Virginia enters this season picked to finish fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference's Coastal Division after a disappointing 2008 season in which the Cavaliers failed to secure a bowl bid. The offense has been revamped with the hiring of new offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon, and instead of inexperience under center, Virginia has three experienced signal callers who could potentially start at quarterback.
Defense has a few more holes to fill this season, as all three starting linebackers have moved on. With Vic Hall moving to QB and the transfer of Andrew Devlin, the cornerback and defensive end positions lose two valuable players.
Pundits are always quick to call Al Groh a "hot seat" coach, but this year's fresh look makes the Cavaliers a big question mark on many schedules. Don't write them off just yet!
Quarterback Vic Hall
Offense
Quaterbacks: Quarterback, quarterback, quarterback. That's all anybody is talking about these days when it comes to Virginia's offense. Senior Jameel Sewell returns after missing a year due to academic issues. Sewell's eventual replacement, junior Marc Verica, is also back following a year riddled with inconsistency. Finally, Vic Hall, the celebrated high school quarterback-turned cornerback-turned quarterback, will compete for the starting job following his collegiate debut at the position in the final game of the season. All three players are vastly different. Sewell is the prototype mobile QB, but he struggled in 2007 with throwing the ball once he started to move. Verica is a pro-style pocket passer who was a great drive engineer when he was on his game. Hall showed himself to be a great runner against Virginia Tech, but he also threw for 2,851 yards as a senior in high school and led his team to a state championship. So which quarterback is the right fit for UVa? Groh is famous for playing things close to the vest, but he has announced that Hall will be the starter heading into practice.
Running backs: Senior running back Mikell Simpson, after a disappointing 2008 season marred by injury, returns to man the backfield along with junior bruiser Keith Payne. Speed is a crucial factor, and Groh has been quoted as saying that this year's class is the fastest Virginia has seen in years.
Wide receivers/Tight ends: Virginia's new spread offense, under Urban Meyer's protégé Brandon, is modeled after the systems at programs such as Texas Tech, Missouri, and Oregon. The Cavaliers will continue to make use of their great tight end corps, led this year by junior Joe Torchia. The use of a spread offense calls for multiple wide receiver sets, among other things. Returning wideouts Jared Green and Kris Burd should have a bigger impact this year, bolstered by the new addition of several young receivers.
Offensive line: The offensive line is led by senior tackle Will Barker, and is a very experienced unit despite the loss of Eugene Monroe. The youngest member, sophomore guard Austin Pasztor, saw a lot of time last season. The O-line will be coming out of a 2-point stance this season, in a blocking scheme more conducive to an effective passing game.
Defense
Linebackers: The loss of linebackers Clint Sintim, Jon Copper, and Antonio Appleby will hit the Cavaliers hard as these players were consistent contributors every game. Denzel Burrell, who returns for his senior season, spelled them and made 48 tackles last season. Senior Aaron Clark would have been in the rotation, but he suffered a season-ending injury against Southern California in the first game of the year. He is expected to be a big contributor this season, along with senior Darren Childs. Three senior linebackers returning isn't too shabby, either, considering the level of talent Virginia lost.
Cornerback Ras-I Dowling
Defensive backs: Hall is expected to spend most of his time at quarterback this fall, but that doesn't mean the Cavaliers' secondary is strapped for talent. Cornerback Ras-I Dowling returns after a productive 2008 season in which he recorded three interceptions . Senior Chris Cook returns to the team after missing last season due to academic ineligibility. Chase Minnifield also has a nose for the ball; he had two interceptions and four pass break-ups last season. Groh also feels confident that Hall could step in if necessary, even though he is focusing exclusively on offense for the moment. Corey Mosely, the only returning safety, is entering his sophomore season after making 46 tackles as a redshirt freshman.
