Greer pledges to UVa
By Jay Jenkins / Jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
February 1, 2008

Just hours after his two-day official visit concluded, Steve Greer said he informed coach Al Groh of his intent to play linebacker at Virginia.

The three-star linebacker’s commitment was the 17th recruit landed by the Cavaliers’ for the Class of 2008.

Greer, who hails from Solon High in Ohio, is also one of the top-rated players in his class and in the country. After a 150-tackle senior season, Greer was ranked the 46th-best middle linebacker in the country by Rivals.com and he was a first-team All-Ohio seclection.

Greer, who is 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds, picked Virginia over offers from North Carolina and Oklahoma State.

 

Texas QB picks Virginia
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
February 1, 2008

When asked Thursday afternoon how it felt to officially be considered part of the Virginia football family, Riko Smalls was taken aback.

The two-star quarterback from Plano East High School in Texas was unaware his verbal commitment, the 16th for the Cavaliers - Solon (Ohio) linebacker Steve Greer became the 17th late Thursday night - had reached media outlets.

“It feels good, but I wasn’t going to go public with it until Signing Day,” Smalls said. “Oh well. A lot of people around here don’t know about it.”

A virtual unknown in many recruiting circles, Smalls gained late interest from Virginia offensive coordinator Mike Groh.

The coach liked what he saw from the 6-foot-1, 185-pound quarterback and Virginia promptly offered.

After last weekend’s official visit to Wake Forest - which wanted Smalls as a safety initially - he knew he could not pass up the chance to play quarterback in the ACC. He also had offers from Wake Forest, Air Force, Colorado State and Georgia Tech.

“The academics were superior to most of the other schools,” Smalls added, “and I liked what they offer on the field and off the field.”

Virginia had a need for a quarterback after rising junior Jameel Sewell was not academically eligible to take classes in the current semester and likely will not be eligible to return until 2009. Unless Scott Deke returns next season, Virginia would have boasted just two scholarship quarterbacks - Peter Lalich and Marc Verica.

“That certainly helped,” Smalls said of the limited competition.

He said he expects the opportunity to earn playing time as a rookie.

“That’s what I am excited about,” Smalls said, “and that’s what I plan to do.”

Smalls, who completed 205 of 366 passes for 2,989 yards and 33 touchdowns as a senior, has a theory on why he flew under the radar with recruiting services.

“If I would have been healthier, my rankings would have been a lot higher,” Smalls said. “I was looking at some of these three-star and four-star guys on Rivals and if you look at the numbers that they put up and you look at the numbers that I put up, I have them beat, but yet they are ranked higher than me.

“That doesn’t make sense, but they played the whole year, so I guess you could say they were seen more.”

Smalls battled through an ankle injury as a senior and missed considerable time as a junior after breaking his collarbone twice.

“I got knocked out in the fourth game of the season and came back and took my team to the third round of the playoffs, and it wasn’t completely healed,” Smalls said. “We played Spring Westfield and they were ranked third in the state and had No. 1 defense in the state. I think they were only allowing 159 yards per game, and I re-injured my collarbone with a minute to go in the first half and we were up 21-10.”

Unable to return, Smalls watched as East Plano lost 31-28.

“That really hurt,” Smalls added. “We had already put like 280, 290 yards of offense up on them.”

Smalls, who said he had been clocked at 4.35 in the 40-yard dash, also rushed for 655 yards the past two seasons, but he does not necessarily look to run.

“I am a play-maker. I try to get very involved and familiar with the systems and see how the coaches feel so I can be a coach on the field,” he said. “I have been told that I am an exciting quarterback because I have the ability to run. When everything breaks down, I have been blessed with the ability to make something happen when nothing is there.

“I am not an athlete who plays quarterback. I am a quarterback who is an athlete.”

 

Texas QB picks Cavs
Friday, Feb 01, 2008 - 12:07 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE - With Jameel Sewell expected to miss the coming season for academic reasons, the University of Virginia decided it needed a quarterback in its football recruiting class for 2008 after all.

The Cavaliers landed their target this week. Riko Smalls, a 6-1, 190-pound senior from Plano East High in Texas, has committed to U.Va.

