From Coach Groh’s office at the Frank McCue Center, Mac welcomed the listeners and reminded everyone that Saturday’s
game against the North Carolina State Wolfpack at 3:30 pm is the beginning of a "November to Remember."
Mac welcomed the coach by pointing out that some people were criticizing the team for their second half performance
but that overall things went well on Saturday. Groh acknowledged that the team did some good things on Saturday, but
that there is still much more to do. He admitted that he would probably be saying the same thing if the Cavaliers go
12-0 one day.
Mac noted that in the ACC standings there are 5 teams bunched up with NCST, Clemson, Georgia Tech, & Virginia all
at 3-2 and Maryland right behind at 2-2. Groh said that it should be a wide open race and should be a lot of fun for the
fans to watch and challenging for the players.
John from Roanoke was lucky caller number one on this night, and he simply wanted to congratulate the coaches and
team on their performance on Saturday, and particularly the defense for posting their second shut out of the year.
Additionally John pointed out the play of a Roanoker on the team, Jermaine Hardy. Groh agreed that Hardy is playing well
at his Safety position and acknowledged that he is really starting to learn his position well. He said that through 8
games he has gained a great deal of experience and has seen most of what other teams will try to throw at him.
Bert from Roanoke wanted to know if Groh thinks this year’s recruiting class will be the type of quality class he
has said he needs to be able to compete for a National Championship. Groh said that he is pleased with how things are
going so far. He added, "We target the players that we need to have on the team." Based on the commitments so
far and the responses from the recruits they have targeted, "This class could be every bit as good as the two that
preceded it," he said. Mac noted that the National Letter of Intent signing day is Feb. 4th.
David in Columbus, OH. was next on the line and his question was why they don’t use the fullback or Marquis
Weeks more in the running game. Regarding Weeks, Groh indicated that he is still recovering from surgery that he had on
his knee a few weeks ago. Coach indicated that in the absence of Jason Snelling Weeks is the only real running fullback
and that the current FB, Kase Luzar, is more of a lead blocker, pass-catching FB.
Ginger from Roanoke questioned coach Groh about the rumor that Tom Hagan has sustained some type of knee injury.
Groh stated that it was nothing serious but didn’t elaborate further.
Groh then took time to comment about the defense and that fact that they started three freshmen on Saturday. Joining
Brooks and Parham was Tony Franklin, getting his first start at cornerback. He pointed out that while Troy St. is not
the level of Oklahoma, these young players did a good job against quality competition and that they still have a lot of
games left in their career.
Nathan from Richmond commented that he believes there is a good chance that the team can win the remainder of the
games on the schedule and Groh equated this to a playoff run in sports that have playoffs.
Nathan’s question was what Groh felt they needed to do to be able to go deep to the wide receivers. Groh’s
answer? "Recruit more raw speed!" He added that they are pleased with the development of the receivers so far
and that they are going after some fast wide receivers as their top targets in this year’s recruiting class.
Sammy from Roanoke called in to thank Coach Groh for taking the time during the Florida State game to come over
and talk to his group. Sammy is the brother of Tommy who called in last week to thank Groh, and he said they all
appreciate the job that he is doing.
Mac asked Coach about his philosophy of coaching. Groh’s saying is "coach every player, every play, every
day." Groh feels that this is an important part of not only team improvement but also personnel development.
The stream of calls from Roanoke continued with Matt, and he wanted to know what they might do against Phillip
Rivers and the NCST receivers. Groh said that he feels the two players in the ACC that mean the most to their teams are
Matt Schaub and Phillip Rivers. He said that Rivers is a great quarterback and that he is still looking for a way to
slow him down.
The BB&T Student Athlete of the Week segment was up next, and this week Groh decided to honor a player who doesn’t
receive a lot of accolades. He stated that not only is David DeLaureal an excellent student , but he signals in the
plays from the sideline and serves as the backup holder to Matt Schuab. Groh pointed out that in Matt’s absence they
had a 100% success rate on all kick attempts.
Joe from Christiansburg called in with a comment for coach Groh. He said, based on the events of the past week,
that he is glad to have Craig Littlepage as the AD and Groh as the head coach.
Cavalier Nancy from Richmond called in and questioned the possibility of Weeks being back in time for this week’s
game against the Wolfpack, since he had a very good game against them last year. Groh stated that Alvin Pearman and Wali
Lundy would be back at full strength this week and should be able to carry the load.
