Rocco Named Starter

Coach Mike London addressed the media on Monday as the Hoos prepare for Richmond.

To cut to the chase, Michael Rocco will start his 14th straight game at quarterback for Virginia on Saturday when Richmond comes to town.

Virginia fans had eagerly awaited coach Mike London’s press conference on Monday because the depth chart, including the decision at quarterback, was to be released at the weekly meeting with the media. On the season’s first two-deep, Rocco retained his position as starting quarterback with Phillip Sims listed as the back-up option. David Watford holds the No. 3 slot on the depth chart.

London said the evaluation process through training camp this month made it clear that Rocco deserved to be the starter for team when the Spiders enter Scott Stadium on Saturday at 3 p.m.

“It became apparent that Michael has the best grasp of the offense right now. To start a game, he’s the guy we feel most comfortable with right now because of what he knows – knowing the systems, the schemes, and knowing the players that he’ll be throwing the ball to or handing the ball off to,” London said. “He’s done nothing to lose his position. He’s improved. We talked earlier about his leadership, his knowledge of the offense. He’s put himself in the position to be the guy right now. I’m quite sure he’ll work hard at it. He takes pride in that, so that’s how it worked out.”

Rocco said there is a tremendous difference for him when comparing August 2011 to August 2012. Last fall, he entered the opener as the starting quarterback as a sophomore with minimal in-game experience. In fact, he had completed just 13 of 25 passes for 1 touchdown with 2 interceptions as a true freshman that appeared in six games. That’s not a large body of work for a quarterback.

Not surprisingly, Rocco went through an adjustment period as a new starter in Division I football. Over the first four games of the season, he threw just 1 touchdown pass and 8 interceptions. As Rocco, who said Monday that he feels like he is throwing the intermediate and deep routes better this year, gained experience, those numbers improved. Over the final nine games, he tossed 12 TDs and just 4 INTs. He finished the season with a UVa sophomore record of 2,671 passing yards.

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Virginia quarterback Michael Rocco speaks with the media.

“I can just remember myself coming into my first game last year, just the confidence I feel now with not just playing college football but with knowing the offense and knowing where to go with the football – it’s just light years ahead of where I was last year,” Rocco said. “That just makes me way more confident to go in and execute in the game. Just repetitions. I went through a season as the starter in every game, into the spring, and into the summer and right now I have a pretty good grasp of the offense. You can never get good enough at an offense, though, and you can never gain enough knowledge but right now I feel confident in our game plan and what Coach London and Coach Lazor want me to do.”

Sims, who transferred from Alabama and gained immediate eligibility due to an NCAA waiver, is still learning the offense, but he has demonstrated enough knowledge to handle the No. 2 role at this time. The training camp phase of August featured heavy installation of the entire playbook so Sims didn’t have much time to get up to speed. London said that the game-week specific practices could help Sims in the sense that he’ll be preparing for specific defensive looks and working on specific offensive packages.

The sophomore has shown the coaches the ability to connect on a variety of pass routes, including the deep throws. The coaches won’t be developing a specific set of plays for Sims and the plan, London said, “is to get him ready to play as Michael is ready to play.” Sims played in eight games for Bama last season and posted 163 passing yards.

The Cavaliers plan to redshirt David Watford this season.

“Phillip has a big arm, strong arm, been in college games as well. He’s a guy that’s learning our offense. To expect him to know the whole offense by the time the season started, I don’t think that would be fair to him,” London said. “He knows enough of the offense – enough of the concepts that we use that to understand his situation will be kind of on the job training as the season goes on – how much he picks up, the communication, all those different things. He’s had a chance to do that in the early part of camp, but not enough of a chance to really continue. We want to see if he can continue on and improve to where we think he could be a pretty good quarterback.”

Watford took the No. 3 spot on the depth chart, but he is not expected to play in Saturday’s game with Richmond. London said the coaching staff would like to redshirt Watford this season unless something unfolds to change that plan. “David has done everything that we’ve asked and then some. … I have the right to reserve whether or not we’ll use David or not through the year but my plans are to redshirt him,” London said. “… But as the season goes on, it will be evaluated, re-evaluated. I think that’s the best answer, the honest and truest answer I can give you.”

Watford saw action in 10 games last season as a true freshman. He threw for 346 yards, 3 TDs, and 4 INTs. The sophomore entering training camp as a much-improved player at quarterback. In the week of open practices, he hit on more passes and showed greater consistency with this throws. He certainly can throw the football and has top-notch speed as well so the physical tools are there. At this stage of his career, Watford still needs to improve on inconsistency and decision-making within the offense.

