ordered. We needed to kind of pull the reins back in and re-focus our team. I think that was crucial to the way our season will turn out."

RISING STAR: Groh's enthusiasm is palpable when he talks about Cameron Johnson, the 6-4, 255-pound sophomore who has started the past three games at right outside linebacker.

Johnson's teammates rave about him, too, including Clark, who started the first two games but now splits time with fellow senior Denzel Burrell on the left side.

The Indiana game was "the most physical game" Johnson has played, according to Clark.

"He really did a lot of good things as far as dominating the players across the ball from him," Clark said. "Cam's a big, strong guy. I think anybody that looks at him thinks, 'Wow, this is a prototype.'

"It's going to be exciting to watch him grow. He's very quick in learning the game. He picks it up well. He knows the defense, he understands how he works and fits into that. It's going to be fun to watch him play the next couple of years."

FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR: The Cavaliers haven't lost in October since 2007, when they fell 29-24 at N.C. State on the 27th. Virginia has won six straight games in October and 11 of its past 12.

DIE-HARDS: The attendance Saturday -- 45,371 -- was the lowest for a UVa home game since Scott Stadium's capacity was expanded to 61,500 before the 2000 season. Still, the fans who showed up created a good atmosophere, and Groh thanked them Monday.

"We are appreciative for the fans who are there for us and for the players," he said. "As you can see, this is a high-energy, high-character bunch of kids who are deserving of all the support that anybody would choose to give them."

 

U.Va. notes: Cavs alter practice to accommodate Hall
By Staff Reports
Published: October 13, 2009

Cavs alter practices for Hall's switching
It's common in high school football, but Vic Hall is a rarity in the college game -- he's playing offense and defense.

The U.Va. senior started the season at quarterback before suffering a hip injury. Now he's a wide receiver and cornerback. Coach Al Groh was asked yesterday how he managed Hall's practice time.

"Kind of like a tennis ball," Groh said. "We do kind of bat him back and forth from field to field."

To accommodate Hall's work with the offense and defense, certain aspects of on-field practices have been staggered. For instance, instead of both units working on third-down situations at once, they'll go back to back so that Hall can join both units.

For Groh, it's not a bad problem.

"It's worth a few more minutes of organization, because he brings a lot to both sides," the coach said. "It just takes some time management."

LB rotation settled; receivers in flux
Five games into the season, seniors Denzel Burrell and Aaron Clark have settled into a rotation at left outside linebacker. The other outside linebacker has been sophomore Cam Johnson.

"You know how close me and Denzel are, so it's working out great," Clark said. "It's nice to be able to focus on one side of the ball, and be able to give each other coaching as we come up the field."

On the other side of the ball, Groh is still waiting for some playmaking receivers to step up among his young group. The addition of Hall has helped, but the coach said that only one player, Kris Burd of Matoaca, has earned a starting spot.

"I don't think there has been anybody else with enough plays to say they're in that category yet," Groh said. "Kris has done it three games in a row, so he would be deserving of going into that 'emerging receiver' category."

Simpson could play against Maryland
Yesterday was an off day for the players, but they said that running back Mikell Simpson was continuing to make progress after injuring his neck and being carted off the field Saturday. Clark said that it wasn't as scary for the players, because the trainers came over to give them an immediate update on Simpson's status.

"He's such a good guy to be around, you hate to see that happen -- it's a little gut-wrenching," Clark said. "But he's excited. He knows what this game means, and I think he's going to do everything he can to try to participate in it."

Groh said that his preference would be to only play Simpson extensively if he's able to join the team for practice this week. He said that Simpson would be able to handle the run plays, but the concern is in preparing for pass protections against Maryland's blitz.

"This team does bring a variety of different-looking schemes that will be challenging not only to the line but particularly to the backs," the coach said.

Extra point

•The Oct. 24 home game against Georgia Tech will kick off at noon at Scott Stadium.
-- Michael Phillips
 

Simpson's return may come soon
By Doug Doughty

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The word from Mikell Simpson's teammates is that he hopes to receive clearance to play in the Virginia's game Saturday at Maryland.

Simpson no doubt has fond memories of Maryland's Byrd Stadium, where he had 271 all-purpose yards in UVa's 18-17 victory at Byrd Stadium in 2007.

Simpson caught 13 passes for 152 yards and also rushed for 119 yards, becoming one of six players in ACC history to have more than 100 rushing and receiving yards in the same game.

UVa coach Al Groh usually declines comment on injuries until he files a report with the ACC on Thursdays, but he indicated Monday that practice requirements for injured players can vary according to their experience.

In other words, Simpson would not need as much work as a younger player.

Simpson, a fifth-year senior, took a knee to the back of the neck Saturday in the Cavaliers' 47-7 victory over Indiana and was wheeled from the field in a motorized cart.

Simpson gave a thumbs-up to the crowd as he left the stadium and was released from the University of Virginia Medical Center by 9 p.m.

At the time of his injury, Simpson had 149 all-purpose yards with 6:38 remaining in the third quarter.

"It's a little gut-wrenching," said fifth-year classmate Aaron Clark of the lengthy wait while emergency personnel tended to Simpson. "When he threw up the thumb and the trainer said he had movement in all his limbs, it's definitely huge relief.

"We got word that night that it wasn't anything serious that would keep him out for a long time. He knows what this game means and I think he's going to do everything he can to participate in it."

■The Cavaliers are hopeful that redshirt freshman Javaris Brown can return Saturday after missing the Indiana game with an ankle injury. Brown has six receptions and is averaging a team-high 21.8 yards per catch.
Climbing the charts

Fifth-year quarterback Jameel Sewell, coming off his second 300-yard passing day in three games, has moved into sixth place on UVa's career passing list.

■Sewell, with 4,474 career yards, has overtaken his former quarterbacks coach Mike Groh (4,366). If all Sewell does is pass for as many yards in UVa's last seven games as he has in the first five (956), he would rank third behind No. 1 Matt Schaub and No. 2 Shawn Moore.Groh said he generally speaks twice weekly with his son, Mike, who is serving as a graduate assistant for second-ranked Alabama this season.
Most of the time, they talk football, but Sunday's call had more of a personal nature on Al and Anne Groh's 40th wedding anniversary.

More numbers

Virginia has moved up to 25th in Division I-A in total defense, with an average yield of 295.8 yards per game. UVa is 15th in pass defense ... A 536-yard afternoon Saturday against Indiana lifted the Cavaliers from 116th to 96th in total offense. ... UVa (2-3) has outscored its opposition 34-7 in the first quarter this season.

Personnel

Inside linebacker Connor McCartin might be the next true freshman to lose his redshirt, unless one of his fellow recruits beats him to the field.

The Cavaliers already have used 12 true freshmen, including another inside linebacker, Tucker Windle, inserted during the late stages of a 47-7 victory over Indiana on Saturday.

Groh said on his weekly Sunday night teleconference that Windle and McCartin have moved into the two-deep behind starting inside linebackers Darren Childs and Steve Greer.

UVa had been listing junior Darnell Carter and sophomore Terrence Fells-Danzer on the depth chart at those two spots.

Cavs-Jackets at noon

The ACC announced that Virginia's Oct. 24 home game with Georgia Tech will kick off at noon and be televised locally on WDBJ.

Oops

A staff-prepared graphic that accompanied Saturday's Roanoke Times preview of the Virginia-Indiana game incorrectly listed Michigan as one of the Big Ten teams that UVa had never played.

The Cavaliers and Wolverines have played three times, with the Wolverines winning all three --38-0, 1899, 56-0 in 1972 and 18-17 in the 1995 season opener.

