UVa Notebook: Backup QB says Cavs miss Lalich

Tuesday, for the first time since quarterback Peter Lalich was dismissed from the Virginia football team last week, his teammates fielded questions about his abrupt departure.
“Obviously the team was disappointed and felt for him,” said backup quarterback Scott Deke, a graduate student. “Obviously in any situation you never want to see one of your teammates and friends, that happen to. We will miss very much — I know I will, he’s a good friend of mine — and we all wish the best for him.”
With Lalich gone, sophomore Marc Verica is now the Cavaliers’ No. 1 quarterback, and Deke is No. 2. Among the team’s scholarship quarterbacks, true freshman Riko Smalls moves up to No. 3.
Verica said Lalich’s “situation kind of brought to light how fragile a circumstance like this can be. It can all be taken away from you if you get caught up and distracted from what your job is. My approach is to take it seriously — not too seriously — but just be a leader for this team, and there’s definitely a lot to be learned from his situation.”
Coach Al Groh would prefer to redshirt Smalls but said that “really for this year we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”
In the ACC opener for both teams, Virginia (1-2) plays at Duke (2-1) on Saturday. ESPNU will televise the noon game.
Green Group
The second-team offensive line listed on the depth chart for the Duke game is remarkable for its inexperience. It consists of three true freshmen (right tackle Matt Mihalik, left guard Austin Pasztor and center Mike Price), a walk-on (sophomore right guard Isaac Cain) and a redshirt freshman (left tackle Landon Bradley).
Price and Mihalik replaced redshirt freshmen Anthony Mihota and Lamar Milstead on the two-deep, respectively.
Recurring problem
Long runs have become common against the Cavaliers’ defense this season. In the opener, Southern California’s C.J. Gable and Joe McKnight had runs of 33 and 23 yards, respectively. Richmond’s Josh Vaughan had a 21-yard gain against UVa, and UConn’s Donald Brown had two 63-yard carries.
“When you have a long run like that, it’s a breakdown all over,” senior linebacker Jon Copper said Tuesday. “It’s usually not one guy missing one tackle or one gap not being filled. Usually you have two or three or four of those compounded.”
Murderer’s row
The teams Virginia has played so far — USC, UR and UConn — are a combined 9-1. USC is ranked No. 1 in the NCAA’s Football Bowl Subdivision, and UR is No. 1 in one Football Championship Subdivision poll.
Duke coach David Cutcliffe said he believes the Cavaliers are “really a talented team. They’ve just played a vicious schedule. Virginia’s a whole lot better football team than a lot of people give them credit for, and I think they know that.”
Return not imminent
Redshirt sophomore Sean Gottschalk, expected to be in the rotation at defensive end this season, remains on a leave of absence for undisclosed personal and health reasons.
Gottschalk hopes to resume his football career, but it’s not clear if he’ll play this season. Even if Gottschalk were to return to practice today — and that’s not expected to happen — he would need three or four weeks of training before he’d ready to play again, Groh said.