Парк Металла

When Will Hill sits down with the media Monday afternoon at the John Paul Jones Arena, it’s hard not to think of Clark Kent. The studious spectacles and mild-mannered demeanor during the interview session are just reminiscent of the fictional reporter of Superman fame. Of course, Dr. David Banner may be the better comparison for football purposes.

Hill, after all, is a biology major that enjoys the lab work to the point that a profession in sports medicine is at least a possibility. “That’s always a possibility or something with sports also using biology, personal training or being in the lab,” Hill said. “Different things that will advance sports.”

Then when game time rolls around, he turns into the Hulk – nah, make that The Incredible Hill – on Saturdays. Hill is the only Cavalier to record at least one Tackle For Loss in every game this season. He has made 5.5 TFL on the season. That is tied for second in the ACC and 32nd nationally at 1.38 TFL per game. That’s tops among ACC defensive linemen.

Don’t expect Hill to jump up and boast about it, though. He’s just trying to do his job and use the skills being taught in practice.

“I feel like Coach Hanson and Coach Reid are working with us and we’re just using the techniques they’re teaching us and trying to get better each and every week,” Hill said. “I feel like first and foremost we have to be able to stop the run to win games and that’s a big emphasis. Sacks are great plays and we just continue to refine our pass rush and [try to] get to the quarterback.”

Hill’s success with the techniques has boosted the defense, which needs linemen to be disruptive up front with one-gap techniques. Virginia ranks No. 1 in the ACC (tied for ninth nationally) in TFL with 8.25 per game. Of course, Hill has accounted for 5.5 of the 33 TFL or 16.7% of the production. Virginia coach Mike London thinks the defensive line is playing well with disruption against the run and improving things like pocket containment and quarterback pressure (only 8 of the 33 TFL are sacks).

“Right now, if you looked at the ACC statistically, I think Virginia is No. 1 in tackles for losses. Not only with the three sacks, but like I said, at least maybe eight to 10 times we got a hit on the quarterback [against Southern Miss],” London said. “Sometimes the ball comes out quickly, you don’t always get the sacks, but you can still affect the throws by getting to him. So I’m very pleased with the way that the guys up front are playing and applying pressure.”

Of course, Hill’s play, combined with Cam Johnson, has drawn attention more than anyone up front. In fact, Aaron Taliaferro’s first career sack Saturday came on a combination blitz where Hill and Johnson drew the attention of the blockers while Taliaferro burst in for the tackle. Plus, both players forced a fumble against the Golden Eagles too.

Hill is also routinely making plays like one in the fourth quarter. With 5:18 to go in the fourth quarter, he took on a double team initially and used a swim move to push the right guard past him to the linebackers before finishing the split-the-defenders move against the center. Hill finished the play with the tackle against running back Kendrick Hardy.

That’s the type of play you expect from veteran defensive guys. Hill definitely qualifies there as a junior with 2.5 years of college football under his belt entering the season. The half year came from the extra spring semester gained from early enrollment. The early enrollees go through an admission process that includes interviews with high-ranking officials like the University President.

Hill, the Bay Rivers Defensive Player of the Year in 2008 after posting 92 tackles including 24 TFL and 14 sacks, is a bit of a modern trailblazer in that sense. When he enrolled in January 2009, it was not a common practice for the Virginia football team. Hill became the first football recruit to start classes midyear since Ahmad Brooks in 2003; Brooks, of course, first attended Hargrave Military Academy and eventually was dismissed from the program in 2006. Since Hill’s early enrollment in 2009, however, three more Cavaliers have started school early. Michael Strauss did it in 2010, while David Watford and Daquan Romero enrolled in January 2011.

Hill, who carried a 3.6 GPA and 1,100 SAT score out of high school, didn’t see the January enrollment process as “a big deal coming out of high school” but does see the significance now. If the move with Hill had soured, the football team may not have as much latitude to use the early enrollee path as it does now. “Not at the time,” Hill said when asked whether he realized that his early enrollment may have been a bit of a test case. “Definitely it made a difference. It’s continuing so I feel like I did a pretty good job.”

