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Virginia Football Camp Report - Aug. 14
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Aug. 14, 2006
Open Practice Update: Virginia’s practices are now closed. Some earlier schedules had Friday and Saturday’s practice sessions open to the public.
Virginia will hold its annual Meet the Team Day Thursday at 3:30 at Scott Stadium.
Highlights from Al Groh’s Media Teleconference on Monday, Aug. 14, 2006:
Question: How are things shaping up at tailback? Does it seem to be one guy distancing himself a little bit?
Groh: I’d say it’s exactly the opposite. All four of them are doing their best to have the kind of plays that make everybody feel like they should be the guy.
Question: Is tailback a position where you need to have one guy kind of emerge or is it where you can have different guys rotate?
Groh: If you have the right kind of backs, it serves to you well to use them both. I’m not saying we’re in this category yet, but it worked pretty well for Auburn a couple years ago with (Ronnie Brown and Cadillac Williams). I’m sure that there’s not going to be a solitary ballcarrier for this team.
Question: How has TB Cedric Peerman done? And comment on his attitude and his approach day to day with his work.
Groh: (He’s done) very nicely. He is a very dependable person in everything. Cedric has got Cedric’s business taken care of as thoroughly and proficiently as you can imagine. he’s got it all taken care of by himself, whether it’s class registration, the offseason program, knowing who to block. He manages his business extremely well and as a result he gets the maximum production from what he’s putting in. It shows in his grades, it shows in the weight room and it’s certainly showing at the tailback position.
Question: What have you seen from Nate Lyles in terms of his performance and his aggression?
Groh: Same old Nate, exactly the same. Whatever you remember him as, that’s the way he is playing.
Question: Were you pleased that Jameel Sewell was able to get back quickly and kind of minimize the damage in terms of falling behind?
Groh: Yes, I think especially with two (practices) today, we were worried that he might really fall behind. Not so much in the competitive way, just in the kind of turns that he needs to be prepared. He went through yesterday’s practice without any incident, so we certainly would think right now that he’s gone through this morning that he’s free and clear of that circumstance (injury).
Question: It seems as if Jason Snelling is quicker, now that he’s lost some weight. How much quicker does he look in your eyes?
Groh: You certainly can tell that he’s a streamlined version of his past self.
Question: What jumps out about Rashawn Jackson’s tools and his skill set?
Groh: He’s got very good natural quickness. This is a big player, now. He’s solid and got good quickness and movement. He’s got the runner’s instincts for finding openings. I think you find a lot of the really, really good linebackers were high school running backs because there’s a similarity in the vision necessary to find those openings or to look at the flow of players in front of them and have a sense of where an opening that doesn’t appear to be there right now is eventually going to occur. He brings that to the linebacker side just as he showed when he was a running back (last year).