Odds 'n' ends

Walk-on Nathan Rathjen, whose only previous action had come as a holder while Vic Hall was injured, was sent out for UVa's last punt Saturday and got off a 53-yarder on a rugby-style boot. Regular Jimmy Howell averaged 50.3 yards on three punts and has lifted his average to 42.6, third in the ACC.
 

Virginia has recovered from a horrendous start, but is anyone watching?
Dave Fairbank
October 13, 2009
CHARLOTTESVILLE

Virginia's past two Saturdays have added a wrinkle to this week's Order of the Asbestos Coaches' Pants matchup versus Maryland.

Once again, the Cavaliers' Al Groh demonstrated that he is more than capable of exploiting opponents' weaknesses, particularly when their strengths are limited and the talent levels at least comparable.

Still, no one could have expected 47 points and 536 yards of offense, not from a team that managed less than half that in three of its first four games.

But the Cavaliers seem to have found some footing, and they were fortunate to face an Indiana team that offered only token resistance.

"We've seen, I would say, 2 1/2 games of positive progress," Groh said. "I say 'half' because not really speaking of the 30 minutes of that third game. But there was a good deal of positive progress, just not enough to call it a complete game, obviously, with the result."

The "half game" was Southern Mississippi, when Virginia squandered a 34-17 lead in the last quarter-and-a-half, its third consecutive loss to open the season.

That game, however, also signaled an offensive overhaul. The Cavs shelved a good deal of first-year coordinator Gregg Brandon's spread offensive scheme, and reinserted many of the formations, plays and personnel packages employed since Groh's arrival.

"I would say there is probably a good blend of the two circumstances," Groh said.

The premium blend has been the improved play of quarterback Jameel Sewell. A career 55-percent passer, he has thrown for a career-best 300 yards in two of his past three games and completed 20 of 30 versus the Hoosiers.

Whether Sewell continues that level of productivity is unknown, but clearly he is becoming more comfortable after his academics-induced, one-year hiatus. The Cavs' scheme suddenly is familiar again, and the job is his after Groh put the kibosh on the early-season, three-headed quarterback rotation.

Sewell was the triggerman in 2007 as the Cavaliers won an NCAA-record five games by one or two points. One of those was an 18-17 win at Maryland where he engineered a 15-play, 90-yard touchdown drive in the closing minutes.

"I've always been a Jameel fan," Groh said. "We've always felt that he had tremendous ability to have a highly versatile game, which he has demonstrated on many occasions. I would certainly never be the person that put any limitation on how high his game can rise."

Another of Saturday's telling numbers was 45,371 — the attendance. It was the smallest turnstile count since U.Va. expanded Scott Stadium to 61,500 nine years ago.

The turnout also was the second consecutive record-small crowd, post-expansion. The Cavs drew only 48,336 for the Sept. 12 TCU game.

The TCU crowd was a direct response to the Cavs' face-plant against William and Mary in the season opener. But the Indiana crowd was troubling because 1) it was homecoming, and 2) Virginia had exhibited a pulse in the previous game-and-a-half and was coming off of an extremely satisfying road win against those scoundrels from North Carolina.

And still, a quarter of the ballyard was empty.

Where each week last season seemed to turn into a referendum on Groh, it appears that this season a sizable portion of the faithful has chosen autumn Saturdays to re-mulch the flower beds.

Either that, or they've gotten serious about reducing their carbon footprint.

Groh certainly is aware of the attendance figures. As for the head coach's role in putting fannies in the seats …

"The head coach's role," he said, "is however extensive it's asked to be. Whether it's in the area of academic counseling or recruiting or boosters or fans in the stands.

"We are happy for the fans. We are appreciative for the fans who are there for us and for the players, and as you can see this is a high-energy, high-character bunch of kids who are deserving of all the support that anybody would choose to give them."

While Virginia has built recent momentum, Maryland (2-4) is adrift. The Terps' dismal showing at Wake Forest — they trailed 35-10 at halftime and 42-17 after three quarters and ultimately fell 42-32 — offset some of the goodwill they built up with the previous week's win against Clemson.

As the Terps lurch toward a fourth losing season in six years, coach Ralph Friedgen — like Groh, a ninth-year head coach at his alma mater — is the subject of some discontent among the fan base.

Groh understandably and appropriately spends zero time considering an opponent's level of anguish and desperation.

"I'm having a hard time coaching this team, just taking care of one team," he said. "I don't have much time to try to think about what's going on with another team. I think most coaches are probably that way. Coaching this team is a full-time job, much less trying to think about the mindset of another team.

"From that standpoint, since you only get 12 chances at this (per season), I think we're pretty accurate in assessing that every team is going to be pretty desperate to win every game. How many of those can you afford to give away?"

With so many gas cans and matchbooks at the ready, not many.

 

Groh on Cam Johnson's progress
Sophomore Cam Johnson has displaced senior Aaron Clark as a starting outside linebacker for Virginia, and given his high school resume, we shouldn't be surprised.

The 6-foot-4, 255-pound Johnson was not only an outstanding football prospect at Washington, D.C.'s Gonzaga High but also an accomplished basketball player. In short, he arrived in Charlottesville with the speed, quickness and agility to become a prototype outside pass rusher in Groh's 3-4 defense.

"Most of his high school was at wide receiver and safety," Groh said this morning of Johnson. "He was a player with a lot of athletic skill and obviously a lot of height and versatility that just the way nature usually works we could see (he) was going to grow out of those things.

"Mother Nature lived up to her reputation ... and he's gone from being in the lower 200s when we first met him to being in the plus 250s now and obviously bringing that same level of athletic skill."

Groh applauded Johnson's ability to learn on the fly.

"When you watched him play (basketball) he had a sense of how to move, how to get open. ... Sports made sense ... and it's been the same way in football. ,,, He gets it right away."

Groh recalled he and former defensive coordinator Mike London visiting Johnson at Gonzaga.

"I walked out like, 'Whoa. I love this guy.' That was one of the guys who fit what we're looking for."

Johnson has two tackles for loss, and only linebacker Steve Greer (five) and end Matt Conrath (three) have more.

Not to put pressure on the young man, but the hunch here is that Johnson is an all-conference talent waiting to happen.

Posted by David Teel
 

Virginia erred on Maryland's Smith
Virginia coach Al Groh mentioned one name and one name only this morning when asked about Saturday's opponent: the Maryland Terrapins.

"Torrey Smith, he's one of the really exciting, dynamic players in the Atlantic Coast Conference," Groh said. "He's run reverses, he's caught the ball, he's returned kicks, he does a variety of things. He's not just a receiver, but he's got good elusiveness and he's got good vertical speed."

A sophomore from Stafford High in Fredericksburg, Smith leads the ACC in all-purpose yards at 236.7 per game. He's second in receiving yards (86.5 per game) and fifth in kickoff returns (25.1-yard average).

Smith committed to Maryland early and drew some interest from Clemson. Not Virginia.

"Clearly if we foresaw him being the type of player that he is now he would be returning kicks for Virginia," Groh said. "So we're not above admitting that there is a player that certainly has turned out to be superior to what many people thought, including ourselves. ... He's a superior college football player."

Posted by David Teel
 

Terps take risks on 'D,' get burned
With safeties blitzing, there's no room for blown coverage
By Jeff Barker | jeff.barker@baltsun.com
October 13, 2009

COLLEGE PARK — - When Maryland's gambling defense succeeds, it does so with a flourish. Consider the game-clinching sack and fumble it caused against Clemson in the fifth game.

But when it fails, it's usually in equally spectacular fashion - at least for the opposition.

