Saturday, with his team desperately needing a win to stay in bowl contention, Bryson Spinner jogged into Scott Stadium and, in his second career start, played the best game of his short career and promptly righted what's been wrong with Virginia this season.
I must confess I've been hard on the Cavaliers this year, but I've had reason to be. With Dan Ellis under center and George Welsh at the helm, the team has been - in a word - boring.
The Cavs have been a sportswriter's nightmare. There's a dropback senior quarterback who is effective but far from exciting. There's Antwoine Womack, adequate at running back, but overrated and certainly no Thomas Jones. There's a coach that is nearing the end of his career and acts like it.
And then there's the team that, up until Saturday, hadn't beaten anybody they weren't supposed to and worse yet, hadn't shown any great sense of urgency in any of its wins - or losses, for that matter.
Spinner changes all of that.
How could you not pay attention? Spinner started in place of Ellis, who missed his final home game with his second hamstring injury of the year. Spinner showed so much more Saturday than you could tell from a stat sheet. He was only 7-of-17 passing, but would have had at least 12 completions if his receivers weren't dropping balls left and right in the first half.
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And outside the pocket, Spinner's performance was a revelation. On his 61-yard run off the option in the first quarter, Spinner ran the play as it was designed and started to the left. But then we saw him reverse field and avoid N.C. State tacklers and his own blockers before being run down by Levar Fisher.
He looked like that other quarterback from the state of Virginia, but we'll forget about that for a second. First, let N.C. State coach Chuck Amato tell you how much Spinner changed the face of this offense, just by being as athletic as he is. Then maybe we can decide if the comparisons are valid.
"Spinner did an outstanding job," Amato said. "We've got to learn to contain this type of quarterback so he can't get out of the pocket. Spinner came up with a lot of big plays that put them in a position to win this football game."
This type of quarterback? A freshman with big-play ability? An accurate passer who can get out of the pocket? Sounds like Michael Vick of 1999, right?
Well, it's only half-right. Bryson Spinner is nobody else but Bryson Spinner. He is not as fast as Vick, not as quick as Vick and not as strong as Vick, at least from what he showed Saturday.
But he did bring to Saturday's game what Vick brought to Virginia Tech all last season: poise and remarkable leadership ability for a young player. It was hard not to notice how collected Spinner kept himself after what was easily the biggest performance of his life. Some freshmen would be jumping off walls, but Spinner looked the big crowd of reporters in the eye and treated this win like he had known right from the start that he was going to be the star.
"I never felt rattled or flustered," Spinner said. "I try to go out there and be a good leader."
A good leader is what the Cavs desperately needed last week against Georgia Tech when nobody would step up and pull them out of a 21-0 deficit. Now they've found him in a freshman who looked liked he'd been a starter for years on Saturday. Except for some bad decisions that resulted in costly sacks, Spinner was "cool like he always is," said receiver Billy McMullen, who took Spinner's lob in the third quarter and turned it into a 68-yard touchdown.
And for that reason, Welsh should name Spinner his starting quarterback for this weekend's game against Tech, even if Ellis is well enough to play.
Yes, Ellis has done a lot for Virginia over the past two years, but Saturday, Spinner did for Virginia what no one has been able to do since last season.
He made you want to watch.
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