Minnifield gets trial by fire in first career start

Since he redshirted last season due to a knee injury, Chase Minnifield hadn’t played in a football game since high school.

Earlier this week, the Virginia cornerback learned that he would be starting for the injured Ras-I Dowling — and against the closest thing there is to an NFL outfit in college football: USC.

“This was a little bit different than high school,” said Minnifield, after Trojans quarterback Mark Sanchez had torched Virginia’s secondary for 338 yards and three touchdowns. “There were some big guys out there and they could run, too.”

Indeed.

USC’s receivers, all over six feet and 200 pounds, looked like they could do anything they wanted against Virginia’s inexperienced secondary.

“It won’t get much tougher than that,” said Virginia coach Al Groh. “They had six and seven receivers they kept rotating in and out.

“If they looked big from the press box, you should have seen them from where we were standing.”

Minnifield said Virginia’s defense made too many mental errors to overcome a physically gifted team like the Trojans.

“They didn’t show anything we hadn’t seen,” said the 6-foot, 192-pounder. “It was just a bad performance on our part. I don’t think we’ll take any steps backward. We’ll just keep going forward.”

Virginia senior safety Byron Glaspy, who was also victimized by regularly by the Trojans, said the final experience, while a little demoralizing, can only help a youngster like Minnifield.

“This being his first start and going up against the best — he knows that his whole career is in front of him and is never going to see a team better than this,” Glaspy said. “He could only get better. He should be really encouraged by that.

“He seemed calm, but I’m sure he was nervous being out there for his first game against the best.”

Minnifield, whose father, Frank, played in the NFL, didn’t seem too down.

“I’m blessed to have the experience of playing against one of the best teams in the country,” he said. “I never back down from a challenge. I just took it in and did the best I could do.”