UVa's backs can expect more passes
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
April 7, 2006

Scattershooting around UVa, while taking you behind the curtains of Cavalier football and basketball ...
One of Hall of Fame coach George Welsh's favorite phrases about his Virginia football teams, particularly in a rebuilding year or in a season after the Cavaliers had lost a major player or players at certain positions, was, "There's more than one way to skin a cat."

While the PETA folks probably don't appreciate that comment, Welsh's successor, Al Groh, probably can. Not that Groh condones skinning cats; but he understands that just because he lost a great deal of his offensive attack from last season, it doesn't mean that Virginia can't find new ways to move the football and score points.

Case in point is the quarterback spot, currently held by fifth-year senior Christian Olsen.

Olsen is a drop-back passer, which is completely different than Marques Hagans. So, where are we going with this? When there was pressure on Hagans, or if his receivers were covered downfield, then Hagans had the mobility and escapability to scramble and turn a potentially sticky situation into a positive yardage situation.

Don't expect that from Olsen or current backup Kevin McCabe, also a pocket passer.

But Olsen brought up a good point the other day as did Wali Lundy, UVa's record-breaking tailback, who was discussing his draft potential. Lundy, who was a senior last season, said that NFL scouts had been impressed by his pass-catching ability and reminded everyone that he had caught 87 of his 112 career receptions his first two years in the program (58 as a true freshman).

Lundy explained that the big difference in the decline of his catches was the contrasting styles of Virginia's two quarterbacks during his career. Matt Schaub, the starter during Lundy's first two seasons, was a classic, drop-back guy. Meanwhile, the past two seasons, Hagans was a more mobile guy who could create in a different way under pressure.

Hagans was more apt to tuck and run, while Schaub felt more comfortable dumping the ball off to Lundy or even then-fullback Jason Snelling, who had 31 of his 55 career catches in 2002 when Lundy had 58.

Wow, that's 89 passes to two backs in one season. A little research reveals that is also seven more passes than Hagans threw to his primary four backs during the past two seasons combined: 29 to Alvin Pearman; 25 to Lundy; 24 to Snelling; and three to Cedric Peerman.

"Obviously, I'm not going to run for 200 yards a game like Marques did, but maybe I could do the same things he did in a different way," Olsen said. "When he scrambled for 25 yards after a play broke down, maybe I could check out to a running back and he takes it 25 yards."

That's what Groh is thinking.

"A lot of Marques' runs came on plays that, had a quarterback not had that ability to create, the ball probably would have been thrown to the check down receiver," Groh said.

Personally, while enjoying and appreciating Hagans' unique skills, this columnist believed that the beauty of Virginia's offense during that '02 season was the screen passes and swing passes to Lundy and Snelling. It seemed to drive defenses crazy and reminded me a lot of those of 49ers offenses with Montana & Co.

Wolfie to Wahoo?

According to several recruiting sources, N.C. State basketball commitment Chris Wright, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound shooting guard from Washington, D.C., has decided to look elsewhere now that Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek has left for the Arizona State job.

Wright's phone has been ringing a lot since he reneged on his N.C. State deal. Several ACC schools, including Virginia, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest, have all contacted him in an attempt to land the Rivals five-star prospect.

He is ranked as the No. 16 overall prospect nationally in the junior class and would make a nice tandem with incoming Wahoo point guard Sam Zeglinski.

The new N.C. State coach will get a chance to re-recruit Wright, who said he intends to open up his recruiting process and start all over again.

Short yardage ...

... Former Wahoo football players Byron Thweatt and Zac Yarbrough have rejoined the program as graduate assistant coaches. ... UVa cornerback Mike Brown, who was injured in last Saturday's practice, had not returned to work as of Tuesday. ... The Cavs will return to the practice field today for their seventh day of work this spring. ... Corner Nate Lyles, recovering from neck surgery, is starting to run and do some weight room work, although he and the coaches will have to take a wait-and-see approach to his rehab. ... Lynchburg's Chris Cook, a defensive back who suffered a broken leg as a true freshman last season, has bounced back and has performed well in practices thus far. ... While UVa trainers and doctors attempt to determine how serious Eugene Monroe's dislocated kneecap may be, backup Zak Stair has delivered some eye-opening performances in the big man's absence. ?

