Aaron McFarling

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CHARLOTTESVILLE — Illiteracy has gotten out of control in this state. Young. Old. Male. Female. Rich. Poor. This problem affects everybody.

Never was that more apparent than the afternoon of Aug. 17. That day, at Scott Stadium on the campus of the University of Virginia — this supposed mecca of public education — hundreds of fans gathered to meet the Cavaliers football team.

And get this: many of those people were upbeat!

Now we know for sure they can’t read. If they could, they would have stayed away. Because as every newspaper and magazine has been screaming for months, the UVa football team is going to stink this year. Even coach Al Groh’s quotes in the team’s media guide warn of it. “A significant rebuilding job,” he calls this season on page 22.

Then, in case you missed that, he says the exact same thing again seven paragraphs later. (Of course, repetition doesn’t help if you can’t read in the first place).

But you know what? Looking at all those illiterates on that bright, sunny day, laughing, shaking hands and offering best wishes to the players, it gets you thinking.

Maybe they’re on to something.

The preseason is no time for pessimism. Can’t we wait at least until the first loss — which could come in the opener at Pittsburgh — before shoveling dirt? If things go as so many say it will, if the offense plods along, listless and lineman-less, and the defense wilts with inexperience, there will be plenty of time to complain about it then.

But not now. Now is a time for hype and hope. UVa, which received no votes in the Associated Press preseason poll, falls under the “hope” category. In that spirit, here are three reasons for Cavs fans to have hope for 2006:

1. The players are just as fed up with the bashing as you are, and they’re itching to prove people wrong.

The infamous, seemingly unprovoked rant by ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd this summer was the biggie. Nobody likes to be called soft, least of all a 6-foot-2, 334-pound nose tackle who takes on multiple blockers on every snap.

“I could show him soft,” said Keenan Carter, the 6-2, 334-pound nose tackle who takes on multiple blockers on every snap. “That was messed up, man. Messed up.”

Linebacker Clint Sintim said he heard the clip one night right before he was heading to bed and “ended up not going to sleep until about an hour and a half later.”

Can this needling actually be a benefit? Sure, why not?

“It definitely rallies us together,” defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald said. “Every time you get tired in practice, you think about something that might have been said or written about you. It motivates you to push on.”

2. The ’Hoos have a 750-pound tight end.

OK, so it’s actually three people. But all three are pretty darn good, and they add up to a pretty formidable weapon. Included in this mix is Bath County grad John Phillips, who, after a year and a half in the UVa weight program, looks a little bit like a cyclopean elk.

3. The defense will be better than people think.

The Cavs’ offense isn’t going to fly up and down the field like it did in the Music City Bowl, but it might not need to. Defensive end Chris Long is ready to break out and become an ACC star. Carter is a fearsome load at nose tackle, and he might not even win the starting job. The secondary should be one of the team’s greatest strengths.

“It could be very good,” Long said of the defense. “It could also be mediocre. It’s all about how hard we play. If we’re sound in our techniques and our assignments and ... everybody flies to the ball, I think that’s the mark of a good defense.

“You don’t need superstar athletes to do that. You need 11 guys that are committed.”

And you need one more thing, too, something UVa is guaranteed to have: 60,000 illiterates behind you, waiting to explode.