11/20/03 - Baker's Dozen

Virginia will put Tech LBs on spot
By JOHN HOLLIS
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

Georgia Tech's Daryl Smith expects Virginia to continue making liberal use of its running backs and tight ends.

And he and the Yellow Jackets' other linebackers are ready.

"We just have to drop back into coverage," said Smith, whose Jackets head to Charlottesville this weekend to face the Cavaliers. "When they swing the ball in the flats to their running backs or out to their tight ends, we just have to step up and make good tackles. We just have to make sure they don't get that many yards after the catch."

Smith and the Jackets will have to be sharp. The pressure will be primarily on them to slow a Virginia passing attack that is based on short throws, featuring its running backs and tight ends at least as much as its wide receivers.

"Virginia does a great job with their tight ends and running backs, getting the ball to those people and letting them make plays," Tech coach Chan Gailey said.

The Cavaliers tend to do most of their damage from their base offensive packages, meaning the Jackets probably will have to stay in their own base schemes to match up, and not their pass-oriented nickel packages. That will leave the primary burden of keeping track of tailbacks Alvin Pearman and Wali Lundy and tight end Heath Miller to Smith and fellow backers Keyaron Fox and Ather Brown.

Pearman is the Cavaliers' leading receiver with 50 catches, followed by Miller, whose 47 receptions are five shy of a new ACC record for tight ends. Lundy, who is Virginia's leading rusher with 654 yards, is fifth on the team with 20 catches.

"I think that places a lot of pressure on the linebackers," Tech cornerback Reuben Houston said.

Said Gailey: "Their running backs and tight ends are guys you better account for in the passing game."

Smith, however, sounded confident about his chances to affect the game's outcome.

"We just have to go out and make tackles," he said.

Ball must bone up on Virginia scheme
By JOHN HOLLIS
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer

Georgia Tech has already faced the unusual 3-3-5 defenses that both BYU and Wake Forest employed, and coach Chan Gailey is hoping that familiarity will help, even if just somewhat, as the Yellow Jackets prepare for Virginia's 3-4 scheme this weekend.

Both schemes use a nose tackle over the football and two defensive ends, but Gailey said Wednesday they have little else in common.

"The 3-4 is a different defense," he said. "You have to prepare different, you play different, use different schemes. There are things you have to handle [in the 3-4] in passing situations."

The key for the Jackets will be to bring freshman quarterback Reggie Ball up to speed in a hurry on the nuances of the 3-4. The Cavaliers boast an outstanding linebacking corps in the likes of Darryl Blackstock, Kai Parham and Ahmad Brooks, and knowing where they are at all times will be important.

"You have to account for all four linebackers," Gailey said. "That's the premise of the defense. Plus, you're getting another guy on the field who can maybe run faster, jump higher, that kind of thing."

Turnover turnaround

Perhaps no statistic better explains Virginia's relatively disappointing season to date than the Cavaliers' inability to create turnovers the way they did a year ago.

Last season, Virginia ranked fifth in the country in turnovers gained with 37 (15 interceptions, 22 fumbles). Its average of 2.64 turnovers gained per game was tied for 10th. The Cavaliers were also 15th in turnover margin with an average of 1.07 more takeaways than turnovers per game.

This season, Virginia has fallen into a tie for 86th in the country in turnovers gained with 17 (9 interceptions, 8 fumbles), while the Cavaliers' average has fallen to 1.70 per game, tying them for 81st.

As a consequence, Virginia is 1-4 in games decided by two touchdowns or less this fall, down from last year's 6-3 mark in such games.

Georgia Tech's Smith leads Yellow Jackets to face Cavs
Yellow Jackets' wide receiver Jonathon Smith has skills, motivation to shake things up in Charlottesville
S.r. Sidarth
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

If Saturday's Virginia-Georgia Tech football game goes down to the wire, the last player Cavaliers fans will want to see with the ball is Jonathan Smith.

Smith, a 5'10", 189-pound senior wide receiver from Clinch County High School in Argyle, Ga., has evolved into Georgia Tech's big-play threat this season. Smith's playmaking ability is a big reason for the Ramblin' Wreck's surprising 6-4, 4-3 ACC record.

Smith has 57 receptions for 925 yards on the season, an average of 16.2 yards per catch. He has added four touchdowns, including a season-high 65-yard catch in a 24-7 October victory over Wake Forest.

