Virginia shows its grit

Al Groh took a long look at his football team during the bye week last month and one thing stood out.
The Virginia coach had noticed something at times during the first three weeks of the season and just couldn’t take it any longer. This football team had to get tougher.
He just didn’t like its toughness, or lack thereof. His Cavaliers simply weren’t tough enough. Comparing them to some of his former teams, this group just didn’t show the mental and physical toughness required to play “Virginia Football,” a physical, smash-mouth kind of ball.
But how does a coach change an entire team’s mentality three weeks into a season?
“Coach Groh put on a tape of a few old guys, how they practiced and the difference in how we were practicing,” said sophomore defensive back Chase Minnifield during Monday’s interview session. “We really tried to change our work ethic and how fast we were practicing.”
Inspiring video
Both Minnifield and fifth-year senior safety Brandon Woods both talked about watching the video Groh had put together of some of Virginia’s fiercest players over the years in order to inspire the current crop of Cavaliers to greater heights.
“They pulled a lot of tape from practice,” Minnifield said. “We didn’t watch much game tape. It was a long video.”
Video of such memorable Wahoos as defensive end Chris Long, running back Cedric Peerman, linebacker Daryl Blackstock, linebacker Ahmad Brooks, quarterback Marques Hagans, defensive end Brennan Schmidt and others from the Groh era.
“I’ve been here a long time and played with some of those players,” Woods said. “What was valuable is we watched those clips of how Virginia football used to be and we want to get back to that mentality.”
A shift in mentality
One former Virginia assistant coach once questioned the toughness of Cavalier players. He thought they were a little on the soft side of things, something that Groh is determined to change.
Apparently some of the toughness from the video rubbed off during the break between UVa’s loss at Southern Miss and the win on the road at North Carolina last Saturday. Minnifield and Woods played perhaps the best games of their careers and several Cavaliers rose to the occasion to continue their dominance over the always-favored Tar Heels.
“We want to be physical,” Woods said. “We have a thing now where we’re going to pound like a rock every week.
We’re going to be tough in all aspects of the game, offense, defense and special teams.”
Woods said he and his teammates noticed the differences in how those former players and the current ones attacked other teams.
“They were just so physical,” Woods said. “It was like a ‘hit first’ mentality. But you have to stay physical for four quarters. You have to dominate in all phases of the game. You have to beat the guy in front of you every time and if you are beaten on a play, you have to come back with more tenacity and toughness on the next play.”
Woods was on the defensive unit when Long, Clint Sintim and Nate Lyles played in 2007, the best group he has seen during his five seasons here, and he noticed how that defense, those players had the same similarities as some of those other legendary names possessed.
“They all would rally to the ball and had an excitement for the game,” Woods said.
It had been noticeable that the current Virginia players didn’t seem to be very excitable guys in those first few weeks, but then again, there might not have been much to get excited about. Things didn’t go as planned as they became the first group of Wahoos since 1982 to drop their first three games.
The Cavaliers seemed more into last weekend’s game in Chapel Hill. They appeared to be more excited and having more fun from the opening kickoff to the final gun.
Of course, they didn’t really have to go any further than defensive backfield coach Anthony Poindexter, a former All-American for the Cavaliers, if they wanted to learn about toughness and passion for the game. All they would have had to do was pull some of Dex’s highlights.
There would have been plenty of wow factor there.
Most of us who have observed UVa football for the past quarter century thought that Poindexter’s middle name was Intensity.
Groh and his coaching staff had to be pleased with what they saw at North Carolina. His last several recruiting classes were ranked behind UNC’s and expectations for UVa’s last few teams were also rated behind the Tar Heels.
Beating Carolina, a two touchdown favorite, at Kenan Stadium was a significant accomplishment for Virginia, but one that the Cavaliers tried to put behind them quickly.
Groh and players who showed up for interviews on Monday didn’t want to talk about Carolina or the previous three games. They all said they had moved on and wanted to talk about the next game.
Speaking of which, this was a good time to get tougher because Groh said that nonconference foe Indiana, which comes to town this Saturday, is a very physical team.
“[Indiana] will play the most physical style of anybody we’ve played so far this year, so what typically is the longstanding reputation of the Big 10, they’ll play that smash-mouth, physical style,” Groh said.
Also, speaking of Poindexter, who truly was “Everybody’s All-American,” he’ll be honored on Saturday, having his jersey retired in a special ceremony.
It couldn’t happen to a better man, or a tougher one.