Ogletree to get 2nd opinion on ACL
Virginia wide receiver Kevin Ogletree's knee hasn't swelled as much as some knees do after an ACL tear.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
March 30, 2007

Kevin Ogletree, Virginia's best wide receiver, will fly home to New York City on Sunday to seek a second opinion regarding the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Ogletree plans to visit Monday with Dr. Orrin Sherman, an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports-related injuries at New York University Medical Center.

Ogletree, a rising junior, was tentatively scheduled to undergo surgery in Charlottesville today, but the operation has been moved to Tuesday, pending the results of his meeting with Sherman. Ogletree injured his knee during last Friday's practice, the second of the spring.

"I just want to get a second opinion because I had so many good signs from the injury," Ogletree said, noting that his knee didn't swell as excessively as some do after a torn ACL. He said his MRI showed no tear in his meniscus, a wedge of knee cartilage that sometimes tears with the ACL.

Ogletree said he trusts Virginia's medical staff, including team orthopedic surgeon David Diduch, but that he and his family wanted to exhaust all their options before surgery. Diduch understood that perspective, said Ogletree's uncle and guardian, Mark Rossianno.

"I just want someone else to say, 'Yeah, it's absolutely necessary,' " Rossianno said. "Even the (Virginia) doctors themselves have said that it was kind of weird how Kevin tore his ACL and it doesn't seem synonymous with normal ACL tears, but the MRI definitely revealed a tear."

Regardless of how Monday's consultation goes, Ogletree hopes for a quicker-than-expected recovery. Virginia coach Al Groh said Wednesday, when he revealed Ogletree's injury, that rehabilitation periods vary based on the injury's severity - something doctors won't know until surgery. But Groh indicated there was a chance Ogletree could miss the upcoming season, and perhaps an entire year.

News reports of that information startled Ogletree. "It was kind of depressing that people are just ruling me out," he said.

He is encouraged by the case of Denzel Burrell, a rising sophomore outside linebacker who tore his left ACL during a game last September but is working back into practice. At this point, Ogletree said, Burrell's injury appears more serious. "His (knee) swelled up tremendously," Ogletree said.

Ogletree hurt himself while planting and trying to change directions. "It was nothing I hadn't done 100 times before," he said. "I heard it (tear), but I didn't want to admit to hearing it."

He led Virginia last season with 52 catches, which ranked second in the ACC, and 582 yards. He also caught four touchdown passes. He has a redshirt year available, which would enable to him to come back as a junior in 2008.

"I'm pretty nervous, man," he said. "Any time you go under a knife, you're nervous. I'm anxious, but I'm also just ready to do what's the best for me and what's going to give me the best chance to be successful."

Schaub’s actions speak louder than Groh
Did Groh lose faith in Byers?
By Doug Doughty

TRIVIA QUESTION: Of the Virginia wide receivers with remaining eligibility, who has the most receptions at the Division I-A level?

We’ll get back to that one later.

As I was rummaging through four or five sets of notes from Al Groh teleconferences, I was reminded of an exchange Groh had this week with a Houston Chronicle columnist, Jerome Solomon..

The subject was former UVa quarterback Matt Schaub, who was traded from Atlanta to Houston last week and has signed a six-year, $48-million contract.

Solomon prefaced a question by saying that one of Schaub’s first moves as a Texan was to ask the organization for the phone numbers of all of the players.

“It’s not something, I would guess, that he just thought up or that someone told him would be a good idea,” Groh said.

“In answer to [Solomon’s] first question, for me to tell you a little bit about him, that’s Matt telling you everything you need to know about Matt, much moreso than anything I could say.

“With Matt, it’s always been about a lot more than just about him. It’s always been about the team and what it takes to win.”

TRIVIA ANSWER: Cary Koch.

This is a trick question in more than one way because, even if Koch had not caught 23 passes at Tulane in 2005, the answer still would not have been Maurice Covington, who had seven receptions for the Cavaliers in 2006.

If you’re talking about Virginia wide receivers with remaining eligibility, you’d also have to consider Emmanuel Byers, who had 10 catches for the Cavaliers last year.

