Virginia nabs two football recruits
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
February 3, 2008

The positions they will play will remain a mystery for quite some time, but that did not stop Virginia coach Al Groh from offering a pair of recruits scholarships Sunday morning.
With room remaining in the Class of 2008 and after missing out on two prized targets, Groh landed Great Bridge offensive and defensive lineman Michael Price and defensive end Tory Allen, who played at Lovejoy High and lives 23 miles south of Atlanta.
Both were not fixtures on the Cavaliers’ recruiting radar months ago, but Virginia could take a gamble after losing wideout Randall Dunn (Virginia Tech) and offensive lineman Omoregie Uzzi (Georgia Tech) over the weekend and with the feared loss of offensive lineman Corey Lewis, a previous commit, to Illinois or Penn State.
That mattered little to Allen and Price, who were ecstatic to accept Virginia’s offer.
“I was very thrilled,” Allen said. “I had heard it was a possibility, but I wasn’t for sure. I was very surprised.”
Price added: “I am super excited. It is a great deal for me and my family. Virginia was pretty interested in the beginning [of the recruiting process] and then I lost touch with them for a little bit, but over the last two or three weeks it picked up a lot.
“It was all kind of stressful, but I think it came out for the best.”
Allen’s path to landing an offer is simply remarkable.
After a stellar career as a basketball player, the Georgia native decided to play football for the first time as a high school student this past fall.
His dad encouraged the move. His mom was not quite as happy.
“It really was my decision to play,” Allen said, “because I wanted to see if I was good at it, and I was kind of getting burnt out with basketball.”
It was with hoops, Allen said, that he expected to land him a scholarship.
“I thought I would be playing ACC basketball, if anything,” the 6-foot-6, 220-pounder admitted. “I have been playing basketball my whole life.”
After an 11-sack, 55-tackle season, several programs, including Virginia expressed interest, but that process did not come full circle until Sunday.
After the scholarship was offered, Allen said his mother had a change of heart about football.
“She forgot all about what she said,” he chuckled. “After I got the scholarship offer she was really happy.”

 

Lineman, DE give Cavs commitments
U.Va.'s recruiting haul is 18 with signing day near
Monday, Feb 04, 2008 - 12:07 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- With signing day looming, the University of Virginia continues to make a late push in football recruiting.

The Cavaliers received commitments yesterday from Michael Price, a 6-5, 260-pound lineman from Chespapeake's Great Bridge High, and Tory Allen, a 6-5, 215-pound defensive end from Lovejoy High in Hampton, Ga., near Atlanta. Both took official visits to U.Va. over the weekend.

In the past five days, Virginia has added four recruits for 2008, bringing its total to 18. Quarterback Riko Smalls and linebacker Steve Greer committed late last week, and U.Va. is a finalist for Tampa, Fla., wideout Derek Winter. Signing day is Wednesday.

Not all the recruiting news was good for U.Va. yesterday. Another target, receiver Randall Dunn from Virginia Beach, committed to Virginia Tech.

Allen, who also drew late interest from North Carolina, has played only one season of organized football, and he's better known as a basketball player. He wanted to play football as an 11th-grader, Allen said yesterday, but his mother was afraid he'd get hurt. He finally joined the team at Lovejoy in 2007 and had 11 sacks as a senior.

"I just wanted to give it a chance," Allen said. "I just wanted to see how good I'd be."

Virginia's coaching staff would like to keep Allen at defensive end, but he'll need to add a lot of weight to play there. Outside linebacker is another possibility for him in U.Va.'s 3-4 scheme.

Price, an excellent student, played two years at Great Bridge. He was named to the all-Tidewater second team at offensive tackle in 2007.

Where he plays at Virginia "really doesn't matter to me," Price said yesterday. "It's not where you want to play at that level, it's where you best fit. That's my attitude."

Early in the recruiting process, Price said, he seriously considered attending the U.S. Military Academy. He later switched his allegiance to Old Dominion University, which will field its first team in 2009, but the idea of playing at U.Va. always intrigued Price. And when the Cavaliers offered him a scholarship, he accepted.

"Guess it worked out for me," Price said.

 

Tucker produces for Cavs
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
February 4, 2008

When Jamil Tucker gets the playing time, he usually puts up the points. Sunday afternoon in Blacksburg was an example of that. The Virginia sophomore scored 10 points in 17 minutes off the bench.

It was Tucker who helped build a six-point cushion in the second half that the Cavaliers would eventually relinquish in their 72-65 overtime loss to Virginia Tech. Tucker had three straight baskets, which included a layup and a pair of 3-pointers.

“Coach always tells us that he needs every man, every minute,” said Tucker, who also had five rebounds. “Knowing that, when I’m sitting on the bench while Adrian [Joseph] is in the game - I see what’s going on. That helps me out once I get in the game.”

However, somewhat strangely, Tucker was taken out of the game with 10 minutes to go and didn’t reappear until overtime.

Tucker wasn’t disappointed in being pulled by Virginia coach Dave Leitao.

“He didn’t talk to me or tell me what was going on,” Tucker said, “but I knew what was happening from having been through it before.

“Just like coach, I have nothing but faith in our senior Adrian and our junior Mamadi [Diane]. They’ve been through all the battles, so they would be more comfortable at the end of the games … It wasn’t what I wasn’t doing. It’s what [Leitao] needed. At that moment, maybe he thought Mamadi and Adrian had a better chance of doing something because they’ve been there. They’re our leaders.”

Leitao got a little bit testy when asked why he didn’t reinsert Tucker.

“We did,” he said. “We did. We did go back to him. He came in the game, passed on a ‘3’ and then missed a layup right after that.”

