Thursday, September 27, 2007
Teams aren't picking on Vic Hall, Groh says
Cavs' secondary situation has seldom looked brighter
Doug Doughty
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Virginia High School League record-holder Vic Hall hasn’t had the opportunity to play quarterback at Virginia, but nobody can say he hasn’t been involved.
He may have been a little too involved last Saturday.
Hall’s fumble on a second-quarter punt helped Georgia Tech get back in the game and there is a perception that opponents are picking on Hall in his first year as a starting cornerback.
Part of that may be Hall’s size. He’s listed at 5 foot 9 and 181 pounds.
“It’s been intriguing to me, some of the commentary here all of a sudden, [that] Vic Hall is the target now,” said UVa coach Al Groh in his Tuesday news conference.
“Is he ready for the Kodak All-America team yet? No, probably not quite yet. Are there some things he’s experiencing at corner as a first-time starter? There are.
“But, I certainly wouldn’t say Vic has been a problem for us.”
Hall had his first pass break-up of the season Saturday in a 28-23 victory over Georgia Tech and his 19 tackles for the season are only two behind Chris Cook, the other starting cornerback. Both have 11 solo tackles.
A young player who is raising eyebrows is the Cavaliers’ No. 3 corner, redshirt freshman Mike Parker, a 6-2, 195-pounder from Orlando, Fla., who frequently comes on the field in nickel situations.
A late hit against Parker came at a bad time two weeks ago against North Carolina, but Groh applauded Parker’s aggressiveness on the play and didn’t question his judgment.
Parker recovered fumbles against Duke and North Carolina, broke up a pass against Georgia Tech and was stride-for-stride with a Yellow Jackets’ wide receiver who was called for offensive pass interference on Tech’s last offensive play.
Virginia’s cornerback corps looks better all the time. Redshirt freshman Trey Womack, increasingly in evidence on special teams, had two tackles and a fumble recovery against Georgia Tech.
“We got him some new slots,” Groh said. “As we’ve done with a number of these [special-teams] units during the season, we’re making a switch here and there to get the best production that we can.
“He’s found himself now in a couple of slots that he wasn’t in earlier. He’s a high-effort player, he runs well, he’s got good toughness. He fits the special-teams mold.”
Another would-be cornerback who has distinguished himself on special teams is true freshman Ras-I Dowling, who made his debut in Week 2 against Duke and now has nine tackles in 35 plays (four solo, five assists).
Virginia has missed injured Mike Brown more than I would have imagined on special teams, where he blossomed as a return man in 2006 and also was the Cavaliers’ best “gunner” on punt coverage. Brown underwent surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament during the summer but has a redshirt year at his disposal and will have two more years beginning with the 2008 season.
Consider who the Cavaliers will have available at corner next season: Cook, who will be a senior; Hall, who will be a junior; Brown, who will be a junior; Parker, who will be a sophomore; Womack, who will be a sophomore; Dowling, who will be a sophomore; and Dom Joseph, a true freshman this year who was considered for early playing time but still has a redshirt year pending.
Then, consider the safety candidates: Byron Glaspy, who will be a senior, then who?
Glaspy is one of three safeties who has been on the field for more than 200 plays in UVa’s first four games, but the other two, Nate Lyles and Jamaal Jackson are seniors. Sophomore Brandon Woods made an appearance at North Carolina but did not play from scrimmage against Georgia Tech.
Groh acknowledges that there is considerable separation between the No. 3 safety and the No. 4 safety, presumably Woods, although redshirt freshman Rico Bell also has played in a game.
The obvious conclusion is that UVa might be well-served to move one of its corners to safety (a lot of people would like to see Hall moved to slot receiver, if not quarterback) but Groh thinks that he has two promising safety candidates in true freshman Chase Minniefield and Corey Mosley. Minniefield underwent winter ACL surgery but has been active since the start of preseason practice.
Minniefield has gotten some practice repetitions at wide receiver in recent weeks and that’s certainly an area of concern, but if UVa could come up with some safeties, even if it had to raid its cornerback compliment, the Cavaliers could be set in the secondary for years.
