Groh hopes for sweet music from new starter

A year ago, Marc Verica was buried on Virginia’s quarterback depth chart. He was fourth behind then-starter Jameel Sewell, true freshman backup Peter Lalich and senior Scott Deke.

That’s not an envious position for one who harbors dreams of making his mark.

Verica, then a redshirt freshman from Lansdowne, Pa., didn’t give up, didn’t look into transferring or switching positions.

“I’m the kind of guy who thinks you should stick it out no matter what,” Verica said Tuesday. “I made a commitment to this place and there’s going to be competition anywhere you go. You can’t back down.”

An easy decision

After all, Virginia is where he wanted to be. He rooted for the Cavaliers growing up and UVa was the top school on his list. He loves the school, its academics. He loves Al Groh and Mike Groh.

When he came to Groh’s summer camp, he only had one scholarship offer (from Wisconsin) but was hoping to earn an offer from Virginia with his performances. He did, and he committed on the spot.

Fast-forward from 2005 and it is almost mind-boggling to think of what has transpired with his career. He was redshirted in ‘06 and didn’t get into a game in ‘07.

Since then, Sewell ran into academic problems and is sitting out this year on a suspension. Lalich experienced legal issues, was booted from the team last week and is in the process of transferring to another school. Verica surpassed Deke in the spring and found himself as Virginia’s starting quarterback two weeks ago in his college debut at Connecticut.

For a first-timer, he

wasn’t too shabby, completing 22 of 30 passes (73 percent, albeit 10 of the completions were for five yards or less), for 158 yards and one interception in a lopsided 45-10 loss.

‘Kind of unflappable’

“He’s kind of unflappable,” Al Groh said of his new starting quarterback. “I’ve heard coaches before say about their quarterbacks that the good thing about them is nothing bothers them ... and the bad thing about them is nothing bothers them.”

For now, Groh will take that as a good sign that his QB is able to shake things off and move on. Otherwise, Verica seems to bring a decent amount of skill to the table.

“He sees the field nicely, he just needs to keep building up his looks,” Groh said. “The ball gets out of there pretty good and he’s got a good velocity on the ball.”

A mobile guy, Verica can move in the pocket and run when the situation dictates.

Verica wasn’t too critical of his performance at UConn, noting that there were some plays and passes he would like to have back.

“For the most part I was pretty accurate,” he said. “Obviously, I threw a lot of short, underneath routes. But it was pretty decent for my first start. The speed [of the game] wasn’t overwhelming. Hopefully, I will become more comfortable.”

He admits that his unexpected rise on the depth chart is almost surreal and that while he didn’t want to sit for his entire career, he didn’t wish any misfortune on those ahead of him either.

“It’s unfortunate what happened to Pete,” said Verica. “I was thrust into this role and it’s my job to embrace and lead this team where it needs to go.”

Oddly, this isn’t the first time Verica has been thrust into a starting role under uncommon circumstances. As a junior at Monsignor Bonner High School, the starter twisted a knee in practice only a few days before the season opener, opening the door for Verica, who started, played well and never looked back. He started for the next two seasons and passed for more than 2,400 yards.

The other guy, Andrew Case, moved to wide receiver and is now playing that position at Temple.

Perhaps those images stirred last year when he said he looked in the mirror one day and wondered what he was going to do, where was his career going.

“I said to myself that I just had to keep getting better,” Verica said. “I can’t get caught up in whether I was No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, or No. 1. I just gotta get better and maybe those things will take care of themselves.”

While he has been No. 1 for a couple of weeks now, his life off the field hasn’t changed much. He goes about his business somewhat unnoticed by his fellow students on campus. That will likely change.

“I’m pretty low-key,” Verica said. “I’m not the flashiest guy.”

Some of that he gets from his dad, Mark, a quarterback good enough to have been recruited by Notre Dame until a broken leg ended that dream his senior year. The elder Verica starred at Kutztown State, had a cup of coffee flirtation with the NFL, but settled for a normal life and playing catch with his son in the driveway.

“He was definitely a good player. He still has a strong arm, but not as strong as mine,” the youngest Verica said. “He can still bring it, though.”

Marc also inherited some artistic skills from his dad, but he has pretty much put his sketching on the shelf for now and focused more on music. He plays piano and guitar and often entertains fellow students at various spots on campus where a piano is handy.

So much for the low-key, unnoticed thing.

“I like to stop if I’m between classes or going to lunch, and play for 20 minutes just to stay fresh with my piano skills,” he said.

Of course, he always asks those around him if his playing will bother their studies. So far, no one has objected, which means he must be pretty good as he keys tunes anywhere from Pink Floyd to Marvin Gaye to Coldplay.

There was even a rumor floating around at the team hotel during last year’s Gator Bowl that front desk personnel at the Omni Hotel wanted to hire him to entertain. No tip cups, please.

“Rather than staying in my room and watching TV, I would sit at the piano in the lobby and play, mess around with my teammates,” Verica said. “Some of my teammates would come around and start singing with me. We made songs and it was ridiculous.”

Now, if he can only compose a win over Duke on Saturday, all the Cavaliers will have something to sing about.