Smith's success is unexpected when taking into account his statistics from seasons past, as he had a total of 96 catches for 1,100 yards in his first three seasons. Smith's stellar play has helped ease the transition of true freshman quarterback Reggie Ball, as over half of Ball's passing yards this season have gone to Smith (925 of 1,743).

As a true freshman in 2000, Smith worked his way into the wide receiver corps in mid-season after starting out on special teams on kickoff coverage.

Smith first became a primary receiving target in 2001, placing second on the team with 53 catches for 590 yards and four touchdowns. Smith hurt Virginia with a then-career-high eight catches for 89 yards in a losing effort, 39-38, in Charlottesville.

Smith's statistics fell off in 2002, as he dropped to third in receptions on the Yellow Jackets. He had only 36 catches for 430 yards and three scores, but also contributed by returning punts and taking snaps at quarterback and at tailback.

In last Saturday's home date with North Carolina, Smith showed his versatility as he broke open the game in the fourth quarter. With the the Yellow Jackets holding a slim 20-17 lead, Smith received the handoff on a reverse and threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to wideout Nate Curry.

"The reverse pass was pretty big," Smith said. "I'd never thrown a touchdown before."

North Carolina quickly responded with a touchdown, cutting the Tech lead back down to three. However, Smith continued to set the tone with his stellar play and caught a 30-yard touchdown pass on the next drive, restoring the ten-point margin. Smith then iced the game by returning a punt 73 yards for a score, providing the final margin of 41-24.

"My role is to make plays when I'm called on to make them, and to be a leader a little bit, to go out there and show the younger guys the ropes," Smith said.

Despite the fact that Georgia Tech became bowl eligible with the North Carolina victory, Smith is not looking past Saturday's game.

"I'm just going to go out and play hard and do whatever it takes to win the game," Smith said. "It's an important game."

Smith acknowledged the challenge that the Virginia defense will present.

"We haven't won [in Charlottesville] since 1990," Smith said. "They're going to be fired up and we have to match their emotion. The tougher team is going to win. We have to go up there and execute and stay away from penalties and mistakes."

Virginia coach Al Groh recognized Smith as one of the strengths of the Yellow Jacket offense.

"[They have] a relentless runner, high-energy quarterback, [and] speed receiver," Groh said.

Smith will be looking to showcase that speed on Saturday and lead the Yellow Jackets to their seventh victory this season.

By DOUG DOUGHTY
Exclusive to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Thursdays

This is not intended as a knock against Pete Gillen or his Virginia men’s basketball team, but, when I think of this year's Cavalier team, Clemson keeps coming to mind.

You know how Clemson is? Clemson never plays anybody in December and annually gets off to terrific starts, including 9-0 in 2002-2003, when the Tigers finished 15-13 in coach Larry Shyatt's final season.

I'm not saying that this will be Gillen's final season — after all, his contract runs for seven years after this one, with no apparent stipulation for a buyout — but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Cavaliers take an 8-0 record into a Dec. 28 game at North Carolina State.
(If they aren’t 8-0, the most likely loss would come Dec. 19 at Loyola-Marymount and what a story that would be, in a game scheduled for a couple of Californians who are no longer in the program, Jermaine Harper and Nick Vander Laan!).

Beyond that, I could see the Cavaliers taking an 11-1 record — and perhaps a national ranking — into a Jan. 5 home game with Duke.

Actually, I think Virginia has a chance to be pretty good, or better than a preseason eighth-place choice has any right to be. But what stands out about the Cavaliers' early season schedule is a preponderance of home games (10 of the first 13 at University Hall).
BASED ON UVa's two preseason games, I think the "X" factors are sophomore forward Derrick Byars and freshman post man Donte Minter.

Byars was 19-of-23 in the preseason, an 82.6 field-goal percentage that would be impressive even if it didn’t include six 3-point attempts, and Minter was 15-of-18. Minter had 18 points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes Tuesday night in a 91-90 victory over the Coaches vs. Cancer All-Stars.

In UVa's two exhibition games, Minter, a 6-foot- 7 1/2, 244-pounder, had 33 points and 14 rebounds in 33 minutes.
Although I was not as big a fan of Vander Laan as, say, media gadfly Jeff White of The Richmond Times-Dispatch, I felt that Vander Laan could have helped this year's team with his rebounding.