"The things it has to offer academically and athletically, it's just hard to say no to," said Smalls, who has a 3.3 grade-point average and scored 25 on the ACT.

Smalls, who also plays basketball and runs track at Plano East, said he also received scholarship offers from Wake Forest, SMU, Louisiana Tech, Iowa State, Central Florida, Air Force, Tulsa, Rice, Colorado State and TCU. Some of those schools offered him as an athlete, but U.Va. assured Smalls that he could begin his college career as a quarterback.

National signing day is Wednesday. Al Groh's secondary coach, Steve Bernstein, started recruiting Smalls a few weeks ago, and U.Va. offered him a scholarship last weekend. Smalls is scheduled to arrive in Charlottesville today for an official visit.

Smalls completed 205 of 366 passes for 2,989 yards and 33 touchdowns in 2007, with 11 interceptions, according to Rivals.com. He also rushed for 323 yards and three TDs. He's a dual threat, but Smalls said he prefers to describe himself as a "pass-run" quarterback.

That's also an apt description of Sewell, a Hermitage High graduate who has started U.Va.'s past 22 games at quarterback. Sewell, a redshirt sophomore in 2007, was placed on academic suspension this month. He hopes to resume his career at Virginia, but that probably won't happen until 2009.

Virginia has 15 firm commitments for 2008. Another target, lineman Corey Lewis, committed to U.Va. in June but now also is considering Penn State.

Texas QB decides to sign with UVa

Virginia has found a silver lining in the loss of two-year starting quarterback Jameel Sewell.

"I could see that a window of opportunity was opening for me," said Riko Smalls, a prolific passer from Plano, Texas, after committing to UVa. "That was definitely a factor in my decision."

In the absence of Sewell, who is not enrolled this semester but plans to return for 2009, UVa was left with 2007 back-up Peter Lalich and two other scholarship quarterbacks who have not attempted a pass in a college game.

Assistant coach Steve Bernstein contacted Smalls approximately two to three weeks ago and the Cavaliers called Saturday to offer him a scholarship and invite him for a visit starting today.

Smalls passed for 2,989 yards and 33 touchdowns this past season for Plano East High School. He had received 11 scholarship offers, three of them from schools in BCS Conferences -- Iowa State, Wake Forest and UVa.

Wake, which he visited last weekend, was recruiting him as a safety.

Some services list Smalls at 6 feet, which may have been a deterrent for some programs, but he said he has been measured at 6-1 and has been timed in 4.35 seconds for 40 yards.

"Somebody once referred to me as 'Rico Vick' because of my elusiveness," said Smalls, who rushed for 323 yards this year, "but I do a lot more running than passing. I try and be creative like Tony Romo when he takes a bad play and turns it into a 30-yard game."

Smalls said he has a 3.3 grade-point average and scored 25 out of a possible 36 on the ACT, with 18 required by the NCAA.

-- Doug Doughty


 

Cavaliers try to bounce back into NCAA race in Blacksburg
Team battles injuries, looks to avenge last-second overtime loss against hot Virginia Tech despite shortened roster
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor

