2/5/02 - Following The Scent

Back in December, Virginia coach Al Groh was optimistic about how his first football recruiting class might turn out. With an abundance of talent in the state, Groh had developed a relationship with many of the top prospects.
Through there were no guarantees, Groh said then that several of the recruits had told him, “Coach, I know what I’m going to do and you know what I’m going to do.” Wink, wink.
The body language turned into reality Monday when Groh’s Cavaliers struck the mother lode of state football recruiting, gaining commitments from a trio of high school all-Americans: linebackers Ahmad Brooks and Kai Parham along with running back Michael Johnson, all of whom plan to sign with UVa on Wednesday. Brooks is considered the top linebacker prospect in the nation and Parham isn’t far behind. Johnson was rated as the top all-purpose back in the country by one recruiting service.
While Parham’s decision was not a surprise, Brooks’ and Johnson’s were to many who closely follow the recruiting process. Both had said last week that Virginia was not the leader for their services as Brooks had indicated he was leaning toward Tennessee and Johnson to, first, Miami, then Michigan State by the end of the week.
“I think some of these kids get so many calls from these Internet recruiting sites that they get tired of talking to them and just tell the Internet guys what they want to hear,” said Brooks’ Hylton High School coach Bill Brown. “Ahmad was getting eight or 10 calls a day from those guys and he simply got tired of it.”
In the end, Brooks chose Virginia over Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Florida State and Penn State. Parham picked the Cavaliers over Tennessee.
“I could tell that by the end of the process that Ahmad was really tired of it all,” said Brown. “Last Thursday he said he was really confused. Every staff was bringing three and four coaches in to talk to him and as soon as one staff was through, here came another one, hitting him from all angles.”
Brown said he spent a couple of hours Sunday at the Brooks home to answer any questions the family had.
Perhaps a call from Parham also helped clarify things for Brooks.
“I spoke with [Brooks] Sunday night and I gave him my thoughts,” Parham said. “Not necessarily bad points about schools but what I liked about other schools and the things I really liked about Virginia and the experience I had with UVa.”
Parham, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound standout from Heritage High in Newport News, said he decided toward the end of last week to come to Virginia but held his announcement until Monday.
“I liked both Virginia and Tennessee a lot,” Parham said. “It became tough when I narrowed it to those two. I prayed about it and talked to God about it and it became easy.”
Parham said he liked everything about Virginia from the students to the faculty he met on his visit, to the school as a whole and the coaching staff.
“I liked the coaches’ attitudes. They seemed energized, the kind of coaches who relish going to work every day,” Parham said. “Hopefully we can get something going up there pretty quickly.”
Parham had more than 150 tackles last season, including 34 for losses, 19 sacks, five interceptions and six fumble recoveries.
Meanwhile, Brown said that the major factor in Brooks choosing Virginia was the Cavaliers’ coaching staff.
“Right from the beginning of the process, Virginia’s staff hit hard and hit often,” Brown said. “They were really intense and aggressive about it. I would use the word relentless. They did it in a style that was very unoffensive and let Ahmad know that they really wanted him.”
Brooks is a 6-3, 230-pound linebacker with 4.6 speed, the same as Parham. Voted USA Today’s national high school defensive player of the year, Brooks was also selected the state’s “Mr. Football” on The Daily Progress’ Gold List.
“Ahmad has a great deal of respect for Kai Parham and I know he wanted to play on the same team,” Brown said. “They will make a great combination at Virginia.”
Johnson is a 5-9, 184-pound tailback with 4.3 speed. He rushed for 1,241 yards and 24 touchdowns.
“I didn’t want to go with a class that was going to be ranked last or 100th in the country,” Johnson said. “For me and two other guys [Parham and Brooks], Virginia told us that with all three of us being all-Americans that we’d be a top-three or top-five class in the country. That played a big role, too, because if it’s going to be a top-three class in the country, then I wanted to be part of that.”
Johnson’s father indicated that Michigan State, a late entry into the process, may have put too much pressure on the Heritage back over the past couple of weeks. Johnson said that he liked Virginia for a variety of reasons, chiefly because of education and because of the coaching staff’s NFL experience.
“Everybody wants to go to the NFL but that’s pretty secondary to me right now,” Johnson said. “I just want to get my degree. That is first to me. But the coaching staff’s pro background did play a big role.”
Johnson said he is coming to Virginia with an eye on the starting tailback spot.
“I just have to compete with a sophomore [actually three sophomores: Alvin Pearman, Marquis Weeks and Brandon Isaiah], but [the coaches] said pretty much that I could be in line for the starting job.”
Johnson’s best friend, Warwick High quarterback Marcus Vick, will announce his decision in a 3 p.m. news conference today at the school. He is expected to choose Virginia Tech over Virginia.

