ST. GEORGE − Blue Ridge quarterback Speedy McCauley was patient. Patient to the point that he wasn’t sure where he was going to continue his football career. But sure enough, NAIA’s Southern Virginia University came knocking, and on Thursday morning, the Barons signal caller signed his letter of intent to play for the Knights.
“It’s been a long trip,” McCauley said. “A lot of hard work – three-a-days in the summer. But it definitiely paid off. This year I thought I wasn’t going to get a chance to sign.”
McCauley visited with the coaching staff in Buena Vista over Blue Ridge’s spring break in early March and now a mere three weeks later the quarterback knows where his next home is going to be.
“I visited a few colleges but when I visited SVU it just felt like home,” McCauley said. “It felt a lot like Blue Ridge. There’s a little more freedom but that’s about (the only difference).”
McCauley, who transferred over to Blue Ridge from Albemarle, took over under center after Chad Byers graduated and went to James Madison. For the last two years Barons coach Del Smith has been helping McCauley focus primarly on the basics to get to this point.
“I came from Albemarle with a lot of rust,” McCauley said. “Coach knocked it off of me. We did a lot of work and a lot of drills to get my fundamentals right. He’s a fun coach to play for. He got me back in playing condition – he made us fit, that’s for sure. But we mainly worked on the foot work and the fundamentals. We worked a lot on reading the field and trying to read defenses.”
This past fall McCauley help to guide Blue Ridge to the VISAA Division 3 championship game before they ultimately fell short to Nansemond-Suffolk.
Southern Virginia endured a tough start to their season in 2009, dropping their first six contests. However the Knights finished the year by winning three of their final five contests, including wins over George Mason, Radford and Apprentice School. The programs is in the midst of building a new stadium and upgrading its athletic facilities.
