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Al Groh said he was “not really” worried about the distractions of playing USC. |
The first edition of this year’s Cavalier Call-in show definitely had a different feel to it. This year marked the first time in years that long-time play by play man Mac McDonald did not host the show. Enter Dave Koehn, the new “Voice of the Cavaliers”. Koehn did a pretty decent job for his first show in my opinion, but I am only one Wahoo fan among many. I’m sure there will be many discussions in the future on the message boards about how he does either calling the action or hosting the show.
Koehn welcomed coach Al Groh to the show and commented on how much anticipation there seems to be regarding the home opener against football powerhouse USC; UVa faces Southern California on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Scott Stadium. Groh first welcomed the Koehn to the show and to “this great university” and told him that he felt like he would “enjoy his experience here.” Groh then answered by saying that it was a different type of hype. He said “for those outside the building, it’s like the circus is coming to town.” He was referring to the fact that USC was a football power and alluded to their success on the field with the many wins and the hardware that goes along with being National Champions and a constant BCS participant. He then commented that “from our perspective, it’s just time to get ready for another game.” He said the team understands the enormity of the challenge ahead, but does not see this as a “gee wiz type of thing.” The team is looking at it more from a competitive standpoint.
Koehn then asked Groh if he worried about all of the distractions surrounding this game? Groh said “not really” and pointed to the returning players that were a vital part of the team last year that will be able to provide some leadership and experience in order to prepare for USC. The new host also asked him at what point during preseason camp does the focus shift from what the UVa team is trying to do toward preparing for the upcoming opponent. Groh responded by saying that training camp has several phases. The first is used to try to install the UVa systems. The next phase is getting the kids to compete versus one another. The last phase is game preparation.
Next up on the show was the first caller. Elizabeth from Charlottesville asked Coach Groh about what player has surprised him during this preseason. Groh said he had “multiple players who have shown significant progress but one of the players at the top of the list would be center Jack Shields” saying that he has “come a long way” from when he first got here.
The discussion continued about the center position and the offensive line and what challenges the players face in learning the positions. Groh said those challenges are only met by game experience. Groh and Koehn then talked about the importance of the fans as they waited to get the caller back on the line that got disconnected. The praise toward the fans was a common experience during the show. Groh spoke highly of the fans and that we as fans bring a lot of “positive energy to the stadium, especially the student body. They’re all a part of the team too.”
Dave from Richmond asked what we might expect to see from USC’s offense. Groh said that the answer could be a long one because USC has such a deep and talented offense and that this was as talented or more talented offense than the FSU offenses of the 90’s. He talked about players like Joe McKnight and Mark Sanchez and how talented they were. He said they have “very intricate schemes” and are “very well coached.” He also talked about how our best defense will be to keep their offense off the field by using our talented running backs.
Michael from Staunton asked two questions. The first was about those two talented running backs and will there be a situation where we will see both on the field at the same time. Groh said that is not likely, but that it will be more of a rotating basis and more of a “who’s hot/who’s not” and a “who needs a break” type of deal. He said they “want to make sure they make good use of both of them.” Michael also asked coach to comment about our inexperience at quarterback and the off-field situations. Groh agreed that we do have a lot of inexperience at quarterback and that we don’t have anyone that has even started a game and only one that has even thrown a pass in a game. He said “it may take a while for us to have one quarterback.” He said that “there is a certain level that quarterback position must perform and if it takes more than one of them to do that in any particular game, then they will be ready to do that.” He said they prefer it not to be that way but college teams don’t have any preseason games so the staff and QBs will have to determine who the main quarterback is in the early games of the season. He also called the “off-field” issues as just “normal life” issues.
Koehn then asked coach if he was or wasn’t ready to name a starting QB. Coach Groh answered that it won’t be beneficial to any of the quarterbacks to do so and that all of the quarterbacks actually want it this way. Viewing it from a team standpoint, he added, no matter who the QB is, they’ll stand behind him in order to get a positive result.
Next up was the Advance Auto Scouting Report. It featured the USC defense. The main point Groh wanted to drive home during this segment was that Pete Carroll was a defensive guy and has coached many great defenses. However, Groh used Pete’s own words in saying “this might be his best defense ever.”
Cathy was up next on the caller line and she asked what Coach Groh’s most rewarding and least favorite thing about his job was. Groh said the most rewarding thing was the relationships that he formed with his players and the sense of accomplishment that occurs each week after all the preparation. He said he views the job as a “total entity” so there wasn’t really anything negative about it because he enjoys it so much.
The next caller was by far my favorite caller of the night. It was my 13-year-old son Chris from Salem. He even thought of the question on his own. He asked Coach if we will see the same Kevin Ogletree this year as we did before he was injured. Coach Groh said he believed so if not even better. He said that KO has had a fine training camp and that during the last 10 days, he’s really gotten “back on his game” and that we need to see an improved Kevin Ogletree .
Several other callers were disconnected for whatever reason. Dave then asked Coach Groh what was the thought process in scheduling USC? There was a pause and then a giggling Groh answered by saying “we thought we’d like to take a big challenge so we certainly have done exactly that.”
Dave finished up the show by asking Groh what the biggest key was in the match-up with USC. Groh said the main thing would be to “keep our poise.” We need to “play like a veteran team and not like a relatively inexperienced team playing in its first game.” He said the coaches and players are anxious to get on the field and see what they have.
That’s it for the first edition of the 2008 Cavalier Call-In show. The next show airs at approximately 7 p.m. next Monday night, Sept. 1. The Hoos’ big-time showdown with the mighty Trojans of USC is this Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