Saturday night's 42-32 loss to Wake Forest provided further evidence of a disturbing pattern by the Terps of surrendering big plays.

Against Wake, Maryland (2-4, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) gave up plays of 51, 48, 33, 25 (twice) and 20 yards. That's 202 yards in six plays.

The Terps also allowed long plays in a 52-13 season-opening loss at California. The Golden Bears had runs of 73 and 40 yards and receptions of 42 and 39 yards (twice).

On Sept. 26, Maryland held Rutgers to 95 yards in the first half, then gave up touchdown runs of 29 and 61 yards during a two-minute span of the fourth quarter.

Coaches say it's not the schemes that are at fault. Rather, they suggest players are missing assignments and that rival quarterbacks - notably Wake Forest senior Riley Skinner, who had a career day Saturday - are capitalizing.

"Ironically, most of the big plays [against Wake] came on third down, and that's an area we've been pretty good on," Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said. "The thing that frustrates me is we blew the coverage. On one coverage, we [planned] three deep, and we played it like we were two deep."

Wake Forest's 516 yards of offense were its most in four years. Skinner's four touchdown passes tied the school record.

At its core, Maryland's defense is more aggressive - and riskier - than last year's. The Terps frequently blitz safeties, a tactic that worked against Clemson but not against Skinner and his experienced offensive line.

"In the beginning of the game, they [the Demon Deacons] were throwing a lot of quick passes" to beat the blitz, said linebacker Alex Wujciak. "I think him [Skinner] being experienced helped him out."

Blitzing safeties can leave the cornerbacks exposed. Sophomore cornerback Cameron Chism, who hadn't started a game until this season, had a rough night against Wake. He slipped on a 33-yard first-quarter completion, then got beat on a 27-yard scoring reception.

Chism is playing for fifth-year senior Nolan Carroll, who is out for the season with a broken leg. Friedgen often called Carroll his best cornerback.

On Saturday, the defense will face a Virginia team that gained 536 yards of offense in a 47-7 rout of Indiana.

The Terps may be without linebacker Demetrius Hartsfield, who had a career-high 10 tackles against Clemson and five against Wake. Hartsfield broke two bones in his hand Saturday night and will require surgery, followed by about three weeks of recovery, Friedgen said. It's uncertain when he will undergo the surgery and whether he might be able to play beforehand.

Linebacker Adrian Moten, who suffered a thigh bruise against the Demon Deacons but is probable for the Virginia game, played with a similar hand injury last season while wearing a protective cover.

Friedgen said injuries are starting to wear on the Terrapins. He hopes to get punter Travis Baltz (sprained ankle) back soon and could get tailback Da'Rel Scott (broken wrist) back before the end of the season.

"You lose your best cornerback, best running back, punter," the coach said, and "you've got a young team to start with."

Maryland had seemed to be improving defensively until Saturday night. Despite its lapses, the team still has only one conference loss - the same as Atlantic Division rival Wake Forest and fewer than the other division teams.

"I don't think we're out of this thing," Friedgen said.

Note: Maryland's Torrey Smith was voted the ACC's Specialist of the Week, the conference said Monday. The sophomore has 1,926 career kickoff return yards, eighth in ACC history. With Maryland down 7-0, Smith took a kickoff 85 yards, setting up Maryland on the Wake 15. He had a career-high 194 yards on six returns.
 

Cavs' energy is back in force
October 13, 2009 12:35 am
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.
CHARLOTTESVILLE--

A more energetic locker room and a renewed commitment to perform well in practice has gone a long way for the Virginia Cavaliers.

Those are two of the reasons Virginia senior linebacker Aaron Clark cited for the team's sudden turnaround yesterday.

The Cavaliers (2-3, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) have won their past two contests after an 0-3 start and they're cautiously optimistic they can continue to play well.

"You would like to think we're going to pull off one of those Virginia streaks right now," said Clark, a co-captain. "But you have to take it week to week, game to game."

The "Virginia streaks" have occurred the past two years.

The Cavaliers won seven in a row after a disastrous opener at Wyoming in 2007 en route to a 9-4 season and a Gator Bowl bid. They started 1-3 last season before winning four in a row in a 5-7 campaign.

This week, the Cavaliers, fresh off a 47-7 stumping of Indiana, will have to win at ACC rival Maryland (2-4, 1-1) if they want to continue riding high.

"I think you can just see it in the excitement of the last game," Clark said of the team's improved morale. "The entire sideline would erupt. And after the game, being in the locker room, it was a very contagious and energetic environment. It's been the way you dream about playing. The past two weeks have been amazing."

The Cavaliers have got it going across the board the past two games. Their offense racked up 536 total yards against the Hoosiers.

Their defense has shut out the past two opponents in the first half. Indiana scored a meaningless touchdown with 8:18 remaining for its lone score.

Clark said the turning point was a video head coach Al Groh displayed of ex-players' practice habits.

Said Clark: "I think [the captains] made the decision within themselves at the same time that 'Enough's enough, and we need to turn it around. We tried to change the energy of the team during practice, make them understand 'You've got to practice in order to win.'"

Groh has noticed a change as well. He said he's seen "21/2 games of positive progress." He leaves out half of Virginia's 37-34 loss to Southern Mississippi on Sept. 19.

"We seem to be kind of getting our legs underneath of us," Groh said. "It's a long way to go yet, but the key thing now for us is to establish what level of consistent performance we're going to get."

The Cavaliers are starting to figure out some positions that were question marks entering the season.

Senior quarterback Jameel Sewell has solidified his position by throwing for 756 yards and three touchdowns with one interception in the past three games. He's also run for three scores in that span.

Vic Hall (six catches, 85 yards against Indiana) and Kris Burd (16 catches, 216 yards this season) have helped solidify the wide receiver corps.

The offense's ascension came as the Cavaliers infused some of their old pro-style offensive formations with the spread offense that first-year offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon installed.

"I would say there is probably a good blend of the two circumstances right now," Groh said of the old and new offenses.

It's all added up to a much more pleasant locker room experience.

Clark said the first three games the team's anxiety level was high. But the locker room erupted before the Indiana game, which led to a big win.

"I'm sure all of you would've liked to have been a fly on the wall before this game," Clark said. "It went from two to three of us yelling trying to get everybody jacked up, to the entire locker room out of their chairs, jumping around. It was something to see."

Notes

Senior running back Mikell Simpson, who was carted off the field after he suffered a neck injury against Indiana, returned to practice on Sunday, but didn't participate. His status for the Maryland game is unknown.

Junior cornerback Ras-I Dowling was named ACC defensive back of the week. Dowling registered nine tackles (seven solo), an interception, a sack and a forced fumble against the Hoosiers.

 

Piecing together the puzzle
Aaron Perryman, Cavalier Daily Columnist
Sports
October 13, 2009 0

Senior tackle Will Barker, along with the rest of the Cavaliers’ offensive line, has contributed to the team’s recent turnaround following its disappointing 0-3 start. Emphasizing a more physical style of play, the line provided senior quarterback Jameel Sewell with the time to throw for 308 yards in Saturday’s victory against Big Ten foe Indiana. Photo by Jason O. Watson.
When Indiana took a timeout with three minutes left in Virginia’s 47-7 obliteration of the Hoosiers, I just had to take a moment and reflect on the win. So, I stepped down a couple rows of bleachers to an empty spot (why are students leaving during a win?), laid down and closed my eyes. I asked my girlfriend and friends if the score was really 47-7, or was I simply dreaming? My fourth year of football as a student started out tough with the loss to William & Mary, so I just had to soak in this victory. Perhaps there is hope for a successful football team during my final year here at the University after all.

