The crowd at Scott Stadium may have been scrambling during Saturday's game against Connecticut to look up player No. 39 on the Virginia roster as he was making big plays for the Cavalier offense.
They soon found out that it was senior Chris Gorham and realized that they could add him to the growing list of players who are stepping up to fill the voids left by injured junior wide receivers Kevin Ogletree and Maurice Covington. Gorham was a significant contributor to Virginia's win Saturday over Connecticut, catching three passes for 76 yards, including a 35-yard catch on a pass thrown by sophomore cornerback Vic Hall on a trick play during the second quarter, setting up Virginia's second touchdown of the day.
Gorham's story is a unique one. He was an unheralded cornerback for the first three years of his Cavalier career before switching to wide receiver last spring.
"I was willing to do anything to help out the team," Gorham said. "I was all over the place in high school, so I got a little bit of experience at receiver."
Coming into the game against the Huskies, Gorham had just two catches all year. Catching three balls Saturday showed that he is making strides in filling the void left by Covington and Ogletree.
"He has [improved]," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "He's been a corner here for three years, so it took him awhile to get comfortable playing a different kind of game than he has been on the corner. He's been very diligent about it. He represents the team having a next-man-up attitude. Maurice [Covington] went down and he was the next man up."
Showing that the second quarter catch was not a fluke and that he may have a penchant for big plays, Gorham caught a pass 30-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Jameel Sewell late in the fourth quarter on what would become the Cavaliers' game-winning drive, resulting in the go-ahead field goal by senior place kicker Chris Gould."The o-line did a great job blocking, giving Jameel time to throw, [and] the coaches did a great job calling the plays," Gorham said. "By the time it got to my time to do something, all the hard work was already done." After the game Groh praised Gorham's efforts on his two big catches that lead to important scores for the Virginia offense, noting how Gorham embodies the Cavaliers' ability to step in and make the plays when they are needed, regardless of their positions.
"That was a real good play he made [with Sewell]," Groh said. "He made a good play on the corner route that got us down the field and put us in an advantageous position. It's nice to see a senior player who hasn't had a lot of those slap-on-the-back moments here. But that's the team--different guys stepping up at different times."
Gorham said he was not expecting to have a break-out game against the Huskies and a win for the team was his sole concern. His attitude is one that every Virginia player seems to have this year.
"That's all it boils down to," Gorham said. "It's not about statistics or what I do as an individual. We just want to win, collectively, as a team. That's our goal each week."
Although Gorham is taking advantage of his opportunity to be a wide receiver, he realizes that the injuries to Covington and Ogletree have been a major factor in his getting his chance in the first place.
"Covington and Ogletree are great athletes," Gorham said. "They were coming off good seasons last year. They were definitely a loss for the team. I credit the coaches for preparing us, the receivers that we do have, to come out and do what we need to do to win."
Fans should hope that they have to look up more unfamiliar names such as Gorham's on the roster in the coming weeks. With an offense that struggled to produce yardage without junior running back Cedric Peerman and a tougher schedule heading deeper into the fall, the list of players stepping up may need to continue to grow if the Cavaliers hope to build on their 6-1 record.
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