2008.09.25
Timing right for possible QB transfer
Just as Oregon State seemingly was a perfect match for dismissed Virginia quarterback Peter Lalich, Lalich’s departure has increased UVa attractiveness for a potential transfer quarterback.
“We’d probably be open to at least considering any interest,” said Groh in his weekly Thursday teleconference with beat reporters.
The Cavaliers typically take one pure quarterback in each signing class and generally
As originally put together, Virginia could have had five scholarship quarterbacks this year: fifth-year senior Scott Deke, fourth-year junior Jameel Sewell, third-year sophomore Marc Verica, second-year sophomore Lalich and true freshman Riko Smalls.
The Cavaliers had such a glut of quarterbacks that they originally weren’t going to add a QB in the 2008 class. Then, Sewell flunked out of school and Smalls became the object of a whirlwind courtship.
Also, Deke decided to come back, which hadn’t necessarily been his intention.
Deke figured to be the only quarterback leaving this year, with spring recruit Ross Metheny from Sherando High School taking his place in the pecking order. Sewell is expected back for 2009, but now Lalich is gone, which would leave the Cavs with four scholarship QBs (Sewell, Verica, Smalls and Metheny) for next season.
Four is enough and a transfer quarterback wouldn’t be eligible for 2009 anyway. But, what about 2010? Sewell will be gone and Verica would be a fifth-year senior, not that he’s a proven commodity yet.
There could be worse opportunities for a transfer candidate.
Virginia traditionally has not fared well with transfer quarterbacks. Maybe the best was Wayne Schuchts, who left Cornell for UVa and led the Cavaliers to a 6-5 record in 1983, one of only winning seasons for the program in a 15-year span. Other transfer quarterbacks were Drew Schuett from Notre Dame, Lindsay Delaney from Pittsburgh and B.J. Hawkins from Notre Dame.
Schuett eventually moved to safety and was a three-year UVa letterman from 1976-1978 (I also believe he rescued a drowning swimmer at some beach, but that’s another story),. Delaney lettered in 1980 and 1981, and Hawkins never lettered before being suspended for the 1993 season.
It’s coincidental that three of Virginia’s quarterbacks transferred from Notre Dame – Schuett, Hawkins and Christian Olsen, who backed up Matt Schaub and Marques Hagans before getting a starting shot that lasted two games in 2006. Olsen, who lettered twice, was the Cavaliers’ only scholarship QB transfer under Groh.
“We had a similar situation but not for the same reasons,” Groh said. “We had a situation that wasn’t working out and we were probably going to have to go back and get a player who could take the place of the player with whom it wasn’t working out.”
It was unclear if Groh was referring to Anthony Martinez or Billy Schweitzer or both, although Martinez was on the roster when Olsen enrolled at UVa in 2003 and Schweitzer was not, having transferred to Division III Trinity (Conn.). At the time of Olsen’s transfer, the only scholarship quarterbacks in the UVa program were Schaub; Hagans, who actually was a wide receiver at that point; Martinez and recruit Kevin McCabe.
(That was the first of McCabe’s six college seasons, including the current one, in which he’s thrown for 901 yards in leading California of Pennsylvania to a 3-1 record and a spot in the Division II Top 25.).
If most Division I-A programs carry 4-5 quarterbacks and can only play one, there are going to be a lot of disgruntled quarterbacks every year and the trick is to get a good one, maybe a Peter Lalich without all the the youthful indiscretions.
The trend toward quarterbacks transferring “is probably similar to the basketball world,” Groh said. “That is one of the positions that does transfer the most, particularly the circumstance where a player who feels he’s pretty talented is behind another player who looks like he’s going to play for quite some time.
“We do get that often. Probably the two positions where we hear the most from people interested in transferring are kicker and quarterback. We certainly would not be close-minded to it. We’d have to see what the circumstances were, time frame of eligibility (etc.). We’d always try to go back to where the player came from and get the whole story.”