Leitao, whose team hosts Clemson on Thursday, was referring to putting Tucker back into the game with 4 minutes, 10 seconds left in overtime.

Why he didn’t do so much sooner could be considered a topic for debate since Joseph wasn’t doing very much in crunch time. The senior didn’t take a shot in the final 10 minutes of regulation.

This season, Tucker has played sporadically due to back spasms and the team’s good depth. However, he has managed to shoot a team-leading 51 percent from 3-point range (23 of 45).

With Virginia riding a four-game losing streak - the longest of the Leitao era - and having lost seven of its last eight, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Tucker’s minutes increase in upcoming games.

 

Singletary continues to leave it all on court
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com
February 3, 2008
BLACKSBURG -

Sean Singletary was the last guy out of the showers after Saturday’s 72-65 overtime loss at Virginia Tech. When he finally emerged, it was difficult to judge what hurt him the most: a lingering and extremely painful hip-pointer injury or losing for the seventh time in the last eight games.

Nah, check that. The losing hurts the Virginia senior most. He’s a tough kid from the mean streets of Philly.

Pain, he can deal with. Losing is entirely different. That’s a different kind of pain. The All-ACC point guard knows that eventually the physical pain will diminish and disappear. The pain of losing remains in the soul forever.

Through all this assorted agony, Singletary plays on without skipping a beat. Those who know him and respect him, have even a greater appreciation for him now.

Against the Hokies, he poured in 26 points and left everything on the Cassell Coliseum court.

No wonder he’s on the list for every award in the game, the Naismith, Wooden, Cousy. Singletary’s their kind of guy.

“I don’t know that on God’s green Earth I’ve ever met a warrior like him,” said UVa coach Dave Leitao after the Cavs’ fourth straight loss. “Most people wouldn’t be out there.”

Things could be worse

Good thing that he is out there. You think Virginia’s struggling now? Imagine what it would be like without No. 44.

He’s averaging 20 points a game against ACC opponents, leads the league in assists. He scraps for rebounds, makes steals and sometimes makes defenders look foolish with his jukes, feints and crossovers.

But he can’t do it all. That’s why Virginia is reeling, leaving Leitao and Singletary frustrated and searching for a way to stop the bleeding.

The answer is “to get back in the gym and coach your fanny off,” Leitao said.

Keeping hope alive

Singletary, the ultimate optimist, believes that with teams like North Carolina, Clemson, Duke and Maryland coming to Charlottesville that the Cavaliers have a chance to change their fate. Again, he can’t do it alone.

“Me and Mo [Diane] are supposed to be shooters,” said UVa senior forward Adrian Joseph. “When our shots aren’t falling it definitely hurts the team and hurts Sean because he gives it his best and we come up with an ‘L.’”

Joseph and Diane combined for 16 points and 12 boards and guard Calvin Baker, who averages 12 points per game in ACC play, scored the same amount of points as a dead man.

“That’s a lot to miss,” Leitao said.

But according to Singletary, it’s not the lack of scoring that’s killing Virginia’s chances to win. It’s other factors.

“It’s the second-chance points (Tech won that statistic 16-6) and the fastbreak points that’s killing us,” Singletary said. “The defensive end is killing us down the stretch.”

Virginia actually had more fastbreak points, but the timing of Tech’s is what torpedoed the Cavaliers, coming off turnovers that wiped away UVa leads. The Hokies, clearly with a personnel advantage in the paint, dominated the offensive boards with 16 rebounds.

But back to Singletary. He’s putting his pain aside and keeping this team glued together.

The storybook finish to his career wasn’t supposed to go like this. He’s already endured the hard times from the day he walked into old University Hall and had to carry a disgruntled team of veteran players on his back. It was a role he didn’t ask for or expect so early, but nonetheless accepted.

After leading the Cavaliers to a share of the ACC regular season title with North Carolina last March and a return to the NCAA Tournament, the guard had visions of more his senior campaign. An early, somewhat stunning win at Arizona lifted those expectations as did a 10-2 start heading into January.

“It’s tough to be in this situation,” Singletary said. “If you’re .500 in this league you’re doing pretty well.”

Most likely, you’re playing pretty good defense, defending your home court and hitting open jump shots when Singletary spoonfeeds his teammates.

In two overtime losses to the Hokies this season, Singletary has scored 60 points. What else can he do?

“I love that kid,” said Tech coach Seth Greenberg, who went out of his way to tell Singletary to hang in there after the game. “I have a few favorite players in the ACC (other than his own). One is Singletary. Another is the big kid at N.C. State (Ben McCauley). But Singletary, I admire his heart, his passion for the game. He’s just a special kid. I have unbelievable respect for that kid. I just wanted to keep him under 30.”

Mission accomplished. Even 30 wouldn’t have derailed the Hokie Express as Tech won for the sixth time in eight games and moved to 3-0 in overtime, as opposed to UVa, which is 0-3 in OT.

“Sean is definitely hurt worse than people realize,” Joseph said. “He’s always sucked it up and just gone out there and played.”

Singletary shrugs off that kind of admiration as just another day in the gym.

“It’s not a long-term injury,” he said. “It’s a lingering injury that can’t affect my health down the road. It’s painful, but something I’ve got to play through. It’s not like I haven’t played with injuries since I’ve been here.”

Let’s see, a shoulder that required surgery, an unrelated hip injury that required surgery, along with an assortment of other bumps and bruises. But he’s a tough kid. He played high school football and even boxed until he realized that wasn’t much fun.

“Last year I played with a hip injury and it got worse before I had surgery,” Singletary said. “This is something I can play through. We need wins and for us to win, I know I’ve got to be out there with my team. I have a sense of urgency.”

Hopefully, so do his teammates.