It's a scary proposition to enter the season with Elton Brown, an inconsistent rebounder in his first two seasons, as your chief rebounding threat.

In Minter, it appears that UVa has a second serviceable post player in case the Cavaliers want to use two or if Brown gets in foul trouble, which he says he won't. In the two exhibition games, Minter had 33 points and

Virginia has a handful of wing players, so Minter's development might be even more important than Byars', but if Byars could be a 15-point, six-rebound-per-game kind of player, it would make a huge difference.

WE INTERRUPT THE column at this point to ask a musical trivial question answered correctly to this point by only Ralph Berrier and Andrew Joyner, both of whom probably cheated.
Regarding the song "First Cut is the Deepest" currently being covered by Sheryl Crow, who did the most popular version and (for the bonus) who wrote it?
WITH FOOTBALL'S REGULAR season winding to a conclusion, it will be interesting to see if offensive lineman Kevin Bailey can get one last reward from a college career that hasn't been the same after an Aug. 31, 2002, injury at Florida State.

Bailey, the Cavaliers' best offensive lineman and certainly their most experienced O-lineman at the time, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and did not play again until the third game of this season.
Bailey, a fifth-year senior, was a fill-in starter at left guard against North Carolina and later regained his starting center job, only to be victimized by errant shotgun snaps in losses to Florida State and N.C. State. Former starter Zac Yarbrough took over for Bailey at N.C. State, and Bailey did not play against Maryland.

"I think Kevin's feeling a lot better," coach Al Groh said Thursday when asked if Bailey might see time at another spot on the line. “But, Kevin and I talked 10 days [or] two weeks ago and he told me that he just felt the whole thing was catching up with him physically. You know, his legs were gone and didn't have any pop to him.

"At that time, rather than add to the different things we were giving him, we tried to back off, so he could get a little juice back. He has said this week that he feels a lot better."

Groh compared Bailey to Florida State running back Greg Jones, who returned for the Seminoles this year after undergoing ACL surgery, but has not chewed up yardage at his previous rate. The one exception, Groh said, has been Bailey's UVa teammate, running back Alvin Pearman.
WITH THAT, here's the answer to the trivia question: Cat Stevens and Rod Stewart.

Can Virginia stop Daniels in his tracks?
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
November 19, 2003

Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering that if Maryland’s Josh Allen rushed for 257 yards against Virginia’s defense last week, what is Georgia Tech’s P.J. Daniels going to do? ...
Daniels, a former walk-on, leads the ACC in rushing after chalking up 240 against UNC last week and must be chomping at the bit to get hold of the Wahoos’ defense. Virginia is ranked as the next-to-last defense against the run in the ACC, giving up 168.7 yards rushing per game.
Expect Daniels to run often against UVa.
“I never see the guy get tired,” said Georgia Tech wide receiver Jonathan Smith. “I come back to the huddle with my hands on my knees and he’s just smiling, waiting for the next play.”
Daniels has won a special place in Tech coach Chan Gailey’s heart.
“P.J. is a tough, tough -have I got enough toughs available? - tough runner,” Gailey said. “You hand it to him on second-and-four and you think that if he can get part of it to get to third down, and he gets four and a half or five. His heart’s as big as Atlanta.”

Under fire

Florida State coach Bobby Bowden was hoping the dramatic win over N.C. State might cool some of the criticism aimed at son, Jeff, who is the Seminoles’ offensive coordinator.
“I guess people say I have gotten touchy the last couple of weeks on it,” Saint Bobby said. “People just don’t understand how fickle offense is.”
Why don’t you enlighten us, Bobby.
“I’ve always compared it to the cat and the dog,” Bowden said. “My cat will walk up to the back door, I’ll open the door and she just stands there. ‘Get on out, you were over there screaming to get out, now get out the door.’ She’ll sit there and look out that way, and look over that way. I’m standing there getting cold, so I just shove it out the door.
“Now, you open that door for that dog, he’s gone. That’s the way offenses are. Offenses are like a cat. Defense is like a dog. Offenses are fickle.”
Huh?
Bowden said that he lost some close friends in defending former FSU coordinator Mark Richt over the years.
“It was the same way with Mark Richt [now Georgia’s head coach] for 10 years,” Bowden said. “People wouldn’t have anything to do wth the program unless I got rid of Mark Richt.”

