Coach Groh kicks off spring ball with press conference

UVa Head Football Coach Al Groh opened spring football practice with a press conference yesterday. Here are a few tidbits from his meeting with the media.

On the number of scholarship players for spring

This is something that we'll need to work with and stay cognizant of. When you can sign a class of large numbers, as we did, there's always a good news-bad news side to that. The good news is that you're getting a large influx of talented players. The downside of that in the short term is that if there's that amount of roster spots available, that you're a little bit light for the spring. There are some positions that we could play double-headers with. There are others where we'd be better off playing seven-inning games with. We don't have a lot of depth on either one of the lines for the spring, so that's going to be a determining factor in a lot of our work.

Counting the walk-on players, we'll have somewhere between 65 and 70 [players participating this spring].

How far along is the staff this spring as opposed to last spring?

Considerably, I think. We've been able to think about our team for a long time. We've been thinking about the team and shaping the team - things that we wanted to do and directions to go - personnel utilization and all of those things since December 2nd [2000].

Certainly, during that time frame, there was a substantial amount of time devoted to the recruiting process. But, there's a lot of time on airplanes and in cars, too. There's time to think about the team. There's a lot of games to be watched that invoke different ideas and thoughts as they might fit this particular team.

We've done a lot of playbook work this spring, as we will do every year, but we had a framework to work from. Last year, we were doing that from the ground up. There's been a good welding together of the process. We know the players, the skills, how to take advantage of the strengths and what weaknesses we might have to manage. That's all part of putting the team together.

On the low number of veteran players and their opportunity to play

There's a good opportunity. They're the only players here. There's plenty of opportunity, particularly for guys moving up who haven't had playing time to this point. What we frequently tell the players is all we can go on is what we see. They'll have a chance to demonstrate plenty of that before these rookies get here.

On the strengths of this team for this year

That's what I want to find out. I have good feelings about lots of spots, but I'd rather the development of the team answer that question for me. Every spring provides a different story-line, and with this one, essentially one-third of our team is not here. Now, that's often the case, but that's of more significance in this circumstance, because a large number of that one-third is likely going to play in the games. A number of players who are going to be in the games early, are not participating in practice right now. This is just a start of putting our team together.

On Kevin Bailey

I think that Kevin Bailey is one of the best left tackles in this league. And I think he's one of the best centers in this league. In that respect, he's our two best linemen. He'll practice at both. Where he ends up is going to be determined by the performance of other players.

On settling on starters this early in the year

To say that we're going in completely open would be to overlook the obvious. There are certain players that I know are going to start the first game, and I know the positions they are going to start. With those players, we're trying to get them ready to go. Other players, we're trying to get them where they can see game action and give us playable depth. And in other cases, we're just trying to find out what the player's long term potential is. There's kind of a different path for many different players. Some of the positions are pretty competitive. For example, we know Angelo Crowell is going to be where he is. We know Billy McMullen, Michael McGrew and Elton Brown are going to be where they are.

One of the things that's important for the head coach and position coaches is to maximize the opportunities for the players on the roster, so that everybody feels that they're competing for playing time. Nobody inherits playing time. But, I'll say the same thing as I said to some of these players during the recruiting process. I went back to an experience I had the year I was with the Jets. We had four first-round draft choices. We would draft a player, and after each selection I would talk to the player on the telephone. One of the things I would tell each player is that I didn't select you to stand on the sidelines, so come in here ready to play. A number of the players in this class, in the mind of the coaches, fall into that category. They weren't recruited to stand on the sidelines. It's going to be the interjection of this young talent, and then the development of it, that's going to improve this team. To have those players stand on the sideline for a substantial period of time, just means that the team is probably in suspension. To move on to where we want to go, we're going to have to get these players into the game.

On the leadership for the team, and lack of seniors

On Monday, the players elected Angelo Crowell and Billy McMullen as the captains for the season. I think the leadership is somewhat like having a platoon in the Army. You've got your lieutenants. But people who have service time know the old saying that the Army is only as good as the sergeants. I guess in this case, I'd say that Billy and Angelo are the lieutenants and the rest of them are the sergeants. They've got to get their squads into shape. To think that two or three captains on the team, by virtue of their dynamic leadership are going to inspire 85 guys - there are certain positions where none of those players will ever have a lot of interaction. So, you really need leadership at each position. That doesn't always have to be senior leadership. On pro teams, they talk about guys having a good locker room presence, or veteran leadership. And that veteran leadership can extend from a guy who is in the league for his 12th year, to a guy who is in the league for his 3rd year. I think we can get leadership on a lot of different levels. And that leadership must first and foremost come from your coaches.

On the kicking game

In terms of priority, competition and filling spots, that's the first spot where we have to get some answers. We have to replace two good legs, and we'll be doing a lot of competitive kicking situations, both for the kickers themselves and for the other 10 members of the unit.