London said Watford understood the coaches’ reasons and the plan for him at quarterback. He also noted that the young signal caller, along with the other quarterbacks, is selfless and wants what is best for the team. While a position switch was discussed, Watford will continue to take practice snaps at quarterback with the redshirt plan in place.

“His physical skills are such, I think David is going to be a terrific quarterback. He concedes that Michael knows the offense better than he does right now. He sees that there’s a talent that Phillip has. … He wants to be a great college quarterback. He saw some of the things that he could do to narrow that gap even further,” London said. “The conversation [of] would you want to play another position? He said, ‘I will, coach, if you want me to, whatever the team needs.’ I asked him what he wanted to do. He said, ‘I’d like to be a quarterback.’ One of the best ways to bring his learning curve along, help him be what he wants to be, we talked about redshirting him. Again, I told him, as I told you guys, the first couple games, the first two, three games, we have to make sure our situation at quarterback is what we need [it] to be. He even expressed, ‘Coach, if you need me after the first couple games, I’ll be there for you.’ That’s a remarkable trait that a young guy, a sophomore now, for a guy to have. As I said before, using the word ‘selfless’, that’s the epitome of that. He’s 100 percent on board with it. We played David early as a freshman. I knew we had to play him because we had to. He’s a guy now that, because of him giving to the team, I want to make sure that we do right by him, as well.”

With the depth chart settled for the opener, the focus of Monday’s press conference quickly turned other questions about the quarterbacks. Or, to make it more simple, to questions about playing two quarterbacks. Last season, after all, UVa played both Rocco and Watford.

In fact, for the first seven games of the season, the coaches inserted Watford at quarterback regardless of what was going on in the contest. Essentially, the coaches used a pre-determined plan to get Watford experience at quarterback, something that was necessary due to the depth chart at the time. At times, this arrangement seemed to disrupt the offense and Rocco’s rhythm at quarterback. Eventually, the staff scrapped scripted series for Watford and let Rocco play the majority of the snaps.

So what about 2012? Reporters asked London whether the plan was to get Sims in the game regardless of the score.

“No, I think any opportunities we get a chance to play Phillip, we will. It won’t be ‘this or that’ series he’s going in. I just think it’s hard for me to say right now, this is what we’re going to do with regards to series and things,” London said.

When asked to clarify whether it is a scripted plan like last season, London said: “No, it’s not scripted. … Phillip is coming in during the summer, fall part of camp. What his menu will be will be the menu we’ll have going in the game. We’re going to try to get him in the game, try to play him, and hope he does the best he can to help us win, as Michael does. There’s no formula right now to say what series he’s going in.”

With that said, it sounds like Sims will see playing time against Richmond and, presumably, in future games as well. Still, Rocco holds the top spot on the depth chart and is the team’s starting quarterback. He entered the spring and fall practice periods with the ‘it’s my job to lose’ mentality and that’s something that he will continue to use once this season officially kicks off on Saturday.

Rocco said Monday he’s not worried about looking over his shoulder. He’ll pull for any and all of his teammates, including the other quarterbacks, when they are in the game but he believes his 2011 experience will carry him forward as the team’s No. 1 quarterback.

“My mentality coming into this thing is that I’m the quarterback,” Rocco said. “I have the same mentality I had last year. Just my confidence from being in the offense for a year and knowing what I have to do to compete and compete at a high level, I just believe that will carry me. My team is confident in me and the coaching staff is confident in me so I’m not looking over my shoulder to be tentative about somebody behind me. I’m just confident in our offense and my leadership as our quarterback.”

More Depth Chart Talk

While the quarterbacks garner much of the attention when it comes to depth chart talk, there were some more wrinkles for Virginia’s first two-deep of the 2012 season.