Nancy went on to ask why in the second half, when they appeared to be practicing the running game, did they choose
not to practice with the two freshmen receivers, Williams and Mines. Groh responded by saying that both players need a
bunch of work in run blocking from the WR position and they did get a lot of work at that Saturday.
Nancy then made request that Al not be so hard on the people who want to wear ties to the games. She said that her
son has waited 15 years to wear a tie and he is going to wear a tie but that he does scream really loud. Groh said it is
fine to wear an orange tie and orange shirt and Nancy reported that her son has a pair of orange pants that he wears to
the games. She said that someone offered him $200 for them at one game, and Groh said he might have to start wearing a
pair of them.
Mark from Charlottesville wanted to know why Ron Morton, Keenan Carter , and Scott Robinson were not getting into
the games. Groh reported that Carter is redshirting, and that Morton and Robinson both had players ahead of them on the
depth chart. He said that both of these players have the chance to earn more playing time by improving their level of
play and beating out players ahead of them.
Mac asked Groh about the redshirting program and Groh’s philosophy of playing the players that give the team the
best chance to win. Groh said that it is a judgment call and that they consider the talent level of the player as well
as the talent and depth of the players ahead of them on the depth chart. He said that if a player might only play 40-45
plays in a season that they would prefer to save that year of eligibility for a year when the player might get 400-500
plays.
Randy in Richmond started by commenting that the fans are well aware and appreciative of the effort that Coach
Groh and the Tribe are putting out on the recruiting front. He cited the fact that there is a common thread among
recruits in that UVA is recruiting them harder than any other school. Groh thanked Randy and reiterated his feeling on
the importance of acquisition and development of talent. He said that he feels the team will go as far as the talent
level takes them.
Randy then asked about the Nose Tackle position and wanted to know why a player like Kwakou Robinson is better suited
for the Defensive End when his height and weight make him look more like a NT. Groh stated that some players have a
natural body for a certain position and he noted that Keenan Carter is a perfect NT. He said that Kwakou doesn’t have
the low center of gravity or the lateral quickness needed at the NT position but is more of a forward leaning player
that is best suited at the DE position.
The Red Zone Call of the Week was next, and this week they choose to honor a defensive play in the red zone. The
highlight play was Jermaine Hardy’s one-handed interception to stop a Troy State scoring threat and help preserve the
shutout by the Cavalier defense.
Marty in Toano wanted to know about the possibility of using Ahmad Brooks as running back in short yardage
situations. Groh said that "There are a lot of jobs that Ahmad could do on this team. He could be a pretty good
kickoff return man, which he was in high school. He’d be pretty hard to knock down," he added.
Groh said that based on the fact that as a first year player and being on the punt team, the nickel package, the dime
package, the goal line package, and the regular defense, they don’t want to overload Ahmad with too much to learn. He
noted that they do have Kai Parham as the fullback on the short yardage offense, and said that some day they might have
Kai as the FB and Ahmad as the TB.
In the Look Ahead to Next Week segment, Mac noted that Virginia has won four of the last five against NCST. Groh
pointed out that NCST QB Phillip Rivers is a very good player who can make all the throws and is very good at seeing the
blitz and getting rid of the ball. He noted that often the way to beat a good QB is with pressure but that may not be
the best solution in this case, because of Rivers’ ability to get rid of the ball.
Mac asked about the youth of the NCST defense, and Groh said that they may be younger, but they are probably faster,
and that is usually a good trade off.
In response to speculation by Coach Groh that NCST may have a lower sack to pass ratio Mac pointed out that NCST is
1:25 and UVA is 1:45.
Shawn from Lynchburg got in the last call of the night. He wanted to know why Anthony Martinez hasn’t gotten
more work at the backup QB. Groh noted that Marques Hagans is the backup QB at this time and that he was planning to get
him some more work in the Troy St. game. He said he wanted to get one more good drive with Matt in the game but it took
longer to get that good drive than he wanted.
In closing, Mac reminded the listeners that the NCST game is a 3:30 start on ABC, and the radio pregame show will
begin at 3:00.
Cavalier Call-In can be heard on the Virginia Sports Network every Monday at 7:06PM EST throughout the season. Please turn to www.virginiasports.com for affiliate stations or listen via their live online broadcast. Click here to listen to their archived broadcasts or view the schedule for future shows.
