UVA football receiving corps simplifies approach

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The Virginia wide receivers are simplifying this season, trading in words for numbers.

Part of the transition to a new offense is a new language for the passing game, a more standard play-calling system that is being installed by offensive coordinator Bill Lazor.

Here was the old system: A receiver would get his route in the huddle as a code word, say, "Cobra." He'd then remember what that route was as he headed to the line.

At the line, he'd look over at the Virginia sideline, where four coaches would be lined up giving out signals. If his coach was giving a signal to change the route, he'd interpret that, then process what the new route was, running it on the snap.

The new system is numerical, often referred to around football as the "route tree." A receiver has 10 routes, each numbered 0-9. He receives his number in the huddle as part of the play, then runs that route. If he needs to change at the line, the quarterback will yell the new number to him.

"It's just easier," receiver Tim Smith said. "Last year, we had to look to the sidelines for the call, and all the hand gestures and everything. Now it's just like, they give you one route, and that's what you do, and there's nothing you have to add to it or anything like that."

Smith is quick to add, though, that simpler doesn't necessarily mean easier. Lazor demands precise route running -- if the No. 1 route is 5 yards out, then a cut, the receiver better be cutting at exactly that fifth yard, to preserve the quarterback's timing.

The lack of sideline coaching is one of the biggest differences. For receivers on the far sideline, it can be tough to see back to the coaches.

Senior tight end Joe Torchia said that things became tougher when, less than a month into the 2009 season, coach Al Groh dumped the spread offense in favor of a more traditional attack.

"It's frustrating not to have a set offense, and I feel like that maybe added to the hard times we had," Torchia said. "It's nice to have something set in stone."

The route tree is so named because if the 10 routes are all diagrammed on top of each other, it looks like a tree with branches.

"As long as the route tree's got fruit on it, I'm OK with it," new coach Mike London said with a laugh. "If they like it, then that's what it's all about."

It also has simplified practices. Last year, much time was devoted just to getting the hand signals down.

"We had to repeat many of the plays, just getting the signs and everything," Smith said. "Sometimes it was the player, but sometimes it would be the coach, because they'd mess up, too."

Smith had some learning to do in the spring as he memorized the different routes, but other receivers came in at an advantage, having used a similar system during high school.

The numerical system is most associated with the West Coast offense, and Lazor spent last year in Seattle working with coach Mike Holmgren, who uses the system. In a standard three-receiver set, the play call will include a number, say 438, that will include everybody's route.

For Smith, it's a change he can embrace.

"Last year, it was too much thinking going on," he said. "It made it look like we weren't together, and that was just something we had to change."