Too much hype?

Although the UVa rivalry with Virginia Tech won’t be played until next week, the war of words has already begun.
When discussing what bowl the Hokies might attend this year, which would give Tech 11 straight bowl trips, defensive end Cols Colas delivered this slap at the rival Cavaliers:
“Some teams don’t even have the opportunity to go to bowl games,” Colas told Richmond Times-Dispatch writer Mike Harris. “I think we’re a little bit spoiled. Some teams like UVa, they don’t even know if they’re going to a bowl game. They’d be happy to go anywhere.”

Quote of the week

Virginia basketball coach Pete Gillen was curious when this year’s schedule came out featuring the Cavaliers opening on the road in conference play at N.C. State for the second straight year.
“I asked [the ACC office] why and they told me it was the computer,” Gillen said. “I told them I think they need a new computer ... one that wasn’t made in Raleigh, N.C.”

Hold my calls

Clemson has instituted a new cell phone rule with Tiger players, banning any cell phone activity during the team movie on nights before the game, the pregame meal, the team bus and the locker room before games.
“Cell phones are just a lot of distractions come game day,” said Tigers offensive tackle Gregory Walker. “I know everybody needs to talk to their family. Hey, keep it in your hotel room.”
Since the Tigers have started the policy, they’re 2-0.

Sweet revenge

That’s what’s on the minds of the Blue Devils when Duke travels to Chapel Hill for its big rivalry (won by UNC for the last 13 years).
Last year, the Tar Heels celebrated their last-second, 23-21 comeback win over the Dookies when kicker Dan Orner booted the winning kick and made a mad dash for the big inflatable Duke helmet at the opposite end of the field. The rest of Carolina’s team followed, knocking down the helmet, which didn’t sit well with the Duke players.
“That’s disrespectful and I think that’s going to help us a little bit motivation-wise,” said Duke linebacker Ryan Fowler.
The celebration was remindful of Steve Spurrier’s last game as Duke coach when after pounding UNC 41-0 in 1989, that Spurrier had the Duke players posing for photographs in front of the scoreboard while Tar Heel players left the field. Carolina swore they’d get revenge and Duke hasn’t won since.
Former Duke coach Carl Franks was so miffed at last year’s antics by the Heels that he used the 23-21 score to set the pass code for entry into Duke’s football center. That way, his players would be reminded of that every time they walked into the building up until this past August.
“It left a bad taste in our mouths,” Franks said. “I guess that, longer than any other loss, stayed with us.”

Short yardage ...

...According to a survey by the ACC Sports Journal (formerly the Poop Sheet), Virginia’s staff of assistant football coaches rank fourth among the highest paid ACC staffs (behind only N.C. State, Georgia Tech and UNC) at an average salary of $113,778 per assistant (surprisingly more than Florida State’s staff by a couple hundred bucks per coach). ...That figure would rate UVa’s staff the eighth-highest paid group of assistant coaches in the SEC. ...Georgia Tech is 4-0 this year when rookie QB Reggie Ball doesn’t throw an interception, and 2-4 when he does. ...Florida State’s best receiver, Craphonso Thorpe underwent surgery to repair both a broken fibula and broken tibia, which occurred late in the win over N.C. State. ...While Clemson coach Tommy Bowden has been under fire from Tiger fans this season, Bowden ranks fifth all-time in the ACC in career wins by a coach in his fifth year at a school with a record of 36-24. ...
Virginia junior tailback Alvin Pearman is seventh in the ACC in rushing (53.7 per game) and seventh in the league in receiving (5.0 catches per game). ...N.C. State QB Philip Rivers ranks second in NCAA Division I-A history in career total offense (12,801), trailing only BYU’s Ty Detmer. ...Rivers is third all-time in career passing yards (12,733), behind Tim Rattay (Louisiana Tech, 12,746) and Detmer (15,031). ...
...Of all the starting quarterbacks in the ACC, UVa’s Matt Schaub ranks dead last in career rushing yardage with only 57 yards. ...Groh said that once Schaub was injured in the first game this season, he wasn’t about to let his QB run with the ball until Schaub was 100 percent (Schaub did run the ball a few times against Maryland, including a brilliantly called quarterback draw for a touchdown). ...
... What kind of a chance will Schaub have in the NFL? Groh said the other day that he thinks Schaub’s arm is just as good as Jets’ QB Chad Pennington, whom Groh drafted out of Marshall. ...Surprisingly, UVa is next-to-last in the ACC in first downs (Georgia Tech is last). ...The Cavaliers are the least-penalized team in the league with an average of only 43.3 yards per game.

