Big hit doesn’t hinder Copper

Jon Copper said he was on autopilot.

After a high-impact collision with North Carolina running back Shaun Draughn in the fourth quarter, Copper was noticeably woozy on the field.

Yet he waved off medical attention and remained in the drive to help solidify Virginia’s 16-13 overtime victory.

It’s a good thing Copper was able to watch the tape of the contest, since he could not remember some of the events of North Carolina’s scoring drive in the fourth quarter very well.

“I was funny looking for a while,” said Copper, who was named the ACC’s defensive lineman of the week. “That whole series, I don’t remember a whole lot.

“Apparently [Draughn’s] knee hit me somewhere in the back of the head or side of the head. A few guys prayed for me on the sidelines [after the series] and I have been pretty clear since. In those points I was a little shaky.”

Copper finished with a career-best 16 tackles, the most by a Virginia player since former linebacker Angelo Crowell registered 16 stops against Penn State in 2002.

Some of the stops came after Copper suffered an apparent concussion.

“I watched the film and I had a couple [during that drive] I think,” he said. “I don’t remember them.”

Copper had help.

After tutoring fellow inside linebacker Darren Childs for most of the game after an injury to starter Antonio Appleby, Copper looked to Childs for advice.

“There were a couple of plays where I was confused about some formations and Cop really helped me,” Childs said. “Later, towards the end of the game, Cop got a concussion and he really couldn’t remember anything so I was helping him out.

“He was asking for help.”

Virginia coach Al Groh said Copper’s play before and after he took the hit served as an example of what he longs for with his defense.

“Jon means everything to us. He’s just a brilliant player in terms of his awareness of the scheme and his application of it to each opponent,” Groh said Wednesday. “He spends countless hours preparing himself for a game so he is right on with everything.

“He has really good communication skills and a calmness about him on the field that enables him to help everybody be in the right place with a sense of conviction. They are all like, ‘If Jon says it, do it, because we all know Jon is right.’”

Copper currently leads Virginia with 60 tackles and ranks fourth in the ACC among active players with 260 career stops.

“Clearly he is doing more than just being a coach on the field,” Groh added. “He is being a high producer for us.”

Phillips lands national honor

Virginia tight end John Phillips was named the John Mackey national tight end of the week by the Nassau County Sports Commission on Wednesday.

Phillips, a senior, caught five passes for just 38 yards, but provided a game-changing play in overtime. Despite losing the ball in the lights, he hauled in a 19-yard reception that moved the ball to the UNC 4-yard line and set up a pair of 2-yard runs that provided the game’s final touchdown.

On the season, Phillips has caught 30 passes for 271 yards, ranking ninth in the nation among tight ends.

The triple threat

Virginia is currently an 11-point underdog in Saturday’s showdown at Georgia Tech (6-1, 3-1 ACC).

Part of the reason lies in the inability of team’s thus far to slow down the Yellow Jackets’ new-look offense under first-year coach Paul Johnson.

After running a pro-style offense, Johnson brought his triple-option style from Navy and the Yellow Jackets currently rank ninth in the country in rushing offense.

Although Virginia practiced against the triple option preparing for Duke five years ago, the Cavaliers have not faced anything quite like it during Groh’s current tenure.

It is not, however, something that Groh is not familiar with.

“That style of offense has got a long history,” he said. “Some years back, it was the prevalent style of play, so it’s not as if something has been invented that never worked before.

“I was trying to think of a good analogy the other day, but space flight has come a long way since the first launchings, but it’s a lot more sophisticated and lot more intricate and we can do things with those rockets and go to the moon now. Heck, all they were trying to do with the first one was do a couple of orbits. Now we’re sending people to the moon, but it’s still rocket flight. You know this is still wishbone-based offense. It’s just a more sophisticated, more souped-up version.”

The coaching staff will spend the week trying to familiarize the players with the nuances of the system.

“It’s just a different style of play than what players are used to, so we have to orient them to the particulars,” Groh said. “But that’s kind of the case every week … getting the picture of who it is that we’re playing and understanding the opponent.

“It’s very helpful to players. It’s very critical to players that they understand the opponent and how that team is trying to play them — what pictures the opponent is going to give them.”