The expectations game. Seniors Kris Burd and Chase Minnifield expect the 2011 UVa. football team to go bowling at the end of the season. The news media doesn’t expect as much, slotting Virginia fifth in the six-team ACC Coastal Division.
Coach Mike London has his own expectations.
Year two going into it, you’re looking for improvement on the field also,” London said today at the ACC Football Kickoff.
Virginia went 4-8 in London’s first season at the helm in Charlottesville – a slight improvement over the 3-9 campaign that got Al Groh fired. The schedule in year two is much more favorable. The nonconference schedule includes I-AA William and Mary and I-A lightweight Idaho along with Big 10 also-ran Indiana and a home game with mid-major Southern Miss. Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech are at home, as is Duke.
Six or seven wins isn’t out of the realm of possibility. But first things first – London needs to decide, among other things, on a starting quarterback, from a list of less-than-appealing options. Sophomores Ross Metheny and Danny Rocco saw some playing time behind starter Marc Verica last year. Redshirt freshman Michael Strauss and true freshman David Watford are also in the mix, and all had chances to make their case in the spring, though none stood out above the rest.
Getting a handle on the quarterback situation will be priority number one for London and offensive coordinator Bill Lazor.
“We’ll be able to see early on where these guys are and how far they’ve moved either ahead, stayed the same or maybe taken a step back,” said London, who hopes to be able to make some kind of determination about who will get the ball for the opener against William and Mary on Sept. 3 midway through fall camp.
“I’d like it to be before the season starts so as we get into the week before a game week that you have a guy that you know is number one and one is number two. You don’t want it to carry on and linger because you can’t get four guys, three guys, reps, to try to find out who number one is,” London said.
Reporting and videos by Chris Graham. Contact him at [email protected].
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