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David Watford played in 10 games as a true freshman. |
The Virginia football team scrimmaged Saturday at Lambeth Field, long ago the home of the Hoos, and after that brush with history, UVa’s coaches settled on a vision of the program’s future. Specifically, the staff evaluated the quarterback position and settled on a starter.
Mike London revealed redshirt sophomore David Watford as that choice on Monday. Redshirt freshman Greyson Lambert is the No. 2 QB; both London and offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild indicated that he needed to remain ready to go in the game at any time. Make no mistake, however, this is Watford’s job as the 2013 season opener with BYU (Sat., August 31, 3:30 p.m.) gets closer. The staff talked to both players together on Sunday about the decision.
“We’re going to move forward by naming David the starter and allowing him to continue his development. Greyson did a great job in his own right and he’ll continue to also develop,” London said. “Really we feel like we have two really good quarterbacks and we’re excited about where we are at that position. We’ll move forward and get David the reps he needs with the starting unit.”
Watford, who played as a true freshman in 2011 before redshirting in 2012, embraced the news Sunday and then turned his focus back to practice.
“I was just very thankful and very excited,” Watford said. “I was very humbled. I was just thankful and excited, really. I just wanted to get back to work and get back focused on camp and getting better every day with my guys. I felt like all the hard work that we’ve been putting in is really paying off right now. I’m just back to grinding, man.”
The decision lacked much drama ultimately. Watford entered the spring as No. 1 on the depth chart after emerging as a leader in winter workouts and opened August taking most of his snaps with the first-team offense. By the time Saturday’s scrimmage concluded and the coaches met to evaluate the position, it “became apparent” that Watford had earned the job Fairchild said.
“David protected the ball and didn’t take a sack and got us into the right protections a few times, got us into the right runs a few times,” Fairchild said of Watford’s performance at Lambeth Field. “His overall play I thought was good.”
London indicated that the Hampton native’s “overall development” was “the main reason” for the choice. Mobility factored in as well, but ultimately Watford’s combination of experience and leadership moved him to the top of the depth chart. He is the only quarterback on the roster that has played in a college game, logging 10 appearances in 2011. Then a true freshman, he completed 30 of 74 passes for 346 yards with 3 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He connected on a 27-yard touchdown screen pass to Dominique Terrell to beat Idaho in overtime.
Eventually, Watford’s playing time eroded that season as Michael Rocco took control of the QB job. By fall of 2012, Phillip Sims had enrolled and wedged his way into the quarterback discussion. That contributed to the choice to redshirt Watford last fall. He practiced mostly as a scout team quarterback and wore the coaching headset on the sideline on game day. That process aided Watford’s development.
“You hear everything really between the coaches because it all comes through the headsets. Everybody hears everything offensively,” Watford said. “I got to hear how the coaches think and how they are evaluating the game from the sideline. I got to see it from a coaches’ perspective and just understand the flow of the game and from their perspective how they want to call certain plays in certain situations, down-and-distances, and stuff. That’s really what I got from that year and I really appreciated that.”
After an offseason that saw the departures of both Rocco and Sims, Watford seized the moment. He emerged as one of the team’s most important voices in the weight room by “being a leader down there,” London said, adding that the quality carried through to “organizing 7 on 7’s” as well. He continued with that “innate ability to be a leader” in the spring and summer as well as practice this month.
The team responded. In selecting a leadership council that includes several players the team sees as its model leaders, Watford led the voting among his teammates. By the time some Navy SEALs worked out with the team in the offseason and described his leadership skills to coaches, Watford had won the team’s respect.
Monday’s announcement is merely a culmination of all those steps: early enrollee, true freshman contributor, second-year redshirt, scout team player, leader, and now starter.
“What we’ve seen is the overall development and the maturation process that David has gone through from playing, sitting on the sidelines watching, being in meetings listening to quarterback coaches and the corrections, spring practice with Coach Fairchild and two other offensive coaches that have been places and had the chance to provide some overall feedback. What you want is you want to be able to mature as a quarterback and I think David has hit that stride. … His technique and knowledge of playing that position has improved.”
Watford agreed that everything from his defensive recognition to his confidence has improved over the past two years at Virginia.
“Just my knowledge of the game, my knowledge of what’s going on, just being aware of all situations and where everybody is going to be. I feel like I know the game better. I have a much better grasp on the game,” Watford said. “Just knowing the different blitzes and coverages and how certain blitzes lead to certain coverages and certain coverages leave certain holes on the field. Coach Fairchild has really pushed the quarterbacks as a whole to be able to know where everybody is going to be, how the line is going to pick up certain blitzes, and know what coverages we’ll work certain pass patterns off of.”
That knowledge, of course, will be tested in a few short weeks when BYU and Oregon visit Scott Stadium in consecutive weeks. Watford’s development is not complete so there are sure to be growing pains and mistakes along the way. It comes with the territory. Still, unlike the past two seasons, London does not intend to have a platoon system at quarterback.
Watford is the starter.
“He’s the starter. He has to do all those things that starters have to do whether he is the quarterback, the running back, or anyone else. It’s his and that’s the decision,” London said. “He has to perform, but he doesn’t have to look over his shoulder.”
