Tuesday Press Conference Notes '08 - Richmond

Aaron Clark injured his knee against USC and is out for the season.

The ACC injury report on Monday indicated that Virginia linebacker Aaron Clark is scheduled for surgery with a knee sprain and will miss the remainder of the season. He had made five tackles, including one tackle for loss, in Saturday’s loss to Southern California before exiting the game in the third quarter. UVa coach Al Groh said the team feels bad for Clark, but the next man up theme would have to be the focus moving forward.

“It’s unfortunate. We feel bad for Aaron. He really worked hard on his game, played well in the game on Saturday and had a number of stops. He put in his time and he certainly deserved the opportunity and we feel bad for him,” Groh said.

Clark, a senior, did not use a redshirt season earlier in his career. Groh said that Clark would be a candidate for a fifth year at Virginia.

“He and I talked about that [Monday] and said let’s see what the doctors say and what their advisement is, but certainly it’s something that we would be interested in,” Groh said.

Clark’s injury moves Denzel Burrell up the depth chart at the outside linebacker slot opposite of Clint Sintim . Burrell and Clark battled throughout training camp in competition for playing time at the position. In a back-up role against USC, Burrell made two tackles. Despite the new opportunity for extended playing time, Burrell wasn’t thrilled when Clark gave him the news, but he will try to carry the torch forward for his friend and teammate.

“His words were ‘Go get it now.’ … Those words are big coming from a best friend,” Burrell said. “We had a huge battle throughout the spring and summer in camp and it was known to everybody. We both wanted to start, but we both were very supportive of the other person. It just sucks for him to go down in the first game of the season the way he did when he had worked so hard in the spring and the summer to get to where he was. Like I said after the game, I hate that it happened this way and that I have to step into a starting role because of an injury to him. I’d much rather have been splitting reps and seeing him out there as well because he’s a big part of the heart of the team.”

Depth Chart Notes

True freshman Austin Pasztor remains on the depth chart behind Zak Stair at left guard. Pasztor played last week on special teams.
True freshmen Steve Greer and Cam Johnson have moved up the depth chart at linebacker. Greer replaces Darren Childs behind Jon Copper on the inside, while Childs slides over behind Antonio Appleby in place of John-Kevin Dolce . Johnson moves in behind Burrell on the outside. Burrell is the starter opposite of Clint Sintim following Clark’s knee injury last week; Clark is out for the season.
Dom Joseph is listed as Vic Hall’s back-up at corner while Mike Parker is the listed starter at the other corner spot ahead of last week’s starter Chase Minnifield . Projected preseason starter Ras-I Dowling continues to deal with an unspecified injury.
Scott Deke is listed as the starting holder.

Richmond Standouts

Richmond quarterback Eric Ward wears No. 11 for the Spiders. The 6’3″, 213-pound junior is a “very impressive player” according to Groh. Ward has led his team to 10 wins, including last week’s 28-10 victory over Elon when he had 236 passing yards and 59 rushing yards.

Running back Josh Vaughan , a 6’0″, 232-pound senior, steps into the starting role this season in place of Tim Hightower, who is now with the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. Vaughn (No. 32) had 17 carries for 119 yards and 2 TDs last week, including a 72-yard scoring romp.

“He’s a very versatile player, has size, good speed. He’s a pretty classic I-formation style runner, which they used quite a bit,” Groh said.

Worth Quoting

Lalich’s Afternoon

Peter Lalich

Not surprisingly, Groh received more questions about quarterback Peter Lalich at Tuesday’s weekly meeting with the press. Lalich completed 18 of 35 passes against USC for 155 yards; he had 1 interception and was sacked twice. After evaluating the film and the pressure now No. 1 Southern California created, Groh thought the sophomore signal caller showed some positive signs in what was a “good starter” game for him.

“He kept his poise throughout pretty intense pressure, stepped up, moved in the pocket, made some good throws, was not rattled by the circumstances,” Groh said. “He had to move. Somebody said to me that it looked like Peter was a little anxious moving in the pocket and I said ‘What’s he supposed to do, stand there and get hit?’ I mean he did exactly what he was supposed to do, he moved within the pocket to find the opportunity to throw the ball and made a couple of excellent throws after doing that.”

As the three quarterbacks – Lalich, Scott Deke , and Marc Verica – competed for playing time through the offseason, most of the analysis placed Lalich third when it came to mobility. The point, of course, was that he moved less fluently away from the pocket or on the run than his teammates. Groh seemed pleased with Lalich’s pocket presence Saturday, though.

“Unless a guy is in that elite running category, the most important thing is a guy’s ability to move within the pocket, to slide and make a throw. … Pete moved well in the pocket and obviously made a couple of big-time throws,” Groh said.

Fun With Numbers

Mike London returns to Scott Stadium as the head coach of his alma mater this weekend.

There are 2 alums working as head coaches this weekend. Al Groh graduated from Virginia in 1967 while Mike London graduated from Richmond in 1983.
Richmond has won 8 straight regular season games.
UVa leads this series 24-3-2. Richmond hasn’t won in Charlottesville since 1943. The programs have met just 5 times in the 60 years since 1948.
Virginia has lost 10 season-opening games in the last 20 years, but has bounced back to win 9 times in the next game on the schedule.
Spiders quarterback Eric Ward, the Sports Network National Offensive Player of the Week and the CAA Offensive Player of the Week, threw for a career-best 236 yards last week.
Richmond is 27-2 when leading at the half since the start of 2004.
Virginia’s Clint Sintim will be making start 39 of his career this weekend while safety Byron Glaspy is set for start 30.

Worth Quoting Too

“We did not. We didn’t single anybody out. Well, we did but not in that respect,” said Al Groh, while smiling through the whole discussion, when asked if they named a Special Teams Player of the Week this week. The follow-up question: What about a Scout Team Player of the Week? “Nothing. Nobody’s the player of the week. There’s no coach of the week, there’s no player of the week, there’s the bum of the week. And I’m leading the club.”

Worth Noting

The Virginia-Richmond game is “Retro Day” at Scott Stadium as the program celebrates the era from 1984-1993; the 1989 ACC Championship team will be honored at halftime.
UVa’s 2008 opponents went 10-2 in the first week of play.
Virginia defeated Richmond in Al Groh’s first home game as the head coach; the Cavaliers won 17-16 on Sept. 1, 2001. This is the first time UVa has met a Football Championship Subdivision team since that game.
Inside linebacker Jon Copper led the team in tackles against USC with 11. He has been the team’s leading tackler for two straight seasons.
Mike London’s son Brandon was signed to the Miami Dolphins’ active roster last week.

Tuesday Press Conference Notes ’08 – Richmond