One of the most frustrating things as a Virginia football fan in recent years has been quarterback inconsistency. The turnover at the position, even within games, has been mind-boggling.
Since I entered the University in the fall of 2011, Mike London has started five different quarterbacks. Four of those five transferred out of the program, and the one remaining — Matt Johns — is the current starter. As a reflective exercise, let’s take some time to remember those fallen angels and look at what they’ve been up to since they left.
I can’t say this will lead to any profound conclusions, but the similarity of these trajectories are fascinating none the less. Each came in with high expectations, disappointed, quickly started to lose playing time, and got the hell out of dodge. Here are their stories.
Michael Rocco
Rocco, a Lynchburg native, took the reins of the Virginia offense in London’s second season, leading the team to its only bowl game and winning season during the head coach’s tenure. In that 2011 campaign, Rocco completed 60.7 percent of his attempts for 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. In fact, Rocco is the only quarterback of the Mike London era to both start a majority of the season’s games and throw more touchdowns than interceptions.
Despite the relative success that year, Rocco lost meaningful playing time to then-freshman David Watford, who was responsible for 16.7 percent of the team’s passing attempts. The following offseason, Virginia brought in highly-touted Alabama transfer Phillip Sims, who ended up splitting QB play with Rocco nearly 50-50. Seeking more playing time, Rocco requested a transfer.
Rocco packed his bags for Richmond, and after sitting out the 2013 season, he appeared in all 14 games for the Spiders last season. Though always in competition for the starting job, he failed to overtake Michael Strauss by the end of the season, finishing his last NCAA campaign with a 56.5 completion percentage alongside four touchdowns to 12 interceptions.
Per Rocco’s Twitter, he’s now a loan officer for WestStar Mortgage, Inc., and to my delight, is clearly more fond of his Virginia years than his Richmond years.
Phillip Sims
When Sims announced his transfer to Virginia from Alabama, Wahoo fans couldn’t contain their excitement. Sims brought the intriguing combination of being a former five-star recruit and a Virginia native — he’s the all-time passing leader at Oscar Smith. Many fans figured he’d instantly overtake Rocco as the starter given his resume.
Sims did not thrive in the dual quarterback system London opted for, though he wasn’t particularly bad. Responsible for a bit over 40 percent of the team’s pass attempts, Sims completed 56 percent of his throws with nine touchdowns and just four interceptions. But a few months after that season ended, reports started emerging that Sims was plummeting down the depth chart, and by the start of the summer, Sims was off the roster due to academic ineligibility.
Sims would go on to Winston-Salem State, his third school in as many years, sitting out the 2013 season just as Rocco did. In 2014, Sims put up decent numbers — 60 percent completion percentage, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions — and helped lead the Rams to a 9-2 season in NCAA Division II ball.
After that, Sims entered the NFL Draft and was on the Arizona Cardinals’ roster as an undrafted free agent until just a few days ago! He even threw a touchdown pass in a preseason game against the Raiders. Sims will look to other teams to find his shot, but it seems like his NFL career will be very short-lived.
David Watford
Watford first caught fans’ attention in 2011 when he snagged some playing time from Rocco as a true freshman, completing 30 of 74 passes for 346 yards, three touchdowns and four picks. With Rocco and Sims leading the quarterback competition the following year, Watford redshirted the 2012 season before starting all 12 games in the 2013 campaign.
The 2013 season saw Virginia go 2-10 and was the worst in recent memory for the Cavaliers, with Watford’s play having much to do with it. Despite preseason reports of his great leadership ability, he appeared to lack confidence as the season progressed, contributing to an all-around sluggish offense. In 12 starts, he completed 57.1 percent of passes for just 2,202 yards, posting eight touchdowns against 15 interceptions. Before the season ended, Watford had lost dozens of snaps to then-redshirt freshman Greyson Lambert.
In the 2014 campaign, Watford fell below both Lambert and Matt Johns on the depth chart. He decided to transfer to Hampton at the end of the season, a Championship Subdivision school in the QB’s hometown. Watford was allowed to play right away, and is currently the team’s starting quarterback. In the season opener for the Pirates on Saturday, Watford threw for 335 yards and five touchdowns in a victory over Kentucky State.
Greyson Lambert
Lambert was one of London’s prized recruits coming out of Wayne County High School in Georgia, a four-star prospect ranked as high as the 10th best high school quarterback in his class. He took meaningful playing time away from Watford during his redshirt freshman season, but when given the starting job last season, injuries derailed his performance.
While injured, Johns stepped in for Lambert and delivered performances many felt were dominant to the Georgia native. Lambert finished the season with a 59 percent completion percentage, 10.6 yards per completion, 10 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Johns, who played about half as much as Lambert, was more exciting in his time behind center, posting a 55 percent completion percentage and 12.5 yards per completion, throwing for eight touchdowns against just five interceptions.
After a 2015 spring depth chart showed Johns ahead of Lambert, Lambert announced that he was transferring. He later decided on Georgia, and was determined eligible for this season. Lambert won the starting job and threw for 141 yards, two touchdowns, and no picks in the Dawgs’ season opener against UL-Monroe Saturday.
Matt Johns
Johns started a few games last year, so I technically need to include him in this list, but his story is far from over. If past is prologue, Johns will start losing playing time in a few weeks and lose his job by the spring. I’ve actually been pretty impressed by Johns so far, but even if I wasn’t, I’d still be rooting against that trajectory.
A consequence of lacking a consistent starting quarterback is never developing one. Virginia isn’t the type of school that can pull in the type of signal caller ready to dominate on arrival, or even after one season. Johns has a year of great experience behind his belt and is still only a junior. The best case scenario is improvement over the course of this season and great play all throughout next season. Let’s just hope the coaching staff doesn’t give up on him before that process has a chance to play out.
Matt Comey is a weekly Sports Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at m.comey@cavalierdaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @matthewcomey.
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