U.VA. FOOTBALL NOTES
Apr 11, 2003

SETBACK: All-Group AAA cornerback Philip Brown, who signed with Virginia in February, has dropped out of Fork Union Military Academy after about a month there and apparently isn't enrolled at any high school.

"It didn't work out," said John Shuman, who coaches FUMA's postgraduate team.

Brown, who helped Hampton's Phoebus High win Group AAA, Division 5 titles in 2001 and'02, withdrew from Phoebus after the first semester ended this winter. He enrolled at FUMA in February. Brown needed to improve academically to meet NCAA eligibility requirements, and the plan was for him to finish this school year at FUMA, remain there in 2003-04 and then enroll at Virginia in the summer of'04.

At Fork Union, Brown progressed academically but struggled with the military obligations. FUMA students take one subject for six weeks, but Brown didn't remain long enough to earn any credit, Shuman said.

Phoebus coach Bill Dee said yesterday that he hadn't spoken to Brown recently and didn't know what his plans were. Shuman said Brown might end up at Hargrave Military Academy next school year.

U.Va. coach Al Groh said Monday that he wasn't "unduly" concerned about Brown's situation. "I think he and I have a pretty good understanding about his circumstances," Groh said.

The Cavaliers still expect Brown to enroll at U.Va. in 2004, Groh said, and "he does, too."

TAKE A LOOK: Groh has opened his team's next three practices to the public. Practice will start at 2:30 p.m. today, at 10:45 a.m. tomorrow and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. The Cavs practice on the fields next to University Hall and the McCue Center.

Virginia's Spring Football Festival will start April 19 at 11 a.m. at Scott Stadium, with the team taking the field at 12:30 p.m.

SPEED TO BURN: First-year linebacker Ahmad Brooks, who entered U.Va. in January, has impressed all-ACC quarterback Matt Schaub.

"He's improving every play," Schaub said. "His speed is definitely one of his greatest assets. The breaks that he gets [on the ball], it's almost like he's a safety playing linebacker."

BUDDING AUTHORS: Former U.Va. stars Tiki and Ronde Barber have signed a deal to write a children's book titled "By My Brother's Side." Simon & Schuster plans to publish the picture book, for which an illustrator will be hired, in the fall of 2004.

The Barber twins grew up in Roanoke and graduated from U.Va.'s McIntire School of Commerce. Each has volunteered in literacy programs since joining the NFL.

SOUND INVESTMENT: Injuries on the offensive line have thrust guard Ron Darden into a prominent role this spring. Darden, who redshirted as a freshman in 2002, has been working extensively with the first team.

"This is one of those kinds of situations that you'd like to think is like buying those bonds that pay interest," Groh said. "Sometimes on a play-to-play basis, we're not seeing the payback, but overall, when the bond matures in a year or two, we'll look back and say he got 350 more plays than he might have otherwise" this spring.

The 6-4, 313-pound Darden, who's from Pasadena, Md., played only two years of high school football, but he's "big and tremendously naturally strong, just from his youth and his upbringing," Groh said.

NEW HOME: At St. Peter Chanel High in Cleveland, Tony Franklin rushed for more than 3,400 yards, and the freshman dazzled his U.Va. teammates last season with his running in practice. But Franklin, who redshirted in 2002, is no dummy. He knows the Cavaliers are especially deep at tailback, and in "conversations with him, he's like, 'Coach, I just want to play,'" Groh said.

And so Franklin switched to cornerback this spring, and he's "doing very well" there, Groh said. So well, in fact, that the position change might be permanent. - Jeff White

 

Brooks Springs Into Action for Cavaliers
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, April 11, 2003; Page D07

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Pretty much every coach who has seen Ahmad Brooks play football in the past few years has come away impressed by his raw talent. It enabled him to dominate in high school, first at Hylton in Woodbridge, then last season at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va. Now Brooks faces a new challenge: living up to the hype.

In less than two weeks of practice with the Virginia Cavaliers, Brooks has earned praise from his coaches and teammates and bolstered the notion that he could be one of the two starting inside linebackers next season.

"Everything they'll ask him to do, I know he can do," said outside linebacker Darryl Blackstock, who made the transition last year from high school star to college starter. "He just has to learn when to do it, where to do it. That's about it."

After raising his standardized test scores with a semester at Hargrave, Brooks enrolled at Virginia in January. He got settled academically and participated in the team's offseason meetings and strength and conditioning program. But when the team took the field for the first day of spring practice on March 28, Brooks found he still had a lot to learn. He was "horrible" that day, he said.

Of course, Brooks set pretty high standards at Hylton, where he was named All-Met defensive player of the year after making 207 tackles as a senior in 2001. USA Today named him the best defensive player in the nation.

In the opening days of Virginia practice, he was trying to find his way through drills and keep up with the instructions his position coach, Al Golden, was barking. He also was trying to finish learning his teammates' names.