The picks. Last week: 4-1. To date: 45-19. This week: South Carolina 27, Clemson 23; Duke 21, UNC 19; N.C. State 33, Maryland 24; Virginia 41, Georgia Tech 38.

Georgia Tech's season far from a wreck
By John Galinsky / Daily Progress staff writer
November 19, 2003

Sitting at his desk during a class back in August, James Butler overheard some of his fellow Georgia Tech students discussing the football team. The conversation wasn’t positive.

“They were saying, ‘Man, we’re going to be at the bottom of the ACC,’” said Butler, a junior free safety. “They were talking about how many games we were going to lose.”

Those students weren’t alone. Many people around the ACC were predicting a long season for the Yellow Jackets, and for seemingly sound reasons.

After all, Tech was embarrassed in its last two games of the 2002 season. Ten players, including star tailback Tony Hollings, were declared academically ineligible over the summer. Then, during preseason practice, second-year coach Chan Gailey surprised almost everyone by selecting true freshman Reggie Ball as his starting quarterback over two experienced returnees.

“No one believed we would do anything this season, except for us,” said senior linebacker Daryl Smith. “But everything that happened kind of drove us to be successful and prove everyone wrong.”

Look at the Jackets now. At 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the ACC, they already are bowl eligible with two games remaining in the regular season. That’s something Virginia (5-5, 3-4) - a popular preseason choice as an ACC contender - can’t say going into Saturday’s matchup at Scott Stadium.

To be sure, it’s been a strange season. Tech has looked awful at times, losing by 36 points to Clemson and by 24 to Duke, a result that snapped the Blue Devils’ 30-game ACC losing streak. But the Jackets also have defeated Auburn, N.C. State and Maryland, and fell by just one point to Florida State on the road. After a 1-3 start, they have gone 5-1.

“I feel good about our season and what we’ve done,” Butler said. “We’ve done more than what people expected, but we still haven’t done what we expected to do.”

Butler says the players and coaches knew there was enough talent to succeed. Smith, fellow senior linebacker Keyaron Fox, senior center Hugh Reilly, junior tackle Nat Dorsey and senior receiver Jonathan Smith were proven veterans. Others have emerged as playmakers, including Butler, who leads the ACC with five interceptions in his first season as a starter.

Sophomore defensive end Eric Henderson has 10 sacks, four more than anyone else in the conference. Sophomore tailback P.J. Daniels has an ACC-high 1,034 rushing yards. Ball, while unspectacular, has played with poise and largely avoided freshman mistakes.

“To tell the truth, we’re not surprised at all,” Smith said. “Watching the young guys on the scout team last year, we knew they were going to be good.”

The suspensions eroded Tech’s depth at many positions, but the team has managed to stay healthy. Ten defenders have started every game, as have eight offensive players. The result has been continuity and steady improvement, with the exception of the loss at Duke two weeks ago.

UVa coach Al Groh has been impressed by what he has seen of the Jackets on tape. The offense, while last in the ACC in yards, is a smashmouth unit. “Relentless runner, high-energy quarterback, speed receiver,” Groh said. Plus, he added, a huge offensive line that averages 304 pounds from tackle to tackle.

Defense has been Tech’s greatest strength. Despite having only three senior starters, the Jackets have allowed 24 points or fewer in eight of 10 games. That includes three points by Auburn and Maryland, seven by Wake Forest and 14 by Florida State.

Defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta, a 1982 UVa graduate, has installed an attacking 4-3 scheme that incorporates plenty of zone blitzes, puts pressure on quarterbacks and can confuse offensive linemen. Fox, Smith and Butler all rank among the ACC’s top 10 tacklers, while Henderson is “a very dynamic, off-the-edge pass rusher,” Groh said. As a team, Tech’s 13 interceptions lead the conference.

