Some of the high drama remains from last season’s theatrical performance by the Virginia football team; however, the story has changed. Instead of the team playing the role of the plucky underdog, winning game after game against unbeatable odds, the Cavaliers are acting the part of beleaguered losers. Now, they are expected to turn to a new leading man, sophomore quarterback Marc Verica, to lead them out of the cellar of the ACC.
Verica was not supposed to be in this position: It is a surprise he is even seeing the field this season. First, Jameel Sewell was dismissed, then Peter Lalich. It has been a wild ride that has brought Verica into the spotlight, one that has left Virginia’s fans reeling. In Verica’s first start against Connecticut, the sophomore was 22 of 30 with one interception for 158 passing yards. All in all, the numbers don’t look any different than what Virginia has seen under its past two signal-callers.
“Overall he handled himself pretty decently,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “It’s all relative, but all things considered, yes [he played well].”
During the off-season, it was a well-publicized fact that the quarterback position was wide open following the departure of Sewell. Lalich was the heir apparent, Groh mentioned that Verica had the quickest feet and fifth-year senior Scott Deke returned for his final year of eligibility to cloud the waters. Groh refused to name a starter until the Southern California game, but it really came as no surprise that Lalich was under center against the Trojans. Verica and Deke were relegated to the sidelines, with Verica seeing some time at the end of the game when the outcome was no longer in doubt.
When it was decided Lalich would not be making the trip to Connecticut, Verica assumed the driver’s seat against the Huskies.
“Coach Groh brought me into his office a couple days [before the UConn game], and sat me down,” Verica said. “He informed me that I was going to be the starter. It didn’t really change my preparation — I go into each game, backup or starter, trying to be prepared to play, so that’s what I did.”
Although the rest of the team’s performance against Connecticut was questionable at best, Groh seemed satisfied with his new quarterback’s effort. Verica completed his first pass and a total of four out of five on his opening drive.
“It led us to be hopeful that it might become positive production throughout the rest of the course of the game,” Groh said. “He did have some good throws, but in between some throws where there were incompletions or poor runs, we weren’t able to sandwich enough good plays in between the good plays to put enough drives together. But he had enough good throws in there to be productive. We just need more in between the throws.”
Deke saw time against Connecticut after Verica threw his first and only interception and the game was out of reach for the Cavaliers.
“You get Scott some plays, he’s not a player that’s ever played either,” Groh said. “Plus, at that point, we had no touchdowns. That’s how you judge an offense’s performance, that’s how you judge a quarterback’s performance — we had no touchdowns. I thought we’d see if we could get some touchdowns. Scott did a nice job — got us down there, got us one.”
Verica had a decent statline, but Deke led the team to its only touchdown. So who will be leading the Cavaliers in their first ACC matchup against the Duke Blue Devils? It is possible that everyone but Al Groh and the quarterback may be kept in the dark until gameday.
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