I already had wondered privately if an injury to Kevin Ogletree might cause Groh to rethink his decision not to bring Byers back for a fifth year. When I consulted media gadfly Jeff White, he confirmed that the Byers situation had been serving as Internet fodder.

Here’s what Groh had to say March 20 about Byers and his policy on fifth-year seniors:

“It’s about roster management,” Groh said at a news conference on the day before spring drills started. “Obviously, a big part of it is team chemistry and team morale. That is, it is only fair to the player and the long-term benefits of the team, if you look at what the circumstances are going to be in the upcoming year.

“We always want to put a player in a position, if he’s going to be back for a fifth year, that it’s with the expectation that it will be a very positive year. I don’t think it’s fair for a player who could graduate and move on to something else, to go through everything they have to through – the offseason, the training camp – and not have a substantial role.”

It’s easy to see how Byers would not have had a substantial role with the emergence of Ogletree and Covington and the arrival of 3 to 4 promising freshmen, but now Ogletree is likely to miss the 2007 season. That opens up about 500 to 600 plays for another receiver and, theoretically, Byers could have a substantial role.

On the other hand, Groh has always seemed to run hot and cold on Byers, who had a productive final month of the 2005 season but was limited by an Achilles problem last year. After he dropped a pass at East Carolina and fumbled a punt against Maryland, Groh never seemed comfortable with him again.

Did I say “hot and cold?” Make that luke warm and cold.

IN THINKING BACK to some of the best Virginia receiving corps over the last 25 years, many of them included walk-ons, players like Patrick Jeffers, Tim Finkelston, Keith Mattioli, Derek Dooley and Bryan Owen.

You have to wonder if Staton Jobe might one day join that list.

“When there were only three players left on the field the other day, long after everybody else had gone in, Staton was one of the three,” Groh said. “He’s got a good commitment to this. He’s got a real good work ethic. You can see his passion for football. I would certainly put him in the mix of those guys who have a real good chance to compete.”

The other two players with Jobe: fellow redshirt freshmen Marc Verica, a quarterback, and Chris Dalton, another wide receiver.

GROH SAID THAT offensive lineman Gordie Sammis, a senior this past season, has been going through spring drills in hopes that the NCAA might give him an extra year of eligibility based on his brief appearance in a 51-0 victory over Temple in 2005.

It was his only appearance of the season but it was in the second half of the year, usually a no-no in hardship appeals..

“Frankly, we lost track of him,” Groh said. “Before we knew it, he was in the game. We have petitioned in his behalf. We weren’t on top of the situation. You’d have to ask the NCAA [about a precedent]. I don’t have any great confidence on how they rule on anything.”
 

Cannon firing on all cylinders
Rookie thriving for No. 5 Virginia
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
March 30, 2007

As the home to the Dollywood theme park, Pigeon Forge, Tenn., is known to many merely as a tourist destination nestled in the Smoky Mountains.

But the ever-growing city might soon be known around Virginia’s Davenport Field for producing another attraction: Tyler Cannon.

Following in the footsteps of previous first-year players slapped with the “phenom” tag, Cannon continues to make what appears to be a relatively smooth jump into college baseball just 365 days after slumming it at the prep level.

“Last year at this time, I was actually riding a yellow bus going to wherever we were playing with my high school buddies,” Cannon joked, “and being here at Virginia is definitely a different ball game.”

The stadiums are bigger. The game is faster. The crowds are louder.

The stakes are also a lot higher given the fact that Cannon is starting in the infield for Virginia (24-5, 5-4 ACC), a program ranked fifth in the country and heading to Blacksburg today to face Virginia Tech (15-11, 4-5 ACC) in a three-game series.

Cannon, who has started 24 games, splitting time at shortstop and third base, has recorded 26 hits and scored 15 runs and provided Ryan Zimmerman-like plays in the field.

Not everyone has been shocked by Cannon’s adjustment.

“It doesn’t surprise me that he can play the game of baseball the way he does,” said UVa coach Brian O’Connor. “He knows the game of baseball and he is a baseball player, pure and simple.

“He plays hard, and the results are showing why we recruited him.”