The Cavalier defensive tackle still sees the benefits he gained from joining the program early. Hill said it helped him get adjusted to the college game and college classes at a time of year that’s out of season for a football player.

“Just being able to adjust when it wasn’t in the flight of the season,” Hill said. “It was a little bit toned down. I got in the workouts and I knew what to expect in the summer. I got a taste of actually balancing football and classes during spring ball. I got a grasp of what college speed is and the playbook even though we switched coaches after that season. It was a great experience and I think it’s helped me to this point.”

Coach Mike London’s Weekly Press Conference Transcript

In one of your long drives, there was a play where it appeared Kris Burd caught the ball a little bit short of a first down, you ran a quick QB sneak, and then it was somehow first down.

“Yeah – that was a coaching error right there because they were quick to turn it into a first down. We wanted to hurry up, so we hurried up and called a play that would signify him taking a quarterback sneak. But as we were hurrying up, there was no signal given to us at that point as to whether it was first down or not. We kept asking, ‘Is it first down? Is it first down?’ and the guy to give the signal was out on the field, the side judge wouldn’t say whether it was or not, so we just called a play and went with it. Basically we could have done a better job coaching from that standpoint.”

What’s the quarterback situation now? What are you thinking for this week?

“Today the players have their day off, the mandatory NCAA day, and right now all the guys that had injuries or issues are getting their MRIs and their X rays done. Michael is in that group, so I will know more about his status and how he’s feeling later on tonight. Then [Tuesday] being our first practice, I’ll get even a better indication how he’s feeling or what he can do.”

I know you addressed this a little bit last night, but the way that went down on the 1 yard line, does that cause you to address at all among coaches maybe changing that hard and fast rule on giving David Watford a specific series?

“I think as we start moving forward and trying to develop not only our quarterback, but our corners, young linebackers – we have spots where we just put them in the game, let them go. I think that what happens is sometimes, as coaches, you get a little bit reluctant about putting a guy in depending on where the ball is or you don’t want to put him in because it’s in the red zone or for other reasons. Sometimes you’ve just got to say, ‘All right, the guy is going in at this point.’ I think that going into our fifth game, some of these guys’ roles will increase, not just with David but with receivers and defensive backs. That’s what we have to do. We have to get these guys an opportunity to gain some experience before we go into the second half of the season, which is the conference half of the schedule.”

The stats sheet would suggest that all three defensive tackles played well on Saturday. Do you agree?

“I thought the guys up front played well. As I said, of the 61 yards rushing, 31 of those came on the punt opportunity there. Then there were the three sacks. I think we hit the quarterback about 10 times. Obviously you’d like to get more pressure, you’d like to knock the ball down at the line of scrimmage, but as far as defensive linemen were concerned, I thought that was one of the positives that came out of the game.”

What happened after you took Michael Rocco out, and what was your evaluation of his performance before you took him out of the game?

“Again, he engineered the first two drives which led to scores, and that’s what he should do. That’s what we need him to do. The first interception was probably an ill advised throw. The second one probably had a little bit more air underneath of it than it should have and one of their defenders made a great play on it. As a quarterback, whether it comes off the hands of a receiver or you underthrow it or over throw it, you’ve got to be the guardian of the football because you’re the one delivering it. Any time you throw an interception it’s not a good thing because the other team gets the ball.

I thought that the game was going to come down to a game of possessions when they got it. Our defense had to play on the other side of the 50 yard line in spots, so you never want interceptions. In that situation, I know Mike, if he could, he would take those throws back; but he made them, they were interceptions, and they cost us. You never want a quarterback to make those kinds of mistakes.”

If Rocco were unable to go, who would be the starting quarterback?