When one contrasts the loss to William & Mary with the win against Indiana, the seemingly astonishing turnaround can be overwhelming and somewhat inexplicable, but I think it’s pretty clear that the Cavaliers have been improving little by little each game. Saturday, I think we saw the combination of an offense that’s starting to click playing against a porous defense — the Hoosier ‘D’ now ranks 70th in the nation, giving up 370.5 yards per game.

In an attempt to make sense of the enigma that is the Cavalier football team, I’m going to summarize some reasons for why I think Virginia is currently playing solid football.

Offensive line changes

It’s important to reiterate the improvement of the beasts in the trenches. After several years of watching football, I’m a firm believer that the offensive line dictates the play of the offense. The greatest skill position players can be reduced to average-at-best without an effective offensive line. When offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon brought in his spread schemes, the linemen used wider splits. I’m not sure of the tactical advantages this is supposed to offer but I heard before the season began that with wider splits, running lanes are naturally bigger. Apparently though, the lanes also were so big that defenders could barrel through and disrupt everything the Virginia offense was trying to do. This type of O-line formation works for some teams, but I don’t think the Cavaliers have the personnel to use it right away. A line with wider spacing needs quick, agile, presumably smaller linemen. Cavalier offensive lines have been great at power running games in the past, but I’m not so sure they have been too fleet afoot. I think the improvements in the offensive line are the foundation for the current success of the Cavalier offense.

Letting Mikell be Mikell

I waited with baited breath Saturday for running back Mikell Simpson to give a sign that his injury was not too serious and erupted with the rest of the Wahoo faithful when he gave a thumbs up as he was carted off the field. “Juice” has obviously been an integral part of the team’s last two wins, but even when the offensive line seemed to be struggling against William & Mary and TCU, Simpson was great, averaging 4.9 yards per carry in those two contests. The problem was that whoever was calling plays was not getting the ball to Simpson enough — he had only 13 rushes combined in those two games. Against North Carolina, Simpson ran for 100 yards on 20 carries, and he compiled 86 yards on 15 rushes Saturday. Simpson has been getting more touches, and it has shown in the stat box. Hopefully Simpson’s injury isn’t serious, and he’ll be able to play against Maryland, as he is an integral part of the team.

Synergy between Sewell and the big uglies

Part of the emergence of Jameel Sewell as an efficient quarterback has been because of the improvement of the offensive line. I think the line has played a larger role in Sewell’s success than in Simpson’s, as indicated by the stats. Simpson has just been getting more carries, but Sewell’s numbers as a whole have improved drastically. Against William & Mary and TCU, Sewell completed 17 of 35 passes for 200 yards, two touchdowns and four picks. During the last three games, Sewell has completed 57 of 100 passes for 756 yards, three touchdowns and one pick. Saturday, Sewell put together the most masterful game of his career, completing 20 of 30 passes for 308 yards; that performance came three weeks after the senior threw for a career-high 312 against Southern Miss while completing 24 of his 46 attempts. Most importantly, Sewell has been sacked 10 times during the last three games after being sacked eight times during the TCU game alone. In addition to the line giving Sewell better protection, I think there is something to be said for the quarterback shaking off the rust he accumulated while not playing during the 2008 season. I’m sure it’s been difficult to get back into the flow of things, but Sewell seems to be crisper with his throws and surer of himself each week. The receiving corps also should not be overlooked. The receivers are getting open more often and dropping fewer passes.

A-Grohing defense

I’ve always thought Groh-coached defenses played well, and this year’s installment is finally living up to the others after a shaky start to the season. The front seven are starting to play as well as the secondary, which was touted as one of the best in the ACC coming into the season. I didn’t think this defense was bad even after the 0-3 start, and with the improvements of the offense, the defense can catch its breath and has more time to go over adjustments on the sideline. I don’t know if many changes have been made on defense between games thus far, but the last two weeks, the defense just has been looking a lot more active. It ranks 25th in the nation in yards allowed despite subpar efforts in the three losses.

Special teams playing special

The special teams play was supposed to shore up under coach Ron Prince and it has started to after a dismal effort in the loss to Southern Miss, in which the unit was at least party responsible for Virginia blowing its 17-point lead. While Jimmy Howell has continued to boom punts, the coverage units have gotten stingier. And for the first time since Chris Gould was the kicker in 2007, the field goal unit has found consistency with placekicker Robert Randolph, who has made all seven of his field goal attempts so far.

Versatile Vic

After the William & Mary game when Vic Hall was injured, I dejectedly told my friends that I hoped he would still get used somehow because it would be a waste of a great athlete not to play him during his senior year. Thankfully, Virginia is doing just that. Hall has seen time as a receiver during the last two games, even leading the team in receiving yards against Indiana while catching his first touchdown pass. I think I actually like Hall better at receiver than at quarterback or on defense. Being small and quick, Hall can scoot out into the open field and is tough to cover for secondaries. He is a superb weapon and gives defenses something else to think about when they are preparing for Virginia’s offense. Also, Hall embodies the spirit of this team in much the same way running back Cedric Peerman did last year, and having him involved gives a great emotional boost to this team.

Zero turnovers

Simply put, the Cavs haven’t turned the ball over once during the last two games. When you do that, you give yourself a chance every time.

Intangibles

Everyone was counting this team down and out, and once again, it has fought back. The Cavs still have a ways to go before they compete for an ACC crown or a bowl appearance, but they are definitely making strides. Hopefully they can keep it going next week at Maryland, which would set up a huge contest at home Oct. 24 against Georgia Tech.
 

Veterans give UVa a boost
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: October 13, 2009

