Going to the spread

There’s been plenty of preseason hype surrounding Virginia’s new offensive coordinator and the Cavaliers’ switch to the spread offense. But those changes have been a bit of a mixed bag for Curt Orshoski.

The former Culpeper County High School standout is entering his sophomore season with the Cavaliers after entering the program three years ago as a walk-on and has worked his way up to No. 2 on the preseason depth chart at fullback.

Last year with head coach Al Groh’s son, Mike, in charge of the offense that might have meant some serious playing time, but that might not be the case with new offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon.

“Last year we kind of knew what was going on and what to expect,” Orshoski said. “This year, things are changing a little bit. Offensively it’s a completely new system for everyone and that just changes the dynamic of the team quite a bit. There are a lot of different things around here. We’ve got some new coaches and we’ve got a lot of new guys coming in that can make an impact, so it’s exciting.”

In addition to bringing in Brandon — who was a former head coach at Bowling Green and served as an assistant under Florida’s Urban Meyer — last year’s running backs coach Anthony Poindexter is now coaching the defensive backs and Wayne Lineburg is now Orshoski’s position coach.

Orshoski, who at 6-2 has put on nearly 20 pounds of muscle since the start of last season and is listed at 250, is the backup to senior Rashawn Jackson, but both Virginia fullbacks have had to deal with changes to job description.

“We really don’t have a true fullback,” Orshoski said. “It’s kind of like a four-wide, empty backfield, shotgun offense. The role of fullback is quite a bit different than last year. There are no off-tackle powers or anything like that this year. But there are things still, like goal-line situations, that you need a true fullback in. So that’s stuff everyone is looking forward to getting to.”

So far in practice the Cavaliers haven’t installed many sets or packages that involve the fullback, which means there’s been more than enough standing around and watching during practice for Orshoski, but he’s not complaining.

“Coach Groh has kind of a new attitude and some of these new coaches have brought a lot of excitement and different energy,” he said. “It is exciting to be on the two-deep, but at the same time there’s a lot of work to be done and there are a lot of us that haven’t done much yet and it’s up to a lot of guys to prove what we can do at this time.”

Another player still working to prove himself is former Fauquier High School quarterback Kyle McCartin, but he’s finding the switch to the spread is suiting him just fine after running a similar type of spread at Fauquier.

“I love the offense,” McCartin said. “A lot of the reads and plays are very similar to what I did in high school. The way we practice isn’t drastically different, some of the drills are still the same. But as far as how we use the offense and how different it is, there’s a lot more variety.”

After thriving in the spread at Fauquier — he threw for nearly 1,300 yards as junior before suffering an injury early in his senior season — McCartin is finding it difficult to move up the depth chart after walking on last season.

This year the Cavs have Vic Hall, Jameel Sewell and Marc Verica all competing for the starting job and freshman Ross Metheney from Sherando High School also got some reps ahead of McCartin at a recent practice.

“Every player here was great in high school and I just have to wait my turn to get into a position to play,” McCartin said. “I feel like this year with Coach Brandon coming in I’ve learned the offense a lot and I kind of feel like I have more of a role on the team and I know the guys better now. I feel like part of the family and everything.”