Changing of the guard(s) at UVa

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Al Groh paused following the question, pondering a response to what he thought about the progress of his interior offensive line.

The trio of left guard Zak Stair, center Jack Shields and right guard B.J. Cabbell — all new starters — looked good during the Virginia coach’s last film study, recognizing and reacting to the pass rush and schemes presented to them favorably.

But there’s reason for a hesitant response.

“I would say probably they came about as far as they could come under these circumstances,” Groh said. “(Training camp has) taken them about as far as it can take them. They need those other schemes and other players to progress.”

The Cavaliers won’t truly know what they have on the interior line until game time Saturday, when that group faces a baptism by fire against Southern California and its vaunted defense in the season opener.

Stair, Shields and Cabbell have big shoes to fill. Branden Albert, Jordy Lipsey and Ian-Yates Cunningham filled UVa’s interior the previous two years, combining for 95 career starts and helping Virginia running backs average 4.7 yards per carry last season.

With the bookends set — tackles Eugene Monroe and Will Barker have combined for 42 starts — the pressure is on the middle three to shore up UVa’s protection.

“They’ve done a great job,” offensive coordinator Mike Groh said. “I think they’re a cohesive unit and I’m excited about the potential of that group.”

Specifically Shields and Cabbell, a pair of redshirt sophomores who are entering their third year playing side-by-side.

The 6-foot-6, 304-pound Cabbell, a Nelson County graduate, is a power guard who has made leaps in his development since arriving on campus in 2006. He played sparingly on the field goal kicking unit last year but caught the coaches’ eyes during practice sessions.

“He’s a low maintenance player, he takes care of his business on the field and off and was clearly a guy who it was always important to him to be a good player,” Groh said. “He just needed the experience, one, on this level, and two, at the development of his position.

“Early on we thought he should be able to blossom into a good player for us.”

The Boston-born Shields, whose father was a linebacker at Notre Dame from 1979-82, is more of a technician, in the mold of his predecessor Lipsey. A lightly-recruited tight end out of Boston College High School in Duxbury, Mass., he moved to center not long after he got to Charlottesville and was quickly lined up to play a major role during his final three years.

Due to Virginia’s slate of close games last year, Shields didn’t get much game action, making his only appearance near the end of the Cavaliers’ blowout against Pittsburgh.

“Every day I would be working to try to get there,” Shields said. “But in the back of my head, Jordy was the No. 1 guy. And if something happened, it was probably going to be Ian, realistically.

“Now it’s completely different. … I’m excited. There’s no way else I can put it. It’s what I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

Stair’s story is quite different. The 6-foot-6, 300-pound fifth-year senior started six games at left tackle in 2005 when Monroe was slow to recover from a knee injury but got sparse playing time last year, watching Albert move to left tackle when Monroe again was unable to play.

Stair got some publicity —and ignominy — two years ago when Groh commissioned a practice jersey that read “1 A Day” instead of the lineman’s usual No. 76 in response to the then-tackle’s habit of committing too many penalties.

“When I was young, I made mistakes like a lot of young players do,” Stair said. “It’s something I just used to learn from and grow from and put that behind me.”

Stair seems to have a sense of perspective. He’s played every position on the line except right guard. He’s a philosophy major (“Like Bruce Lee said, basically all I can do is think deep thoughts of being unemployed,” he quipped). And, most importantly, he knows his game.

He’s not Albert, a guard with such an outstanding ability to move and operate in space that he rocketed up NFL Draft boards last spring despite being an underclassman.