[Editor Note: Here’s one of the posts I was trying to put out on Thursday before I left.]

I’ve been keeping a light eye on the Cavaliers, and I’m heistient to write much since I haven’t followed them that closely — it’s easy to miss key things. Still some things to pass on.

If you think Pitt has questions, how about WVU UVa? Their linebacker corp has been severely depleted and downgraded.

Rather than watching him on television, Sintim could have been playing next to Brooks this fall. But Brooks turned pro after he was dismissed from the team following his injury-riddled junior season. Had Brooks and Kai Parham, who also turned pro after his junior year, returned, the Cavaliers would have had perhaps the best inside linebacker duo in the nation. Instead, the Cavaliers’ inside spots, crucial to the team’s success with its 3-4 defensive formation, will be filled by a pair of sophomores who have combined for 37 career tackles.

With Sintim and junior Jermaine Dias on the outside, Antonio Appleby and Jon Copper likely will start in the middle, meaning two mostly unknown players will replace the team’s biggest names.

The O-line lost some depth when a player bitterly departed.

Junior offensive tackle Eddie Pinigis transferred to Liberty yesterday after deciding to leave the Virginia football program over the weekend. He entered the season first on the depth chart at right tackle, but redshirt freshman Will Barker recently overtook him.

“I feel like I’m a starter. I feel like I should be a starter up there,” said Pinigis, who started five games last season. “The other day they came out with the depth chart, and they had me on the second team. I feel like I didn’t do anything to lose my first-team spot. I played against some of the best defensive ends in the ACC. I felt like I proved myself with my game experience.”

The starter at QB will be a Senior.

Virginia is entering what in all likelihood is a rebuilding year with a mediocre senior (Christian Olsen) set to start at QB. Why wouldn’t Al Groh opt to take his lumps with freshman Jameel Sewell, a younger, athletic QB with more upside, to get him some experience?
— Lance T., Davie, Fla.

This is kind of similar to the Georgia question I answered last week. You and I may think the Wahoos are in for a rebuilding season (in fact, it could be really, really rough), but the coach isn’t going to concede that before the season even begins. What kind of message would that send to his team? He’s going to put the guy out there who he thinks gives him the best chance to win right from the get-go, and obviously a senior who’s been in the program for three years (after transferring from Notre Dame) and seen game action has a huge edge in that department over a redshirt freshman who’s never stepped on the field. Now, if things do indeed get off to a rough start and it becomes apparent the Cavs aren’t headed anywhere special with Olsen at the helm, then he might think about turning it over to the frosh and seeing what he can do. As of this writing, however, it wasn’t even certain that Sewell was going to beat out fourth-year junior Kevin McCabe for the No. 2 spot.

So it will be Olsen (who is actually a graduate student at this point), at least in the opener. It will be curious to see if Groh has him on a short leash. Actually, who knows. They still don’t know who the #2 QB is.

Sophomore Scott Deke is lagging behind redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell (Hermitage High) and junior Kevin McCabe, Al Groh said, in the competition to determine the Cavaliers’ No. 2 quarterback in the Sept. 2 opener at Pittsburgh.

Groh said yesterday that he wasn’t ready to choose between Sewell and McCabe, but he expected to be closer to a decision after last night’s scrimmage.

I wonder if Pitt or UVa fans will be the more unsure group about their own team.