What does it say about ACC football in the grand scheme of things when only one of the 12 conference schools is ranked among the top 34 junior college recruiting jobs in the country? Florida State was ranked sixth among all the Division I-A schools that signed jucos in February (the Seminoles signed three). ... Virginia Tech announced the starting times for four of its home games: Northeastern, Cincinnati, Southern Miss, and Kent State, all starting at 1:30 p.m., unless they are picked up by TV at a later date. ... Want to see famed Charlottesville sports psychologist Dr. Bob Rotella up closer and personal? Then set aside the evening of April 11 when Doc will be guest speaker at the Notre Dame Club of Greater Charlottesville meeting at the Charlottesville Catholic School on Pen Park Road. The public is invited and admission is free.

 

Groh answers 'rebuilding' questions
Pettinella object of Penn scam
Doug Doughty

Whenever a veteran coach says that his team is "rebuilding," especially one who rarely uses the word, there is a temptation to respond, "And, who's fault is that?"

As politely as I could, I tried to pose that question to Al Groh this week.

After all, Groh is entering his sixth season as Virginia head coach. Personally, I don't have any problem with the concept of "rebuilding," but Groh's never had much use for it.

"I don't think any team has a schedule or a time frame that's mapped out [as if to say], ‘These are the years that we're going to plan on having more of a rebuilding stage,' " Groh said in a teleconference Wednesday.

Ideally, there would be some rebuilding in each class, but it wouldn't vary much from year to year.

However, Virginia played so many freshmen in Groh's first two seasons at UVa (2001-2002) that this kind of situation was inevitable.

"So many of them played so early and for so long that they were around for a long time," Groh said.

He specifically mentioned "Alvin's class," a 2001 freshman group that included not only running back Alvin Pearman but also All-America tight end Heath Miller, who actually was redshirted as a true freshman but turned pro after his redshirt junior year.

Pearman and Miller had committed to George Welsh before Groh was named head coach, but the players who signed in 2002 would be fifth-year seniors this coming season – if any of them still had eligibility.

The only three 2002 signees of consequence who will return next year are cornerback Marcus Hamilton and running backs Michael Johnson and Jason Snelling. Remarkably, all three played during the 2002 season; in fact, Hamilton has played in parts of four seasons, but he was able to claim a hardship year after a knee injury in 2002. Johnson and Snelling were redshirted in 2003.

"We had three players on the offensive line – D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Brad Butler and Bart [Barthelmes] who played most of the snaps for four seasons," Groh said. "So, there was minimal rebuilding for four years there.

"Now, if those guys hadn't been doing what they were doing, then it might have occurred earlier."

Groh mentioned some other factors that contribute to rebuilding:

"Strength of [recruiting] classes, development of players, injury situations," he said. "They all determine that. Those things occur on a year-to-year basis."

Groh also could have mentioned attrition. Two players expected to play major roles in 2006, inside linebacker Ahmad Brooks and safety Tony Franklin, were not invited back for what was described in this column last week as "insufficient focus, commitment and dependability."

Two prominent members of Groh's first recruiting class – defensive lineman Braden Campbell and safety Willie Davis – were lost to career-ending injuries, although both played in 2002 and, presumably, would have completed their eligibility by this point.

It's interesting that Johnson and Snelling are still around because Groh no longer employs the strategy of using a player as a freshman, then redshirting him in his second or third year. That approach worked wonders for nose tackle Andrew Hoffman, although it was Welsh who decided to use Hoffman as a true freshman in 2000 and not Groh.