There has been no indication that Virginia will now add another quarterback to its class, particularly since spring recruit Quintin Hunter plays QB for Orange County. Hunter, who has been recruited as an “athlete” with the likelihood he will play wide receiver or defensive back, probably is going to get at least a short look at quarterback.
IF YOU WANT A parallel for Verica, who assumed the starting quarterback job when
Lalich left the program, it would be UVa offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Groh.
Groh was a back-up to Bobby Goodman in 1992 and Symmion Willis in 1993 and actually might have been No. 3 on the depth chart for a time behind Willis and Tim Sherman. He didn’t get the first start of his career until the second game of his redshirt junior season in 1994 and didn’t get his second start until the sixth game that year.
Groh was buried for a lot longer than Verica was and all he did was post a 15-6 record as the Cavaliers’ starter and finish his career as the No. 3 passer in school history (he’s since been passed by Schaub, Hagans and Aaron Brooks).
“I know that Michael spoke about those circumstances to Marc not long ago,” Al Groh said.
(As usual, there were a lot of “circumstances” in Thursday’s conference call).
I DON’T KNOW IF this is the last UVa Insider to appear in this format, but preparations are almost complete for new Virginia and Virginia Tech “Insider” blogs.
My plans are to continue the UVa Insider as a Thursday blog and post shorter blogs throughout the week. Randy King is disconnecting his Virginia Tech Insider for more frequent, quick-hit blogs. So, there more be more Virginia Tech entries but not necessarily a higher word count.
Our editor, Jim Ellison, is still working on a format for the weekly poll. In last week’s UVa Insider poll, 71.2 percent of the 805 respondents picked Duke to end its 25-game ACC losing streak this Saturday against visiting Virginia. Click here for this week's poll, found at the bottom of the story.
- Doug Doughty
... why would an athlete want to transfer to a school that has it's "head" coach on the #2 spot of http://www.coacheshotseat.com? Check it out!
Al Groh is about to go!
Comment by Woodruth — September 26, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
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4:45 A.M., Eastern Standard Time, 9-29-08, Monday, Charlottesville, VA
It's mind-boggling that former UVa quarterback Kevin McCabe ("...he’s thrown for 901 yards in leading California of Pennsylvania to a 3-1 record and a spot in the Division II Top 25...") could be doing so well at another college. True, California University of of Pennsylvania is Division II, but Kevin McCabe LOOKED LIKE the worst quarterback I've ever seen in a UVa uniform.
What kind of quarterback coaching was he getting at UVa from offensive co-ordinator/quarterback coach Mike Groh? This is hard to figure out.
McCabe appears to be a big star up there now. Was he being told to pass with his eyes shut when he was at UVa?
Looking at the website for California University of Pennsylvania, I see that under the offensive co-ordinator, Mike Kellar, their offense averaged 36 points-a-game last season. I guess this means Kellar doesn't call for 3-yard passes on 3rd-and-ten like UVa does? LOL.
Reading Mike Kellar's bio, maybe the next head coach UVa hires might want to hire Kellar on UVa's staff. He looks very impressive!
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Comment by Nelson — September 29, 2008 @ 4:35 am
A bit of perspective on CUP (California University of PA): The PSAC is very competitive. They usually land a couple teams in the D2 playoffs. CUP lost to #10 Bloomsburg (also in PSAC, and favorite for the PSAC this year). McCabe has 10 TD passes in 5 games and is averaging around 200 YPG passing (see http://www.calvulcans.com/custompages/football/2008/teamcume.htm#TEAM.IND for team stats through 9/27). My guess is that McCabe is a decent enough QB with lots of good talent on CUP's receiving corp. That may or may not have been the case at his former school.
Comment by Fernando — September 29, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
This I put on the comments for the PRESS BOX and I copied and pasted these, apologies to UVA readers, however I believe that it bears repeating...the only difference is this is providing a solution at it's end as opposed to the PRESS BOX.