This is the second time this year that the two teams have met, with the last matchup Jan. 16 at John Paul Jones Arena resulting in an overtime, buzzer-beater victory for the Hokies. Since winning their first conference game Jan. 20 against Boston College, the Cavaliers (11-8, 1-5 ACC) have continued to sink to the bottom of the conference, losing their last three games to Florida State, Georgia Tech and Maryland. Throughout this string of losses, senior guard Sean Singletary has been playing through a hip pointer. The senior was not planning on playing until just before tip-off in Wednesday’s game against Maryland, where he mustered 23 points on 9-17 shooting. “For us to be in the game, I’ve got to play,” Singletary said. “They need me out there, and I need them.” In addition to Singletary’s ailment, the Cavalier frontline is also suffering injuries. Junior Lars Mikalauskas has been out the entire conference season with a shoulder injury, and senior Tunji Soroye, who has been suffering from back and knee problems, was not in uniform Wednesday against Maryland. The shortened Virginia roster, however, has not only taken its toll in games, but has caused Virginia coach Dave Leitao to hold back somewhat in practice as well. “We have far more than our share of guys banged up to be just banging bodies every day and demanding certain things for 24 hours,” Leitao said. “You almost have to be able to trust at this point in the year that guys understand a level that they’ve got to play at.” Leitao did give 11 minutes Wednesday to sophomore forward Will Harris, who has been plagued by multiple injuries all season. After seeing 13.9 minutes per game last year, the sophomore has struggled to crack the rotation all season. His time yesterday, however, indicated that Leitao may be ready to use him more often — and the coach may not have much of a choice given the depleted frontline. In the Cavaliers’ last two losses to Maryland and Georgia Tech, the disjointed Virginia roster showed. The two opponents shot a combined 51.3 percent against the Cavaliers, and the opposing frontcourts pounded the undersized Virginia forwards inside. Virginia is next-to-last in the ACC in points allowed per game (71.9) and is ninth in field goal percentage defense (42.5 percent). “I’ve always thought that defense is an attitude, that rebounding is an attitude,” Leitao said. “I’m not sure ... over the course of the games that we’ve been playing that we’ve had the proper attitude to grab those rebounds or make those stops.” Virginia Tech, meanwhile, has brought itself over .500 in the ACC with two wins against Florida State and Boston College. Junior A.D. Vasallo and senior Deron Washington continue to spearhead the Hokie offense. The two forwards took turns leading the team in scoring the past two games, as Vasallo put in 22 against Florida State while Washington led with 19 against Boston College. Unlike the Cavaliers, the Hokies have thrived on the defensive end under coach Seth Greenberg. The team allows the least points per game in the ACC (63.2), and is fourth in field goal percentage defense (40.1 percent). As Virginia clings to NCAA Tournament hopes, the team will have to right the ship in hostile environments — four of Virginia’s next six games are on the road. “Our luck hasn’t been going too well so far, but it won’t be like this for long,” Singletary said. “We’ve just got to go down to Blacksburg and try to put 40 minutes of good hard basketball together and get our second win in the league.”

 

Cavs aware of post problems
By Melinda Waldrop | 247-4634
February 1, 2008
 

Dave Leitao can't help but play the "what if" game.

As his Virginia team gave up a combined 28 points and 15 rebounds to Maryland post players James Gist and Bambale Osby on Wednesday night, Leitao looked at his bench and pictured what might have been if the 6-foot-11 center he saw sitting there could have played.

Senior Tunji Soroye had knee surgery before the season, only to have back problems keep him out of the lineup once his knee healed.

"Tunji's not a great offensive player, but he is smart and dependable on defense," Leitao said. "(His) length makes up for a lot of things. And if Tunji and Mike, for instance, are playing together ... "

Freshman Mike Scott, a natural forward who has played out of position most of the season at center, grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds against Maryland. But the Terps came up with key offensive rebounds down the stretch to hold off a Virginia comeback.

Virginia isn't the only team feeling some post pain.

Six-foot-9 Clemson forward James Mays has played a chunk of the season with a cast on his fractured wrist, and 6-7 center/forward Trevor Booker suffered a high ankle sprain in the Tigers' 75-72 loss at Miami on Jan. 27. Booker's status is uncertain for Saturday's game against Boston College.

"That happens sometimes, that you have some injuries," Clemson coach Oliver Purnell said. "The glass is half-full, in that those injuries could be more serious and we could have lost (players) for a longer period of time."

In other injury news, Virginia Tech junior guard A.J. Lemaitre tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee and will miss the rest of the season. Lemaitre, a former walk-on who earned a scholarship in her sophomore season, was averaging two points in 5.4 minutes per game this season.

THINK PINK
Virginia's women's basketball team (15-5) can improve to 5-1 in the ACC for the first time since the 1999-2000 season with a victory against North Carolina State tonight in Charlottesville.

Aisha Mohammed set a Virginia record with 21 rebounds to go with her 18 points in the Cavaliers' win at Florida State on Jan. 26. The performance was the eighth double-double of the year for the junior center, who is averaging 12.8 points and 9.5 rebounds.

Tonight's game is part of the ACC's "Think Pink" initiative, which raises awareness and education about cancer prevention, and pits two coaches who have battled the disease. Virginia's Debbie Ryan overcame pancreatic cancer, while N.C. State's Kay Yow is fighting breast cancer.