Should Virginia’s football team get on a real roll the next few weeks, something akin to the seven-game winning streak in 2007, the Cavaliers will be able to precisely pinpoint the moment of their turnaround.
The veterans of the team had noticed during the bye week, following the loss at Southern Mississippi, that the Virginia locker room had lost something and they wanted to restore the excitement they remembered from years past.
A new attitude
Before the Cavaliers took the field at North Carolina, things changed in the pre-game locker room and only intensified prior to UVa’s homecoming game against Indiana last Saturday. While it would be premature to credit the rowdiness that fired up the players for back-to-back wins, the new attitude certainly didn’t hurt.
“That was one of our points of concern,” said fifth-year senior Aaron Clark. “Our locker room just wasn’t what it had been. Everybody was anxious (before the first three games), but I think some of that anxiety was in a bad way.”
Clark said the captains decided to do something about it and refocus the locker room to get everyone ready to play.
“It’s a battle out there and you’ve got to go out at the highest intensity level that you can muster,” the linebacker said. “I think it was a good change.”
Turning it around
The locker room decision coincided with players attempting to change the energy of the team during practice and Coach Al Groh’s decision to take a more conservative approach to offense after the 0-2 start.
“I think everybody made the decision that enough’s enough,” Clark said. “We needed to turn it around.”
Some of it started prior to the trip to Southern Miss, some of it changed during the bye week that followed, but where it all came together was the locker room in Kenan Stadium before the Carolina game. Virginia was a two-touchdown underdog and essentially won the upset by two touchdowns before going on to stun Indiana, 47-7.
“I’m sure all of you guys would have liked to have been a fly on the wall in the locker room before [the Indiana] game,” Clark said. “It was incredible. It went from two or three of us screaming and yelling, trying to get everybody jacked up, to the entire locker room out of their chairs and jumping around. It was something to see ... something I will remember.”
Fifth-year senior linebacker Denzel Burrell, who splits time with Clark at one of the starting spots, was the first to get things started in the locker room before the Indiana game. He was bouncing all over the room, encouraging his teammates to get ready, challenging them.
They responded.
All the screaming and yelling and other antics would be meaningless if there wasn’t determination and execution behind all the noise. Virginia backed up its words with action.
“You can go out there jacked up to the moon if you want to, but if you get beat on the first couple of plays, then that energy is going to deflate pretty fast,” Clark said. “You have to go out there and make plays.”
On the fifth play of the game, UVa cornerback Ras-I Dowling did just that, stripping a Hoosiers receiver of the football with Cavalier secondary mate Rodney McLeod picking up the fumble and racing to the Indiana 38, setting up Virginia’s first touchdown. Dowling, who was named ACC defensive back of the week for his exploits, intercepted a pass midway through the second quarter to set up another Wahoo TD.
Players on both sides of the football was fired up as the Cavaliers clicked on all cylinders for the first time this season.
Quarterback Jameel Sewell was on his mark and passed for more than 300 yards, receivers stepped up and the Cavs put forth an impressive ground game highlighted by tailback Mikell Simpson’s four rushing touchdowns and a strong performance before he left the game with an injury.
It was easily the offensive line’s best performance of the season, particularly UVa’s tackles, Will Barker and Landon Bradley, who were charged with the responsibility of keeping Indiana’s star bookend defensive ends, Jammie Kirlew and Greg Middleton, off Sewell’s back. IU flips those ends from side to side, so both of the Cavaliers tackles did an admirable job in protecting their QB. In fact, the
coaching staff nominated Barker for conference offensive lineman of the week honors.
For the past two weeks, the offensive line has begun to get its act together, far from resembling the first couple of weeks when it seemed completely disjointed.
“I think it really just came to the point where as a team we weren’t going in the direction we wanted to go, and as an offensive line we take pride in the offense and getting that going,” Barker said. “The last couple of weeks we’ve come to practice with a different mindset. We want to be more physical, control the tempo, and bring the fight to them.”
Virginia’s players like an expression that Groh tosses around to describe what the Cavaliers have experienced, and Clark explained that during Monday’s media session.
Groh’s expression is: The bull doesn’t care what you did last week.
“What [Groh] is saying is that when a cowboy is riding a bull, the bull doesn’t know who’s on his back, doesn’t care. The bull doesn’t know if you rode the last 100 bulls before him. All he knows is he’s trying to throw you off. That’s kind of how we approach things now — it doesn’t matter what we did last week, we just want to win.”
Right now, the bull is a two-game winning streak heading across the Potomac to face Maryland this Saturday.
Sometimes the bull wins.
 

Bulls and short-term memory (U.Va. Monday update)
Michael Phillips
Oct 12, 2009

Virginia football coach Al Groh told his players that “the bull doesn’t care what you did last week,“ a nod to rodeo that also served notice of a tough game coming up this Saturday.

He said that Mikell Simpson continues improving and that he might even be able to practice this week.

Linebacker Aaron Clark, one of the teams captains, said that the captains have worked to have a more raucus pregame atmosphere inside the locker room - and that they’ve been “jacked up” the last two weeks.

The linebacking rotation has been fairly cemented, with Clark and Denzel Burrell splitting snaps on one side, and Cam Johnson on the other.

Now the football crew will step aside, and basketball media day will take over inside John Paul Jones arena.

QBs throw weight around
By Jay Jenkins
Published: October 13, 2009

With 32 defensive players drafted out of the ACC in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft over the past four years, it was clear that the league’s defensive minds were control.
That all changed on Saturday.
The 11 teams that played this week combined for 443 points, averaging just over 40 points per team.
Virginia coach Al Groh knows why: quarterbacks played well.
He should know, he owns one of them.
Virginia signal caller Jameel Sewell torched Indiana’s pass defense for 308 yards as he completed 66.7 percent of his 30
attempts.
Sewell, a senior, was one of five quarterbacks in the ACC to pass for over 300 yards during the weekend.
“Usually, that high scoring is a function of quarterback play,” Groh explained Monday during his weekly press conference at John Paul Jones Arena. “I thought [Wake Forest’s] Riley Skinner was outstanding, [Thaddeus] Lewis at Duke, to go 40 for 50, must have had some great throws.
“So it was certainly a function of that.”
Lewis finished with 459 yards through the air and registered five TD passes. Christian Ponder, Florida State’s quarterback, did the same in a losing effort to Georgia Tech.
The production was expected from some of the league’s best arm-slinging options, but not necessarily from Sewell.
The southpaw from Richmond has completed just 57.8 percent of his passes during his career (431 of 746) with 22 touchdowns and 20 interceptions.
The play has improved of late, forcing the question in regards to how much better Sewell can be the remainder of the season.
“Let me get my crystal ball up here,” Groh joked. “We certainly don’t want to put a cap on that, but that would be hard for me to speculate.
“If I could do that, I would buy stocks low and sell high.”
After beating Indiana 47-7, Sewell praised his wide receivers and said his confidence in his targets continues to grow.
“I am definitely trying to give my wide receivers more opportunities to get the ball,” Sewell said. “I am trying to get the ball out and avoid the sacks. They showed me that they are going to go get it.
“As long as they can go out there and keep doing it, I’m going to keep getting it out there to them.”
An admitted “fan” of Sewell, Groh knows returning to the postseason could hinge on the quarterback’s play over the final seven games.
“We’ve always felt that he had tremendous ability to have a highly versatile game, which he has demonstrated on many occasions,” he said. “I would certainly never be the person that would put any limitations on how high his game can rise.”
Proof is in the practice
It is unknown how much, if any, Virginia running back Mikell Simpson will participate today when the Cavaliers (2-3, 1-0 ACC) return to practice to prepare for Saturday’s road affair at Maryland (2-4, 1-1).
After a carry in the lopsided victory over IU, Simpson had to be carted off the field and was taken to the University of Virginia Medical Center. He was treated, released and watched practice in street clothes on Sunday.
What is clear, however, is that Simpson needs to return to practice before being given the green light to play.
“Pretty much would be the case,” Groh admitted. “You would want him to familiarize himself mostly in the area of pass protection.”
“The runs are going to be pretty much the same, particularly because Maryland does bring a variety of different looking schemes which will be challenging, not only to the offensive line, but particularly to the backs. Backs often have a lot more dual pick-up or moving linebackers, and they’ve got to sort it out, so that will be the particular issue there.”
Simpson is currently tied for fourth in the ACC in touchdowns, averaging six points per game.
Extra points
For the second straight week, Virginia will play as the favorite. The Cavaliers are favored by four points over Maryland. … Virginia’s contest at home on Oct. 24 against Georgia Tech will kick off at noon. The contest will be televised by Raycom. … The Cavaliers could enjoy yet another banner day on offense. Maryland enters the game ranked No. 114 in scoring defense (36 ppg) and 102nd in total defense, allowing 406 yards per contest. ... Sophomore defensive end Zane Parr was among the players that Groh cited for improved play of late.

