Virginia looked pretty solid Saturday in first game of the season against William & Mary. A 40-3 victory is just what the young Wahoos needed. Sophomore quarterback Mike Rocco stared the contest 11-11 until being replaced by true freshman David Watford. The plan all along was to get Watford in the game early, and Rocco was not benched because he wasn’t playing well.
Redshirt freshman Kevin Parks was as good as advertised. The solidly built 5-8 tailback ran for 114 yards and 3 TD’s. I love how low to the ground he plays, which makes him very difficult to bring down. He seems to understand how to run in space as well as in tight quarters.
Coach London on Parks: "I thought Kevin showed what we’d been seeing in practice for the last couple months. He’s very explosive. He can run. He can run away from people. He can run over people. I’m happy for him because he waited his time with the backs we had last year. He got bigger, faster, stronger and had an opportunity to go out there today and do some pretty neat things. I’m happy for the success of him, and for the success of the entire team.”
Jim Reid’s defense played an outstanding game. As I was looking over the statistics after the game, one stat really looked interesting to me- tons of guys made tackles. 7 guys made 3 tackles, 3 guys made 4 tackles, and another 7 players were credited with 2 tackles.
Will Hill was the player of the game defensively for me. His motor is awesome, and he has really progressed from last season. Another player of the game on defense was cornerback Demetrious Nicholson. I was super impressed with Nicholson’s speed, and his hip movement. William & Mary’s QB’s picked on him early and often, and he was right there in the receivers jockstraps.
You cannot teach speed, or quick hip movement, and Nicholson also has that indefinable “it”. I realize this game was not against an ACC caliber opponent, but for a true freshman to start at corner, and play that damn well is a huge accomplishment.
Nicholson on his INT: "I had visions before this game of me catching a pick, and it came true. Coach West always told me to believe what I see. How I caught that pick was that I ran through the quarterback’s three-step. We practice that everyday and I was able to hop in front of it and catch it."
The Hoos play Indiana this Saturday on the road. The Hoosiers are coming off a disappointing loss to Ball State, and will be hungry for a victory.