Thursday, September 28, 2006
Want some offensive linemen? How about recruiting some
Jury still out on new assistants
Doug Doughty
Doug Doughty's UVa Insider is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Thursdays in season.
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As much as I’d like not to be held accountable for what I say or write, there are occasions when some of my opinions need revisiting.
One of the major issues surrounding Virginia’s football program in the offseason was attrition, both among players with remaining eligibility and within the coaching staff.
To anyone who would listen, I felt that player losses would have much more impact than the coaching changes. Along the same lines, I felt that it was unreasonable to blame Al Groh for the departure of four assistant coaches when three of them were named head coaches and a fourth (Mark D’Onofrio) took a coordinator’s position under his best friend (Al Golden).
I still refuse to believe that their exit was any sort of statement on Groh or the way he runs a staff, although I can’t imagine that he’s the easiest guy to work for, especially in times like these.
But, with the Cavaliers off to their worst start (1-3) in 20 years, I think it’s safe to say that some of the areas under new supervision are not producing at previous levels.
>> Under Mike Groh, who replaced Ron Prince as offensive coordinator, the Cavaliers rank 116th out of 119 Division I-A teams in total offense and 117th in rushing offense. Their 166 yards in total offense at Georgia Tech was a low since the 1982 season.
>>Al Groh hired Dave Borbely to succeed Prince as offensive-line coach because of the similarities between Virginia’s running game and the one with which Borbely was associated at Colorado. However, there has been no resemblance between this Cavalier offensive line and its predecessors.
>> In his final year as UVa defensive coordinator, Al Golden, took over the defensive backs, an area he had not previously coached. The Cavaliers did not give up a pass completion of more than 57 yards. This year, with veteran Steve Bernstein stepping in and everybody back, UVa already has allowed four touchdown passes of 58 yards or more.
>> Al Groh has taken on a greater role with the linebackers because new linebackers coach Bobby Diaco also has special teams. The linebackers have been fine, but the special teams have been nothing special. Have you noticed how every kickoff return goes to the right? (“They did last year, too,” Groh pointed out).
The fourth new assistant coach Mike London has done a commendable job as defensive coordinator but I don’t imagine it hurts that he worked at Virginia previously from 2001-2004, personally coaching some of the players when he was defensive-line coach and interacting with most of the rest in his role as recruiting coordinator.
So, it’s easy to look at three of the new coaches and one of the promoted coaches (Mike Groh) and say that their units have not lived up to expectations, but I’m not sure that says something about whether they’re good or bad coaches.
Maybe it’s because she’s been married to me for 27 years, but my wife tells me that it all comes down to recruiting. SEC roundtable member Gene McBurney, whose daughter is a freshman at UVa, says his daughter’s roommate says Virginia needs more offensive linemen.
Ya think?
According to my rough calculations, Virginia has 11 recruited scholarship offensive linemen in its program, one of whom, B.J. Cabbell, is being redshirted. Three others – D.J. Bell, Gordie Sammis and Patrick Slebonick – hardly play.
Virginia is trying to get through the season with seven offensive linemen, one of whom, Eugene Monroe, had offseason surgery for a dislocated kneecap and is far from peak form. Sure, Elton Brown and D’Brickashaw Ferguson set a lofty standard for offensive-line play, but what’s wrong with a little depth?
It would have helped if Groh had made nice-nice with former starting tackle Eddie Pinigis before sending him down U.S. 29 to Liberty, but Groh doesn’t do warm and fuzzy very well.
When Virginia’s secondary play was unacceptable in Groh’s first couple of seasons, the Cavaliers went after defensive backs, but you almost wonder if they overdid it.
By my accounts, UVa has 13 recruited scholarship defensive backs for four starting spots, and that doesn’t count walk-ons like Byron Glaspy, who starts at safety, or Ryan Best, a regular contributor in 2005 who has virtually disappeared from sight this year Both are on scholarship now, as is a third walk-on, Ben Parziale, from Jefferson Forest.
Of the 16 seniors in high school who have committed to UVa, only one, Brad Hallick from Pottsville, Pa., is an offensive lineman. Throw in the three 2006 signees who are at Hargrave Military Academy and that yields a second offensive lineman, Billy Cuffee, but that still makes only three offensive linemen in the bottom two classes.
I don’t care who’s doing the coaching – Ron Prince, Dave Borbely or hey, even, Curt Newsome – that’s not enough.
AS OF 4 P.M., Hargrave Military Academy postgraduate basketball coach Kevin Keatts had not responded to three phone messages and it can only be assumed that he didn’t want to talk about Eric Wallace, although media gadfly Jeff White says he has spoken to Keatts.
(White rises at 5 a.m., so he’s adept at catching unsuspecting interview targets before they’re awake or functional.)
In any case, Wallace apparently has decided to re-open his recruiting, which doesn’t come at a good time for Virginia, which must have thought it had the 3-4 spot covered. Most players of Wallace’s playing style and national rankings aren’t likely to add a school at this point.
Hopefully, Keatts will have responded in time to make Friday’s Notebook Plus. Otherwise, he can expect publication of a “candid” photo to rival the recent Notebook Plus shot of Hargrave football coach Robert Prunty attacking a plate of barbecued wings.