Sleeping under the same roof with his high school baseball coach certainly didn’t hurt. Cannon’s coach at Pigeon Forge was his dad, Larry, who also served as the school’s principal and athletic director.

It was not uncommon, Tyler said, for the two to spend countless hours after practice on the school’s field taking extra batting practice and fielding grounders.

“He definitely taught me the fundamentals and how to hit with your hands,” the younger Cannon said. “We spent many, many nights out there, and it seems to be paying off.”

Landing Cannon was a top priority for O’Connor and his recruiting guru Kevin McMullan. Other top-tier programs were hot on the trail.

“Kentucky and Vanderbilt were the ones that were hitting me the hardest, but I just didn’t feel as comfortable around the coaches there as I did at Virginia,” said Cannon, who got a glimpse into the program during a fall camp in 2004. “I just fell in love with the coaching staff here. It just seemed like they were a family with their players.

“They cared about their players, and the academics were a big plus.”

Securing playing time, Cannon knew, would be a struggle.

“We basically had three freshmen All-Americans last year on the infield back; and Sean Doolittle, well, enough said,” Cannon chirped. “I knew I was just going to try and work hard and see what happened.”

An injury to shortstop Greg Miclat (shoulder tendonitis) opened the door to become an every-day player when league play started four weeks ago, and Cannon has used the additional plate appearances to improve.

“[College pitchers] are just a little bit faster, and they locate better,” Cannon said. “The defense is obviously better … some balls that I have hit would have been hits last year, but I feel a little bit more comfortable at the plate.

“I think I was pressing too much at the plate and worrying too much. Now, I am not trying to think too much and going about it like I used to.”

The strides are evident to his teammates.

“Tyler has really picked it up,” said right fielder Brandon Marsh. “He hits the ball very well, uses his hands well at the plate and he has really developed a great eye at the plate.”

Cannon has not been perfect, which he is often reminded of when his dad, who relocated to Bristol over the summer and now works at John Battle High, makes the 4 1/2-hour trek up to Charlottesville.

“I can hear him every once in a while: ‘Come on Tyler. Geez,’” the rookie joked. “I always hear him if I do something wrong.”

 

UVa still hoping for Patterson
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7236
March 30, 2007

Scattershooting around the sports world over your morning coffee ...
Now that the McDonald’s All-American game is over, the Patrick Patterson watch goes into full gear.
Patterson, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound power forward from Huntington, W.Va., is one of only two top 50 prospects in the country who is unsigned for the current recruiting class. He’s the kind of player who could give Virginia what it has desperately needed for years - a dominant player at the 4-position.
Wahoo fans have their collective fingers crossed because Patterson said prior to the McDonald’s game that he planned to narrow his list from six schools to three sometime this weekend. The six schools on his list include: Virginia, Florida, Kentucky, Duke, West Virginia and Wake Forest.
Once he trims the list to three, he will focus on his final choice the second week of April.
What is most important to the blue-chip forward? He recently said that factors he will consider include academics, the coaching staff, relationships with players, and fan support.
Meanwhile, one of the top junior prospects in the nation, 6-9, 210 forward Ed Davis from Richmond’s Benedictine High School, has announced his first list of schools he will consider for his services.
Virginia made that list along with North Carolina, Clemson, Georgetown, Virginia Tech, Louisville, UConn and Michigan State. Davis, who averaged about 20 points and 13 rebounds a game, said that of all those schools on his checklist, that he’s been recruited the hardest by UVa.

For Pete’s sake
Somebody needs to give Pete Gillen another shot as a head coach and it appears that somebody might be Iona, which fired Jeff Ruland.
Gillen’s name has been popping up a lot in the Iona conversation, along with Fran Fraschilla (call it “The battle of the TV analysts”) and Louisville assistant Steve Masiello.
No one is sure if Gillen remains in the mix at South Florida. He was believed to be the first person interviewed for the Big East job, but USF offered the position to Winthrop’s Gregg Marshall, who declined, as did South Alabama’s John Pelphrey.
What does this tell us about South Florida? It’s a bad job. Coaches would rather work in the Big South and the Sun Belt than take the Big East challenge at USF. I’d hate to be that AD in trying to fill the position.
By the way, USF has won four out of 32 games in its first two years in the Big East. Iona? Well, the Gaels went 2-28 this past season.
On another note, Virginia Tech associate coach Brad Greenberg, Seth’s brother, has been named head coach at Radford University.