Players and coaches will wear commemorative warm-up gear and pink clothing, and fans are encouraged to wear pink.

INEFFECTIVE EMPHASIS?
A point of officiating emphasis this season has been on bench decorum, specifically on making sure coaches stay in the coaching box.

There have been some questionable applications, including a technical called on Tennessee's Bruce Pearl when he was calling out a defensive formation to his players against Xavier in December. And North Carolina coach Roy Williams is unabashed in his opinion that the change is unnecessary, a move directed at a few misbehavers that wound up affecting everyone.

"Every time I've talked to an official, I've wanted to make sure I knew where I was standing," Williams said. "The only difference is this year, if I'm yelling at my team trying to get a switch or something like that, I will look down where I am more. I've never been one to get more than a foot or two out of the box anyway. I think it's been a stupid rule, a stupid interpretation and a stupid emphasis. ... What they tried to do was kill a fly, and they used a bazooka to do it."
 

Now is not the time for knee-jerk decisions
Cavaliers had choices before taking QB commitment
By Doug Doughty

It beats me how Virginia could be raising money for athletics these days.

Fundraisers must be talking up the No. 1-ranked men’s tennis team and looking ahead to the baseball and lacrosse seasons.

It’s hard to imagine anybody being terribly excited about what’s going on with the two revenue sports, football and men’s basketball.

The football team had a 10-win season in its sights before choking in the Gator Bowl. The men’s basketball team had double-digit leads before choking against Virginia Tech, Florida State and Georgia Tech. Heck, even the wrestling team choked in its Rumble on the River with the Hokies.

Maybe February will be better. January couldn’t have been worse.

In all fairness, Virginia had the kind of football season that enabled Al Groh to be named coach of the year. And, the Cavaliers played very well against favored Texas Tech for 55 minutes, but it’s been one piece of bad news after another since the end of the season.

First, there was the announcement that junior offensive guard Branden Albert was turning pro, but that was to be expected. Some analysts are now saying that Albert might be the first offensive lineman selected in the draft.

Albert said last week that he has not second-guessed himself and that subsequent developments in Charlottesville have only reinforced those feelings.

Never mind that UVa will be losing ACC defensive player of the year Chris Long and starters or part-time starters Tom Santi, Jon Stupar, Ian-Yates Cunningham, Jordy Lipsey, Allen Billyk, Jermaine Dias, Nate Lyles, Jamaal Jackson and Chris Gould.

They were seniors. The Cavaliers knew they were going to lose them. But consider the underclassmen who Virginia will be losing, including quarterback Jameel Sewell and Chris Cook, not to mention the feared loss of defensive end Jeffery Fitzgerald. And, don’t be surprised if a number of prominent underclassmen skip spring practice in hopes of improving their academic standing.

Then, there are the recruiting decommitments, which could number four if East Stroudsburg, Pa., offensive tackle Corey Lewis reverses field and signs with Penn State. Remember Tyler Westphal, the Wisconsin-bred tight end and defensive end who committed to the Cavaliers in the summer. Westphal, who broke off his commitment shortly thereafter, recently was named a SuperPrep All-American.

You could go on and on. Virginia’s recruiting of in-state talent is at an all-time low, with commitments so far from only one player ranked among the Top 25 prospects in the state, and now the Cavaliers have lost their top recruiter and defensive coordinator, Mike London.

MY BASIC PHILOSOPHY on college athletics is, "When in doubt, blame the coach." Some people would say that the players are responsible for not doing their classwork or that the academic side of the campus doesn’t like football, but what it comes down to is, Al Groh makes $1.96 million per year.

“Just coach the team” is Groh's favorite mantra, but, for $1.96 million, your bosses should expect more. You are expected to be a steward for the program. If something is going wrong, you’re responsible for fixing it.

Men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao signed a five-year contract in 2005 that paid him $925,000 per year. With escalator clauses, he makes approximately half what Groh makes, but that’s big money, too, and the Cavaliers should expect more than a 1-5 ACC record in Leitao’s third year.

When predecessor Pete Gillen was kneeling on the sidelines, there were many instances when his coaching moves baffled me. That doesn’t happen as much with Leitao, but I had to question his decision to bench senior co-captain Adrian Joseph for the final 10:33 on Wednesday night at Maryland.

