Coach Groh agreed saying the win had been “very reinforcing in terms of making progress.” He commented that they had been seeing some of the development on the practice field but it didn’t show on the field necessarily until Saturday. But “clearly a lot of guys really moved their game forward.” The team’s challenge this week is to be the same team as last week, Groh said.
Koehn commented on the amount of young players on this Cavalier football team and asked Groh if the win was a “major psychological reinforcement.”
Groh agree that it was and pointed out that it was particularly good for the team to see what the opposite unit did well. He explained how the team watches a cut together film of all the best plays from all units in their team meetings. Seeing how their teammates performed can really help with cohesion and collectivity, Groh said. When a team has a bunch of guys with new roles or expanding roles, he said, putting a team together emotionally takes “a little melding together.”
Koehn then brought up Clint Sintim ‘s performance Saturday, noting he was awarded the ACC Player of the Week honor Monday. He linked that with the performance of Cedric Peerman and asked Groh if their production on the field aids them in their leadership roles?
Groh said this was a “very good point,” and that all players feel like on some level they need to produce to be a really strong leader. Groh highlighted Cedric saying, his style of play was “as passionate as any words.” “His play is so inspiring,” Groh said. “I know it excites the fans.”
Next, Koehn cited what were the more impressive parts of the win: the Cavaliers’ ability to stay focused throughout the game, despite the lopsided score.
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Al Groh said Cedric Peerman ‘s style of play is just “as passionate as any words.” |
Groh agreed, saying “that was very much a positive to us too.” He commented that the team had had a very good second half and that was the message they continued to send. He said he told the players, “Lets make this series the best series of the game.” Groh pointed out that on a team such as this that is still determining their identity, “every play demands your full focus.”
Leading off the call-in portion of the week was Diana from Roanoke. Diana commented that last week she had wanted to ask about the energy on the team but her question had been answered. She complimented the crowd and coach Anthony Pointdexter for firing up the team and creating an electric atmosphere.
Groh responded by agreeing that the “crowd was great.” He said that everyone was there qualified as “true loyalists.” The team was very mindful of the noise and everybody was very appreciative, he said. In particular, Groh singled out the student body as having, “clearly identified with the players.”
Up next, Ginger started off by congratulating the coach and commenting on the energy that she felt Chris Long ‘s presence had brought to the win.
Groh said it is always great to have Chris around. He said there is a “tremendous amount of positive energy around Chris.” He commented that Chris had come by on Friday afternoon and he himself had sat and chatted with him for 15-20 minutes, catching up.
For her question, Ginger wanted to know about the development of two of Virginia’s defensive bright stars of the future, Ras-I Dowling and Matt Conrath .
Groh answered by pointing out that they are both extremely young and in the same class, even though Dowling is a sophomore while Conrath is a redshirt freshman. They are both, Groh said, “certainly two young players we are very excited about.” Going back to last season, Groh said, Ras-I had a good rookie season but hurt his leg early in training camp and so missed out on developmental and technique work for the greater part of camp. Regardless, Groh said, “we can see he is a play producer in the secondary.” According to Groh, Conrath, who is playing more than anticipated but because of medical issues on the line, is taking 55 to 60 snaps per game. Groh pointed to the fact that Conrath is a “very tuned-in guy who learns very quickly from what has happened to him.” Groh also mentioned the play of another redshirt freshman in Nick Jenkins who has done “a very very solid job at nose.” To think, Groh said, that we’ll have all those players and “have the benefits for quite a few games afterwards,” is exciting.
Koehn jumped in, asking about Dowling’s athletic ability compared to his big stature.
Groh responded by saying that Koehn was absolutely right to notice he was a big guy and said Dowling is extremely athletic. Most teams, Groh said, have to go with a smaller corner in order to get the speed and movement that the position requires. Ras-I is, he said, “a big corner who everybody looks for.” According to Groh, Dowling “has good ball skills and judges the ball well in the air.”
Mark from Waynesboro was up next asking about attrition. Mark wanted to know if there was anything Groh could do to off-set the effects like bringing in a bigger recruiting class.
Groh responded by explaining the NCAA limitations that only allow teams to sign 25 players per class. Virginia is not, he said, a school that “is in the business of grey-shirting players.” The Cavaliers’ do not over sign and also do not frequent the junior college market so all of those things are limitations. What the Cavaliers can do, Groh said, is to “make sure that those players we do have, experience all the success they need.” That means both on and off the field he said.
