Story Links
By Andrew Dressel
April 21, 2003
Many consider last fall, Chris Cany’s breakout season. And why not? The junior defensive end, who made 23 tackles in a reserve role as a redshirt freshman, earned second-team All-ACC honors and led ACC linemen in tackling with an average of 7.8 per game last season. Not since Patrick Kerney in 1998 has UVa produced a defensive lineman that made the all-conference team.
But despite his accomplishments during the 2002 campaign, Canty wasn’t satisfied. “A lot of people say last year was a breakout year, but I think last year was a disappointment,” remarked Canty, who only played two years of high school football. “I definitely felt that I had the potential and the caliber to be an All-American player, and I didn’t do that last year.”
Injuries didn’t help. The 6’7, 290 lb lineman suffered a broken leg during a practice last spring that severely hampered his progress heading into the 2002 season. After returning to full strength and making strides in progress, Canty was forced to leave the season-finale against Virginia Tech due to an elbow injury, and subsequently missed the bowl game.
“I think Chris is looking forward to getting some continuity,” said head coach Al Groh. “Summer training last year was obviously fragmented because of the healing with the leg, as was his training camp. There was really no foundation basis to go into the season. He just started playing games. As a result it took him awhile to get on top of his game.”
When he flexed his potential, he didn’t disappoint. After missing the first two games in which UVa gave up big offensive numbers, Canty made his return against South Carolina and immediately made an impact by making seven tackles, including his first career sack. In his first start of the season against Duke, he had a career-high twelve tackles. After becoming a consistent performer on the line as the year progressed, Canty was unfortunately only able to compile ten stops against the Hokies before his season was prematurely ended. All told, Canty finished with 86 tackles; the eighth most in school history among defensive linemen. Not bad for a player who was handicapped by injuries and a lack of continuous practice time.
“I’m hopeful we’re now entering a stage of his career where there’ll be some non-interrupted training,” said Groh. “With that, I have very high expectations of what this player can accomplish.”
After a productive spring program and a spring game that he described as “fun”, Canty is on his way to meeting expectations and having a “breakout” season in his own terms.”Individually I’m a 100 percent, very healthy this spring,” stated Canty. “I’m blessed that I came out this spring with everything I wanted. I improved my individual game. I stepped up my pass rush, which was a concern. I’m definitely pleased. I’m making a lot more big plays in practices, so hopefully I can translate that to the field next year.”
Regardless of his improved performance and individual aspirations, Canty hasn’t lost focus on the goals of the team. “This year I’m going to make it clear what kind of player I am,” observed Canty, “but more importantly, we’re going to make it clear what kind of team this is. We’re going to be a treat to watch, and under my watch especially, we’re going to win a lot of ball games.”