UVA football coach Mike London talks with the media on the ACC football coaches teleconference on Wednesday.
OPENING STATEMENT: Very pleased with our spring practice, very productive. We were able to identify some players, some elements of improvement and new coaches that were added into the mix for us who had an immediate impact on our team. We’re now at the point of post spring practice. We’re having exit interviews with each player. Our coaches are preparing to go out on the road competing, and I’ll do an interview with each player as well. We’re starting to wind up here. School’s coming to a conclusion. We’re trying to make sure that everybody is doing what we need to do as we get ready for UCLA going into the fall. But like I said, very pleased with spring, very productive for us, and we look forward to continuing on with the infusion of first year guys coming in to help this team. I’ll take any questions now.
Q. Mike, I’m curious, at the end of spring, are you completely sold on (Kelvin) Rainey at strong safety and allowing (Maurice) Canady to play corner? Or is that still kind of a little bit in flux back there?
MIKE LONDON: When you look at us, we’re a multiple defense. So whether you’re playing the nickel, dime package, or regular personnel unit, the one thing that I can say is that Kelvin has done an outstanding job of raising his level of play and making himself to be considered as a guy that can be a safety and play multiple teams for us. So he’s done a good job of really getting better. We talked about him as far as being one of the MVPs, or most improved players, of spring because sometimes that light factor, the aha moment, comes on for some guys, and it has for him. So the better he is, the better he’ll make us back there on the back end. So we need his kind of toughness and leadership, and we’ll see how it plays out as we go into summer here and into the fall, when some new players come in, and just kind of see where he fits and where the whole scheme thing fits as far as personnel.
Q. And then the other spot up front on the offensive line, is it is nerve-racking, anxious, to go into the fall, getting some pieces back and maybe not sure where things fit? Or do you feel like you’ve seen enough that whatever you’ve come up with will be pretty good up there?
MIKE LONDON: One of the things for us, it’s a positive for us. Obviously, you don’t want to have injuries. When you have Jay Whitmire that’s been out a couple of years, but you see him running around and lifting and running now, that’s a good sign. You see Sadiq Olanrewaju, Eric Tetlow, Jack McDonald. And we had a midyear, Grant Polk, come in that wasn’t able to play. But of those groups, a lot of offensive linemen have played in college football games, and with guys coming back that I just mentioned, that makes that unit even stronger. Like I said, one of the positives for us coming out of spring practice is that area has improved. Knowing that it will get better when you have your guys that have been played in games back, and then having a guy like Dave Borbely coaching them. Again, it’s a very positive unit for us, and we look for a lot of contributions from players who have played in games in the past.
Q. Mike, how did Trey Nicholson hold up through the spring? And what are your expectations for him now that he’s presumably 100 percent for you guys?
MIKE LONDON: Trey has done a good job. It’s been a long road back for him, both physically and mentally. The thing we have to always remember is Trey has played in three games in two years. That’s something that he’s battling with or he’s overcoming. He’s an important part to our defense. He’s an important part of our team. He’s a guy, you talk about overcoming adversity and keeping his mind to it, he’s that kind of guy. You look forward to Trey continuing his development and getting back in playing ready shape, which I know he will. So having Trey for us is definitely and has been and it will be an asset as we start to go into summer and into the fall.
Q. You’re talking about your leadership council, and also you named your captains the other day. One guy you didn’t talk about much at the time was Canaan Severin. How much does this represent a change for him from his early days in the program?
MIKE LONDON: It’s the whole maturation process. He came in trying to find his identity and where he fit in the grand scheme of things and just kind of emerged as a young man that got it together academically, got it together socially, and on the football field started to make the type of strides that is going to allow him to be a very successful player. We talked about the body makeover from last year going into this season. The players have seen him and how he carries himself, and he’s one of the top vote getters, as far as being representative of what we want our players to be here at Virginia. So we expect Canaan to have an even better year. He’s made those one-handed awesome catches throughout practice, and we’re excited about where we can go from there. But him being a captain and him being a leader is something that’s well deserved. He’s worked for it. He deserves it. And now you wish that he’d have the representative success of a guy that has those type of responsibilities.
Q. Coach, how do you assess your linebacker situation after losing three starters from last year’s team?
MIKE LONDON: That’s a good question. When you look at our team, the dynamics of our team have changed in that you lose a guy like Henry Coley, Daquan Romero. We lost Eli Harold and Max Valles. They declared early for the draft. Our team has kind of changed in dynamics of guys that were leaders last year or older guys, now it’s on the other side of the ball. Offensively, it’s that group, Ross Burbank and other players, Jay Whitmire, those guys that have played, Canaan Severin. Our linebackers are — Zach Bradshaw and Micah Kiser, they’ve been in meeting rooms listening to Coach Tenuta talk about linebacker play. They’ve played in games. So now it’s going to be important for guys like Micah, Zach Bradshaw, Mark Hall to step up and step into important roles. They’ve demonstrated that at spring practice, but the ultimate test will be when you’re playing out there, no coaches on the field, and it will be that UCLA test for us. But very confident in those three that I just mentioned. We’ll see how they do, but very confident in their abilities.
Q. Hey, Mike, the quarterbacks were playing more under center this spring. How did that decision — who made that decision? Kind of what was the reason behind it? How do you think that’s helped what you call as a power running unit? I know that’s kind of your goal for this offense. How do you think that’s helped them this spring?
MIKE LONDON: The benefit of that for us is you try to go back and identify what you are and what you aren’t. Every team has a philosophy or has the skill or people in position to help them execute the style of offense they want to play. I’ve said all along with the addition of Coach Borbely, a guy that’s been around a lot of good places and talking about the importance of the running game. It’s not just about the offensive line, but it’s about the quarterback, it’s about your running backs. Chris Beatty, I’ve talked about him as well as far as the importance of having coached a guy that was pretty significant last year in college football, but having the experience of talking about a running game. So the QBs understood, and for us it’s just something that will allow us to establish — continue to establish an identity of running the ball but also the play action passes that come off of that. It’s just you evolve out of who you are and what you have, and you want to try to make the best and most of those opportunities for your signal callers. And that’s kind of the direction that we’ve moved into, and it will continue to be worked on, and as we add more plays and add more personnel and get healthier up front. But it’s been very positive for us. That’s, like I said, one of the things coming out of this spring that the running game was very productive for us.
Share
Contributors