Tired, sick and injured is no way to go through life, let alone play basketball.
The Virginia men’s basketball team, which fell to No. 10 in the AP rankings Monday, discovered that lesson in the past week.
The daunting three-game stretch of playing at Duke, Maryland at home and at Missouri in a week’s time looked intimidating when UVa’s schedule was released this August. It proved to be even more difficult in actuality. It likely did not help that two regular starters — Adam Hall and Travis Watson — were limited with injuries and two more starters and one other major contributor — Roger Mason Jr., Chris Williams and Elton Brown — played at Missouri despite being beset with flu-like symptoms.
At the moment, recovery — mentally, physically and in terms of its record — seems to be the key word for Virginia (14-5).
“We are a little beat up emotionally and physically right now. We had a tough week in playing Duke on the road and then playing Maryland in a game we should have won but lost. ... We are a little spent right now,” UVa coach Pete Gillen said.
A full-strength Virginia team might have been able to beat an equally struggling Missouri squad Sunday. The game featured 24 lead changes and was tied with 11:39 to go, but fatigue and turnovers gave the Tigers an eight-point lead in the final minutes. The Cavaliers managed to cut that lead to two in the waning seconds but could not make the baskets it needed down the stretch to reduce the deficit any more. The fact that Mason and freshman point guard Keith Jenifer fouled out in the final minutes further hurt the Virginia cause.
“I think we definitely felt undermanned after those two fouled out but also throughout the whole game,” said sophomore forward J.C. Mathis, who finished the game with 13 points. “There weren’t too many positives. A couple of guys were under the weather and played through that, so I guess that’s a positive, but we really can’t take too many positives out of this.”
As usual, nothing can cure ills more than winning, and the Cavaliers are in desperate need of that medication.
They will get that opportunity Wednesday, albeit at N.C. State and against a team that already has a victory over UVa at U-Hall. Wednesday’s game begins UVa’s second rotation through the ACC after a 4-4 record in its first tour. The Cavaliers likely will have to match that record or probably improve on it to feel secure with an NCAA tournament invitation.
While Mason, Williams and Brown seemed to be improving slightly Monday, Watson’s and Hall’s status for Wednesday’s game is uncertain.
Hall, who missed five games with a tear in the plantar fascia tissue of his right foot, played five minutes in Thursday’s loss to Maryland and was back in street clothes at Missouri. Hall said after the game that he is unlikely to play Wednesday and now will wait until the injury completely heals.
“I don’t think I made it worse the other night, but it still hurts,” Hall said Sunday. “I just know that it’s something on the bottom of my foot and you can’t do much about it. ... I’m not going to play until it’s better and that’s not going to happen Wednesday, I know that.”
Watson, who seemingly has played through constant injuries for most of his UVa career, is also suffering from foot problems. Watson’s is on the arch of his left foot and it limited him to just 13 minutes Sunday. He left the game with 10:50 remaining and did not return. Watson’s status for Wednesday can best be described as questionable.
“The way I play, I’m probably prone to get some kind of injury after each game,” said Watson, who has had everything from a hip pointer to knee injuries in his two-and-a-half seasons in a Virginia uniform. “I don’t know about playing Wednesday. It’s possible.”