"Oh yeah, this is a different level," Brooks said after his first practice. "As far as the coverages and blitzes and all that, I'm pretty far behind. I really just started learning all this last month.

"In high school you could just run over everybody. You really can't do that now, because everybody's the same size. . . . I have to retrain my instincts because the game is going by so quick."

Virginia Coach Al Groh has salivated for more than a year at the thought of adding Brooks, 19, and fellow star recruit Kai Parham, a redshirt freshman, to the Cavaliers' core of young, talented linebackers. Brooks is competing with junior Bryan White for one of the two inside linebacker spots in Virginia's 3-4 defense. Parham is working at the other inside spot with incumbent starter Rich Bedesem.

Virginia quarterback and reigning ACC player of the year Matt Schaub has found that Brooks, even at 6 feet 4 and 249 pounds, has the speed to confuse opposing passing games.

"His speed is definitely one of his greatest assets," Schaub said. "It's hard to judge where he's going to be [in coverage] as soon as you throw the ball, because he's going to be somewhere different [when the ball arrives]. The breaks that he gets -- it's almost like he's a safety playing linebacker. But he's a lot bigger than most safeties."

In addition to those physical gifts, Brooks should benefit from going through spring practice instead of arriving in the summer with the rest of the freshmen.

"In the past, those guys had two or three days in shorts working against each other" before preseason training camp, Groh said. "He's going to have 15 practices with the competition that the full squad provides, the variety of schemes and whatnot that he'll be exposed to. It will make a significant difference for him."

In the years to come Brooks is expected to start alongside Parham. That may or may not happen this season, but Brooks said he and Parham aren't worried about that just yet.

"We'll get our chance," Brooks said. "We're just first years, so we'll get our chance."
 

Men's Lacrosse plays senior day rival UVa Sat.
JENNY MAO/THE CHRONICLE
by Nick Christie
April 11, 2003

Saturday is Senior Day for the Blue Devils. Their opponent is a familiar one: ACC rival and frequent Senior Day foe Virginia. Two years ago Duke defeated the No. 6 Cavaliers on a dramatic goal in the final 10 seconds of play.
Virginia (6-2, 1-1 in the ACC) offers the Duke men's lacrosse team a vital opportunity to turn around its inconsistent season.

Currently ranked 12th, and coming off embarrassing blowout losses to Johns Hopkins and North Carolina, the Blue Devils (7-4, 0-2) desperately need a win over a quality opponent to protect its spot in the NCAA tournament.

Despite very high aspirations entering the year, Duke has underachieved to this point of the season.

"A lot of teams would be happy where we are," head coach Mike Pressler said. "7-4, ranked No. 12 in the country—that sounds pretty good. But for us, we have much higher expectations then that."

Slow beginnings are nothing unusual for the program.

"For four years we've been in the same situation," said captain Kevin Cassese. "We've put ourselves in the position where we've had to win some big games in some pressure situations. But it's good in that we've been in this situation for the last three years, and we know how to respond, especially the senior class. We've been there before. There's no panic."

To regain their footing, the Blue Devils have focused on simplifying their approach to the game, especially on offense.

In its four losses, Duke has tallied just 30 goals.

"Our offense has been pretty dismal in big games this season," Cassese said. "We feel that, collectively, if we concentrate on the way an offense is supposed to be run - in every sport, not just this one - things are going to work out for us."

Defensively, the Blue Devils have been less then stellar as well. Historically a defense-oriented team under Pressler's reign, Duke has struggled to find an aggressive edge against elite opposition.

"We haven't been the same team defensively that we've been in the past," Pressler said. "We haven't been as tough on the ball. We haven't been tough, physically. We've given up way to many soft goals."

Senior defenseman Taylor Wray points to an inability to dictate tempo.

"Frankly, we haven't been on the attack as much as we would expected with the team that we've got," Wray said. "On both sides of the field, defensively and offensively, we're going to be looking to get after it."

Virginia offers the Blue Devils a stern test to see whether a week of practice has been enough to rekindle the winning fire that has brought Duke back-to-back ACC tournament titles in 2001 and 2002.

The Cavaliers took down UNC 10-7 last week, and earlier lost to Johns Hopkins by just an 8-7 score.

A preseason All-American, Virginia goaltender Tillman Johnson is perhaps the best keeper in the nation, and received ACC Player of the Week awards for his efforts against the Tar Heels.

Duke counters with A.J. Kincel in goal, whom Pressler says has played brilliantly even with a faltering defensive effort in front of him. Kincel's biggest task will be to forget the multi-goal losses over the past few weeks.

"To have any success at this position, the shorter the memory the better," Kincel said. "It's probably a little more magnified for a goalie, but it's a good attitude to have as an athlete."

Confident that he can do just that, Kincel speaks for the entire team when he declares a heightened focus for the season's final stretch.

"There's still plenty of time left to do everything we want, and more," Kincel said. "We're still really optimistic, and one of the major components as to whether or not we reach our goals is this weekend."