30 August 2010
Well, it's about time.
The hardest part about the first week of football is waiting for information to come out, especially since this is London's first year. Today, thankfully, Virginia (1) released the depth chart for the Richmond game and (2) London, coaches, and players had the chance to talk to the media. Mike London did not disappoint with the two-deep, throwing a ton of curve-balls at everyone. Let's go through the positions for the home-opener and our surprise factor.
QB - S: Verica, B: Metheny OR Rocco. Surprise Factor: 5
We all knew who the starter was going to be, MV6. The interesting part London talked about today was the fact that the backup roll was still going to be determined this week in practice between Ross and Mike. Obviously, Mike Rocco made a very good impression on Mr. London, good enough to possibly burn his redshirt this year. Ultimately, I believe that unless Metheny has a very bad next couple of weeks and UVa doesn't blow out or get blown out that he will see the field over Metheny. UVa has had mixed results with freshman quarterbacks, the last one being Anthony Martinez starting at South Carolina in 2003. That did not go well. But the year before, Groh mixed up Matt Schaub with Marques Hagans, who turned out to be a very good quarterback for 2 years.
TB- S: Jones OR Horne; FB- S: Milien, B: Fells-Danzer. Surpise Factor: 8
When you have open compitition, you shouldn't be really shocked to see who emerges. Jones was at the top of the list after the spring and held on to that spot. But he is in a virtual tie with 'the comeback kid' Raynard Horne, who was impressive on special teams, and will now get a shot in the backfield. Two interesting notes. First, no Wallace on the depth chart, which mean he might need a little more time to adjust to this pro-set offense. Secondly, London is about 50-50 today in redshirting Kevin Parks Jr. London believes this kid can be special, and wants four years out of the 1st year with the log jam at running back. The real shocker was that Milien had moved in front of Fells-Danzer at fullback. Another point of emphasis was the use of the fullback in pass blocking situations, and apparently this was the deciding factor in getting Max the start. Look for this just to be the jumping off point for all members of the backfield this year.
WR- S: Burd, Inman, B: Smith, Green; TE- S: Torchia, B: Freedman, Phillips. Surprise Factor: 9
And the plot thickens. Kris Burd was a lock and we thought Tim Smith was the other lock, but folks around Charlottesville noticed over the past week that Tim Smith was in a walking boot, so the injury must have pushed him into a backup roll. It is also possible that he could be the slot receiver on a 3-wide set. If in fact Tim Smith is injured, this takes away a lot of vertical speed from the passing attack. Well talk about him a little later also. Green was pretty much a given as a back up. Like the quarterback situation, Torchia was set as the top tight end, but the emergence of 2nd year Paul Freedman was very much under the radar. Look for him to come in in jumbo sets as the blocking tight end, with Colter Phillips backing up Joe.
OL- S: Bradley, Pasztor, Mihota, Cabbell, Aboushi, B: Cascarano, Cain, Price, Mihalik, Moses. Surprise Factor: 2
The line was pretty much set again in the spring. Moses will back up Aboushi, but look for a lot of playing time from the true freshman as he will not redshirt this year. Yeah for RFr. Sean Cascarano getting a true backup role. After Moses, he will be the #2 guy off the bench.
DE- S: Parr, Johnson B: Snyder, Mathis; DT- S: Dolce, Jenkins B: Conrath, Hill. Surprise Factor: 8
Wow. I would take either the first or second string to start for my D-IA team any day. And what really stands out is Dolce is in front of Conrath. London is pulling out a play from his Richmond playbook, going with speed over size in this case. But look for all of these guys to get in the game, and early, if the offense can't stay on the field.
SLB- S: Reynolds OR Carter; MLB- S: Taliaferro OR Greer; WLB- S: Walcott B: Detrick. Surprise Factor: 5
It's only stunning that it seems that the linebacker positions have not been set yet. The starters will be determined in practice this week as well. And the one position that we thought was set, got flipped around and went to the training camp work horse, Ausar Walcott at the Will Linebacker.
CB- S: Dowling, Minnifield B: Wallace, Parker; FS- S: Mosley B: Joseph; SS- S: McLeod OR Womack. Surprise Factor: 1
No surprises here. Look for Wallace to play in the Nickel and Womack to play in the Dime. Dowling said today that he will be ready to go, and that's good enough for me.
P- Howell; PK- Randolph; KO- Hinkebein; HOLD- Hodges; LS- Aiken Surprise Factor: 2
Not a huge fan, but I trust London's decision on this one. He did say that Hinkebein has hit from 55 in practice, and might come in for the really long kicks. Yikes! Another yeah for Jacob Hodges getting the holding job. We like to see the walk-ons get playing time.
PR- S: Minnifield B: Jones; KR- Jones AND Horne. Surprise Factor: 4
Minnifield's experience won out in the end for punt returns. Jones and Horne's quickness won out on kick returns when there is space. But the biggest thing to take away from this list is no Tim Smith. Mike London had said he wanted the best players with the ball and Tim is a very, very good player with the ball, but it seems the injury kept him off the list.
Folks, this is just the first game, and it is against Richmond so we will let this one play out. That's all for now.
