CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Scratch any fullback deeply enough and it's likely you'll find a converted tailback.

It says a lot about Virginia's football team that the Cavaliers' prospective tailback, Jason Snelling, is a converted fullback.

An absence of marquee players is one of the reasons that head coach Al Groh approved a team shirt with the name "Joe" across one side of the chest.

Only one of the Cavaliers was "baptized" a Joe, as Groh put it, and that's walk-on quarterback Joe Sanford. It was strength coach Evan Marcus who suggested the shirts as a sign of team solidarity.

"There aren't very many name players on the team," Groh said Saturday after the Cavaliers' final spring scrimmage. "It doesn't mean there aren't some talented players, but it's indicative of the fact that, 'Hey, we're all the same.'

"We come in every day to grind it out. That's what they've done since January. That's what they did all spring long. Every day of the preseason training program, we had 65-plus Joes in there."

It was hard to be any more faithful than Snelling, who participated in 14 of 15 practices this spring. In the past, reliability was an issue for him. Snelling missed the entire 2003 season and played in only seven of 12 games in 2004.

"It was headaches," Snelling said. "Actually, it was more complicated than that, but it was headaches that made it unplayable."

Around midseason last year, doctors finally regulated Snelling's condition through medication.

"There's been some down days," he said, "but, the day that I missed practice this spring, it was not my medical condition. I just didn't feel well."

Snelling went through a four-game stretch last year when he did not have a single carry. Then he rushed 17 times for 126 yards and two touchdowns in a 51-3 victory over Temple.

Many of those attempts came out of a one-back set and convinced the UVa coaching staff that Snelling could be more than a fullback.

Snelling, who will be a fifth-year senior, weighed 245 pounds during his fullback days but is still a load at 233.

"To a large extent, his dreams and aspirations are going to be packed into one season," Groh said. "From a team standpoint, it's going to be important that we get a real big season out of him.

"He's certainly going to be one of the featured performers. There are going to have to be some things happen when he gets the ball. As you can see, he's not fun to tackle."

Jon Copper, one of the Cavaliers' linebackers, can attest to that.

"The first week of spring practice, he was coming through the hole and I thought I had a pretty good shot at him," Copper said. "I wouldn't say he ran me over, but it was almost like I wasn't there. It's going to take two hats [or helmets] to bring him down."

It must be noted, Copper doesn't give ground easily. He had a sack on which he caused a fumble and he later smelled out a screen pass for a 4-yard loss. Still a non-scholarship player, Copper, from Roanoke, has been playing with the first defense all spring and Groh won't be scared to start him in the fall.

"I'm planning on it," Groh said.

A crowd of 7,869 turned out to watch the White team defeat the Blue team 10-7 on a 44-yard field goal by Noah Greenbaum as time expired. Earlier, Chris Gould was wide right on a 46-yard attempt with just over a minute to play.

By then, rain was falling steadily, fulfilling gloomy weather forecasts that may have kept the crowd under the 20,000 that Groh had set as a target earlier in the week.

"I think we made a move forward toward that number" Groh said. "We may not hit that number right away, but we'll keep working till we get to the ceiling.

"We appreciate the fans who came and perhaps, if we'd had less dire forecasts, maybe some of the people who were expecting rain, hail and lightning would have made the drive."

Odds 'n' ends

Groh said that he was prepared to name one captain on offense and one on defense, but there was a tie on both units in player voting. He went with quarterback Christian Olsen, wide receiver Deyon Williams, defensive end Chris Long and cornerback Marcus Hamilton. ... Winners of the Rock Weir Award for most improved players in the spring were outside linebacker Clint Sintin, defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald and tailback Mikell Simpson.