One of the lead candidates for those positions won't be on the practice field this spring, and that's Tom Hagan. We know [Hagan] is a good punter, but I have some residents of Roanoke that tell me he might be just as good a placement kicker as he is a punter. I'm going to take that to heart also. The kicking situation will probably remain competitive throughout the summer camp.

On the quarterback situation, with Spinner now gone

Matt is the one who is here. I think it's a positive situation that the quarterback knows to himself, 'Hey look, it's my team. I can act as such. I can feel that way. I can provide that type of leadership.' Last year, with the two-quarterback situation going into the season, one had clearly not outdistanced the other. Just out of performance, nobody could say, 'Hey, I'm the guy.' To their credit, neither one was going to push the other one out of the way and just take over.

But, with Matt now being here and having a season behind him, clearly standing where he does - it's been quite apparent during the course of the winter that his persona is that of, 'Look, I'm the quarterback. It's my team. These are the standards I'm setting. This is what I expect of myself and how I'm going to operate.'

On improvements for Schaub

There are a lot of throws that were studied in the off-season, whether it's seven-route to the left as opposed to the right. Maybe he throws one better to the right than to the left. Or, short balls. Those are some of the things we're working on. But more than throws, it's the decision-making process. That's really at the core of being a consistent quarterback. That usually comes from getting the looks repeatedly. Donovan McNabb was spectacular at times as a rookie quarterback, but I think he was a 49 percent thrower [that year]. Then, in his third year, he had progressed to the point where he had his team very close to going to the championship game. A lot of that comes from seeing the same looks against the same patterns. The decisions come that much faster, therefore the opening is that much bigger when you try to throw the ball in there. I think that should be where the greatest benefit is to him. He's going through all of it here for the second time.

On Marcus Hagans

What we're looking for out of Hagans right now is development. I think he's a rookie player who hasn't done anything here yet, who has significant athletic ability, and we're very enthused about getting on the field.

Spring football practices open to public

Fans, players' families and the media are invited to attend practices on the following days and times.

At the football practice field at the McCue Center
Friday, March 29th, 2:30 PM
Saturday, March 30th, 10:00 AM
Friday, April 12th, 2:30 PM
Monday, April 15th, 2:30 PM

At Scott Stadium
Saturday, April 20th, 1:00 PM

Cavalier Football Festival
Formally called the Spring Football Game

Head Coach Al Groh has instilled a new energy within the Virginia football community. In the spirit of creating a new culture of Virginia football here at the University, the football program invites you to spend the day in Charlottesville on Saturday, April 20, 2002, to take in all the excitement of Cavalier Football.

Don't miss a day geared for family fun! The Cavaliers invite you to the Carl Smith Center for the Cavalier Football Festival, the highlight of this year's 2002 spring practices. Breaking from the tradition of the past, when the spring game was the only feature of the spring-the Cavalier Football Festival takes the final day of spring practices to a new level.

Mark your calendars today for next month's event at the Carl Smith Center.

The final details for the Cavalier Football Festival are still being put in place, but will be announced on www.virginiasports.com as well as archive.thesabre.com as soon as they are available. All events will precede 1:00 p.m. start of the last spring practice.

This event is free to the public!

UVa Lacrosse knocks off #1 Hopkins

The UVa men's lacrosse team defeated #1 Johns Hopkins last weekend, 12-6, at Klockner Stadium. Freshman John Christmas earned ACC Player of the Week, as well as National Player of the Week from 360Lacrosse.com with his performance against Hopkins. Christmas scored a team-high seven points in the contest (3 goals, 4 assists). He is now tied with Conor Gill for most points on the team with 20.

The win places Virginia near the top of the lacrosse standings, behind only Syracuse, and gives them a 5-1 record on the season. The Cavaliers have played one of the toughest schedules in the nation, taking on not only #1 Johns Hopkins, but by playing all of last season's NCAA Final Four in a span of 16 days. The Cavs' only loss on the season was to Syracuse, who was recently voted #1 in the USILA poll. Virginia moved from 4th to 2nd in the poll.

We've brought on several sponsors over the last two months and now have a place where our fans can go to find out more information about them, instead of having to wait for a banner advertisement to conveniently pop up. When you have the chance, please take a look at our Sponsorship Page. If you're in the market for any of the products or services our sponsors provide, we only ask that you take a look at them first, before giving your business to someone else. Supporting our sponsors directly supports TheSabre.com and our ability to provide you with information on the Hoos, as well as improve the services we currently offer.

Thank you.

The Virginia Football Camp

The 2002 Virginia Football Camp website is now live. Day camps and overnight camps are available, as well as one-day-only camps. If you or someone you know is interested in participating in this year's camp, please refer to the following link for details.

SN is a monthly e-publication produced by TheSabre.com. We have assembled a great collection of profession writers to give you the finest coverage of the Hoos that you can get. The cost for a one-year subscription is only $24.95.