The result has been a season that has exceeded most outsiders’ expectations, though it’s certainly not over. The Jackets finish the regular season with a home game against No. 6 Georgia, then likely will play in a bowl game. So a seventh straight winning season will require one more victory.

“I think we still have a lot to accomplish,” Smith said. “This is a big game for us. Every game is a big game for us. We feel like we have something to prove every week.”

Problem lies in execution not the 3-4 scheme
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
November 21, 2003

For several weeks, Al Groh’s 3-4 defense has been the topic of conversation among Virginia fans and some TV commentators.

The 3-4 is a defensive scheme that consists of three down linemen, four linebackers (two inside, two outside), two cornerbacks and two safeties. For those of you who played football in the 1960s and ‘70s, it’s an offshoot of the old 5-2.

The 5-2 featured a noseguard, two tackles and two defensive ends. The outside linebackers in the 3-4 are essentially what the 5-2’s defensive ends were, only perhaps a little more versatile as far as pass coverage is concerned.

Don’t read into the 3-4

While most teams do not use a 3-4, it is just a base defense. Virginia lines up in the 3-4 but shifts to a 4-3 and even can feature a five-man front, depending on the down-and-distance. The 3-4’s strength is its linebackers and Virginia has a good group of them.

What the defense is supposed to do is keep everything contained, not allowing offenses to get outside its edges, and to keep everything in front of it ... not getting burned by the deep ball.

Because the Cavaliers have given up a lot of yardage on the ground the past couple of years and has indeed been toasted by the deep ball, critics have questioned if the 3-4 is the way to go.

Hearing some criticism

During Virginia’s loss at Maryland a week ago, ESPN analysts suggested that the Cavaliers might take a long look at some other schemes and that the three-man front might be the reason that the Terps and other teams have been able to pile up the rushing yards against the Wahoos.

Groh didn’t like the suggestion.

“Think we ought to switch to the same 4-3 defense that Pittsburgh played, or Minnesota played, or Michigan State played, or North Carolina State or Florida State?” Groh said in reference to massive chunks of yardage surrendered by those five defenses last weekend.

“There are a lot bigger issues than what the numbers are,” Groh said. “A lot of times we start in a 3-4 and shift into something else. Mickey Andrews, the defensive coordinator at Florida State, has this saying that ‘It’s not up front where you lose games, it’s always in the back.’”

Breakdowns in the back

In the back, means in the defensive secondary, where the Cavaliers have been shaky, at best, all season long. Whether it has been pass defense or run support, things haven’t been solid back there and the lack of speed in the secondary has been exposed over and over.

Take the Maryland game for example. The Terps made several big plays against the Cavs, including Josh Allen’s 80-yard touchdown run, which changed the entire complexion of the game. It appeared Allen was stopped for no gain, but he bounced outside and was untouched.

“There was one player who was unfortunately grievously

out of position,” Groh said. “Had the player been in position when the ball bounced out there, I think the play would have probably been one of the better played plays of the game.”

Groh wouldn’t identify the defensive back who was out of position.

Maryland quarterback Scott McBrien said that he thought the play wouldn’t amount to anything because of the way Virginia defended.

“Actually, it was the perfect defense for that run,” McBrien told Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times. “Right before we snapped the ball, they shifted the defense and I didn’t have time to check it. The clock was running down, so we kind of had to live with it.”

McBrien said he thought Allen was stopped.

“When I carried out my fake, I saw one of the corners [Muffin Curry] just kind of walking toward the pile,” McBrien said, “and then I saw Allen take off again.”

Groh painfully watched as Allen pulled away from four UVa players in pursuit, pointing out a glaring lack of speed on the Cavaliers’ side of the ball.

Getting help through recruiting

That’s something Groh hopes to address in recruiting, particularly with the possibility of losing sophomore safety Willie Davis for the rest of his career. Davis, who brought speed and toughness to the secondary, had his season ended at South Carolina in a violent collision late in the game.

Davis has undergone surgery but his career may or may not be over.

Groh said this week that the Cavaliers need to find another Davis out there, one for sure, two if Davis can’t return.

Fans complain that Virginia doesn’t blitz enough, but it’s difficult to blitz when your secondary isn’t fast enough to cover receivers man-to-man.

Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey, the former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, remembers Groh as a former staunch 4-3 guy.

“Now, he’s a staunch 3-4 guy,” Gailey said.