  • At tight end, senior Paul Freedman sits in the No. 1 spot with Colter Phillips, Jeremiah Mathis , and Jake McGee rounding out the unit. London said Phillips is still working his way back from an ankle injury, but that the depth chart could just have easily said ‘or’ in terms of the starter at tight end. London does like the versatility of the tight end group.
  • For one offensive line note, Sean Cascarano is listed as an ‘or’ starter choice with Conner Davis at right guard. Expect Cascarano to start and Davis to be the third guard in the rotation line. That may include at left guard where Cody Wallace is the starter and Matt Mihalik is listed as the back-up.
  • At left tackle, Kelby Johnson and Michael Mooney share an ‘or’ line behind starter Oday Aboushi . Johnson, London said, has been suspended for the first two games due to a violation of team rules and that’s one reason why Mooney is on the depth chart. London said the staff would have to be very careful in evaluating whether to use Mooney or not this season since he is a true freshman.
  • Receiver E.J. Scott holds the No. 2 spot behind starter Tim Smith at one receiver position. Read more on Scott below.
  • At defensive end, both Eli Harold and Mike Moore are listed as reserves on the two-deep. The duo joins Ausar Walcott as back-up options for Jake Snyder and Bill Schautz . London said to expect both true freshmen – or really any true freshmen other than Mooney on the two-deep – to play.
  • At strongside linebacker (SAM), Henry Coley holds the top spot followed by Daquan Romero . London said that both players have done a nice job and that both players would see on-field action. He expects that competition to continue throughout the season.
  • At middle linebacker (MIKE), true freshman Kwontie Moore shares an ‘or’ line with Tucker Windle as the backup for starter Steve Greer . At the weakside linebacker (WILL) spot, D.J. Hill is the back-up for LaRoy Reynolds.
  • At strong safety, Brandon Phelps holds the top spot with Pablo Alvarez sharing an ‘or’ spot at No. 2 with true freshman Anthony Cooper , who switched over from wide receiver after the first week of training camp.
  • At the cornerback spots, Demetrious Nicholson and Drequan Hoskey hold the top spots. Hoskey held off true freshman Maurice Canady for the starting spot thanks in large part to in-game experience, London said. Expect Canady to see some action as well. C.J. Moore , another true freshman, sits in the spot behind Nicholson.
  • On special teams, London said that Drew Jarrett would handle field goals and extra points while Ian Frye will handle kickoffs. Jarrett edged out Frye due to in-game experience, London said. At punter, Alec Vozenilek will handle the duties. At punt returner, Dominique Terrell enters the season in the top spot and Nicholson is listed as the back-up. London said earlier in training camp that Nicholson catches the ball cleanly and it gives the team the option of keeping the defense on the field in certain scenarios. Finally, Darius Jennings , Perry Jones , and Kevin Parks are listed as kick returners. London said Khalek Shepherd , who led the team last season in return average, isn’t there due to an injury that he’s nursing. Shepherd is expected to play against Richmond, but maybe not at kick return. London also said that multiple players, including some true freshmen, could see opportunities in the kick return game.

Scott Emerges

E.J. Scott

TheSabre.com’s receiver preview suggested that sophomore E.J. Scott could fill in as a utility type receiver this season after looking good in preseason practices. Scott, as mentioned above, made the two-deep at receiver behind Tim Smith . He could be an option in any of the receiver roles, though.

“He’s gotten a lot better as well as Miles Gooch . … He’s coming along. We worked hard this summer. Every time I was on the field, he was out there with me. Gooch as well,” Smith said. “[E.J.] is definitely showing that he knows what he’s doing and that he’s more comfortable out there. … He plays all the positions now whether it’s F, Y, Z, X – whatever it is. He’s just gotten better, a lot better.”

Rocco, meanwhile, said that Scott’s versatility and understanding of those multiple spots is why he could get on the field in 2012. Scott brings a nice blend of speed, shiftiness, and good hands to the receiving corps. He flashed some of those talents in a kick return role in 2011 before an injury cut his season short.

“E.J. has taken a lot of steps mentally and physically throughout the summer and spring. Last year, he was just a young guy in the offense and didn’t know the offense as well as he does now,” Rocco said. “He’s really taken that upon his shoulders to know everything about every receiver position and he’s done a great job with that. That’s why he’s going to get on the field because he’s worked hard at it and he can be so multiple and play all of the different receiver positions. He’s a good friend of mine so I’ve talked to him about it and he just wants to do whatever is going to help the team and that can be being whatever receiver position is available at the time.”

Safety Swap

“It’s interchangeable. Typically your strong safety is the guy nearest the ball. Eight in the box, bringing the safety down, it’s the strong safety that also is looked upon as a run guy. The free safety, middle of the field guy, deep third, deep half, calls the coverages out, things like that,” London said. “It depends on what style of team you are. Cover 2 team, you have two safeties. A cover 4 team, you have two safeties, depending on what happens one safety will roll down, one will roll up. A cover 3 team probably will not. It’s a true middle of the field safety and strong safety. They’re interchangeable, but at the same time with Anthony, we put him in that middle of the field [where] you call the defenses. We want him to be in charge of doing that.”

Mike London Transcript

The full transcript of Coach London’s press conference can be found here.