It’s go time for Cavaliers

Jared Green looked around in disbelief.

It was long before the first horn signaled the official opening of Virginia’s training camp and the practice field was littered with players.

Some were new faces. Others were savvy veterans longing to return the Cavaliers to the postseason.

A season that starts Sept. 5 against William & Mary was weeks away from being kicked off, but the sophomore wide receiver noticed something special.

“It was an awesome day. It really was,” Green said. “It was kind of like a Homecoming [game]. People were out here 20 minutes before practice started.

“I thought I was pretty early and everybody else was already out there. It was sweet.”

It was an encouraging site for Green in a season that will ultimately determine the tenure of coach Al Groh, who has missed the postseason in two of the past three years.

“Our motto right now is redemption. Purely redemption,” Green proclaimed. “We want to do what we have to do to get our name back up to where it used to be.”

With holes on both sides of the ball following the departures of starters at numerous positions, the opening practice centered on tweaking and installing packages.

It will not come over night, but the Cavaliers are happy to have 15 practices left in training camp.

“We have a big task at hand,” Green said. “We know that. But that is the best thing about this.”

Perhaps the biggest news from the opening season centered on the players in camp and not those missing from the field.

While future tackle Morgan Moses, who said he would report to Fork Union in two weeks, was in street clothes, quarterback Jameel Sewell and cornerback Chris Cook participated fully.

Sewell ran with the second-team offense and had an open-field burst that drew raves from teammates.

“It was wild,” said right tackle Will Barker.

Cook, running with the first team alongside cornerback Ras-I Dowling, shined even brighter.

“It was a lot of fun today,” said Cook, now wearing jersey No. 2 for the second chance he seeks.

“I made a couple of plays of course so that made it a lot more fun. I was a little gassed though at some point, but that will come in time.”

Extra points

In-state placekicker Drew Jarrett is in camp as one of the players on the 105-man roster allowed per NCAA rules. … One player that was not in uniform on Friday was offensive lineman Cody Wallace. The would-be freshman from New Jersey has left school due to what was termed as personal reasons. ... Former Virginia defensive end Brennan Schmidt attended practice. Schmidt recently returned to Northern Virginia from a stint in Italy, where he coached a football team. … Former Virginia standout Chris Gould is working out with the Cavaliers’ kickers during training camp.