"Come on, Al," they yell. "Let's go, Al."
Dozens of large men donning every NFL logo on their backs stand in a padded weight room, circled around the bench with pens and clipboards in their hands. Wahoo footballers dressed in blue and orange lean forward with clenched fists, encouraging their teammate on his back with 225 pounds in his hands.
"You got it, Al," they shout.
His brow sweats, his neck bulges and the red veins push against his skin. His arms, carved like marble, rapidly push the weights up, then let them fall, over and over. His pace soon slows, and he struggles to extend the barbell above his chest.
"Finish it!" the coach above him screams.
His arms go weak, and the weights are taken from his hands and returned to the rack. He stands up, his chest heaving, and he curses, having completed 18 reps. At the same time, Virginia coach Al Groh walks by smiling, congratulating him. "Way to go Al," the coach says. Chris Long and Branden Albert pat nose tackle Allen Billyk on the back as he retreats from the bench.
For most of Tuesday morning, this was the scene at the McCue Center and surrounding practice fields. Graduates and ex-players returned to Virginia to display their skills
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