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Phillip Sims is expected to get a starting shot. |
It is Duke week as Virginia heads back into conference play for the rest of the 2012 season. Of course, that’s not what most of the questions were about at UVa’s weekly media meeting. No, as most fans probably expected, the conversation quickly turned to the Cavalier quarterback position.
After all, the Hoos own a 2-3 record that includes three straight losses and fairly or not, much of the focus during the recent skid has shifted to Michael Rocco. The junior quarterback has started 18 straight games for Virginia, but he has struggled with consistency in 2012. That’s resulted in just 6 touchdown passes versus 8 interceptions, including a pick-6 last week against Louisiana Tech in a 44-38 loss. Certainly dropped passes and tipped interceptions haven’t helped Rocco’s cause, but the team’s record, scoring production, and that TD-INT ratio raised questions about the starting quarterback job.
Of course, that’s because back-up quarterback Phillip Sims has provided a little bit of offensive punch in his time on the field the last three weeks. He led two touchdown drives at Georgia Tech, one at TCU, and two more against La Tech on Saturday. Sims has a nearly identical completion percentage (60.9% versus 60.3% for Rocco), but has not thrown an interception. He’s had some passes nearly intercepted, however, so it’s not like he hasn’t put the ball in some dangerous spots. Still, the offense needs more points and when you compare Sims’ 5 touchdown passes to Rocco’s 6 TD tosses despite attempting 100 fewer passes (that’s a rate of once per 9 throws versus once per 24 throws), it looks like a shift in strategy is worth considering.
Virginia coach Mike London confirmed that on Monday, saying on his weekly radio show that Sims would start on Saturday at Duke provided a leg injury suffered this weekend allows him to play. The new depth chart lists the quarterback slot as an “or” position.
“First of all, I mean, Michael Rocco is a great young man, has been our starting quarterback for 18 months. I value him. And coming into the season, he was, and until the decision is made, is the guy that is the quarterback, starting quarterback. Now, what happens when you get an opportunity to have a talented player or recruiting talented players that come into your program, you always have to evaluate where you are and where the players that come into the program – how they stack up against the competition and how they can help you win and all the things that we want from some of these other players that are here,” London said Monday afternoon with the media prior to his radio show. “You always want the players that come on your team to have an opportunity to help you win. You always recruit the next best player or get a player hopefully that they can be better than the player that you have playing the position now. I mean, that’s this game. That’s how you play it. That’s how you do it. When the time is right or when the time presents itself that one player has exceeded the expectations and the opportunity of another player, whether it’s the quarterback or any other position, then that player warrants an opportunity to get a chance to play.”
So as Sims appears to be moving into the starting spot this week, what about some of those other issues troubling the Wahoo offense? Dropped passes and inconsistent blocking from the offensive line, after all, have been part of UVa’s struggles as well. Rocco’s first interception Saturday against Louisiana Tech, for example, deflected off the hands of Dominique Terrell before being picked. The same thing happened at TCU on a pass to Khalek Shepherd .
“Obviously the mindset of a receiver, the ball touches your hand, you should catch the ball. Obviously the quarterback should like to throw the ball or you’d like to receive a ball not up above your head but at a point thrown at your facemask. You’d like the route or the window [to be open], [for] the receiver to clear a route or the window for the quarterback to throw in and not have to … anticipate you running in front of or behind a defender,” London said. “So there are different elements to it. But regardless, if it turns into being an interception, it’s a turnover, and those are the things that you can’t have. And quite honestly, sometimes the quarterback gets blamed on that part of it when, as you mentioned, sometimes the ball is deflected off a hand where the route is not run correctly, but ultimately it hurts the team because that’s one less possession we have and a possession that they get.”
The new depth chart addressed the offensive line issues too. The two-deep moved Ross Burbank from back-up center to an “or” starting option at right guard with Sean Cascarano . Burbank’s move placed Matt Mihalik into the second-string center spot on the list. Meanwhile, Cody Wallace and Conner Davis still are battling it out at left guard. Expect to see some playing time rotation in those interior spots this weekend.
Sabre TV |
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Miranda Mason chats with UVa running back Kevin Parks . |
Back To Duke
With the depth chart drama out of the way, it’s time to focus on Duke. The Blue Devils are 4-1 this season and in search of their first bowl game since 1995. Last week, coach David Cutcliffe’s bunch defeated Wake Forest last week 34-27.