 

White: Are You Ready For Some Basketball?
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 10/12/2009
By Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- If it's Oct. 12, it must be time for college basketball, right?
Not quite, though the season seems to start a little earlier each year. Practice begins in four days for the men's and women's teams at UVa, and head coaches Tony Bennett and Debbie Ryan stopped by John Paul Jones Arena on Monday afternoon to field questions from media representatives.
Bennett is heading into his first season at Virginia. Ryan has been around town a tad longer. This will be her 33rd season at UVa, and she's on the brink of another milestone in a Hall of Fame career.
Ryan needs one victory to become the seventh active Division I women's coach with 700 wins. Her team opens Nov. 13 at Maryland-Baltimore County.
"I don't look at it as my 700 wins," Ryan said. "I look at is as the University's 700 wins, because it belongs to the University of Virginia ... Regardless of who it is, everybody here has a stake in what happens, and to me it belongs to everyone, not just me."
Ryan, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2000, added: "Actually, probably my biggest emotional part of it will be that I got to live this long to see it."
The UVa women are coming off a season in which they advanced to the NCAA tournament's second round and finished 24-10. The three best players on that team were Monica Wright, Lyndra Littles and Aisha Mohammed, and Littles and Mohammed are gone.
"The good news is, we have Monica Wright, and a lot of people don't," Ryan said.
Wright, a 5-11 guard, is the Wahoos' only senior. She's also a preseason All-American who averaged 20.5 points and 5.6 rebounds in 2008-09.
"She's a nightmare to guard," said teammate Jayna Hartig, a 6-1 redshirt junior.
Bennett took over a team that went 10-18 in 2008-09, but he has a special player, too, in 6-6 sophomore Sylven Landesberg. As a freshman, Landesberg averaged 16.6 points and 6.0 rebounds and was named ACC rookie of the year.
"My challenge to Sylven will be this, and I'll say this publicly. I've said it to him [privately]: Every good player I've been around, the real good ones, they just find a way to make their teammates better," Bennett said. "They bring up and elevate the play of their team."
In preseason workouts, Landesberg said, Bennett has frequently pulled him aside to talk about setting his teammates up for baskets, "so everybody else around me gets better. I'm trying to help them feel more confident about themselves and their games."
It's possible, Landesberg acknowledged, that he'll be a better player than in 2008-09 while scoring less.
"Definitely," he said. "There's a lot of things that I didn't do last year that I could have done, and I'm going to try to do them this year ... As long as our team is winning and I'm doing a lot of things to help, it's all good."
In separate sessions, players from both teams also met with reporters Monday afternoon. Some highlights from the JPJ:
CHANGING OF THE GUARD: Ryan called this is "year of unknown." The Cavaliers' roster includes five freshmen and four sophomores.
"That's a lot of players, first-years and second-years," Ryan said.
The newcomers are 5-6 China Crosby, 6-3, Simone Egwu, 6-4 Erinn Thompson, 5-11 Lexie Gerson and 6-1 Telia McCall.
"It's one thing to be young and mediocre," Ryan said, but that's not the case with this group. "I think the talent level's pretty high."
UVa's sophomores are twins Whitney and Britny Edwards, who stand 5-11 and 6-1, respectively, 5-7 Ariana Moorer and 6-2 Chelsea Shine.
Shine, who averaged 5.5 points and 3.3 rebounds last season, is "probably the most improved player on our team right now," Ryan said.
ON THE MEND: Paulisha Kellum, a 5-8 guard, is back after missing the 2008-09 season with the third torn anterior cruciate ligament of her basketball career.
In the summer before her sophomore year of high school, she tore her left ACL. A year later, she tore her the right one. She injured her right knee again last year, but she's recovered well from reconstructive surgery and is again scrimmaging with the team.
Kellum, who's listed as a redshirt junior, averaged 9.0 points and 3.2 rebounds for the Cavaliers in 2007-08, and she "adds a great deal," Ryan said.
Rehabbing for the third time wasn't easy, Kellum said, but "I just wanted to do it for my teammates and myself. I wasn't ready to give up on myself."
VERSION 2.0: Her sophomore class, Ryan said, has "taken a huge leap forward," led by Moorer.
"Ari has, in my opinion, just turned the page in terms of, her freshman year's over, and she's stepping into her second year as a much more mature player who has really improved a lot of areas of her game," Ryan said.
"Her body has changed dramatically. She has slimmed down. She's a lot stronger, and she's doing an extremely good job for us right now.
"Ari will probably play both the point and the 2 for us, because Ari can really score, as we found out last year, especially in the NCAA tournament. Ari was putting up 3s left and right, and she can really stretch the defense."
Moorer averaged 7.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists as a freshman.
FACE OF THE PROGRAM: Like Sean Singletary before him, Landesberg has become the player most identified with the men's team. Landesberg is featured in TV and print ads for the coming season, despite playing on a team stocked with juniors and seniors.
"I'm definitely comfortable with it," Landesberg said. "I guess I just fell into this role, and I'm just accepting it with open arms."
Singletary, who's heading into his second NBA season, was in Charlottesville for much of the summer, and he "was always joking around with me," Landesberg said.
"He was like, 'You're trying to be the next me,' and I was like, 'Come on. I'm the only Sylven. I'm not trying to be Sean or anybody else.' But it's fun. It's good and bad. You've got to watch what you do at all times."
WAIT AND SEE: Bennett has worked with his players in small groups and, more recently, as a team for most of the semester.
"Without a doubt, it's a hard-working group," he said. "The effort is there. Just the way they talk, the way they train, how they condition. So, yes, I've been pleased with that. But I think every team in America is working hard right now.
"We haven't had to go through any adversity, and that's going to be a significant test. How will we be when we go through some hard times. Will the character stay strong? Will the work ethic be there? Will the commitment to team over self win out?
"Those are the things that certainly don't happen overnight. They're part of building programs that are huge."
KNOCK ON WOOD: Bennett's team is healthy as it heads toward its first official practice. "So far, so good," he said.
The thumb injury that bothered 7-0 center Assane Sene for most of last season has healed, and senior guard Calvin Baker is moving well after offseason operations on his foot and his knee.
BUYING IN: Two recruits signed letters of intent with UVa last November: 6-8 Tristan Spurlock and 5-11 Jontel Evans. Dave Leitao was the Cavaliers' coach then, but he stepped down after the season.
After Bennett was hired, he visited Spurlock and then Evans. Had either requested a release from his letter of intent, Bennett would have granted it, but both decided to enroll at UVa.
"I think it's great," Bennett said. "I told them, as I begin my tenure, I really want to have guys that are excited about trying to turn this and to be a part of it. And it usually doesn't work in the long room if guys don't want to be a part of building a program. And so, as we're starting this process, I'm really looking for those guys in who we recruit and who is already in the program.
"We're going to push guys hard. We'll treat them well and respect them, but we're going to push them, and they have to be about the big picture of trying to make Virginia basketball a quality program, and that's what I'm looking for, and guys who will represent it with character."
Evans said he was skeptical about Bennett when the hire was announced. But it took only one visit to Evans' home in Hampton for Bennett to win the family over.
"It was just his whole demeanor," Evans said. "He had a big smile on his face. He came to my house like he'd known me for years."
FRESH START: As a redshirt freshman last season, Sammy Zeglinski started 15 games at point guard and averaged 7.8 points. He lost confidence as the season went on, however, and didn't always respond well to Leitao's in-your-face style of coaching.
Zeglinski admits he's excited about having a former NBA point guard as his head coach.
"I really feel like I know what he's trying to do with the team," Zeglinski said, "and I respect him being a point guard, and I really feel like we're on the same page a lot of the time."


 

High five from Spurlock By Patrick Stevens on Oct. 12, 2009 into D1SCOURSE

CHARLOTTESVILLE --- There are many things with no right or wrong answer. An all-time all-ACC basketball team is one of them.

Fans and writers can bickeras much as they want, but usually you don't get actual current players involved.

But on a whim, given that I was having a pretty entertaining conversation with freshman forward Tristan Spurlock at Virginia's basketball media day today, I asked him to give an all-ACC team from the last decade.

"Oh man," he said. "Last 10? Can I go all-time?"

Any history buff isn't going to say no to that, especially to a guy who grew up in the D.C. area and is about as ready as anyone could possibly be to get his college career underway.

