Gridiron a much better fit for Best
The former UVa soccer player missed football enough to give up his scholarship and switch.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE - While a soccer player switching to football is not unprecedented, there isn't much of a history for the move Ryan Best is trying to make.

Best, the starting goalie for the Virginia men's soccer team in 2003, gave up his scholarship in order to pursue a football career. Where Best differs from most former soccer players is that he hopes to carry the ball one day, not kick it.

"Most guys go the other way around - from football to soccer," UVa coach Al Groh said. "But, as we did some research, we found out that he had a real good high-school career in New Jersey."

Best, a 5-foot-11, 205-pound running back at Williamstown (N.J.) High School, said he was recruited for football by Boston College, Northwestern and Iowa.

"I originally planned to play football in college," Best said. "It was sort of my parents' decision for me to come to Virginia."

In the news release when Best signed, UVa men's soccer coach George Gelnovatch spoke glowingly of Best's athletic ability and said he had a chance to start as a freshman.

Gelnovatch was right. Best started eight games, posting three shutouts, before he was replaced in the starting lineup by classmate Ryan Burke.

"They always told me that I would get a chance to win the job back," Best said, "but my desire wasn't there. I had no love for the game."

Football was a different story.

"Sometimes, our guys would be working out and - it's true - he'd be standing there looking at them, almost like the proverbial kid with his face to the window of a candy store," Groh said.

"I wondered a couple of times [about] this guy's fascination with what we were doing. I quickly found out what it was. He wanted to be a part of it."

By the spring of 2004, Best had decided that he was going to leave soccer for football. However, due to NCAA rules governing training-camp player limits, he could not join the team until the start of class.

Best did not appear in a game, although he was in uniform several times, raising a few eyebrows among observers who recognized his name from soccer.

"I knew I wanted to play at this level," Best said. "I knew I could play at this level. Looking at the guys, it just made me burn inside."

Best is trying to be realistic. He isn't going to beat out Wali Lundy, another New Jersey-bred running back who has rushed for more than 2,600 yards in three seasons. Other scholarship running backs in the program are Michael Johnson, Cedric Peerman and signee Mikell Simpson.

His goals are to get involved in special teams and increase his understanding of the offense, "so when my time comes, hopefully, I'll be able to step in there," he said.

Also driving him is the desire to regain the scholarship he forfeited in soccer.

"It was my decision," said Best, who said his parents did not challenge his decision. "They knew it was what I wanted to do, but it was up to me to get loans. That's [a scholarship] what's pushing me right now."

Saturday a big day for Groh
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
April 21, 2005

While the format of Saturday’s spring game is still unknown, Virginia football coach Al Groh can hardly wait for the day to get here.
Who could blame him?
In addition to getting a closer look at some of his younger talent, Groh will also watch a number of his former players get drafted to play in the National Football League.
“I am looking forward to it,” Groh said. “It will be an exciting day for those players. It will be an exciting day for the program and I will have one eye or one ear, which ever one is appropriate at the time, on what is going on there - in the draft. For sure.”
Groh said the results of the draft, which starts at noon on Saturday, would be shown on the screen at Scott Stadium throughout the spring game once it starts at 2 p.m.
Since most NFL teams take the full 15 minutes allotted to them to make their picks in the first round, it is possible that a former Cavalier will not be taken during the spring festivities.
“In the amount of time that we are out there,” said Groh, “there is going to be about eight players selected.”
The format for Saturday’s game was to be determined this morning Groh said. The reason for the delay centers on “some depth issues.”
Last year, Groh allowed the two coaches of the spring game - Mike Groh and former coach Mike London - to draft the players they wanted for their respective 43-player teams.
In that draft, former linebacker Darryl Blackstock was the No. 1 pick. Quarterback Marques Hagans was taken second overall.
“If we are able to do [the draft], we will let the head coaches of each team do it,” Groh added.

Hitting the weights. Virginia inside linebacker Ahmad Brooks has been held out of spring practice while he recovers from minor knee surgery, but Groh said the rising junior is “on schedule” to return when practice opens in August.
“His rehab has gone well,” Groh said. “He has been doing upper body training as his restrictions allow him to do. Right now, we feel positive about it. Obviously we will feel a lot more positive about it when we see him go full speed for the first time.”
Brooks, a finalist for the Butkus Award in 2004, led the team in tackles (90) for the second straight season and was seventh in the ACC with eight sacks.

