5 questions for Virginia football

There will certainly be college football teams being criticized for weak early season schedules in advance of the 2013 season.

Virginia will not be on that list.

The Cavaliers have home games with Brigham Young and nationally ranked Oregon, as well as their ACC opener at Pittsburgh, all before October.

Add to the mix that this year's team is operating under new coordinators in all three phases of the game, and there is a lot of work to be done before BYU arrives in Charlottesville for their Aug. 31 opener.

Among the new faces at UVa are offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild, defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta, special teams coordinator Larry Lewis, and associate head coach for offense Tom O'Brien.

Here are five questions UVa needs to answer before the 2013 season kicks off:

1. Who will start at quarterback?

Coach Mike London has indicated that the announcement will come sooner, rather than later, and the odds-on choice is sophomore David Watford.

The only other contender is redshirt freshman Greyson Lambert, but Watford was listed No. 1 on the depth chart going into the spring and
No. 1 coming out of the spring. Two quarterbacks with remaining eligibility who each attempted more than 200 passes in 2012, Michael Rocco and Phillip Sims, are no longer with the program.

Rocco transferred to Richmond and Sims, declared academically ineligible at UVa, transferred to Winston-Salem State.

2. Who's headed for a break-out season?

Defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta has been referring to 6-foot-7, 295-pound fifth-year senior Brent Urban as "the Urbanator," a fancy nickname for a guy who enters his final season of college eligibility with two career sacks.

Urban, who moved from end to tackle late in the 2012 season, returned a fumble for a touchdown at Virginia Tech and had 3½ sacks in UVa's spring game. He later was selected in the second round of the Canadian Football League draft.

3. Who gets all the tackles?

Linebackers Steve Greer and Laroy Reynolds ranked 1-2 in 2012, with 122 and 90 tackles, respectively. Both were seniors.

Of the team's next three leading tacklers, two were defensive backs (Anthony Harris and Demetrious Nicholson) and the other was a defensive end (Jake Snyder).

All three return, but the biggest hole to fill defensively is at linebacker. Henry Coley takes over for Greer in the middle and fellow junior Da Da Romero is coming off a 44-tackle season as a part-time starter on the outside.

4. Will the Cavaliers play more intelligently?

Only one ACC team, North Carolina, was penalized more heavily than Virginia last year. UVa's average penalty toll was 58.8 yards per game, and UVa was penalized for as much as 145 yards against Lousiaiana Tech. The Cavaliers also ranked outside the nation's top 50 in every special-teams category.

Larry Lewis, a former Division I head coach who has a lengthy background in the kicking game, was hired to rectify that situation. Also, one-time UVa offensive coordinator Tom O'Brien returned as associate head coach after lengthy head-coaching stints at Boston College and North Carolina State.

Another no-nonsense guy, Jon Tenuta, returned to his alma mater as associate head coach for defense. Tenuta has been a defensive coordinator for some of premier programs in the country, including Notre Dame and Ohio State.

5. Who are the candidates for post-season honors?

Morgan Moses, a 6-foot-6, 335-pound senior, is moving from right tackle to left tackle and will fill the hole created by the departure of Oday Aboushi, a first-team All-ACC selection and a fifth-round draft pick of the New York Jets last spring. Morgan was a preseason all-conference choice recently at the ACC Football Kickoff.

Jake McGee enters his junior year as one of the ACC's most dangerous receiving tight ends - with game-winning catches against Penn State and Miami in 2012 - and has added the weight and strength to become more of an every-down player.

Sophomore defensive end Eli Harold has the makings of an elite pass-rusher.

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