Football recruiting
Virginia is already working hard on the recruitment of Marcus Sales, one of the top wide receiver prospects in the nation for the next recruiting class.
Sales, who is 6-1, 180 has 4.48 speed, plays for Christian Brothers in Syracuse, N.Y. He already has scholarship offers from Virginia, Syracuse, Miami, Louisville, Pitt, Iowa and UNC.
The Cavs rolled out the red carpet for him in his unofficial visit to Charlottesville last weekend, where he was greeted by coach Al Groh and spent time watching film with offensive coordinator Mike Groh and new wide receivers coach Wayne Lineburg.
Virginia’s staff also equally entertained Averin Collier, 6-11, 195 (4.45) of Churchville, N.Y. He’s also one of the top prospects in the nation as a running back and wide receiver. It was Collier’s second trip to Charlottesville, having been here for the Cavs’ win over Miami last fall.
He already has offers from UVa, Syracuse, Pitt, Clemson, Louisville, Maryland, Boston College, Temple and Buffalo.
Meanwhile, one early Virginia commit, Tyler Westphal, a 6-6, 230 defensive end from Menasha, Wis., has backed out of that commitment and decided instead to stay closer to home and committed to Wisconsin after visiting there recently.

Philly to C’Villey
There has been a great migration of Philadelphia athletes to Charlottesville throughout the years from the old school guys like Tony Laquintano and Dick “Dark Cloud” Engel to modern stars such as Sean Singletary.
Two more are on the way and both have picked up some impressive accolades this week. Two of coach Dave Leitao’s incoming basketball recruits, Jeff Jones and Sam Zeglinski, were named to the Philadelphia Daily News’ all-city teams.
Jones, a 6-4 shooting guard from Monsignor Bonner, made the Daily News’ first team, while Zeglinski, a 6-1 point guard from Singletary’s alma mater of Penn Charter, was named to the second team for the second straight season.

So, you wanna be ...
For anyone out there thinking they might want to play in the NBA or NFL someday, here’s why you should work on your grades more than your jump shot or your tackling skills.
The NCAA just published these statistics about your chances:
About three in 10,000, or approximately 0.03 percent of high school senior boys playing basketball will eventually be drafted by an NBA team. Less than one in 35 (about 3.0 percent) of high school seniors playing basketball will play at an NCAA school.
In football, approximately eight in 10,000 or about 0.08 percent, of high school senior football players will eventually be drafted by an NFL team. Remember, there are about 1,071,775 boys playing high school football as compared to 546,335 playing high school basketball.
About 5.7 percent (1 in 17) of all high school seniors playing football will play college football.
Hit the books. Hard.

 

'HOOS WHO: Marc Verica
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com
March 30, 2007

Marc Verica has been down this road before.

As a sophomore at Monsignor Bonner High in Drexel Hill, Pa., the quarterback was locked in a tight battle for playing time when his toughest competition suffered an injury.

It was not ideal, but Verica, now a redshirt freshman at Virginia, flourished under center.

“The other quarterback ended up blowing out his knee, so I got to start and I never gave the spot back,” Verica said. “It’s not great when you lose the job like that, but sometimes things like that happen.

“Guys come out of nowhere all the time and they just don’t give the jobs back.”

Virginia’s incumbent, rising sophomore Jameel Sewell, has basically been on a pitch count in spring practice following wrist surgery in December, giving Verica and junior Scott Deke the chance to split tons of reps with the first team.

“I am here to compete … if it is in the individual drills or team periods,” Verica said, “I understand that we need a quality backup with Jameel’s situation.”

Verica was an accomplished signal caller at the prep level - he was a two-star recruit - and picked UVa over offers from Wisconsin and Michigan State.

“I liked Virginia because of the coaches, that it was in the South and the offense that they run here - the quick, pro-style passing game,” he said. “Probably the biggest thing, however, was academics.”

A standout in the classroom, Verica also spent his first semester studying the Cavaliers’ offense and trying to bide his time.