“They’ve won the games they’re supposed to win, I guess, and people say, well, you’re playing Duke, but Coach Cutcliffe, again, has done a great job of coaching this team. They’ve played Wake Forest, they beat them, and Wake Forest beat North Carolina,” London said. “I think the message for them is that they – in the ACC you’ve got to play. You’ve got to play because you never know what’s going to happen. And I think they are – 4 and 1 right now – embarking upon a record that they haven’t had in years, and I know that’s something that’s fueling their desire. We have a great desire ourselves. It’s a conference game, common opponent. The last two times we’ve been down to Durham have not been successful for Virginia. So there’s a drive and desire here, as well. But I think that a lot could be said about what’s happening to them and their season, finding ways to win, using different players to get it done. It’s self-evident right now the way they’re playing.”
The Blue Devils feature a version of the spread offense that’s popular around NCAA football right now. They’ll show multiple receiver looks, shotgun formation, Pistol formation, a Wildcat package, and so on. It’s been successful so far in 2012. Duke averages 37.0 points per game, which surprisingly ranks only fifth in the ACC (Virginia’s 25.0 points per game sits 10th if you’re curious). The Devils use a variety of the receiver screens that the Hoos saw last week against Louisiana Tech as well.
The offense averages 304 passing yards per game with quarterback Sean Renfree and receiver Conner Vernon leading the charge. Renfree is 121-of-168 passing for 1,282 yards, 9 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions. Vernon averages 6.8 receptions and 92.4 yards per game; he’s caught 3 touchdown passes. Vernon has tied Clemson receiver Aaron Kelly for the ACC’s all-time record in receptions with 232. Vernon is also just 380 yards shy of breaking former Florida State star Peter Warrick’s all-time receiving yards record of 3,517 yards.
Of note, Renfree injured an elbow against Wake Forest and his status is uncertain at this time for this week’s game.
“I think that Coach Cutcliffe, who I have a tremendous amount of respect for, does a great job with his personnel and his scheming of what he does. I mean, everyone knows he coached Peyton Manning. You look at their style of offense, it’s a little bit of everything, but it’s a little bit of everything that spreads you out. Again, another team that will run the ball, and they have elements of running the ball, the read, the read play,” London said. “But there is a lot of what we just saw here recently, last game. A lot of bubble screens, a lot of hot H hide screens, a lot of flare screens.”
Worth Quoting
Mike London on freshman defensive end Eli Harold : “You know, I think Eli is, again, one of those young players that have gone in games and have learned to get the experience as they’re playing. He’s a young man that’s very determined. He wants to win, and that’s why he’s here. And so we need to set him up for opportunities for success, and he values that, and he wants that. He is another young man that you’ll see more of because some of the other things that he provides. Yes, he’s fast off the edge, but there are a lot of these young players that just have willingness to just kind of a ‘go-get-it heart of a champion.’ … But the thing is that experience that they don’t have is something that they’re growing into as we’re playing, and although it’s frustrating at times because you want them to hurry up and grow into the experience of playing the position, it’s something that’s going to come, and it’s going to come and it’s going to be exciting to see those young players play when they get the experience. They’re getting it now in game five going into game six.”
Worth Noting
- Running back Clifton Richardson , who has been nursing a hamstring injury, is close to being cleared for a return to the field, London said Monday.
- Offensive tackle Kelby Johnson is behind Oday Aboushi on the depth chart, but has yet to see action in a game yet this season. A redshirt remains possible for the true sophomore. “We’re trying to be guarded about it, but at the same time we’re trying to play to win now, not to worry about next year for him,” London said.
- LaRoy Reynolds, who missed the past two weeks after surgery for a hand injury of some sort, is expected to be available for the Duke game.
- Receiver Adrian Gamble said Monday that the hardest part of adjusting to being a college receiver is reading coverages. He noted that defenses disguise what they are doing a lot.
- Gamble noted that he attended Fork Union Military Academy because UVa wanted it. He had taken some online classes in high school and he said that Virginia thought some FUMA sit-in classes would be good for him.
- Coach London didn’t want to use Demetrious Nicholson as a defensive punt returner on the last play of the game Saturday because he doesn’t have the in-game experience that Chase Minnifield had in that role.
- Virginia is leaving for this weekend’s game at Duke on Thursday night instead of Friday morning due to potential traffic issues in the triangle area of North Carolina.
- Duke has plans for a stadium expansion. Read more here.
- The Maryland game time for Saturday, Oct. 13 has been set for 3 p.m.
