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Al Groh |
On his Cavalier Call-In radio show tonight, Al Groh talked with host Mac McDonald about the win over Temple and the upcoming game against Georgia Tech. He also took questions from fans about the leadership of Chris Long and Brennan Schmidt, the status of Vic Hall, the importance of crowd involvement, the excessive celebration penalty on Wali Lundy, the possibility of an early signing period, the improvement of the running game, and more.
Callers and Questions
1) Ginger in Roanoke asked about Chris Long and Brennan Schmidt and the tone they set during practice last week .
“Chris and Brennan did a very good job for us last week with internal leadership,” Groh said, adding that players have to take ownership of the team and demonstrate leadership. “Leadership isn’t about going bowling together and having bake sales. That’s about camaraderie. … Leadership is about setting standards and demanding compliance to them,” and Long and Schmidt did that with their energy and passion during practice, he said.
2) Matt in Roanoke asked how Vic Hall was doing and whether he might play this season.
“Vic Hall is doing terrific for us,” said Groh. Hall, a star quarterback at Gretna High, moved to cornerback last month to provide depth at that position. “Wherever you put Vic, he’s going to be a terrific player.” Groh said Hall has made very good progress but probably will not play unless a situation develops that makes UVa “perilously thin” at corner.
3) Paul in Barboursville said the cheerleaders could do more to get the crowd involved in the game.
“The crowd was very good the other day. The students were great,” Groh said. He said the Florida State game set the standard for crowd involvement to give the Cavaliers a “12th man” on the field and the team will need that kind of support over the next two weeks.. He didn’t address the cheerleader comment.
4) Mike said he loved the new route for the Wahoo Walk before the game. He also asked about the excessive celebration penalty on Wali Lundy after Lundy’s first touchdown run.
Groh said it “would be stretching the meaning of the word excessive” to call what Lundy did an excessive celebration, but he noted that officials have been quick to call that penalty this season. “We certainly recognize the need to respect the game and for decorum in the game, but I think it’s gone to an extreme this year.” Groh said he suggested to the official that if he had a problem with Lundy’s celebration, which involves pointing to the sky, it might be better to issue a warning before throwing the flag.
5) Steve in Salem asked about early commitments and wondered what Groh thought about the possibility of the NCAA creating an early signing period for football .
Groh said that issue has come up in recent ACC coaches’ meetings and there have been mixed feelings about it. The argument for it, he said, is that it would keep the players who signed early “from being harassed by other coaches, or, most particularly, by the people who harass them more than anybody now, which is the Internet services. And it would allow the coaches to concentrate on those players who are still undecided. So there’s a lot of sentiment for it. But one of the prevailing sentiments against it is just the idea that there’s a system in place. There’s a reason why it was put in place long before I got involved. I’m not necessarily telling you my sentiments, but just what I hear. That there are real reasons for it and there is hesitancy to go ahead and, so to speak, pull one brick out of the wall with the concern it might cause a lot of others to fall out too.”
6) Ed asked Groh if he changed anything about the running game against Temple to help create the improved results .
“It was a combination of things,” Groh said. “Obviously, the competition was quite not up to the level we had previously faced. We did address some issues during the bye week, both in terms of our tendencies and somewhat scheme-wise. Then, to have both Wali [Lundy] and Jason [Snelling] available pretty close to their top level made a difference too. All of those things combined to make it a positive day for us.”
7) Scott in Roanoke wanted Groh’s interpretation of the rule about kicking the ball illegally. He noted that officials have ruled differently when the situation has occurred in different ACC games, including Chris Gould ‘s penalty vs. Boston College.
Groh said he had not seen that issue arise in his five years at UVa until he saw it happen in several games this season. He said he asked someone in the football office to research it and give a full interpretation of the rule.
8) Nelson in Charlottesville said he’s been disappointed by the recruiting in recent years. He said only two current commitments were recruited by other top-25 teams.
“I would say, Nelson, probably your opinion is based on some erroneous information,” Groh said.
“Yeah,” Mac said.
9) Brian in Warm Springs asked why Jonathan Stupar didn’t play against Temple.
Stupar suffered a sprained ankle the previous week in practice and wasn’t available last Saturday, Groh said.
Notes and Quotes
“This will certainly be a very big challenge for us,” Groh said.
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