Favorable returns. With Marquis Weeks and Alvin Pearman headed to the professional football ranks, Virginia will be in need of a kick returner next season.
Michael Johnson is the leading candidate and had a team-high 13 returns last season. Johnson, who had sports hernia surgery, has not practiced in the spring.
In Virginia’s last game last year - the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho - Johnson returned two kickoffs for 76 yards, including a
47-yard return in the first quarter.
When asked about other candidates, Groh mentioned tailback Wali Lundy, cornerback Tony Franklin and Brooks by name.
“Tony Franklin has done it successfully in the past,” Groh said. “Wali has done it successfully in the past and Brooks has done it successfully in the past. So certainly those three would be candidates.”
Groh did not rule out having an incoming freshman handle the job, as well.
“I think there is a chance that we could see one of the incoming players project himself into that picture also,” Groh said.
Regardless of who wins the job, Groh said a lot of emphasis would be placed on finding the right player when training camp opens.
“We are really going to be looking to do some catch-up work on that when we start practice in August,” Groh said.

A closer look. The Cavaliers coaching staff will host a Virginia Football 101 class for all interested fans and supporters of the program on April 30.
The class, which includes a question and answer session with Groh, will begin at
1 p.m. and run until 5 p.m. The cost is $75.

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Apr 21, 2005

SHORT-HANDED: Virginia averaged 26.6 yards on kickoff returns last season, second only to Indiana (28.1) among Division I-A teams.

But Marquis Weeks, who totaled a team-best 354 yards on 11 returns, is gone, and so is Alvin Pearman, who averaged 37 yards on his five returns.

That leaves Michael Johnson as U.Va.'s most experienced return man, and he's recovering from a sports hernia this spring.

Johnson, a rising junior, averaged 23.6 yards on 13 returns last season. He ran back two for 76 yards in the MPC Computers Bowl before injuring a hamstring.

Other candidates to return kicks this season, Cavaliers coach Al Groh said yesterday, include cornerback Tony Franklin, tailback Wali Lundy and linebacker Ahmad Brooks. All have done so in college.

Pearman ranked sixth among ACC punt returners (11.2 average) in 2004. His replacement is likely to be Johnson, Philip Brown or Emmanuel Byers. Brown has practiced very little because of a hamstring injury.

"We're really going to be looking at doing some catch-up work" on kickoff and punt returns this summer, Groh said.

NAME TO REMEMBER: There won't be a Pearman in U.Va.'s backfield this season, but there will be a Peerman. With Johnson sidelined this spring, Lundy's understudy has been Cedric Peerman, a freshman who redshirted last season.

"It looks like he's going to be a very productive player," Groh said. "Besides bringing a good level of skill to this position, he's really a battler."

U.Va.'s newcomers this fall will include Alvin Pearman's kid brother, Andrew Pearman, a transfer from Hawaii. But Pearman will have to sit out the 2005 season under NCAA rules.

BANNER OCCASION: Three former U.Va. players -- offensive guard Elton Brown, tight end Heath Miller and linebacker Darryl Blackstock are likely to be selected on the opening day of this weekend's NFL draft.

Virginia's spring game starts at 2 p.m. Saturday at Scott Stadium, but Groh will try to keep up with the draft as well as possible that afternoon.

"I'm looking forward to it very much," Groh said. "It'll be an exciting day for those players, and it'll be an exciting day for the program."

Other players from U.Va. expected to be drafted include Pearman, defensive end Chris Canty and defensive lineman Andrew Hoffman. Tight end Patrick Estes, a Benedictine High graduate, and safeties Marquis Weeks and Jermaine Hardy are also candidates to get picked.

FIRST-TEAM FIXTURE: Unlike some of his peers, Groh doesn't believe that an injured starter automatically regains his job when he's healthy again. Still, he sounded confident that defensive end Brennan Schmidt would be in his customary spot this fall.

"I imagine it'll be pretty challenging for someone to play better than Brennan would play," Groh said, "but there's always that possibility."

Schmidt, who has started each of the 39 games he's played at Virginia, is recovering from shoulder surgery. In his absence this spring, rising sophomores Chris Long and Chris Johnson, along with rising senior Kwakou Robinson, have worked with the first team.

SO FAR, SO GOOD: With projected starter Keenan Carter also recovering from shoulder surgery, the 6-4, 330-pound Robinson has worked extensively at nose tackle this spring.

Robinson played end in his first three seasons at U.Va. He's expected to see time at both spots this fall.

"We've been very pleased with what Kwakou's been able to do in there," Groh said. "It's been real good for him . . . Now this just gives him a lot more versatility in what he can bring to the team."

SPREADING THE WEALTH: From its share of the MPC Computers Bowl proceeds, U.Va.'s athletic department has made two substantial gifts.

Both are for $25,000. One went to the Virginia Marching Band endowment and the other to U.Va.'s faculty senate, to support a graduate-student fellowship.

U.Va.'s athletic department received $1.1 million in the most recent bowl-expense allowance from the ACC, the school said. -- Jeff White