Do not look for this UVA player to land on the mountain
Posted: January 5th, 2007, 9:32 am
it looks like a new NCAA rule makes this transfer possibility a no-go.
UVa QB McCabe opts for transferWith one season of eligibility left, the one-time starter is looking for playing time.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
Quarterback Kevin McCabe, whose touchdown pass lifted Virginia to the only overtime victory in its football history, is unlikely to have any more Cavalier highlights.
McCabe said Thursday that he hopes to be playing elsewhere in 2007, most likely at the Division II level.
McCabe would have been eligible to return as a fifth-year senior for the Cavaliers, "but it was like I was erased from the team," he said.
After tossing the winning touchdown pass in Virginia's second game, a 13-12 victory over Wyoming, McCabe started the next week against Western Michigan. It turned out to be his final UVa appearance.
He led the Cavaliers on an early touchdown drive but was intercepted twice. The first set up a touchdown and the second was returned for a touchdown, after which he was greeted by offensive coordinator Mike Groh on his return to the bench.
"'You're done,' is what he told me," said McCabe, a 6-foot-2, 217-pounder from Wexford, Pa. "I didn't set foot on the field for the rest of the season."
He went from No. 1 to No. 3 on the depth chart in less than 48 hours.
"It's kind of hard to go through a whole season like that when no one says a word to you," said McCabe, who completed 71.9 percent (23-of-32) of his passes. "Obviously, you kind of have a clue. I think it would have been the respectful thing for someone to come up and tell me first-hand, rather than me have to figure it out."
McCabe said he did most of the talking in a postseason meeting with head coach Al Groh.
"He said, 'If I had the situation over again, that I probably wouldn't have it play out the same way,' " McCabe said, "and I said, 'Yeah, you're right.' I don't know anybody who would want this situation to happen. I just kind of spoke my mind and he kind of shook his head. That was it."
Groh did not push for McCabe to return.
"I don't know what he could have said that could have got me to return," McCabe said.
Many players in McCabe's position have opted to spend their fifth season in Division I-AA, but the NCAA has changed its rules and McCabe would have to graduate this spring in order to facilitate that move. It appears that he will need at least one summer session to get his UVa degree, which is a priority for him.
"I'm going to take something from the University of Virginia," he said. "It's going to be a degree. It's going to be a tough road, but I want to make sure I find my way out of it."
McCabe understands that perennial Division II power Grand Valley (Mich.) State has an interest but no conversations have been held.
"I can't talk to any coaches because I haven't gotten my release," he said, "but I don't want to sign my release paper until I make sure that I'll be let back in this school if I leave."
Groh said Thursday that he had not received notification of McCabe's transfer but found it admirable that he was pursuing a UVa degree.
"Obviously, it was a difficult year for Kevin," Groh said. "I told him, 'If football is in your heart, then [transferring would be] great. But you have a chance to have something valuable next to your name for the next 50 years. Don't pay too steep a price.'"
Freshman Jameel Sewell started the last eight games at quarterback last season. McCabe's departure would leave UVa without a second quarterback with any experience.
Early-season starter Christian Olsen saw playing time in one game after Sewell took over as starter. McCabe never got the sense that he would inherit the No. 2 role.
"I guess they just really wanted me out of there," he said.
Not really, according to Groh.
"It certainly would have been a competitive situation," said Groh of the No. 2 job, "but Kevin feels he's a starting quarterback. I wanted to be honest with him. It's a one-player position. It's not like tailback.
"We have a returnee [Sewell] who started more games and won more games than any other quarterback. At the time he went from No. 1 to No. 3, we basically told them, 'This is the way it stacks up.' You want to give direct feedback. But, you don't want to rub salt in the wounds."
McCabe understands that he isn't the first starter to lose a job or the first veteran to be passed by an underclassmen.
"They wanted to start a freshman," he said. "That was their whole mind-set at the beginning of the year. That's the way I'm trying to interpret it because I don't think I did a terrible job. It's just the nature of the beast."