And the 3-4 is a little different to prepare for, which Gailey is well aware of.

“You have to account for all four linebackers,” Gailey said. “That’s the premise of the defense. Plus, they’re getting another guy on the field who can maybe run faster, jump higher, that kind of thing [with the extra linebacker]. You try to set it up to where it’s not that big of an issue for [Tech’s freshman quarterback] Reggie Ball, but you have to worry about a lot of that.”

If the Cavaliers are going to beat the Yellow Jackets and build some late-season momentum, then it’s obvious that UVa’s secondary and defensive front are going to have to play the best game of the season.

Otherwise, the 3-4 is going to continue to be put under a microscope and the criticism will likely grow.

Blackstock exchange
Cavaliers linebacker sacrifices sacks to be a more polished player
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Nov 21, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE Darryl Blackstock arrived at the University of Virginia in the summer of 2002, fresh from a stint at Fork Union Military Academy. He hit the Grounds talking.

Blackstock had yet to suit up for a college football game, but he boldly declared his intent to surpass former U.Va. great Chris Slade's ACC record of 40 career sacks.

"I'm out to get that," Blackstock said. "You better believe it."

The kid from Newport News wasn't all talk. Despite carrying only about 220 pounds on his 6-4 frame, Blackstock recorded 10 sacks in 2002 and established himself as perhaps the nation's top freshman defender.

Ten games into his sophomore season, Blackstock has five sacks. That's the most of any Cavalier, but the 242-pound outside linebacker has fallen off Slade's pace. No matter, Blackstock said.

"I don't care how many sacks I have, I don't care how many tackles I have," he said. "All I want to do is win."

When friends back in Newport News ask about the decline in Blackstock's sacks, he said, "I just tell them, 'I do whatever helps our team to win.' At first it was frustrating - the first three games, four games, I didn't have any sacks - but I was just being selfish."

With 13 tackles for losses, Blackstock is far and away Virginia's leader in that category. With 66 tackles, he's tied for fourth on the team. He's recovered two fumbles and broken up four passes.

Blackstock believes he's a more complete player than in 2002, and U.Va. coach Al Groh agrees. So do coaches around the ACC.

"Everything he does is better than it was a year ago," N.C. State coach Chuck Amato said. "And guess what? Unfortunately, he's going to get even better. There's no question about it. He's got all the tools, and he's playing with so much confidence."

The Cavaliers (3-4, 5-5) entertain Georgia Tech (4-3, 6-4) tomorrow in the ACC finale for each team. Like Amato, Yellow Jackets coach Chan Gailey raves about No. 56.

"Their linebacking corps in general is very good, but Blackstock is a special outside player," Gailey said. "The reason he probably doesn't have as many sacks is people know who he is this year and are turning everything toward him."

In 2000, Blackstock posted 29 sacks as an all-Group AAA defensive end for unbeaten Heritage High. A postgraduate season at Fork Union took Blackstock out of the limelight, however, and he didn't enter last season as touted as some of his U.Va. classmates.

"Particularly early in the year last year, before he was really discovered, I think that teams were running the protection as it was called in the huddle, not necessarily as it would be directed towards him," Groh said.

No longer. Opponents are keenly aware of Blackstock's presence on the field and often "will slide the protection in his direction," Groh said. That serves to "cut off some of his routes to the quarterback."

Before the season, Danny Rocco, who coaches U.Va.'s outside linebackers, compiled a videotape of Blackstock's worst plays from 2002. There's more to playing linebacker than sacking the quarterback, and Rocco wanted Blackstock to improve his coverage skills and play the run better.

Blackstock watched intently.

"Darryl expects a great deal of himself," Groh said. "He'll put his head in here every Sunday morning while I'm grading the tape [from Saturday], usually long before many others have showed up, and he always starts with something like, 'Give it to me now,' or, "What's the bad news?' rather than, 'How great was I?'

"What's he wanting to hear is, 'What do I need to do better?'"

He may not break the ACC record for career sacks, but Blackstock seems certain to follow Slade to the NFL. Once he gets there, Blackstock wants to be known as more than a sack specialist.

"He wants to be a three-down player," Groh said. "Those outside linebackers, as their career goes on, if all they are is a pass rusher, they become one-down players . . . Those guys who are the real superstars, those are the guys who are three-down players."

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