Life complicated for UVa’s Groh

His best defensive tackle now plays at Kansas State.
The expected quarterback of future takes classes at Oregon State.
His most talented wide receiver logs a handful of snaps with the Dallas Cowboys.
Other would-be impact players merely vanished in the night.
That revolving-door policy, among myriad other contributing factors, has made life complicated for Virginia coach Al Groh during the program’s worst slide in two decades.
Yet the current crop of Cavaliers, potentially headed for a three-win season, has not been tougher to coach than the previous eight models, the coach said.
“About the same as all the preceding ones, and I say this in a positive way,” he told reporters on Monday at John Paul Jones Arena. “When you win, it’s a grind. When you lose, it’s a grind. You know, but it’s positive. It’s good. It’s what we choose for it to be.
“But to do 100 hours a week and go through the whole process again every week, there is no
carry-over.”
That’s the only way for Groh to approach what appear to be the final two games at his alma mater on the heels of yet another home loss.
“Boston College is over. You grade the film, you put it in the file, and you start the whole process over again,” he said. “That’s what we like to do. We enjoy getting ready for games. We enjoy teaching players. We enjoy the competition.”
While a buyout may soon steal the headlines, the “process” of preparing for contests and
opponents — including Saturday’s foe, Clemson — is rewarding for the Groh and his assistants.
“The result is paramount, but the process is fun,” he said. “So when I say it’s a grind, win or lose, it’s the same deal. Every season is challenging in that respect.
“Every season has things to deal with. Every season you get guys hurt — that’s why we don’t make a big deal out of it. Sometimes it hurts your circumstances more than others, but you can’t choose what year you’re going to make a big issue out of it.”
Hall’s future a mystery
NFL scouts have long raved about the open-door policy to watch video of games and
practices at the University of Virginia.
It is not uncommon for scouts to camp out in Charlottesville for weeks.
Those scouts have certainly paid close attention to senior Vic Hall.
But where will the quarterback-turned-cornerback-turned-offensive playmaker be slotted by a professional team?
Based on the feedback that Groh has received, it likely depends on the source.
“Probably I would say that they don’t know,” the coach said. “Each one’s got a little different idea, because you’re going to get 32 different — maybe not 32, but a widespread different set of ideas — on a play like Vic has done, but the range of things that he’s done has certainly helped his circumstances because it’s provided more options of which he can be evaluated.”
Groh has been reluctant, of course, to offer his own opinion for where to place the Virginia native in training camp.
“We don’t try to evaluate the players for them,” he added. “We just answer the questions for them.”
As far as making his program accessible to the pro scouts, something other programs shy away from, Groh said it was only appropriate to help benefit the student-athletes individually for the future.
“We feel when those players give us everything they have and they still have dreams to go on, the least we can do is open the door and provide them as much opportunity to be evaluated,” he said. “But we’ll answer their questions and they know that we’re accessible to that.”
Dreadful at Scott Stadium
From the “Adventures of Cavman” to the raising of the orange “Power Flag,” nothing has seemed to help put Virginia over the top when playing at Scott Stadium this season.
The Cavaliers are, in fact, just 1-5 at home. It ranks among the worst figures in college football.
Why the drop-off?
“Talent,” Groh answered. “The most talented teams win most of the time.”
Sizing up Simpson
Virginia running back Mikell Simpson went from being a starter against Miami to an innocent bystander against Boston College.
The tailspin in a seven-day period likely stems from the neck injury that Simpson had against Indiana when he logged second-half carries in a lopsided game.
In noticeable fashion, Simpson has not run in his old manner.
“That would be a natural thing for anybody,” Groh said. “I don’t say it wouldn’t be an unexpected thing for somebody who had been taken off the field on a board.
“We thought in one of the first games that he was back that he didn’t have quite the same abandon that he had before. You’d have to ask him that.”
That will not be an option, however, per UVa policy, unless Simpson sees action in one of the final two games.