UVa football recruits three Parade all-stars
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© February 5, 2002

A very good Virginia football recruiting class got even better Monday when three of the most highly regarded prep players in the nation committed to the Cavaliers.

In a 15-minute span, Kai Parham, a Parade All-American linebacker from Princess Anne, and Ahmad Brooks, USA Today's top defensive player as a linebacker at C.D. Hylton High in Woodbridge, announced they would attend Virginia. About two hours later, a third Parade All-American, running back Michael Johnson of Heritage High in Newport News, also committed.

Brooks, also a Parade All-American, is rated the nation's No. 6 prospect by recruiting analyst Tom Lemming. Parham is rated No. 13 and Johnson No. 37.

Virginia had already received commitments from 21 players, but none as highly rated as the trio that committed Monday.

Parham, 6-foot-3 and 235 pounds, and Brooks, 6-3, 225, are considered the biggest catches of the 24-member class. Both project as inside linebackers in Virginia's 3-4 defensive scheme.

Parham chose Virginia over Tennessee, saying the combination of athletics, academics and social life sold him.

Parham said he was also impressed by the NFL experience of Virginia's coaching staff, particularly head coach Al Groh. Groh spent 13 years in the NFL, 12 as an assistant, before coming to Virginia.

``I looked at all the players they developed, especially at my position,'' Parham said. ``Coach Groh had nine linebackers make All-Pro.''

Parham made his announcement in an ESPN.com-moderated chat room. About the same time Parham was answering questions in cyber-space, Brooks held a news conference at C.D. Hylton High in Woodbridge.

Parham and Brooks became friendly last spring and have kept in contact with one another throughout the recruiting process.

``I spoke to him last night and he still hadn't made up mind,'' Parham said. ``But I knew it sounded pretty positive. I was hoping he would come to Virginia.''

Parham is the highest-profile player from South Hampton Roads to commit to Virginia since running back Lamonte Still signed in 1992. In recent years, the area's top talent has consistently gone to Virginia Tech, Penn State, Tennessee, North Carolina, Michigan -- anywhere, it seemed, but Virginia.

But Groh and his staff have made a renewed commitment to recruit in South Hampton Roads, and the rest of the state, Princess Anne coach Jeff Ballance said.

``It's like night and day,'' Ballance said, comparing the current staff to the one under longtime head coach George Welsh.

``Coach Groh was in this school whenever it was legal for him to be here,'' Brown said. ``When we had our first game this season back in early September, he was standing at our locker room door.

``They made the effort, no question. It's a different approach coming out of Charlottesville right now.''

Parham said he kept an eye on the other players Virginia was recruiting, and the chance to play with other quality players influenced his decision.

``They were an average team last year,'' Parham said. ``But if they keep recruiting like this, and the players they already have develop, everything will come together.''

Johnson's commitment gives Virginia four Parade All-Americans in its recruiting class. The other is Kwakou Robinson, a defensive lineman from Brooklyn, N.Y.

Virginia had just one Parade All-American on its roster last season, running back Arlen Harris. Harris, beaten out by freshman Alvin Pearman, transferred to Delaware after the season.

``I really feel like Groh has come in and done a great job, and he's putting pressure on the other schools,'' Ballance said. ``They may not win over night, but if they get another recruiting class like this, then they'll definitely be tough.''

Ahmad Brooks and Kai Parham discussed the possibility of going to the same school as early as last summer. They made it a reality Monday when both made oral commitments to Virginia.

Brooks, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound linebacker from Hylton High School in Woodbridge, and Parham, a 6-3, 240-pound linebacker from Princess Anne in Virginia Beach, were rated the Nos.1 and 3 prospects in the state by The Roanoke Times.

Late Monday afternoon, UVa also got commitments from the state's sixth-rated prospect, running back Michael Johnson from Heritage High School in Newport News, and 6-6, 280-pound offensive lineman Brett Tobin from Pulaski, Wis.

Johnson is one of four Parade All-Americans in UVa's recruiting class, along with Brooks, Parham and defensive lineman Kwakou Robinson from Brooklyn (N.Y.) Poly Prep. Tobin changed his mind after earlier committing to Vanderbilt.