“You definitely have to be patient. Redshirting last year taught me that because I didn’t get any reps at all,” Verica said. “I was just trying to benefit from scout-team reps and that certainly helped me, but now that Jameel has issues with his wrist it has opened up the door for me.

“Quarterback is a tough position because there’s only one guy and it is hard to spread the reps around, but I’m just trying to take advantage of any reps that I get now. We will just have to see what happens here.”

 

NCAA losses costly for ACC
Men's teams will feel the pain financially
Chip Alexander, Staff Writer

While a lackluster showing by ACC men's teams in this year's NCAA Tournament may have hurt the league's basketball prestige, the financial pain may be felt for the next six years.
Under the NCAA's basketball revenue distribution plan, a conference's annual share is based on the number of teams in the NCAA Tournament and how successful those league's teams are on the court over a six-year period. With a record seven teams awarded berths this year, the ACC was positioned for a nice windfall.

But Duke and Georgia Tech lost in the opening round. Virginia, Virginia Tech, Maryland and Boston College fell in the second round. North Carolina won three games to reach the regional final, then frittered away an 11-point, second-half lead Sunday against Georgetown and lost.

For the second straight year, the ACC is without a team in the Final Four. In NCAA financial parlance, that means more "units" lost for the league.

Units are determined by adding the number of teams and wins each year in the tournament. The ACC's seven teams had seven victories this year, thus 14 units.

The NCAA bases its annual distributions to conferences on total units earned in a six-year period. The 2007 distribution is based on the years from 2001 through 2006, when the ACC accumulated 80 units. With each unit worth $176,864 this year, the ACC should receive $14,149,120 for 2007, according to NCAA projections.

However, the value of the units has been rising each year -- a unit was worth $163,981 last year -- and that could offset some of the ACC's financial hit.

Next year, the league will have 79 units -- losing 15 units from 2001, adding 14 from this year. That's far short of the 19 units the league earned in 2004, when the ACC had six teams in the field and Duke and Georgia Tech reached the Final Four.

UNC athletics director Dick Baddour said he doesn't worry about units being earned or lost by ACC teams during the playing of the NCAA Tournament.

"I guess somewhere in the back of your mind you think about it but it's not something I focus on," he said. "It's not something you take for granted. But because of the strength of the league and the fact it's determined over a six-year period, it's a predictable total and doesn't vary much from one year to the next."

Lee Fowler, the athletics director at N.C. State, said, "You go into the tournament knowing every win is good for the conference and that the better we do, the better it is for the conference. We did know with seven teams in this year, we had an advantage on a lot of leagues. Still, 14 units is not a bad year."

The Wolfpack men's team missed the NCAA Tournament this season after five straight appearances, but that doesn't affect NCSU's revenue share from the league.

Diane Moose, NCSU's associate athletics director for business operations, said the Pack would receive about $1.1 million as would the other ACC schools except Boston College, which receives a partial share this year as a new member. Boston College gets a full share next year, so the NCAA revenue will be distributed equally among the ACC teams.

N.C. State has a total athletics budget of about $38 million, and UNC's is $51 million.

 

Hughes envisions Tech turnaround
Hokies' coach only has tolook to Virginia to see it can be accomplished
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 30, 2007

Not many Hokies would admit publicly to trying to emulate the University of Virginia.

Virginia Tech's new baseball coach doesn't hesitate to do so. Pete Hughes has seen how Brian O'Connor has transformed the program in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers, who began playing baseball in 1889, won 40 games in a season only once before O'Connor took over as coach. They advanced to the NCAA tournament only three times.

Now look at them. O'Connor's first team, in 2004, went 44-15. His second team finished 41-20 and his third set a school record for victories by going 47-15. All three played in the NCAA tournament.

His fourth team? It's 24-5 and ranked No. 5 nationally by Baseball America.

"What Virginia and Brian have done there is the model for programs transitioning from mediocrity to national prominence," Hughes said yesterday.

Hughes went 250-181-2 in eight seasons as Boston College's coach. He has significantly more resources in Blacksburg than he did in Chestnut Hill, Mass. If the Wahoos can do it, Hughes believes, so can the Hokies.

