Virginia Football 2012: Breaking Down Spring Practice

The Virginia Cavaliers were one of the biggest surprise teams last season, as they finished with a 8-5 record and were a victory away from competing for the ACC title. Now Mike London and company are trying to build on that success.

Virginia is an extremely young team, but does return a total 13 starters, including seven on the offensive side of the ball. They are missing six starters on defense from last season, but have a lot of young talent to help fill in those gaps. The Cavaliers are a team that appears to be heading in the right direction as they try and become one of the better teams in the ACC.

The first step to accomplish their goals starts with spring practice as players will compete for playing time, and coaches try and fix any issues the team may have. Spring practice starts on March 19 for the Cavaliers.

Here's the spring practice breakdown for the Virginia Cavaliers.

Schedule

Virginia kicks off their spring practice on March 19 and the spring game will take place on April 14.

Offensive Depth Chart

Quarterback: Michael Rocco, David Watford

Fullback:  Zach Swanson, Billy Skrobacz

Running Back: Perry Jones, Kevin Parks

Wide Receiver: Darius Jennings, Dominique Terrell

Wide Receiver: Tim Smith, Miles Gooch

Tight End: Colter Phillips, Paul Freedman

Offensive Tackle: Oday Aboushi, Kelby Johnson

Offensive Guard: Sean Cascarano, Cody Wallace

Center: Matt Mihalik, Ross Burbank

Offensive Guard: Luke Bowanko, Conner Davis

Offensive Tackle: Morgan Moses, Jay Whitmire

Defensive and Special Teams

Defensive End: Jake Snyder, Ausar Walcott

Defensive Tackle: Chris Brathwaite, David Dean

Defensive Tackle: Will Hill, Justin Renfrow

Defensive End: Billy Schautz, Brent Urban

Strong Side Linebacker: Daquan Romero, Tucker Windle

Middle Linebacker: Steve Greer, Henry Coley

Weakside Linebacker: LaRoy Reynolds, D.J. Hill

Cornerback: Demetrious Nicholson, Brendan Morgan

Cornerback: Drequan Hoskey, Brandon Phelps

Strong Safety: Anthony Harris, Mason Thomas

Free Safety: Rijo Walker, Kameron Mack

Kicker: Ian Frye, Drew Jarrett

Punter: Alec Vozenilek, Drew Jarrett

Best Position Battles

The Cavaliers had the fifth best pass defense in the ACC last season and it has the potential to be even better this year. But before it does, some young players are going to have to step up in order to fill in some of the gaps. Three members of last year's secondary are no longer on the roster in Chase Minnifield, Rodney McLeod and Corey Mosley.

The good news is that there is a on of talent on this roster, but the experience is lacking. Cornerbacks Demetrious Nicholson, Drequan Hoskey and strong safety Anthony Harris are all sophomores, and are projected to start this season. Now they've all played their true freshman season, but that's still an extremely young secondary.

It'll also be exciting to see redshirt freshmen Mason Thomas and Kyrrel Latimer as they both have solid ball-skills.

There are only two upperclassmen on this entire depth chart in the secondary, it's going to be a very competitive battle to earn playing time.

Big Man on Campus

Virginia has a lot of young talent on this roster, but the most explosive player is probably Perry Jones. He makes this offense go and is an extremely versatile player. He rushed for 915 yards last season and caught 48 passes for 506 yards. He scored eight total touchdowns and averaged five yards a carry. He also passed for a touchdown and returned eight punts.

Needless to say he's extremely valuable to this offense that already struggled to score points as it is. With him on the roster, he makes everything easier and helps give the Cavaliers a chance on the offensive side of the ball.

Biggest Shoes to Fill

Speaking of a struggling offense that averaged less than 24 points per game last season, Virginia will have some holes to fill at the wide receiver position. The leading wide receiver from last season in Kris Burd is no longer on the roster, along with Matt Snyder who caught 20 passes.

That now leaves things up to players like Tim Smith, who caught 33 passes for over 500 yards his sophomore season. Another receiver to watch out for is Darius Jennings who was a 4-star recruit and had 20 receptions his freshman season. He's a smaller receiver at 5'11", but runs great routes and is excellent after the catch.

For a team that struggled to put points on the board last season, the wide receiver production has to step up for them to take the next step.

Most Important Questions to Answer

Other than the secondary and finding players to step up at wide receiver, the Cavaliers must find some type of consistency at the quarterback position. Virginia went with two quarterbacks in Michael Rocco and David Watford last season, and they both threw more interceptions than touchdowns. Rocco, who played majority of the season, barely completed 60 percent of his passes. 

I know these are young players and all, but consistency at quarterback may be just what Virginia needs to take that next step in the ACC. Throwing 16 combined interceptions is not good enough to get the job done in a BCS conference. With the talent that is on this roster, better quarterback play could make Virginia one of the top teams in the ACC this season.