UVa notes

By Andy Bitter

Published: August 30, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE — With Ras-I Dowling not dressed because of a leg injury, redshirt freshman Chase Minnifield was thrust into the starting lineup for Virginia against USC on Saturday. It was a learning experience to say the least.
Minnifield, one of 11 new starters for the Cavaliers, was a frequent target of USC’s full-throttle attack, which rolled up 558 yards of total offense.
Trojans quarterback Mark Sanchez threw for 338 yards, repeatedly victimizing Minnifield, who redshirted last season after suffering a knee injury during his senior season of high school.
Sanchez’s second to last touchdown pass was a perfectly thrown 49-yard strike to Ronald Johnson, who blew by Minnifield and was wide open after safety Byron Glaspy bit on the play-action fake.
“I think I can only take positives out of this experience,” Minnifield said. “It didn’t end up like we would have liked, but it was USC, it was a prototype team. So we just take positives out of this game.”
USC spread the ball around to its receivers, all of whom are built in the NFL mold, tall and strong. Damian Williams led the way with seven receptions for 91 yards, followed by Johnson (78 yards), Patrick Turner (62 yards) and Vidal Hazelton (33 yards).
“It won’t get much tougher than that,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “There were about six or seven of those receivers who came in on a continuous rotation. And if they look big to you in the press box, you should have seen the size of them from where we were standing. Like I said, that’s a big, fast team.”
Green no more
Redshirt freshman Jared Green made a substantial impact in his first game action. The 6-foot-2, 178-pound wideout, whose father is NFL Hall of Famer Darrell Green, caught three passes for 40 yards, one of which was in traffic with defenders draped all over him.
“Maybe in the last seven or eight days, he started to show some of the things that showed up today,” Groh said. “What he’s starting to do is use his speed more. He is one of the faster players that we’ve had here, but if he doesn’t have the pedal to the floor, then he doesn’t play faster than other guys do.
“He’s starting to understand the value of his speed and definitely used it on a couple of those plays.”
Clark on crutches
Outside linebacker Aaron Clark made his first career start and turned in a strong showing, making five tackles, including one for a three-yard loss.
But the 6-foot-5, 240-pound senior went down with an ankle injury and was on crutches by the end of the game. No update was given on his condition.
So-so start
Virginia’s two new kickers had mixed reviews in their first game action. Place-kicker Yannick Reyering, a former all-ACC soccer player, missed his only field goal, 46-yarder with 4:35 left in the first half that would have pulled Virginia within 24-10. It had the distance but was wide right.
Punter Jimmy Howell, a true freshman from Florence, S.C., had eight punts with a 38.2-yard average. His longest went 49 yards.
Extra points
The crowd of 64,947 was a Scott Stadium record. … Chris Long, the No. 2 pick in last year’s NFL Draft, was in attendance. So were Tiki and Ronde Barber, who were making their first visit to Scott Stadium since 1996. They helped raise UVa’s “Power of Orange” flag prior to the game. … Tight end John Phillips was Virginia’s leading receiver, with a career-high five catches for 33 yards. … Other UVa players making their first start included RG B.J. Cabbell, NT Nate Collins, DE Matt Conrath, DE Alex Field, WR Dontrelle Inman, WR Cary Koch, C Jack Shields and S Brandon Woods. … LB Antonio Appleby recorded his first career interception, reeling in a deflected pass in the third quarter.