Hylton coach Bill Brown said Brooks' final decision came down to UVa and Virginia Tech. Tennessee and Florida State were his other finalists. The final two schools for Parham were UVa and Tennessee.

Brown said he felt the Brooks announcement made a statement for the regime of new Virginia coach Al Groh.

"Whether I say it or not, it does," Brown said. "There's a different approach in Charlottesville now. When we came off the field after our first game, there was Al Groh at the locker-room door. Coach Groh was at our school as much as legally possible."

Within an hour of Brooks' announcement, Tech's spirits were lifted by a commitment from Darryl Tapp, a defensive end from Deep Creek High School in Chesapeake. Tapp, the state's 15th-ranked prospect, picked Tech over Maryland.

"I definitely thought he was underrated," Deep Creek coach David Cox said. "For whatever reason, he didn't get a whole lot of publicity. I don't think there's any doubt that he's one of the best players in the state and I think he's the best in the area."

In Newport News today, the state's second-ranked prospect, quarterback Marcus Vick from Warwick High School, will announce his choice amid considerable speculation that he will pick Virginia Tech.

Vick is the younger brother of ex-Virginia Tech star Michael Vick. This past weekend, Tech picked up a commitment from Marcus Vick's top receiver, Brenden Hill. Hill picked Tech over UVa.

Another wide receiver expected to sign with Tech is Fred Lee, a 2001 SuperPrep All-American from Harrisburg, Pa. Lee originally signed with Tech last February but did not meet NCAA guidelines for freshman eligibility.

If the University of Virginia has had a more memorable day in football recruiting, it's hard to say when.

The Cavaliers got commitments yesterday from three Parade All-Americans, including Ahmad Brooks of Hylton High in Woodbridge. Brooks, a 6-3, 240-pound linebacker who led Hylton to two state Division 6 titles, was USA Today's choice as the nation's top prep defensive player in 2001.

Also announcing plans to sign with U.Va. were 6-3, 240-pound linebacker Kai Parham of Princess Anne High in Virginia Beach - the Gatorade player of the year in the state - and 5-9, 170-pound tailback Michael Johnson of Heri- tage High in Newport News. Like Brooks, Parham made USA Today's all-USA first team.

The Roanoke Times rates Brooks, Parham and Johnson No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, among the state's college prospects. All are expected to play in 2002 for the Cavaliers, who went 5-7 last season, their first under coach Al Groh.

Brooks chose U.Va. over Virginia Tech, Tennessee and Florida State. Parham's runner-up was Tennessee, and Johnson picked Virginia over Michigan State and Miami (Fla.). Johnson, perhaps the state's fastest player, helped Heritage win the Division 5 title in 2000.

"I think we all wanted to play together, but we had each had to make our own decision," said Parham, who had phone conversations with the other two recently. "We all had to go to the best place for all of us, and I guess for everyone, it ended up being Virginia."

The NCAA signing period opens tomorrow. Virginia has commitments from four Parade All-Americans - Brooks, Parham, Johnson and defensive lineman Kwakou Robinson of Brooklyn, N.Y. - and hopes to land another. Quarterback Marcus Vick, from Newport News' Warwick High, will announce for Virginia Tech or U.Va. at a press conference today.

Another blue-chip prospect, Wali Lundy, has scheduled a press conference for this morning. His finalists are U.Va. and Boston College, said Tom Maderia, his coach at Holy Cross High in Delran, N.J. Lundy was all-state as a wideout in 2000 and all-state at tailback in 2001.

ESPN.com recruiting analyst Tom Lemming ranks Brooks as the No. 6 prospect in the nation's senior class. Lemming has Parham at No. 13, Johnson at No. 37, Vick at No. 50, Robinson at No. 89 and Lundy at No. 95.

