The spread could be a boon for UVa’s attack

Back in 2004, neither Al Groh or Gregg Brandon could have imagined that they would some day be putting their minds together on the same football staff. When Groh needed to hire a new offensive coordinator earlier this week, Brandon was the first person he called.

About four years ago, the two served on a football rules committee together and Brandon, the head coach at Bowling Green, approached Groh about visiting Virginia’s program to learn more about Groh’s 3-4 defense.

The information trade

In turn, Groh wanted to learn more about the spread offense. Brandon’s Falcons were tearing up their competition with the spread and Groh figured it was the wave of the future.

Groh was familiar with Bowling Green because his daughter, Ashley, went to school there. He was well aware of what Brandon was doing and welcomed the exchange of ideas.

Now that Brandon has been hired to install the spread at UVa, both men are eager to get started.

“We’ll be able to build on some of the directions that we were trying to go last year,” Groh said of the spread formations. “Michael [Groh] invested a lot of time with the people at Texas Tech — though that’s a different style, but the same mentality. We had to back off a lot of that stuff as circumstances changed.

“We’ll be able to both build on that as well as go on to new things with [the spread] as well,” Groh said. “In particular with Jameel back in the sweepstakes, that gives us more versatility at that position.”

Quarterback competition

The coach, of course, was talking about veteran quarterback Jameel Sewell, who threw for 2,176 yards and rushed for 279 more in 2007 as the second-year starter. Sewell missed this past season while on academic suspension but is expected to enroll at the start of the new semester next month.

Groh pointed out that while some teams throw most of the time out of the spread, a la Texas Tech, that spread-based Oregon is fourth in the country in rushing the ball. The versatility is something that has Groh frothing at the mouth.

Versatility is Sewell’s strength. While he hasn’t been the most accurate passer in his career, he still ranks ninth on Virginia’s all-time passing list with 3,518 yards and 15 touchdowns (17 interceptions), just a few hundred yards behind Don Majkowski. Oh, by the way, Sewell’s numbers came in only two seasons.

Sewell will battle with Marc Verica and a handful of redshirt or incoming freshmen in addition to — dare we say — Vic Hall for the QB job.

The smart money is on Sewell because he has two years of experience under his belt and is a terrific runner, which is ideal for the spread offense.

“The whole issue is when the quarterback can be a runner and a passer, and the receivers can be catchers and runners, and the back can be a runner or a catcher,” Groh said about the spread that Brandon brings to Charlottesville. “If you try to do the math on that, it adds up to more threats. The defense can’t change their numbers without making some sacrifices.”

That means the defense has to use zone blitzes, and that the strong safety can also become a pass rusher or the left end can also defend the pass in order to handle all the possible threats coming from the spread attack.

“At Texas Tech, the quarterback is principally a passer. Same at Missouri,” Groh said. “At Oklahoma State, the quarterback is principally a runner. At Oregon, the quarterback is a runner and a passer.”

Brandon is flexible enough to do whatever the personnel dictates.

Groh believes Virginia will have the players available in 2009 to go in whatever direction that he and Brandon believes will maximize the Cavaliers’ chances to be the most efficient out of the spread.

“They’ll be young, they’ll be incoming, but we’ll have players available to us that will enable us to think about doing things that may have been intriguing in the past, but might have been foolish to attempt to do them,” Groh said. “The incoming personnel will be fresh-faced, but will be able to have some skills that will adapt themselves to this circumstance.”

From this point of view it appears that Groh made two great hires in Brandon and Latrell Scott (wide receivers) and wisely moved Wayne Lineburg to the running backs and Anthony Poindexter to the secondary. He added two highly-regarded recruiters to his staff, both coaches arriving with strong resumes.

Should the Cavaliers finish their recruiting effort as strongly as it seems possible, then this offseason could be remembered as the best one in the Groh era.