‘Juice’ set for return

As expected, Virginia defensive end Matt Conrath was ruled out on Thursday for the upcoming Georgia Tech game with an ankle sprain.

In unexpected fashion, however, running back Mikell Simpson was not one of the 10 players listed on the injury report.

Simpson, a senior, injured his neck in the third quarter against Indiana on Oct. 10. Despite dressing out, he was held out of action last week in the Cavaliers’ 20-9 victory over Maryland.

Despite missing the contest, Simpson leads Virginia with 247 yards rushing and a team-best five touchdowns.

Simpson’s speedy recovery, should that come to fruition, was something that his teammates predicted after the win over the Terps.

“We know he will be back soon,” Virginia quarterback Jameel Sewell said. “He is feeling better and we can’t wait to have him back, but Rashawn [Jackson] did a great job filling in and we will be better with both in the mix.”

Sewell is still nursing an ankle injury suffered against Maryland, but was one of seven players listed as probable.

Having completed half of the regular season, injuries are a cruel reality for Virginia coach Al Groh.

It has placed a greater importance on depth and altered practice plans to a degree as the Cavaliers (3-3, 2-0 ACC) head into their final six league games.

“Whether we change it or not, we assess just what are our circumstances, because the week that precedes the game, the word practice is certainly accurate, but it’s not just practice like going and practicing the piano,” Groh said. “It’s preparation for what’s coming on Saturday. So we’re trying to do whatever has us best prepared on Saturday.

“That might mean scrimmage every day. But sometimes it might mean more contact, take 15 minutes off, add another period in and blitz protection, whatever the case may be. We have a little bit of that circumstance on our hands right now.”

After starting the season 0-2, Groh and his staff attempted to get more players into the mix.

That will help defensive end Zane Parr as he fills in this week for Matt Conrath, who was ruled out for the Georgia Tech game.

That has also helped at linebacker, as a rotation has developed in which Denzel Burrell and Aaron Clark split turns, and in the secondary.

“Depth is very important,” Groh said. “It’s one of the reasons why … we continue to actively coach, do things at practice with lots of players who we don’t anticipate to play that week, because as the season goes on, if their development can keep up with the events, then they might very well be your new depth.

“We’ll see that with some players, some of those young players who are seeing some substantial time early, they’re moving into the stage of being a little bit more veteran players.”

It is the nature of the beast in college athletics, something that every program endures.

“This deal of being young players, young team, first of all, in college football, 50 percent of your team is freshmen and sophomores,” Groh said. “So everybody is a relatively young team. But that can only last so long. After a while, guys got to grow up and move up.

“When do you become a sophomore? On the first day of classes your second year, or should you be playing at a higher level than true freshmen, or when do you become a senior veteran, the first game of your senior year, or should you be evolving into that during the course of the preseason? Certainly the team progresses because players get better and they move out of that classification that they have. So those guys who play, they ought to be moving into more established circumstance.”