Joseph hadn’t produced to that point, but he is the Cavaliers’ leading rebounder for the season. Virginia trailed by double digits for most of the night but put itself in a position to catch the Terrapins if Maryland hadn’t scored eight points following offensive rebounds in the final 4:49.

Leitao said he felt it was necessary to go with two true post players, freshman Mike Scott and fifth-year senior Ryan Pettinella, but Pettinella did not have a rebound in 18 minutes and has a total of three points and two rebounds in 39 minutes over the past two games.

I remember one instance when Maryland scrub Dave Neal out-fought Joseph for a ball that was rolling on the floor, but it seems that Leitao is quick to get down on a player and not so quick to forgive and forget. Joseph has a tendency to lose intensity at times, but he is one of Virginia’s five best players under any circumstances.

Joseph was joined on the bench by Jamil Tucker, who had scored 13 points in 21 minutes Sunday in a 92-82 overtime loss to Georgia Tech. Tucker missed two shots in the first half Wednesday, played three minutes in the first half, then didn’t get off the bench in the second half.

In the past four games, here are Tucker’s minutes: 19, two, 21 and three.

I'm not of the opinion that freshman Jeff Jones should regain the starting job he held early in the season, but, against Georgia Tech, Jones made a nice move to the basket in the first half that was nullified by a debatable charging call. Jones left the game shortly thereafter, getting three of his four minutes in the first half.

A COMPLAINT I have with many coaches is what I’d describe as the “knee-jerk reaction.” Groh has made a few of them, many relating to the redshirting of players.

I’ll always remember the 2004 football season, when, following a 36-3 loss at Florida State, Groh elected one week later to play true freshmen Chris Gorham, Kevin Bradley and Bud Davis at Duke, effectively killing a redshirt year. Based on the fact that none had a major impact over the course of their careers, they had no business playing as freshmen.

You’ve also got defensive end Alex Field, who played 33 plays as a true freshman in 2005, and outside linebacker Aaron Clark, who played 114 plays as a true freshman in 2005 and 16 plays as a sophomore in 2006. What a waste!

Nobody will argue that true freshman quarterback Peter Lalich will benefit from having played in seven games this year, particularly with Sewell out of the picture for at least one year, but what was the need to insert him in the opening game at Wyoming in a game the Cavaliers were losing 23-3?

If there were concerns about Sewell’s surgically repaired wrist or his academic future, that’s one thing, but the timing suggested that Groh was mostly ticked off that Sewell had thrown an interception that nearly was returned for a touchdown.

I’LL BE INTERESTED to see what Leitao does with junior forward Lauris Mikalauskas, who has a bad shoulder and has not played since a Dec. 7 game against Longwood. Mikalauskas has played in nine games and probably could gain an extra season on appeal, but I don’t know if the Cavaliers are thinking that way.

Leitao may feel he could use Mikalauskas’ scholarship, in 2009-2010 if not 2008-2009, but here’s a guy who averaged 6.2 points and 4.5 rebounds as a freshman in 2005-2006. That’s better than any of the three frontcourt players in Leitao’s first recruiting class – Jamil Tucker, Will Harris or Jerome Meyinsse – averaged last year as freshmen or this year as sophomore.

The smart thing would be not to play Mikalauskas and apply for a hardship ruling but also make it clear that Mikalauskas will not come back for a fifth year unless he is projected to be a contributor.

MEDIA GADFLY Jeff White and I had the same reaction when we heard that Virginia had taken a football commitment from Riko Smalls, a 6-foot quarterback from Plano, Texas.

Is he really 6 feet? And, if he’s not 6 feet, don’t the Cavaliers already have a sub 6-foot quarterback in the program who put up prolific passing numbers in high school?

Can you say Vic Hall?

Smalls passed for 2,989 yards and 33 touchdowns this past season at Plano East High School and is said to have 4.4-second speed for 40 yards. The Cavaliers actually had a few options for a quarterback, including Brian Burnette from Maryville, Texas, so you have to figure they liked this guy.

Column contributor Allison Doughty points out that Plano is Ian-Yates Cunningham’s hometown, although Cunningham is a graduate of Hebron High School.