"I never would have taken the job if I didn't think so," he said.

Dating to 2003, U.Va. has won six straight games over Tech. The Hokies have a chance to end that skid in an ACC series that begins today at English Field in Blacksburg.

Tech (4-5, 15-11) hosts Virginia (5-4, 24-5) at 1 p.m. The teams will meet again tomorrow and Sunday.

Hughes learned yesterday that his best starting pitcher, right-hander David Cross (2.89 earned-run average), has a season-ending injury that will require Tommy John surgery (ligament replacement). So things could be better for the Hokies' first-year coach. Still, Hughes likes what he's seen from the players he inherited.

In 2006, its final season under legendary coach Chuck Hartman, Tech went 0-15 in ACC road games and finished 4-25 in conference play. The Hokies were 20-33 overall.

Already this season, they've won three ACC road games, including two at perennial power Georgia Tech, and matched their conference victory total from 2006. Tech went 1-2 against then-No. 6 North Carolina in Blacksburg last weekend.

"Those are all positive things," Hughes said, "and these are all nuggets these guys can take to get out of that losing mindset, which I think they had a little bit."

O'Connor said he hasn't seen the Hokies this season, "but just talking to professional scouts and other coaches, they're playing a different style of baseball, a very aggressive, hard-nosed style of baseball, which I knew they'd play for Pete.

"It doesn't surprise me at all. He'll turn that program into a very good baseball program."

Coming into the season, Hughes said, "I told our guys, 'I want to outhustle, I want to outcompete and I want to out-tough the other team.' I think we've done that for the most part."

For the Cavaliers, this will be their fourth ACC series of the season -- and third on the road.

Two of U.Va.'s top players Jeremy Farrell (.415) and Greg Miclat (.433) -- are battling injuries. Farrell has been out for about a month with arm strain and isn't expected back for at least another two weeks, O'Connor said. Miclat, who when healthy is Virginia's No. 1 shortstop, has tendinitis in his throwing shoulder. He's played first base recently but is questionable for this weekend's series.

"I said before the season that the depth of our team is the best it's been, and now it's showing," O'Connor said. "We have two huge injuries, and we're still winning a lot of baseball games."



 

Uga VI might be near end of reign
As mascot nears 9, retirement is close
By CHIP TOWERS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/30/07

Athens — Get a good look at Uga VI while you can because this coming football season may very well be his last.

The Georgia Bulldogs' beloved mascot, the sixth in a line of pure white English bulldogs dating to 1956, turns 9 years old in July. None of his predecessors have continued past the age of 10.

Savannah attorney Sonny Seiler, who has owned the dogs since he was a UGA student in the 1950s, was asked if this coming season would be the last for Uga VI.

"Historically speaking, yes, probably so," Seiler said. "We want a dog that presents well, not one that slouches around. Uga VI has been wonderful. He still stands up for most of the games, and he's the biggest dog we've ever had. But dogs get old like people do. ...

"It's hard work being the world's greatest mascot."

Rumors have swirled in recent weeks that Uga VI, whose given name is "Uga V's Loran Whatchagot," might be replaced before this coming season because of bad health.

Seiler says that's not true and thinks the gossip may have started last season because Uga VI no longer runs ahead of the football team as it comes onto the field.

"This is straight from the dog's mouth," Seiler said. "Uga is in excellent shape for his age. I have every reason to believe he'll serve one more year. If there's anything that's wrong with him, it's that he's too damn fat like his owner."

As to whether retirement this year was imminent, Seiler said: "I don't know, we'll take a look at it then. We'll take another look at it in August."

Meanwhile, Uga VI is staying busy as always. Seiler said the 55-pound mascot will be at the G-Day spring football game April 7 at Sanford Stadium and has several commitments this summer, including shooting a television special on tailgating for the Paula Deen Show on the Food Network.

As for what dog will become Uga VII, that's a tightly guarded secret, as always. There is more than one from which to choose.

"I'll just say if we needed to put our hands on a puppy, we'd be ready," Seiler said. "We try to use the youngest one so he'll be around as long as possible."

For Georgia fans, that's never long enough.