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Vic Hall will likely make his second career start at quarterback on Saturday. |
Shortly after the Spring Game of April 2007, I wrote a piece pleading for the use of Vic Hall on offense. It wasn’t some startling revelation, mind you, since the good folks down in Gretna had been saying similar things all along. But the message was clear. Put the ball in Hall’s hands more.
“That’s why Virginia needs to begin the Charles Woodson or Champ Bailey strategy immediately,” I wrote. “Pronto. Better yet: yesterday.”
I wanted Hall to be more than a defensive back and the holder for field goals. I wanted to use him at the same time as Jameel Sewell , starting with that “reverse run/pass option” that Marques Hagans and Emmanuel Byers used to run. A version of that play surfaced against UConn that fall and helped determine the outcome of the game. I wanted to borrow from the creativity on display at Florida, Boise State and Arkansas. 10 plays a game or something like that.
Admittedly, I wasn’t lobbying for a full-time quarterback role for Hall, choosing to buy the company line there. He was needed on defense at the time since the cornerback cupboard was a little bare in the depth department. I accepted the “better pro prospects” line of thinking too.
Still, as a fan and columnist, I wanted more Vic Hall. I wanted to see what he could do with the ball in his hands, a thought sparked by his tip-it-up-and-catch-it interception in that April’s Spring Game. Really, I was just saying what many fans had been shouting all along: Put Vic on offense.
Nearly 20 months later, at Virginia Tech last season, that’s what we Cavalier fans finally got. Hall with the ball. A lot. The quarterback of the “Hoo-Cat” while moonlighting as a part-time corner. The result? 109 yards rushing, 2 touchdowns, three tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble. It’s an afternoon that coach Al Groh called one of the all-time great performances by a Cavalier. Ever.
All of which brings us to September 2009. No one is begging for Vic Hall to be on offense or to play quarterback. That’s because Groh and company have made the move, shifting Hall to offense full time during preseason training. He’s one of three candidates, along with Jameel Sewell and Marc Verica , competing for the starting quarterback job with the season opener is now just hours away.
Groh isn’t announcing a starter. He doesn’t have to. The truth is this: I will be shocked if Vic Hall isn’t the starting quarterback on Saturday.
Why? Two words.
Hope. Believe.
The first applies to the fans. When Vic Hall stepped out as the quarterback in Blacksburg last fall, things changed for the Cavaliers. Suddenly, we all had hope. Hope that UVa could pull off the upset, and it almost did. More importantly, however, fans had a new sense of hope for 2009 and beyond. After two 5-7 campaigns and a downward-trending program, Hall’s trot rekindled hopes that Al Groh could still turn it around and get big wins and big things done in Charlottesville. Hope of a new beginning.
The second is all about the team. The players and coaches who work so hard in the orange and blue. You see, Vic Hall makes everyone believe. Believe in the impossible. Or, rather, believe there is no impossible. It’s belief built on the work ethic, the team-first attitude, the heart and soul of Hall. It’s trust. It’s why Hall has been a captain for two years. Or as Al Groh says:
“Everybody believes in Vic Hall.”
Believe in Hall. Believe in hope. Believe in better days to come.
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