Special Teams:
The bright spots on special teams include sophomore Jimmy Howell, who averaged 39 yards per punt last season, and long-snapper Danny Aiken. Aiken returns for his junior year after starting the past two seasons at the position. The only real question mark is placekicking, an area in which the Cavaliers struggled last season due to injuries and inconsistency. Returning sophomores Chris Hinkebein and Robert Randolph will battle it out for the starting spot. Yannick Reyering, the German soccer player-turned-placekicker, has left the team due to a knee injury.
Minnifield saw significant time returning kickoffs and punts, as did Hall last season. Expect to see some fresh faces and new speed lining up to return kicks this season.
With a revamped offense, a defense bolstered by returning players, and a faster team than ever before, Virginia is poised to surprise some people this season. Don't expect the Cavaliers to be sitting at home come bowl season. They may not win their division, but watch them give rival Virginia Tech a run for their money in Scott Stadium at the end of November. I pick the Cavaliers to go 7-5 this year, and I think they are capable of so much more than what is expected of them.
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Named Virginia’s 38th head football coach
on December 30, 2000, Al Groh begins
his ninth season in Charlottesville as the
second winningest coach in Virginia history,
trailing only the legendary George
Welsh.
Groh owns a record of 56-44 in his
eight years with the Cavaliers, including
a 34-30 record against ACC competition.
His 2008 UVa team recorded back-to-back
victories over nationally ranked opponents
with wins over North Carolina and Georgia Tech.
His 2007 Virginia squad set
an NCAA standard with five victories by two or fewer points in recording its
highest win total since 2002 as Groh was named ACC Coach of the Year for
the second time (also 2002). UVa earned a bid to the Konica Minolta Gator
Bowl, its fifth bowl appearance in Groh’s seven seasons as head coach.
In 2002
and 2003 the Cavaliers posted back-to-back Continental Tire Bowl victories,
marking just the second time in school history a UVa team won consecutive
bowl games.
Prior to his arrival in Charlottesville, Groh was head coach of
the NFL’s New York Jets, where he posted a 9-7 mark in his only year at the
helm. He was the Jets’ linebackers coach for three seasons (1997-99) before
being named head coach.
Prior to his tenure with the Jets, Groh was an assistant
coach under Bill Parcells with the New England Patriots from 1993 to 1996.
He spent the 1992 season as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach on
Bill Belichick’s staff with the Cleveland Browns.
Groh joined the New York
Giants’ staff in 1989, coaching the Giants’ linebackers from 1989 to 1990,
and was defensive coordinator in 1991. He got his first taste of NFL coaching
when he joined the Atlanta Falcons as special teams and tight ends coach in
1987.
His first collegiate head coaching assignment was at Wake Forest from
1981-86, where his teams compiled a 26-40 overall record. At the time, he was
the second-winningest coach in school history.
He began his coaching career
at Albemarle High School in Charlottesville in 1967. The following year, he
moved to Tom Cahill’s staff at Army where he was the defensive coach for the
plebe squad and worked with Parcells for the first time in his career.
He returned
to Virginia in (1970-72) to serve as the head freshman coach and defensive
line coach. From 1973 to 1977 he served as an assistant at North Carolina. He
joined Parcells at Air Force in 1978 as defensive coordinator before moving
to Texas Tech in 1980 as defensive coordinator.
2009 Preseason Information
2008 In Review
In his 8th season at UVa, Al Groh led the Cavaliers
to a 5-7 overall record, 3-5 in the ACC
and 5th place in the Coastal Division...For
the Cavaliers it was a tale of three seasons,
starting the year 1-3 before a four-game win
streak put them in bowl contention, but then
dropping their final four games--all by 11 or
fewer points--to finish out of post season eligibility...
T Eugene Monroe was named the
winner of the ACC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy,
as the best blocker in the conference...
