I don't think that starting his most talented returning wide receiver at quarterback was what Ron Prince had in mind for the 2004 campaign when he was elevated to offensive coordinator a little over a year ago.
Yes, the most talented returning wideout for the Cavaliers, junior Marques Hagans with 28 catches last season, will be completing passes instead of hauling them in this year. The Virginia receiving corps is starting to look less like a question mark and more like a problem area.
Any Cavalier fan knows that the Virginia passing game is an interesting thing to watch. The Cavaliers love to throw to their running backs, either on screens or swing passes in the flat. This obsession with the screen reached a high water mark in last year's Florida State game when then junior running back Alvin Pearman had 16 catches for 134 yards, setting a single-game school record for catches.
Besides a love of the screen, the tight end is the most important element to the Virginia passing game. Junior Heath Miller led the team in receptions last year and in just two seasons has seemingly broken every school record for tight ends.
But every team on the national stage, the level Virginia wants to compete on, needs a solid set of receivers -- no matter what the offense's orientation. Someone has to stretch the field to clear space for players like Miller and Pearman. Take last year's co-national champions, Southern California and Louisiana State. USC had Mike Williams and Keary Colbert, who both registered 1,000+ yard seasons. The Tigers had Skyler Green, Devry Henderson and Michael Clayton, a trio that registered 26 touchdowns. In the same span, Virginia's top receivers other than Miller totaled four touchdowns. It is clear that Virginia has a problem at the position, compounded by Ottowa Anderson's departure. That leaves Hagans, Olsen or whoever starts at quarterback this fall with few options outside of Miller and the screen to Pearman or junior running back Wali Lundy.
On a positive note, senior Michael McGrew is scheduled to return to the Cavaliers this fall after suffering a broken leg in spring camp last year. He seemed poised to take over the number one wideout role last year from Billy McMullen before the injury, and his two years of starting experience will be invaluable to a group that is otherwise completely unproven. McGrew witnessed the Billy McMullen era, starting opposite the superstar for two years, and hopefully he learned quite a bit in that time.
With McGrew at the number one, it's anybody's guess as to who will take the number-two spot. The two front-runners are the sophomore duo of Deyon Williams and Fontel Mines. Both big targets at 6'3" and 6'4", respectively, the two were top-100 receiver recruits coming out of high school. They played quite a bit last year and showed flashes of brilliance, but neither can be relied upon to carry the load just yet. They aren't expected too, though, so if at least one of the two can develop into a reliable deep threat and get the safeties of the new-ACC to sit back a little further in their zones, they'll have done their job. If that happens -- and it didn't last year with Ryan Sawyer and Anderson at the top spots -- Miller could have an even bigger year and the new quarterback could relax a bit more.
After Mines and Williams, it gets really interesting as to who will line up in the four and five-wide receiver sets. Last year, tailbacks saw a lot of time in these formations out on the wings, lining up outside the tight end in the slot. Since neither sophomore Ron Morton nor red shirt-freshman Emmanuel Byers have caught a pass in their careers, those same backs will often continue to lineup there. Both receivers are very talented and have the potential to be great players, but they are inexperienced and young.
McGrew actually has exactly five times the catches of the next four players on the depth chart combined, with a career 60 catches. Not the best-case scenario for a new quarterback to be walking into. It's kind of like the shelf-life milk that has all the preservatives in it that they sell in the Root Cellar at the Treehouse. You know it's milk and that it has the potential to get the job done, but no matter how much you drink, it's just not that great and it leaves a funny taste in your mouth. I mean, three sophomores and a red-shirt freshman to compliment a player who hasn't played in a game situation in over a year while recovering from a broken leg? That's the essence of a funny taste.
It looks like more of the same horizontal passing game from the Cavaliers this year, unless all the potential for this set of wideouts and the quarterback who is distributing the ball to them is realized early in the season, before Clemson arrives in October, Virginia's first major test.
Read More
Katie Grimes posts historic debut as women’s swimming and diving annihilates Virginia Tech
By Xander Tilock | 16 hours agoGrimes broke out as a new superstar for Coach Todd DeSorbo's squad.
Women’s basketball displays stingy defense, but falls short versus No. 14 Duke
By Xander Tilock | 21 hours agoThe Cavaliers nearly conquered a ranked rival but could not generate consistent offense.
You cannot say money is the problem for Virginia football
By Peter Kriebel | YesterdayMoney, after all, is just one aspect of a winning program.
