CHARLOTTESVILLE — It’s Day 11 of Virginia’s preseason camp, and the Cavaliers appear no closer to naming a starting quarterback than they were when they started.
While converted cornerback Vic Hall remains the leading candidate to start the season opener Sept. 5 against William & Mary, senior Jameel Sewell and junior Marc Verica have performed well enough so far to keep the competition open.
The trio played roughly 30 snaps apiece in Saturday’s intra-squad scrimmage, but new offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon acknowledged yesterday that it’s “a challenge” to divide practice time equally among three quarterbacks while continuing to install additional pieces of his new no-huddle spread offense.
“[Head coach] Al [Groh] and I have talked about this, about making the decision soon on who will be the guy,” Brandon said.
Hall has several factors working in his favor. For one, Virginia’s coaching staff didn’t move him from defense to offense in his final year of eligibility with the intention of using him to signal plays or hold a clipboard. He’s one of the team’s most dynamic athletes and its unquestioned leader.
Of course, Hall is still re-learning the quarterback position – before spring practice, the only time he’d played offense since high school is when he played quarterback in last season’s game against Virginia Tech – and stands a full six inches shorter than both of his fellow signal-callers.
Responding to questions about the 5-foot-9 Hall’s ability to see the field effectively behind Virginia’s massive offensive line, Brandon cited two other big-time college quarterbacks — Missouri’s Chase Daniel and Kansas’ Todd Reesing — who thrived in similar spread offenses despite being listed at less than 6 feet tall.
“I’m still learning with Vic what throws I want to utilize him for. He’s good on the perimeter. He stayed in the pocket yesterday and made some nice throws down field, so he’s very capable,” he added. “It can be done, and I’m going to give Vic every chance to do it.”
To date, none of Virginia’s quarterbacks has completed a pass under “live” conditions. Head coach Al Groh made them off-limits to hits as a way of preventing injuries, but he said yesterday he’d like to see at some point in the preseason how they’ll react to a full-speed pass rush.
“There were some throws made [Saturday] that were real good throws that probably wouldn’t have come off the same way if the rusher hadn’t pulled off. And I think the quarterbacks need to know that,” Groh added.
Brandon insisted he didn’t know when Virginia would set its depth chart at quarterback, saying that decision will be made by the boss.
“Al brought me in to run the system and that’s what I’m doing. He’s allowing me to do that, but he is responsible for building the team,” he said. I’m in charge of the offense, he’s in charge of the defense, Ron Prince is in charge of kicking, and all that has to mesh toge ther for us to be successful.”
Even though he’s only been a member of Groh’s staff since December, Brandon clearly understands the pecking order in the football office.
Asked if he will necessarily agree with Groh’s choice to start against William & Mary, the former Bowling Green head coach was quick with a smile and self-effacing reply.
“I hope so,” he added. “He’s the head coach. It doesn’t really matter if I agree or not.”
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Virginia fans (and others), weigh in and tell us what you think: Which quarterback should start for the Cavaliers?
I never understood why Vic Hall was moved to CB after being such a wunderkind at QB at Gretna. We know Sewell and Verica are capable of (not much). For that along I would go with Hall.
They need to run a split shotgun formation with both Sewell and Hall in the backfield; snap goes to one or the other. Bring in Verica to take snaps from under center, with Sewell and Hall in also, from time to time. Conventional offensive football hasn’t worked for Al; might as well do something totally bizarre in his last season there.
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