Monroe was also a 2nd-team All-America
choice...OLB Clint Sintim earned 4th-Team
All-America honors (Phil Steele)...Monroe
and TE John Phillips were first-team
All-ACC...Sintim, who was 2nd in Sacks in
the ACC with 11, and CB Ras-I-Dowling
earned 2nd-team All-ACC honors...TB Cedric
Peerman, who was 4th in the ACC in
rushing (70.4/gm), and WR Kevin Ogletree,
who finished 5th in the ACC in receptions
and 3rd in reception yardage, were Honorable
Mention All-ACC...DE Matt Conrath
was named a 2nd-team (CFN) Freshman All-
America.
Who’s Gone
11 Starters, six on offense and five on defense
including the 8th overall pick in the
NFL Draft in T Eugene Monroe and almost
all of UVa’s playmakers including its leading
rusher in TB Cedric Peerman and its 5
leading receivers in WR Kevin Ogletree (58
catches), TE John Phillips (48), Peerman
(44), WR Maurice Covington (33) and WR
Cary Koch (30). Defensively, UVa loses its
top four tacklers in OLB Clint Sintim (11
sacks), OLB Antonio Appleby (72 tackles),
ILB Jon Copper (101 tackles) and S Byron
Glaspy (67 tackles).
2009 Preview
Groh will welcome 12 returning starters including
five on offense and six on defense,
plus P Jimmy Howell ..Employing the
spread offense of new coordinator Gregg
Brandon, defensive back convert Vic Hall
competed evenly in the spring with incumbents
Marc Verica who threw for 2,037
yards and 8 TDs in 11 games in 2008 and
2007 starter Jameel Sewell, who passed and
ran for 2,455 yards and 16 TDR in 2007 for
the starting position...A competition that will
continue into pre-season fall practice... The
QBs will benefit from having four of the five
starting linemen back in T Will Barker, G’s
B.J. Cabbell and Austin Pasztor and C Jack
Shields...as well as TB Mikell Simpson, a
starter in 2007...Defensively, the linebacker
corps will be rebuilt around OLB Denzel
Burrell, the only returning starter...Up front,
NT Nick Jenkins and DE Matt Conrath
started as freshmen...the secondary has two
starters returning in CB Ras-I Dowling and
S Corey Mosley as well as CB Chris Cook
a 2007 starter who sat out all of last year.
Numbers and Notes
1st - When T Eugene Monroe was drafted
8th overall in this year’s NFL Draft, it marked
the fourth time in the last five years a UVa
offensive lineman or TE was taken in the
first round... T Brandon Albert was taken
15th in 2007 by the Kansas City Chiefs, T
D’Brickashaw Ferguson was chosen 4th
overall by the N.Y. Jets in 2006 and TE
Heath Miller was tabbed 30th overall by the
Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005.
2 - Rising senior Vic Hall became one of the
few players in the ACC to have started on offense
and defense during the same season in
the age of platoon football. Hall started 11
games at cornerback for the Cavaliers and
one game--the season’s finale against Virginia
Tech--at quarterback. Hall ended spring
practice in a battle with senior Jameel Sewell
and junior Marc Verica for the starting QB
position.
9 - Virginia faces nine opponents in 2009
who made appearances in post-season bowl
games in 2008 including two non-conference
foes TCU (Poinsettia) and Southern Miss
(New Orleans) as well as seven ACC teams
in North Carolina (Meineke Car Care),
Maryland (Humanitarian), Georgia Tech
(Chick-fi l-A), Miami (Emerald), Boston
College (Gaylord Hotels Music City),
Clemson (Konica Minolta Gator) and Virginia
Tech (FedEx Orange).
11 - When T Eugene Monroe captured the
2008 Jacobs Blocking Trophy, it marked the
11th time a Virginia player has been accorded
honor of being the top blocker in the ACC,
that is the most of any conference team.
82 - Head Coach Al Groh currently ranks 6th
time with 82 wins as a head coach in the
ACC. He resides in very good company as the
coaches ahead of him are FSU’s Bobby
Bowden (166), UVa’s George Welsh (134),
Bill Dooley (98), North Carolina and Wake
Forest, Danny Ford (96) and Frank Howard
96), both of Clemson.
