As Groh got up to leave the post-game interview room, his new No. 1 quarterback, rising fifth-year senior Christian Olsen, was coming in for what surely was his first post-game meeting with the UVa press corps.
“Boy, you’ve been waiting five years for this, huh?” Groh joked. “This’ll probably be a double feature.”
Olsen was up for the challenge:
Q: You’re not wearing your ‘Joe’ shirt?
No, it’s in the locker room still.
Q: So should we refer to you as Chris or Christian?
Christian’s good.
Q: Does it feel pretty good to be voted a team captain without having played much?
Yeah, you know, I wasn’t expecting that at all, to be honest with you. Myself, I voted for Deyon [Williams] and Chris Long and I thought those were two very deserving players. But I think everybody that was chosen [also CB Marcus Hamilton] has really tried to step up. It’s an honor for all four of us, but especially a guy like myself who actually hasn’t played, to be chosen by our teammates. I’m thankful for that. That gives us a big step of confidence going into the season.
Q: Are you comfortable being a leader and a spokesman, privately and publicly?
Yeah, I hope so. You know, the quarterback, just the nature of the position is … as [wide receivers] coach [John] Garrett puts it, he’s the ambassador of the team. We’re going to have to deal with things. It’s always our fault if we lost. We never get too much credit and sometimes we get a little too much [blame] when we lose. That’s just the nature of the position. I think that everybody that plays the position understands that. I’m comfortable with it and I’m willing to take the blame for anything that happens this year. I’m not saying it’s going to, but you know, that’s just part of being the quarterback.
Q: How does it feel to not only start but finish the spring as the No. 1 quarterback?
I felt good from Day One out there. I felt all 15 practices were exactly what I really wanted to accomplish. Some were better than others, obviously. Some days the defense got the best of us, some days we got the best of them. But I think today we came out here and the offense played well, the defense played well – as you can tell by a 10-7 score. I think it was a good day and I think overall we got a good start going into the fall.
Q: How much have you improved in these 15 practices?
Just knowing what’s going on and being a lot more comfortable in the huddle is probably the [area] where I’ve come the most. Not saying I wasn’t confident in myself last year, but you know, not being the starter always makes you think, What can I do better? Being the first guy in there, getting all the reps – I think as a team we’ve come a long way and I think, like I said, it’s going to be a good start for the fall.
Q: Do you feel pressure to make the most of your first and last chance to be a college starting quarterback?
I’m trying not to think of it like that. Me and Coach Groh talked about it and he said ‘You know, you don’t have to go out there and make up for three seasons in one season or one throw or anything like that.’ I’m just trying to take it as, I’m going to go out there and do the best I can and do whatever I can to help this team win.
Q: With most of the top wide receivers and offensive linemen on your team, how did it go for the Blue offense?
I thought it went really well. With the quarters being so short and being running time, there was limited reps, which obviously kept anybody from getting injured, which was a good thing. I think if we would have had the entire team – the so-called number one team – in there the whole time, we would have come out and we would have put a lot more points on the board. But you know, it was great for those younger guys to get in there and do what they did. Overall it was a real good day for us.
Q: How did the touchdown drive go, especially with that long pass to TE John Phillips over the middle?
That was a real good drive for us. That was our second drive of the game. That was a play that me and Coach Garrett talked about yesterday. We hadn’t run it all spring, but just watching, knowing what they were going to check when we came out in a certain formation, I knew it was going to be there. We did it last year versus Boston College, so we said first time we get in third-and-long, that’s going to be the play. I told John Phillips before the play, ‘The ball’s coming to you.’ [The defense] did the exact same check that we expected and you know, it worked out well for us.
Q: Is that a pass that’s good to throw a little high?
That was probably a little higher than I expected. He went up and made a great play. We would have liked to have it in his numbers a little bit more, but you know, we’ll take it and it got us a first down.
Q: How have your receivers adjusted to you after catching balls from 5-foot-10 Marques Hagans last year?
One of the greatest things that the receivers have to get used to is where the ball’s going to be coming out. That was something Coach Groh talked about two years ago, that our receivers – especially our tight ends and running backs – had to get used to is coming from a guy who’s 6-5 with Matt [Schaub] three years ago [with] balls coming over the linemen’s heads, and the last two years it’s had to come from between the linemen. So that was a big factor. It gets on them a little quicker than it did with Matt, because Matt is coming over the line of scrimmage. I think that’s the same case we’ve got now. They can expect the ball coming over the linemen’s heads instead of past their shoulders. That’s really one of the only things I think that’s going to be a big difference.
(m2c)
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