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So, what happens to Vic Hall when Virginia team doctors clear him to return to active duty?

Hall was the Cavaliers’ starting quarterback in their opening game against William and Mary but was injured in the second quarter.

Hall returned punts after that point but his only action in Week 2 came as the holder on an aborted field-goal try in the first quarter.

Hall was in uniform for the Cavaliers’ game Saturday at Southern Mississippi but did not get on the field.

That confused me.

If Hall had been given medical clearance to participate in the days leading up to the TCU game, was one to believe he had taken a turn for the worse prior to the Southern Miss game?

In answer to my question on Wednesday’s ACC coaches’ teleconference, UVa coach Al Groh offered some clarification.

“That [clearance] was for the role he was in,” Groh said, “which was, specifically, to be the holder. As history proves, despite the fact we had medical clearance on him, there was something a little more difficult [a high snap] than was normally the case on that play.

“His injury inhibited him. So, since that time, we’ve cancelled out all possibilities until we can say that he’s fully 100 percent.”

Clearly, Hall’s roommate and fellow fifth-year senior, Jameel Sewell, is entrenched as the Cavaliers’ starting quarterback. While an 0-3 record might not reflect it, Sewell has gotten better with each game.

Hall could return to the secondary, where he started for two years. That would make sense if three-game starter Chris Cook is hobbled. Cook, listed as “probable” for the USM game with a hip issue, played only one play before he was sidelined with what has been described as a groin injury but may have been a recurrence of the hip injury..

Redshirt freshman Devin Wallace took Cook’s place in Hattiesburg, Miss.

Chase Minnifield hasn’t been an upgrade over Hall as a punt returner, so possibly Hall could resume those duties. He also could spell Sewell at quarterback or play in the same spread formation with Sewell, as he did at one point in the William and Mary game.

Groh said Wednesday that Hall had not received medical clearance yet to return to action Oct. 3 at North Carolina.

“At the present time, we don’t have any options with him,” Groh said. “Our thoughts, as have been expressed, are that Vic offers so much to the team that we would like, at the conclusion of every game, that Vic be tired and dirty.”

IT HASN’T BEEN EASY to say what running back plays what position for the Cavaliers. Fifth-year senior Rashawn Jackson is listed as the No. 1 fullback, but, until the Southern Miss trip, UVa had never played more than one running back at a time.

Jackson was in for the first snap at Southern Miss in a one-back formation, but true freshman Dominique Wallace joined Jackson in the backfield for the second snap (and actually fumbled on a play that lost 10 yards and resulted in the Golden Eagles taking possession).

Groh’s subsequent reference to Wallace as “the starter” indicates the regard in which he is held by the staff and increases the damage caused by his season-ending injury. The good news for Virginia is that Wallace should win an appeal for a fifth season of eligibility and that former starter Mikell Simpson should be close to 100 percent after being kicked in practice – and requiring stitches – prior to the USM game.

Wallace “was becoming a significant part of that rotation,” Groh said Wednesday. “By starting that game, he was about as close to the top of that rotation as a player can get and acquitted himself very well.

“It was certainly a testimony to his will and his toughness [that] he played well over two quarters after being injured. Our trainers have remarked, from their perspective, how tough they think he must be in order to do that and still produce very well. It takes away a player, who, with nine games left, we looked at as really assuming a prominent role.”

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