The University's football team may be unranked after Saturday's loss, but it remains a top contender for team intelligence, placing 15th in a Wall Street Journal ranking of football team performance on a standardized test given to prospective NFL recruits.
The Wall Street Journal based its evaluation upon the Wonderlic Personnel Test, administered to players eligible for the NFL draft who are invited to the National Invitational Camp, better known as the NFL combine, each spring in Indianapolis. The standardized test results are given to NFL coaches, who can use the information as they please.
The twelve-minute test consists of 50 questions, including a combination of math, word matching and problem solving scenarios. The 24 University players who took the test scored an average of 21.5.
The national average on the Wonderlic Test is a 21 or 22, the equivalent of a 100 IQ, said Winnie Clonts, executive vice president of Wonderlic Inc., although the value of such tests in evaluating football players is up for debate.
"Its purpose is to measure cognitive ability," said Clonts. "Football teams are looking to see if the person can quickly learn the play book, follow instruction and understand what's being told quickly."
Jeffrey Foster, president of National Football Scouting, the organization that holds the annual combine, said each team in the NFL uses the test in its own way.
"Every team uses the test a little differently, puts a little weight on it differently," Foster said. "It depends on the team."
The test is particularly important for positions that require players to make quick decisions and analyze field positions. Mike Frederick, the associate director for the Virginia Athletics Foundation and a former NFL player, said these skills have the most bearing on the quarterback and offensive linemen positions.
"A lot of what offenses do these days involves reading the line of scrimmage and what defense is being shown," Frederick said. The test "is more applicable to them because an IQ test tests the recognition of particular problems, and how a person recognizes those problems, the conclusions to those problems and how to move forward. Offensive linemen have got to pay attention, make adjustments and move quickly."
According to University football coach Al Groh, however, no college teams use the Wonderlic Test or its results as a factor in coaching.
"One of the things we try to emphasize is that good teams have lots of players that don't make mistakes, are dependable, and can think on their feet," Groh said. "Running and blocking are important skills also, and are different skills than an SAT or ACT test. [If someone] can just look and see and look and react, that's really the intelligence we're looking for in a player."
Frederick, who recalled taking the test before he was drafted, said his only issue with the test was its brevity.
"You basically fly through it, and don't really have time to sit down and show how analytical you are," Frederick said. "You either get the problem or you don't."
According to Groh, the test scores are not that important to draftees' chances.
"Frankly, most of the teams I was associated with, unless the player had an incredibly low score, [they] didn't make that big of an issue of what the score was," Groh said.
Individual test scores for current players and U.Va. alumni are confidential and were not available.
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