Marc Verica is hoping the third time's a charm.
First the Virginia senior quarterback witnessed former offensive coordinator Mike Groh get the boot from his old man after he turned a bad offense into a terrible one. Then Gregg Brandon brought the celebrated spread offense to Charlottesville and guided a unit that finished the 2009 season ranked 118 out of 120 FBS teams in total offense.
Now enter Bill Lazor, the former Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks quarterbacks coach who hopes to give Verica and the rest of the Cavalier offense a more productive formula for success.\n"I kind of know what [the numbers] were but I don't have them memorized because it's not that important," Lazor said. "What's important is what we do everyday. We set [things] incrementally ... If we had come into a place with a top-10 offense in the country, I don't think our offensive staff would work any differently."
Virginia players worked tirelessly during the 2009 offseason in an attempt to master Brandon's radical new scheme, only to see it completely scrapped after their demoralizing home losses to William & Mary and TCU. A year later, the team once again is adjusting to a new offense, although these changes bear more resemblance to George Welsh's old run first, pass second Virginia teams than to the modern gun-slinging offenses seen at many schools these days.
Thanks to new coach Mike London, the offensive playbook now provides the makeup of a pro-style offense. Along with the 4-3 defense, London confidently preaches the benefits of this more traditional type of attack, which among other things features a consistent running game to complement play-action passes and an emphasis on the tight end position. Aspects of Brandon's spread offense - no huddle, lining up in the shotgun, five-receiver sets and a running quarterback - will be minimized, if not eradicated.
Confusion at the line of scrimmage particularly plagued last season's offense, which had to rely on the improvisation of the quarterback and coaches' signals from the sideline to call the right play. Wide receivers were forced to read the frantic hand gestures of several coaches so that they knew which routes to run.
"We're much more comfortable [this year]," sophomore wide receiver Tim Smith said. "Last year, we had a hard time just getting into our own routes, let alone getting open. We had the hand gestures and everything coming in from the sideline, and we were running trying to get lined up and looking back trying to get the play in. It was very confusing - too much thinking going on."
The personnel of this year's receiving corps remains basically the same as last year's unit, with junior Kris Burd leading the way. Burd - who led the team with 31 receptions for 413 yards last season - has looked very sharp in practice this year and has excelled at route-running in particular. The speedy sophomore Smith and senior Dontrelle Inman are looking to rise above their meager numbers from a year ago and help improve a Virginia passing attack that ranked only ahead of run-happy Georgia Tech last year in the ACC. Moreover, 6-foot-5, 205-pound redshirt freshman Bobby Smith has a chance to make a name for himself this season, and juniors Jared Green, Matt Snyder and Ray Keys also could make an impact.
Meanwhile, Virginia's 'Tight End U' moniker looks poised to regain relevancy this season, as tight ends will be called upon to do more than block this year. Senior tight end Joe Torchia - who recovered from a shoulder injury during the offseason - will be the focal point of a group that also includes sophomore Colter Phillips and promising freshman Zachary Swanson.
"Personally, I'm excited that the tight end has come back, and I know as a tight end group, we're all pretty excited," Torchia said. "It was tough in the spread for the tight ends to produce because the style of offense wasn't catered for the tight ends. Going back to the pro-style offense, we're pretty happy with running two-tight-end sets and getting back to what we were recruited here to do."\nThe real centerpiece of this offense, however, lies in the backfield, where the Cavaliers have a slew of diverse running backs at their disposal. With their top four rushers from last season all gone, several new faces will be saddled with responsibility this year. The shifty 5-foot-8, 185-pound sophomore Perry Jones - who tallied just nine yards on nine carries last season - remains the frontrunner for the starting job. Bringing a different wrinkle to the fold will be powerful 6-foot-3, 255-pound senior Keith Payne, who quit the team at the end of training camp in 2009 but is back with a newfound commitment to be a good teammate. Redshirt freshman Dominique Wallace also appears ready to make a difference, and true freshman Kevin Parks - who rushed for more than 10,000 yards in high school - also should see plenty of playing time. Senior tailback Raynard Horne - a special-teams specialist - will compete for carries as well.
Running backs coach Mike Faragalli said the team has six or seven quality running backs who have the ability to help carry the offense in a variety of different situations. Whether it be running downfield, sweeping it to the outside, picking up short yardage or pass protecting, Faragalli insists he has running backs ready for anything. Three of them, he said, will play regularly. Emphasis on the ground game is welcome news for a program that has not produced a 1,000-yard rusher since Alvin Pearman in 2004.
Under center will be Verica, the only quarterback on the roster with any game experience. Although seeing little playing time last year, Verica had a relatively productive year in 2008, completing 226 of 354 passes for a 63.8 percentage. But he tossed only eight touchdowns and threw 16 picks. Minimizing mistakes will be his main focus this season.
"With Marc, first, he's worked very hard," Lazor said. "And second, he's shown that he can pick up things ... The quarterback gets so much information thrown at him ... and the only thing that matters is that on the next play, does it make a difference on how he plays? So far he's demonstrated the ability to do that. It hasn't been live bullets, but I feel real optimistic about it, and time will tell."
Junior offensive lineman Austin Pasztor and senior lineman B.J. Cabbell will anchor an offensive front that will strive to improve on last year's effort, when they surrendered more sacks than any team in the conference. The addition of 6-foot-6, 350-pound freshman behemoth Morgan Moses - who was rated the No. 5 offensive tackle in the class of 2009 by Rivals.com - should go a long way in protecting Verica.
All in all, Virginia has plenty of room for improvement on the offensive side of the ball, but the squad's relative lack of firepower might make it difficult.
"I know it's not gonna be easy," Lazor said. "But it's never been easy anywhere I've been"
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