Mike London and several members of his coaching staff met with the media Wednesday afternoon at the John Paul Jones Arena. First and foremost on everyone’s minds was which one of the Hoos’ four quarterbacks is going to be the starter, and how long it will take for London and second year offensive coordinator Bill Lazor to make the decision.
Lazor stated that it was simply too soon to call a tightly contested race and that he wanted to see the decision play out on the field in practice rather than in the video room. Both he and London said they’d like to decide sooner than later, so their signal caller can get more of the reps in practice, which begins tomorrow. Personally, I think Mike Rocco will get the start opening day against William and Mary, but Ross Metheny is right in the mix, too.
As the summer progresses towards training camp the coaches are not able to have much, if any, time with their players. The kids are busy with their workout programs and are also swamped with summer school. New strength and conditioning coach Evan Marcus (who was here previously under the former regime) runs the show during the summer session, and from what London has heard, Morgan Moses is the strongest guy pound for pound on the team.
According to Coach Marcus, both Moses and offensive tackle Oday Aboushi have had excellent off-seasons. The offensive front should be one of the team’s most solid groups if it stays heathy, something that the Hoos really struggled with last season.
Coach Lazor was asked how hard was it for him to find leaders on the offense last year since he was new on the job and implementing a new system. He said that it will be much easier to figure out which lockers he needs to stop at after practices to get a read on the team this year after two entire off-seasons in Charlottesville.
Keith Payne got the majority of the runs in the red zone last season, and redshirt freshman speedster Kevin Parks might be the guy in short yardage situations this year. Perry Jones should be the starter at tailback for the second-straight year as well, but the talented former high school All-American Parks should press Jones for playing time.
Defensive coordinator Jim Reid, who had a very rough first season in Charlottesville, said he may have oversimplified the defensive system last year, and that the kids that come to Virginia are smart and deserve to be challenged more than he did in 2010. Look for the Hoos to run more complex 4-3 defensive schemes as they will have a much deeper team this season.
Reid said big plays coupled with guys playing out of position killed his defense last year. Several guys played completely new positions last season, and a year gone by in the trenches will make them much more comfortable with their reads.
Special teams coach Anthony Poindexter has all of his kickers coming back from last year. Dex was asked if Chris Hinkebein would once again kick the long field goals with Robert Randolph handling the kicks under 40 yards. He answered in his country drawl that he hopes that one of them wins the job outright, but reiterated that while Hinkebein has a super strong leg Randolph has been far more accurate inside 40 yards.
The talent pool at both kick returner and punt returner will get a ton deeper this season, and it’s anybody’s guess who will handle those duties.
I am excited for practice to begin August 5th. The first five practice sessions are open to the public and start at 3:50 pm on the fields behind the McCue Center. Go Hoos, beat the damn Hokies!