Parham carries a 3.2 grade-point average, scored 1,100 on the SAT and said he might want to attend medical school. Johnson said last night that he has qualified academically. Brooks made the honor roll last semester, and Hylton coach Bill Brown said he expects him to meet NCAA requirements for freshman eligibility.

Brooks, whose father is former Washington Redskins defensive tackle Perry Brooks, chose U.Va. because, "No. 1, I think he just really, really likes the coaching staff," Brown said. "Those guys got to him early and often."

Al Golden, the Cavaliers' defensive coordinator, was the lead recruiter on Brooks, but Groh also played a prominent role. "Whenever it was legal for him to be there, he was there," Brown said.

During his four-year varsity career - he missed the 2000 season with a broken ankle - Brooks played in only one loss, to Thomas Dale in the 2001 state semifinals. As a sophomore, Brown said, Brooks played linebacker and wide receiver and "intercepted the ball that set up the winning pass to him" against Varina in the state final.

His senior season, Brooks made 207 tackles in 13 games. "That is a phenomenal number and probably an unbelievable number, but I'm not going to lie," said Brown, who designed his defense to funnel plays to Brooks.

Brooks also started at halfback in 2001 and rushed for more than 800 yards, averaging 12.5 yards per carry.

BRUTISH: ACC games marred by bad behavior
By Lenox Rawlings
JOURNAL COLUMNIST

The ACC prides itself on good sportsmanship. It says so right there on the TV commercials that feature resolute coaches and Commissioner John Swofford affirming the league's commitment to civilized competition.

There's only one problem. Networks run the commercial during ACC basketball games, which have devolved into rough rituals teeming with incivility. Sometimes, ACC games are about as far removed from gentlemanly sportsmanship as you can get without a weapon - assuming you don't consider a well-placed arm a weapon when slammed against another player's skull.

That happened during the final stages of Maryland's 89-73 win over N.C. State late Sunday afternoon. Julius Hodge, N.C. State's wiry candidate for rookie of the year, took advantage of a rebounding play to assault Maryland's Steve Blake, who had his back turned to box out Hodge.

Hodge landed a flying forearm against the back of Blake's head. Referees saw the haymaker and assessed a technical foul.

"He gave me a cheap shot to my throat," Hodge told reporters. "I retaliated, and I got caught. I should have kept my composure and not retaliated."

Replays did not show Blake delivering any throat shot on that play.

"I guess he thought I boxed him out too hard," Blake said. "He hit me with an elbow in the back of the head. It takes more than that to knock me out. I boxed him out. Of course, you're going to get hit when you get boxed out. He's just a little punk, I guess."

Hodge revels in his reputation as a trash-talking kid from the Bronx, but his candidacy for the All-Punk team awaits final balloting.

During State's home loss to Wake Forest last Wednesday, Hodge scored a basket and sped across the floor to confront his defender, Josh Howard. Hodge screamed in Howard's face as the players ran to the other end. On another play, Howard hit a jumper and shoved a State player.

Howard said afterward that he had pushed Hodge. "He started it," Howard explained.

The outbreak of human hostilities isn't really about who started it. Two weeks ago, Howard belted Maryland's Byron Mouton in the face with his left arm as they lined up for an inbounds play. The incident happened out in the open, on national cable television, and the referee called the foul on Howard. Apologists cited previous skirmishes, including Mouton's aggression last season.

During interviews soon after games, Hodge and Howard calmly dismiss their actions as regrettable excesses, nothing more. They are cordial, even affable.

Fans in the stands and TV viewers don't see the other side, though. They are left with violent images and mean stares and naked emotions.

This isn't about who starts it, and this isn't about who retaliates. This is about ending it.

That might happen if coaches cracked down on hotheads, but the alleged role models often lose their way in the arena. Last Thursday night, two Virginia players hung around as Maryland formed a timeout huddle. Coach Gary Williams, who often leaves his anchor at home, screamed at Keith Jenifer and Travis Watson.

Maryland's Juan Dixon postulated that the Cavaliers assumed they would win and tried to show off early. When Williams berated them, a Virginia assistant coach named Walt Fuller charged into the fray, yelling at Williams. Fuller violated the referees' code that assistants are supposed to be seen sitting down, not hollering or approaching the other bench.

