U.Va. notes

Simpson, Sewell are shaken up

The grind of the football season is beginning to wear on two of U.Va.'s top offensive players.

Quarterback Jameel Sewell (Hermitage) has battled an ankle injury for the past few weeks and also injured his shoulder at some point in the past week. He is listed as "doubtful" for tomorrow's game, with Marc Verica the backup-in-waiting.

"He's a very physical player for a quarterback," coach Al Groh said. "He takes a pretty good licking but keeps coming back."

Sewell was unavailable to reporters this week, though has said in the past that he'll try to play through his pain.

At running back, Mikell Simpson was carted off the field in the third quarter of the Indiana game with a neck injury, and has yet to fully rebound.

"It'd be foolish to think there wasn't the potential for some mental hangover," Groh said. "We did talk about the fact that it looked, on same carries, that it wasn't the same Mikell carrying the ball."

Injury update

Defensive end Matt Conrath might be able to return tomorrow when Virginia takes on Miami. He's listed as questionable on this week's injury report.

Linebacker Aaron Clark also is questionable after having missed last week's game. If he returns, he'll split snaps at linebacker with Denzel Burrell.

Hall growing into receiver role

For the multitalented Vic Hall, wide receiver is a position he's had his eye on.

When Sewell took the reins at quarterback this year, it was an opportunity to take his first-ever snaps at the position.

"It looked fun to me," he said. "And I'm enjoying it a lot. I've always wanted to take a try at receiver."

He instantly grew into the team's leading receiver, despite not having played the position in the opening weeks.

Groh credit's both Hall's previous knowledge of the playbook from being a quarterback, as well as the skills that made him a shut-down cornerback.

"He's such a diligent worker and has such a football aptitude," the coach said.

Hall also gets some occasional snaps in at quarterback and remains the team's third-stringer behind Sewell and Verica.

HD broadcast won't be available locally

Tomorrow's game will be broadcast as the Raycom game of the week. Those games are carried in the Richmond area by WRLH, a Fox affiliate. However, the games have not been available this year in high definition.

WRLH General Manager Steve Genett said that the station did not have the equipment necessary for local HD broadcasts and can only show the Fox national programming with the high-def signal. He added that the station planned to upgrade, potentially in time for next season's games. -- Michael Phillips