“It would be determined this week in practice. David has taken reps as well as Ross Metheny. We’ve put the game plan in as far as how we’re going to attack Idaho and we’d go that route and see what happens in the end – by Thursday.”

You said if Michael Rocco is fine, then he starts?

“If Mike Rocco is fine, we’ll do what we’ve done before. He’ll take the first snap in the game and we’ll get David those opportunities to get in because he will get in, and as I said, we’ll try to utilize his talents, as well.”

Can you give us your evaluation of David Watford’s performance? Was there a point that a light bulb went on for him? Was there a point where you felt like he got more comfortable and confident running the offense?

“When he first went in on the goal line. Those moments right there. He’s not shaken by when he goes in or where he’s put in. Even in the Indiana game, he went in, the ball was on the 5 yard line, so he’s unfazed with those types of situations.

The good thing about David and the thing about the growth and development of David – if you remember the one play where he dropped back and there was pressure from his right and he outran that pressure, he outran the guy towards their sideline and then ran back up and threw the ball … under that type of pressure, with most quarterbacks that have experience, you’d want them to step up in the pocket and then if the opportunity presents itself, you escape that way and you hit towards the goal line.

What we saw was David’s athletic ability to outrun a pursuing defender, and he used his athleticism. I think what we will see when he starts learning more about being a quarterback and some of the things that it takes, particularly in games like that, is that sometimes you can step up in the pocket and make those throws and have some confidence in the protection. Because people are flying around you all the time, it doesn’t mean that things are going bad.

That’s one of the things that I think was a positive. You saw his athleticism. But at the same time you see some of the growth that he’ll need as we move forward. “

Southern Miss was a faster team. How would you assess the speed in your program right now and how close are you to where you want to be in that area?

“We’re still in need of more speed and we’re still recruiting speed. I think they were fast. They did a great job coming off the ball – very athletic team – and that came to fruition when the game went on. I thought they got off the ball well. When a ball was thrown, they turned and ran well. Special teams, kickoff return – they did a lot of good things there. That’s one of the things as this program is being built as far as recruiting and things like that. The need for speed is always paramount – guys that can run because they can run out of mistakes or they can chase down people. They can make big plays. So we’re just going to keep on making that an emphasis of this program.”

You mentioned the need to get off to a fast start. Is there anything you can do to help push that process along?

“I think part of it has to be us as coaches being willing to call plays aggressively, whether it’s take a shot or whether it’s combination routes that are downfield. There’s a number of things that we as coaches can do that will infuse or show the players, ‘Hey, listen, we’re going to be aggressive on this, and you start out that way.’ Some of the players have to take on the mentality that when they come out of the tunnel, this is not about the smoke, it’s about the first play, the first couple plays, the first series of energy and passion that they bring. But certainly play calling, certainly the players’ initial emphasis on the first couple plays – all those things are important. I think sometimes we start playing that way third, fourth quarter and are trying to catch up. We need to play that way from kickoff until halftime and then play like we continue to play from the third and fourth quarter on. We’re looking for a total four quarter effort of that, and that’ll be the focus of this week for sure. “

What can you tell us about Idaho?

“They’re from the WAC Conference. I know they lost here recently. They’re 1 3. Their offensive style is sort of that pistol offense – spread offense. They’ll run some two tight ends, they’ll run 2-1 personnel -one tight end, two backs – and they’ll run the ball. They’re big. Their front guys on both sides of the ball, offensively and defensively, are big linemen. Their defensive guys are guys that secondary wise can run and make plays. On special teams, they have a kicker that’s a Lou Groza Award candidate. I think one of the receivers they just got back last game, [Justin] Veltung, is up for the Paul Hornung Award. He’s a candidate for that, which is given to the most versatile player in college football. There’s a lot of skill and ability that they have on their team, but like I said, they’re probably – up front with O line and D line guys – one of the bigger teams we’ll play.”

Where do you think the defensive line is at this point? You’ve talked about s…

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