So, sure, he can go with his all-time favorite players.

"Let's go Ralph Sampson at the five --- huge Ralph Sampson fan," Spurlock said. "At the four, I'm a little biased. I don't know. I might go ... there's so many good fours in the ACC. I'm actually a huge Al Thornton fan. I get compared to him a lot, so I'm going to go with him at the four."

(Note: Mention of TGAT --- The Great Al Thornton --- assured the entire starting five would get blogged. But, really, it only gets better).

"I'm going to go with Len Bias at the three," Spurlock said. "I have a Len Bias jersey and I'm a big Len Bias fan. At the two, I'm going to go Michael Jordan and at the one, I'm going to go --- oh, Jay Williams. I was a Duke fan when I was little."

Really, in their primes, that's a superb team. Jordan, Bias and Sampson could be on anyone's all-time team and not get criticized, and Williams was an amazing player in college. It's the sort of team a 40-year-old (with Christian Laettner or Tim Duncan in place of Thornton) probably would come up with and make a good case for.

But Spurlock wasn't done.

"For my honorable mention, I'm going to go Vince Carter, and I'm a big Greivis Vasquez fan," said Spurlock, who was a teammate of Vasquez's at Montrose Christian three years ago.

One other honorable mention: Former Virginia guard Sean Singletary. "I got to play against him this summer," Spurlock said. "I did not know how special he really was. Sean could score a basketball with eight people guarding him."

There's no arguing that, either.

--- Patrick Stevens
 

U.Va. basketball notes (men’s and women’s)
Michael Phillips
Oct 12, 2009

Basketball practice starts later this week, and Virginia’s two coaches are chasing very different milestones.

Men’s coach Tony Bennett will be going for win no. 1, while women’s coach Debbie Ryan’s first win will be the 700th of her career.

Bennett said that he’s going to emphasize tough defense and good shot selection on offense, and he’ll challenge sophomore Sylven Landesberg to elevate his teammates after a breakout year for the guard.

“The great players find a way to elevate everyone around them,“ Bennett said.

For Ryan, it will be about youth. The team’s only senior is Monica Wright, so she’ll look to build slowly with a group that includes nine freshmen and sophomores. They’ll jump right into a schedule that is among the nation’s 10 toughest.

“In order to get better, you have to play people,“ Ryan said. “If you tone it down too much, you aren’t going to learn anything.“

There will be plenty more from hoops world starting next week as practices open up to the media.
 

Bennett changing attitude at Virginia COLLEGE BASKETBALL
October 13, 2009 12:35 am
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.
CHARLOTTESVILLE--

As high school seniors, Tristan Spurlock and Jontel Evans were just like every other onlooker, wondering whom Virginia would hire as its men's basketball coach.

They heard speculation that one big name after another was headed to Charlottesville, including well-known coaches Jeff Capel, Tubby Smith and even the legendary Bobby Knight.

Spurlock and Evans had signed national letters of intent with the Cavaliers when Dave Leitao was the head coach, but he was fired at the end of a 10-18 season.

Spurlock said Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage told him not to worry because the Cavaliers were "going to get somebody good."

"It was kind of nerve-wracking," Evans said of Virginia's hiring process. "I'm hearing all these big names and I'm like 'Oh my God, they're bringing in the heavyweights.'"

None of those heavyweights came to fruition.

On March 31, Spurlock sent Evans a text message that said Tony Bennett was hired away from Washington State and was the Cavaliers' new head coach.

"I said, 'Who the heck is that?'" Evans recalled. "My dad looked him up and read about his success at Washington State. He seemed like a nice guy, but honestly I just wanted to meet him face to face to make my decision."

The decision Evans had to make was whether to honor the letter of intent he signed. He had the option to back out of it when Leitao was fired.

But when Evans saw Bennett walk confidently into his family's home, there was no way the point guard was going to reject the coach's overtures. Spurlock decided to join the Cavaliers, too.

"It was just his whole demeanor when he came to my house with a big smile on his face," Evans said yesterday at Virginia's annual media day. "He came in my house like he knew me for years. So that's what made me make the decision I wanted to play for him and still become a Virginia Cavalier."

Virginia is counting on that smile to be the face of its program.

Bennett opens his first official practice with the Cavaliers on Friday. Virginia open its season Nov. 13 at home against Longwood.

Bennett was able to work with the Cavaliers for two hours per week for a month this offseason, which he said should help the team's transition.

"They've certainly worked hard," Bennett said of his players. "The thing I'm trying to stress is that every team in America is working very hard right now. There's got to be some execution and smarts with the effort, and that will certainly be addressed when we get the daily repetition with them."

That daily repetition will include plenty of focus on defense and shot selection. That's how Bennett won at Washington State and how his father, Dick Bennett, built a solid program at Wisconsin.

"It isn't always the most appealing thing, but you look at your program and say, 'What's going to give us a chance to win?'" Bennett said of his defense-first approach. "[Players] have to understand that."

Bennett guided Washington State to two 26-win seasons and two NCAA tournament appearances in his three seasons in Corvallis, but he admits rebuilding Virginia's fractured program could take time.

The Cavaliers have reached the NCAA tournament just twice this decade, and they've won just one NCAA tournament game since 1995.

"I'm realistic," Bennett said. "There's some ground to cover. We've got work to do. We'll see how that progresses, but [I'm] always hopeful."

There is reason for hope.

The Cavaliers' only key loss from last season was inconsistent swingman Mamadi Diane. They return guard Sylven Landesberg, the Atlantic Coast Conference freshman of the year, and a host of players who should be better with another year of experience.

Players said Bennett's arrival has provided even more optimism.

"You can see the vibe on campus, the vibe on the team, everybody's just excited," junior shooting guard Jeff Jones said. "It's like the first day of recruiting. All the coaches are out there checking the guys out and everybody's in the gym extra time. Everybody's just high-energy. I think it gives a lot of people motivation to do great things."

 