The confrontation ended without any punching or shoving. Maryland rallied for the win.

Two nights later, another coach lost his composure. Dahntay Jones slammed home an alley-oop dunk that foreshadowed Duke's victory over Clemson, and the Tigers called a timeout. At that instant, Jones was standing in front of the Clemson bench, gesturing with both arms and shouting insults.

Coach Larry Shyatt lunged for Jones, but assistant coaches intervened before he could lay a hand on Jones. A referee told Duke's Mike Krzyzewski that his player triggered the incident. Instead of escalating the war of words, Coach K talked to Shyatt and helped defuse the tension.

Krzyzewski's posture was a radical departure from his performance during Georgia Tech's visit to Duke. Inflamed by the refereeing, Coach K threw a tantrum on the sideline and waved his arms madly, exhorting the home folks to bury the refs under a torrent of verbal abuse.

At Clemson, Coach K told reporters that Jones said something to someone but not necessarily to Shyatt. Admirably, Shyatt accepted responsibility. "I just thought at the moment someone was making my guys ashamed and making fun of us, and I reacted inappropriately, but at the same time, it was to defend our turf," Shyatt said. "Sometimes we adults act like children."

It's true, from the adults in the high-paying bench jobs to the adults in the stands. During the Duke-North Carolina game in Chapel Hill, some aging boosters showered Coach K with blunt epithets and raw hatred, cussing louder than he did recently during an infamous TV moment. A Duke player taunted Carolina students after a dunk, and the scholars responded by giving him the finger. Carolina's Jason Capel, in the midst of getting blown out, punctuated his rare baskets by beating his chest.

Everywhere you go, ACC basketball games are tarnished by crude conduct on the floor and in the seats. There are solutions, naturally. If the ACC ordered refs to nail offenders with technical fouls and ejections, the coaches and players would straighten up. If coaches demanded that players cool it, only the dumbest dunkers would imitate Mike Tyson.

If the coaches and league officials prefer blaming society for the problems instead of enforcing higher standards, perhaps some chancellors could take control of their teams.

These universities portray themselves as institutional leaders of a civilized society. Maybe it's time they stopped counting the money and started leading, in the name of sportsmanship.

By Preston Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 5, 2002; Page D01

The chant "We want Brooks!" spilled out of the University of Virginia student section at a men's basketball game Jan. 20, the goal to impress visiting football recruit Ahmad Brooks, the Hylton middle linebacker named Parade all-American and USA Today defensive player of the year.

The Cavalier faithful now can let out an even more raucous chorus: "We got Brooks!"

After a pause that added a final bit of drama to one of the most frenzied recruiting races in the country, the All-Met defensive player of the year yesterday orally committed to Virginia in front of teammates, family and media in the Hylton auditorium. With that, he spurned scholarship offers from Florida State, Tennessee and Virginia Tech, his three other finalists. The national signing period begins Wednesday.

The Virginia students' spirited declaration a couple of weeks ago was a sentiment shared by college football coaches from the ACC to the Pacific-10. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Brooks says Virginia was his choice all along. But he certainly played coy, even telling his father, former Washington Redskins defensive tackle Perry Brooks, that Virginia Tech was his choice. That was yesterday afternoon -- 20 minutes before the news conference.

For much of the past two months, since Hylton's football season ended and before announcing his commitment, the 17-year-old Brooks, who finished with 207 tackles and bench-presses 310 pounds, was flooded with letters, e-mails, and phone calls. He had campus visits, in-home visits, at-school visits, and photo shoots. He played in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio and also had schoolwork and basketball practice.

He narrowed his list of potential schools to four, but that did not necessarily simplify the procedure. In the past month or so, Virginia Coach Al Groh, Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer, Tennessee Coach Phillip Fulmer and Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden all stopped by Hylton and Brooks's Woodbridge home.