Kathy from Charlottesville was up next and thanked Groh for what she referred to as “as much fun as anybody could have on a Saturday night.” Kathy asked about the play of the offensive line, noting great showings by Eugene Monroe , Will Barker , Jack Shields and Austin Pazstor. “Kudos to those guys,” she said.
Groh agreed whole-heartedly with Kathy saying, “I’m with you sending kudos to those guys.” Everyone is very appreciative of what they did. Groh cited the work that line coach Dave Borberly has done with the squad. Groh highlighted the play of Pazstor saying he “has just got a great happy attitude.” He is very workman-like and takes direction well, Groh said. In his view, the line certainly showed a lot of cohesion but reminded everyone that college football is “a fall of one-week seasons,” with everyone consistently trying to get better. But, Will Barker , in particular had one of his better games, Groh noted. It was “really the game we had been looking for,” Groh said. Groh finished the answer by commenting on the confidence shown by B.J. Cabbell on Saturday. Groh related a story from the game about a fourth down play where, in the huddle, Cabbell said to Peerman, “‘follow me and I’ll take you in.'” Groh commented that that story was nice to hear and that he doubts he would have heard that even a few weeks ago.
Next Koehn commented on the dominating score of 31-0 and asked Groh to rank the remarkability of the win to other seasons where the program was coming off a tough loss.
Groh said that score-wise it was probably the most remarkable. He recalled the 2002 game against South Carolina which the Cavaliers entered 0-2. Nine freshmen started that year for the Cavaliers, Groh remembered, as they faced a team that had beaten Ohio State on the previous New Year’s Day. They put it all together that day, Groh said, and ended up reeling off 6 or 7 more wins. “Can’t say I have a crystal ball,” he said regarding the likelihood of that happening again but it is a long season.
In the Advance Auto Parts Scouting Report, Koehn commented on this week’s, “intriguing match-up.” He compared the East Carolina team that is coming to town to Maryland in that they had some big wins and then some more puzzling losses. He asked Groh what he saw ECU’s team.
Regarding their record, Groh said that is the way football seasons go, citing the difficulty of winning football games. Nevertheless, Groh said, this is an impressive team who had quality wins over Virginia Tech and WVU and when you can chalk up two wins over teams with records like those teams, then that’s “how we judge them.” The Cavaliers will prepare for the Pirates as if they are at “high tide,” which is really what you have to do, Groh said. Schematically, he pointed out, ECU is a much different football team than Maryland. Offensively, Maryland was to a large degree power football where ECU is much more spread out. Their quarterback, is a “field general in every sense,” Groh said. Defensively it’s the same thing, Groh said. Their defense isn’t a power defense like Maryland but is smaller and therefore faster. Groh said because of these differences, “most schemes from last week won’t apply to this game.”
Kyle from Roanoke was up next and said he went to high school with OL Dave Roberts and wanted to check on his progress.
Groh answered that Roberts had redshirted last year and was probably still in the developmental phase of his career. “Probably another year of that,” Groh said. Hopefully next year Roberts can provide some depth on the line, he said.
George from Newport News asked if there had been any discussion about moving Keith Payne to linebacker.
Groh responded that unfortunately there wasn’t any discussion right now as Keith is out for awhile with a broken hand. While he “certainly looks like one,” Groh said, “I don’t think it’s in his heart right now.”
Jenkins was up next and congratulated Groh on the win, noticing the team’s extra emotion. His question was what Groh had done to fire up the team and get them on board.
Groh said that the players are “building in confidence and the more confident players are, the more emotional” they are. He pointed out the difference between being able to do your job on the field and just trying to survive as some of the younger guys had been doing. Unfortunately when they are doing this, Groh said, “they don’t have time to connect with their teammates the way they want to.” He said one of the teams’ biggest challenges right now is to establish their identity and noted that that could take 7 to 8 weeks and all they can do is keep reinforcing the message.
Koehn asked Groh how he keeps the energy positive each week and if he keeps the same message or changes it up.
Groh pointed out that the if the change is too dramatic from week to week, “players come in every week trying to re-learn atmosphere.” Consistency is important, Groh said, but so too is a fresh approach and so much depends on the team that you are facing that particular week.
Koehn finished up the show by saying that the win over Maryland was about as “complete an effort as you could ask for.” He wanted to end the show by asking Groh what the Cavaliers had specifically done to silence Darrius Heyward-Bey , Maryland’s big play-making receiver.
Controlling Heyward-Bey had been, Groh said, one of the thing’s Virginia targeted as a key to victory. He was “a very dynamic player,” Groh said and the players “were clearly focused on how to deal with him.” He concluded by saying that at the end of the day they had to go out and execute and “they deserve all the credit.”
