U.Va. ex-starting QB Sewell will rejoin program

CHARLOTTESVILLE

When Virginia's football team assembled for spring practice last March, the three scholarship candidates for the quarterback job did not have a single start among them.

Experience won't be an issue this spring. Cavaliers' coach Al Groh said on an ACC coaches' teleconference Tuesday that suspended quarterback Jameel Sewell will be rejoining the program next semester.

"Jameel and I have stayed in touch over the course of the fall, as he has with many of the coaches and his teammates," Groh said. "We had a conversation just here recently and... he affirmed his desire to be back with us, and we affirmed our desire to have him."

Sewell was placed on one year's academic probation following the first semester in 2007 and has no obstacles blocking his return.

At the time of his suspension, Sewell, who will be a fifth-year senior, had made 23 consecutive starts. Marc Verica, who will be a junior, will make his 10th start this season when the Cavaliers (5-6, 3-4 ACC) visit Virginia Tech (7-4, 4-3) at noon Saturday in a game to be televised by ESPN.

Groh indicated that he has no thought of switching Sewell to another position.

At a Crosroads

Verica has yielded more interceptions than any Virginia quarterback since 1976, but 10 of the interceptions have come in three games: losses to Duke, Wake Forest and Clemson. In three other games, he wasn't intercepted once.

"Matt (Schaub) had issues with it for a while," Groh said of the former Cavalier now playing for the Houston Texans.

Schaub was intercepted eight times in 240 attempts as a sophomore in 2001 and seven times in 418 attempts as a junior in 2002, when he was the ACC Player of the Year. Verica has thrown 340 passes this season.

The rollover

Athletic director Craig Littlepage has until Monday to let Groh know if his contract will be rolled over.

Groh's contract was extended through the 2011 season following his selection last year as ACC Coach of the Year for the second time.

However, it was not rolled over following a 5-7 season in 2006. If the contract is not rolled over, it would mark the first time since the contract was rewritten before the 2005 season that Groh has not had four seasons left on his deal..

By the numbers

A 190-yard effort Saturday has dropped Virginia to 102nd out of 119 Division I-A teams in total offense, as it bids to crack the top 100 for the first time in three seasons with Mike Groh as coordinator. The Cavaliers are 114th in rushing offense and 115 in scoring defense....

A Kevin Ogletree reception Saturday was awarded to Cary Koch by error. Ogletree has 57 receptions, which ties him for second in the ACC. One more catch would put him in U.Va.'s single-season top five.

Quick kicks

Groh had more victories over Virginia Tech in four games as Wake Forest's coach than he has had in seven meetings since coming to Virginia. Two of Wake's wins during Groh's tenure came at Lane Stadium, where the Cavaliers have not won since 1998.... Virginia will be facing an unranked Hokies' team for the first time since 1997, when the Cavaliers won 34-20 in Charlottesville.

- Doug Doughty, The Roanoke Times