Optimism returns to Cavaliers
By Whitey Reid
Published: October 13, 2009

The 2009-10 Virginia men’s basketball media day on Monday afternoon at John Paul Jones Arena was a whole lot different from the one last season.
Mainly, because there there was one.
A year ago, for reasons unknown, the program bypassed the annual ritual in favor of a teleconference with former coach Dave Leitao.
In some ways, the missing day of optimism was a bad omen.
Virginia went on to have one of its worst seasons in school history — the Cavaliers won just 10 games — and replaced Leitao with Washington State coach Tony Bennett.
But on Monday’s media day at JPJ, a palpable optimism was back.
With the start of official practice on Friday, smiles abounded — something that was missing the last couple of years when many Virginia players seemed as if they were walking on egg shells.
“[Bennett’s] whole demeanor is different than coach Leitao’s,” said Landesberg, last season’s ACC rookie of the year. “Coach Bennett is more laid back. If you mess up, instead of yelling at you, he’ll pull you over to the side.
“He’ll talk to you personally and won’t put your whole business out there…I guess it’s better because we’re not afraid to mess up or anything, because we know if we do, coach Bennett will talk to us in private and not in front of everyone.”
“We’re all excited about all this new staff and coach Bennett, who is like a great guy, a funny guy also,” added sophomore center Assane Sene. “But when it’s time to work, it’s time to work. He knows exactly what players need to do to improve their games for this coming season.”
For the last couple of months, per NCAA rules, the team has only been allowed to practice a couple of hours per week, and in small groups.
Bennett has gotten a feel for what many of his new players can do, but admitted he was looking forward to learning more come Friday.
“To be able to start building habits on a day-to-day basis will be crucial for us,” Bennett said. “It’s a hard-working group, but the thing I’m trying to stress is that every team in America is working hard right now — no question about it.
“But the old mantra of playing hard, playing smart and playing together — there has to be some execution and smarts with the effort. That will certainly be addressed.”
Landesberg is really Bennett’s only known quantity. Bennett has been impressed with what he has seen on tape, and also the way the sophomore has been able to penetrate the lane and “snake” shots up during workouts.
However, there are a plethora of other questions for Bennett to answer before the team’s season opener versus Longwood on Nov. 13.
For starters, how to improve the ACC’s worst defensive outfit? Who will supplement Landesberg’s scoring? Can Bennett get any low-post production?
Bennett, the national coach of the year in 2006-07, won’t be looking for any quick fix. Yet, he stopped short of calling this a “transition” season for the program.
“Do I want to win? Absolutely,” he said. “But we have to be so geared on doing things the right way.
“I have a vision for the long haul. If there’s short-term success, that’s great. But this is a vision for the long haul. I just want to see us do things well. You just don’t know what to expect with the competition and the conference. I know it will be a great challenge and great opportunity, and hopefully we’ll play in a way that gives a chance to be competitive first, and then hopefully we’re a bit successful after that.”
When asked whether he needed to rebuild his players’ confidence after two nightmarish seasons, Bennett said he wasn’t sure.
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “Some of the things we do are probably a bit different than coach Leitao and his staff. There are some things that they are conditioned to do that we have to change.
“But as far as confidence ... losing’s tough. When you do that for a couple of years, that can be a challenge.”
That’s where optimism can come into play. Near the end of his media session, Bennett, with the help of a Virginia student in attendance, invoked the poem, “Casey at the Bat.”
“Hope springs eternal,” he said. “With youth, I’ve always noticed that. Kids — they’re always optimistic and are always hopeful.
“One of the tenants and pillars in our program is humility ... That’s going to be big for our program — do you really know who you are as a team? What I want to get across to our team is, ‘Do we know who we have to be and who we are in order to have a chance to be competitive and successful?’ We’re going to have to know who we are.”
The answers should start flowing Friday.
 

Virginia thrives in friendly quarters of Mem Gym
Since 2003 renovation to historic venue, Cavaliers boast 66-25 record at home; raucous crowd rattles opponents, provides team with energy
Abbey Lou Hendricks, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor
Sports / Volleyball
October 13, 2009 0

Although the Virginia volleyball team may be struggling to find consistency in execution, focus and effort, one aspect of the program that will never falter is Memorial Gymnasium.

The Cavaliers played on their beloved home court from 1979 until 1998, when renovations began because of a hefty $1.5 million donation. Finally, in summer 2003, the team was treated to a upgraded court.

“It’s nice to win in Mem,” senior outside hitter and co-captain Lauren Dickson said.

And winning in Memorial Gymnasium is exactly what Virginia does.

The Cavaliers have a 66-25 home record since their return after the 2003 renovations. In the 2008 season finale, Virginia earned its 200th win overall in Memorial Gymnasium after overcoming Virginia Tech, 3-2.

Perhaps the greatest benefit enjoyed by the Cavaliers is the team’s vocal crowd support on Grounds. The team owes a large portion of those 200-plus to its home fans, who create a loud and energetic setting. With the fans sitting only feet away, the players can build off their intensity, giving the squad an edge against visiting opponents.

“We have a supportive crowd,” said junior libero A.J. Cushman. “We have such a great gym to play in; it’s our home.”

Not only do the fans sit close to the players, but they also know how to squeeze into the sometimes tight space.

In the 2008 season, the Cavaliers twice played in front of full capacity crowds, and the year before, the attendance record was broken the same number of times. This season, at the first match of the annual Marriott Cavalier Invitational, it was standing room only to watch the Cavaliers defeat in-state rival Virginia Tech.

“We had a packed house, and [the fans] were certainly significant difference-makers in their ability to create energy for us and create a hostile environment for the Hokies,” Virginia coach Lee Maes said.

Maes’ Cavaliers have a 5-3 record at home this season. The victories include those en route to being named Jefferson Cup Champions, and the aforementioned win against Virginia Tech. And just last Friday, the squad swept ACC opponent N.C. State to improve its conference record this season to 2-1.

Certainly, it seems the Cavaliers are comfortable and familiar with every aspect of their home court.

“We play here, we practice here and we know everything about the dimensions,” Cushman said, noting that this familiarity translates to game-time success.

Virginia’s conference record in Memorial Gymnasium, meanwhile, is almost certain to improve with six home ACC games still left to play. The Cavaliers are looking to find a physical game consistency and hope to grab as many of those six games as possible in front of supportive home fans.

Virginia’s next chance to play in Charlottesville will be Friday and Saturday, when it hosts conference rivals Clemson and Georgia Tech, respectively.
 

Rested Cavaliers aim to extinguish Flames
After week off following shutout against Longwood, team gets set to take on tough Liberty defense
Nick Eilerson, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor
Featured / Men's Soccer / Sports
October 13, 2009 0

Virginia forward Chris Agorsor scored his second goal of the season in the Cavaliers’ most recent win against Longwood last week. The sophomore is also tied for first on the team in assists with two on the year. Photo by Bennett Sorbo.
The Virginia men’s soccer team returns to action tonight when it hosts Liberty at 7 p.m. at Klöckner Stadium. It will mark the 18th meeting between the two schools, a series in which Virginia has never lost. Last year, the Cavaliers extinguished the Flames 3-0 at Klöckner.

Although Liberty may not boast the same strength of schedule as an ACC school, the midweek visitors should not go overlooked by the No. 13 Cavaliers (7-3). Liberty enters the match having recorded six shutouts in nine games this season. Its most recent match came against No. 2 North Carolina, which squeaked by the Flames 1-0 in Chapel Hill. The loss ended Liberty’s (5-2-2) four-match unbeaten streak.

“They’re a very good team,” Virginia coach George Gelnovatch said. “The nice part is we didn’t have a game over the weekend, so we’ll be rested.”

Liberty junior goalkeeper Andrew Madero ranks second in the country in goals-against average (0.22) and third in save percentage (.931). In four of their five victories this season and in both of the team’s ties, the Flames’ backline has shutout its opponents.

Meanwhile, the Liberty offense has similarly thrived, outscoring opponents 21-3. Sophomore Darren Amoo has led the charge, recording seven goals and three assists this season. The forward’s average of 1.89 points per contest is good for 13th nationally.

The Cavaliers should have the advantage of fresh legs against the Flames, as the team’s last game was a 2-0 victory against Longwood a week ago. Sophomore forward Brian Ownby, in his first game back from the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Egypt, notched his first goal of the season just five minutes into the match.

“While I was gone, I was watching and saw that we had a bunch of overtime games,” Ownby said. “It seemed like we were playing kind of defensive, so I’m hoping to help bring some offense back into this. I think we had a little bit more of a spark [against Longwood] so hopefully we can take that into the Liberty game.”

Sophomore forward Chris Agorsor, who assisted Ownby’s goal, tacked on a score of his own for Virginia, and junior goalkeeper Diego Restrepo recorded his fourth shutout of the season. Restrepo boasts a 0.49 goals-against average, good enough for 11th best in the nation.

Senior midfielder Neil Barlow continues to lead the team in points with three goals and two assists so far this season. Sophomore midfielder Tony Tchani also has three goals to his credit, although his production is down compared to last season. Through 13 games in his freshman campaign, he had nine goals and three assists to his name.

After the match against Liberty, the Cavaliers visit Blacksburg for a Saturday showdown against Virginia Tech.