Some say that Groh has had to face more than Welsh concerning obstacles and whatnot. Let's see, anyone remember the 1984 Peach Bowl? Who was the MVP? Where was he a year later? I believe the kicker, Barry Word, Howard Petty were all gone for cocaine. Anyone remember the 86-87 debacle before we recruited the Moore's? Yeah everyone wanted Welsh gone then. How many of us got mad at the conservative play in the 4th quarters with Welsh?
Well, what comes around goes around. You want blue chippers you pay the price with attitude, egos, and lack of academics.
However, had he not said it, this would not be an issue. BUT----where are the NATIONAL TITLES!!! Not the ACC titles that should be more important. No, not the offensive and defensive rankings that should be important, not the constant rotation of coaches that should be important, not the attempt to see how many coaches we can have in the press box at one time which should be an issue, but the National Titles. Why can't we keep players, not all of them can be considered academically inelligible or uncoachable.
Steve Spurrier didn't even beat us this bad when he was at Duke! By this time in his tenure, Welsh had a team prepped for 10 win season and the next year was ranked #1 in the polls and a Sugar Bowl berth.
Say what you want about Beamer and I've been one too. Soft schedule smedule. Stop it right now. After having 10 win seasons what is it now 10+ years in a row and winning the ACC title outright twice??!! Let's at least be big enough to give Bburg props.
I mean it's pretty sad when they have at least 4 sites wanting our coach to be there more than we do.
And if his contract is unbuyable even for the alumnus pocket books which I doubt---ala---Pete Gillen, then let's focus on his staff. Who's working and who's not. Well, Mike was a good QB in his day, but we rank last--IN THE NCAA!!!! HMM I wonder....could we get any worse....oh let's not go there we could.
WHY CAN'T WE GET A 6'0+ 200+ WR ANYMORE???!!!! WHY CAN'T WE RECRUIT IN THE TIDEWATER AREA ANYMORE???!!! PERCY HARVIN ANYONE??? If we are going to cut our losses let's put the $$$ where it should be. Basketball, and the olympic sports. Let the football go back to the 60's and 70's and leave Welsh and the boys of the 80's for the coffee house conversations for remembering when.
HOWEVER!!! IF we are to not cut our losses and to attempt at keeping our football program relevant, then obviously we should put a more serious look into the hiring process not ONLY for the head coach but the staff itself. We should hire a head coach who does not have a revolving door policy on his staff as Al did. This hinders recruiting. Kids that are blue chippers as it seems UVA is focusing on now, don't seem to keen on staffs that leave upon their commitment. As Kai and Ahmad have shown talent notwithstanding if the staff is not willing to attempt to show these types why they should stay then why attempt to get them to start with. Why not have a JV team like VT? Should we atttempt to be VT no.
However, success is what is at stake here bottom line. My other point is as far as offense and defense goes....why not run schemes that attract the big type of recruit....yeah it might be in the next 3-4 years a outdated offensive scheme but what about the Spread? Anyone in ACC running it? HMM. Just a thought. Why not on defense dare the boys to throw. Just blitz like it's 1985 and we're in Chicago. Make it fun. Al has got the boys so uptight and serious it's not fun anymore for them or for us the fan. Which put up $200+ dollars for season tickets. We should matter and our voice should be heard. We are the consumer and we are paying for a product that is not bearing fruit. Time to get the blinders off and get out of the glass house and wake up and smell the coffee. IF Wake Forest can do it and UNC then what about UVA. What else do we have to lose....except our sanity.
We are in a sad state of affairs. We have a school with the resources (alumnus & big money) to do something rare. Have football & basketball successful. Why not get serious and not focus on just school ties and/or loyalty but the best coach for the job....not just the best available.
Talk is cheap the tickets aren't anymore. That doesn't sit well even if the seats do.
Comment by Michael — September 30, 2008 @ 1:03 pm
McCabe now has four multi-TD games. UVa quarterbacks now have four zero-TD games.
Comment by dougdoughty — October 1, 2008 @ 7:52 pm