"They're basically saying: 'We want you. We think you have the potential to start at middle linebacker,' " said Brooks, who earned no grade below a B on his latest report card and is on track to be eligible to play as a freshman. "They keep on putting stuff in your head and you don't know what to think sometimes."

"They pretty much say the same things -- why their school is better than the other ones," Hylton Coach Bill Brown said. "It's like Ford versus Chevrolet, you know? Both of 'em run pretty good, but this one's got a moon roof and this one doesn't. It comes down to options and those type things -- it's all salesmen and what they have to offer."

The pursuit of Brooks began shortly after his 202-tackle sophomore season, when college recruiters would stop by Brown's office and profess their desire to land the middle linebacker who already was showing hints of following his father -- a Redskin from 1978 to 1984 -- to the NFL.

"I liked my younger years [better] because nobody really knew about me and I was just doing my thing," Brooks said one day last week before basketball practice, and before excusing himself to greet a couple of Tennessee assistants who had been waiting at Hylton for him to arrive.

"It does feel funny, because you never think it's going to be you. You always play sports and are just having fun, and one day you get picked out of a million. It's weird."

The elder Brooks, a car salesman who played at Southern University in New Orleans, and Brooks's mother, Vergie, made all four recruiting trips with their youngest of three children, focusing on the college details a teenager might otherwise overlook.

"I'm giving my baby to someone for the next four years, what are you going to do with him?" Perry Brooks said he asked recruiters. "He needs to be somewhere he'll be protected.

"I had no experience like what he's having. Thirty years ago [an all-black school] is where we thought we had to go. Everything has changed drastically, for what they do now for young men trying to commit to a university. It's unbelievable."

Brooks missed almost his entire junior season with a broken ankle, but he was so impressive as a 10th-grader, the wooing did not wane. Late last year, Brooks winnowed his many scholarship offers to Florida State, Penn State, Tennessee, Virginia and Virginia Tech, because he wanted to stay in the East.

"A lot of kids are waiting for one school to come and offer," said national recruiting analyst Tom Lemming, editor of Prep Football Report. "Ahmad had the choice to go just about anywhere. I just think he's got all the ability in the world, and because he's got his feet on the ground, I expect him to be in the NFL in four years and earn a worthwhile degree."

From mid-December to late January, Brooks made official campus trips to all but Penn State, a school he eliminated last week, wearied by the recruiting travel and satisfied that the Nittany Lions would not win out over his other choices.

Brown, who estimates he has sent more than 50 of his Potomac and Hylton players to Division I schools, none with as much national fanfare as Brooks, saw his office become a sort of buffet line for college assistants, with Brooks the main and only course.

"He's getting quadruple-teamed here," Brown said one day last week while awaiting a possible visit from Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, who eventually decided not to make Hylton a stop on his Northern Virginia junket after Brooks dropped the Nittany Lions from consideration. "He has four or five coaches from schools coming in at the same time hitting him from every angle to get the last thought in his mind to where he ought to go to school."

Brown vowed yesterday afternoon that until Brooks made his announcement, he did not know his star's decision, and for that reason Brown refrained from calling all the colleges involved beforehand, his usual custom.

"I decided to go to -- " Brooks said, fiendishly pausing seven seconds, "University of Virginia," he continued to applause. "I kind of made my decision a couple months ago, I just didn't tell anybody.

"Everybody asked me where I was going to go, and I just basically told them a different school," added Brooks, who has played several AAU basketball games in Charlottesville and has visited the school a few times. "I had to take all my visits to know that was really where I wanted to go."

Groh, who coached linebackers for four NFL teams and was the New York Jets' head coach in 2000, a major selling point to Brooks, indeed got on board early. Perry Brooks estimates that his son got at least five pieces of mail a day from the Cavaliers. And Groh waited outside the visiting locker room when Hylton arrived at Stonewall Jackson High in Manassas to play its season-opening game Sept. 7.

"He said, 'I just wanted to let you know I'm the first one,' " said Brown, who from a distance thought the early bird was there to let the Bulldogs into the locker room. "They got on Ahmad early, and often."