The Welsh tenure is full of examples of true freshmen who were used sparingly, at the cost of a potentially valuable fifth year, and Groh hasn't learned a lesson in that area. After using freshman defensive back Chris Gorham for a wasted 20 plays in the 2004 season, Groh had promising defensive tackle Alex Field in action for 33 plays last season.

Invariably, these decisions come when Groh is really ticked off. In 2004, it was a 36-3 loss at Florida State that set him off. Last year, it was back-to-back losses at Maryland and Boston College that prompted Groh to burn redshirt years for Field and wide receivers Maurice Covington and Kevin Ogletree.

If Virginia doesn't emerge unscathed from a two-week midseason road trip to Duke and East Carolina, look out. There could be another Groh youth movement.

A RIVALS.COM FOLLOW-UP with Virginia recruit Ryan Pettinella was particularly timely, given a column that appeared last week in the Daily Pennsylvanian.

"Awkward forward will leave again, now for KSU," a headline read.

The story reported that Pettinella, who spent two seasons at Penn, had decided to play for Kansas State under new Wildcats' coach Bob Huggins, who previously had recruited him for Cincinnati.

"Ryan is a real solid player with incredible speed and tremendous post skills," Huggins was quoted in the story. "With a real coach, I can see him reaching the level of some of my great former forwards. I'm thinking a Kenyon Martin, only with fewer tattoos."

The story went on to say that Huggins admired Pettinella's loyalty but hoped he would change to shooting free throws underhanded.

Did I say that the story appeared in the April 1 edition of the Daily Pennsylvanian. April fools!

"I'm not really worried about Ryan graduating because he will probably get drafted before then," Huggins was quoted by reporter Andy Kennedy (also the name of Huggins' successor at Cincinnati). "Even if he is not drafted, he doesn't really need an education anyway."

For the record, Chris Wallace of rivals.com spoke to Pettinella, who said he was happy for Huggins but is sticking with Virginia.

 

Starsia speaks about scandal
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
April 7, 2006

The nightmare that has become the Duke lacrosse program has been one of the hottest topics of discussion in sports during the last couple of weeks.
The alleged rape of an exotic dancer, who is black, by members of a mostly white team, has stirred up emotions not only in the Raleigh-Durham area, but all across the country.

On Wednesday, Duke coach Mike Pressler resigned after the discovery of a Hannibal Lecter-like e-mail written by Duke player Ryan McFadyen. Duke also announced that the rest of its season would be canceled.

As a result, Virginia will not play host to the Blue Devils on April 15 as originally scheduled. UVa, the No. 1-ranked team in the country, will most likely have a 14-day hiatus after its game against North Carolina on Saturday.

But that seemed to be the least of Dom Starsia's concerns on Thursday.

Just before his team began practice, the Virginia coach talked at length about how the Duke scandal has affected his team.

"It's a very real thing and does affect us all in different ways," Starsia said. "I think it goes beyond lacrosse and athletics in general. I don't think that I've been witness to a more hurtful situation in my 32 years of coaching at the college level. I'm not in any way taking sides. This is just the most unfortunate event.

"It's been very unsettling. It hits close to home in a lot of ways. Again, you're trying to do this right and know that you can't control all the variables, all the time. You hate to see people get hurt by things like this. ? You hope that the people involved are able to find some peaceful resolution."

Starsia has known Pressler for many years. He says that makes the ordeal tougher for him personally.

"It's hard when it involves someone that you feel like you know - you know his family," Starsia said. "He's a good man trying to do his job and do it right, but [this kind of trouble] comes with the territory to a certain extent.

"The accountability for the behavior of our athletes generally stops at our desks. We've talked to the team about these kinds of things obviously, but I know that when these things happen, they're going to find their way to me, and we're going to need to figure out a way to deal with them."

Starsia said he has talked to his players at great length about the incident. He believes they understand the seriousness of the situation and can learn something from it.

"College students in general tend to think that they're a little bit invincible at times," Starsia said, "but this ? it certainly hits home in a lot of ways."

The Virginia sports information department instructed media members not to ask UVa players about the events at Duke. However, seniors Michael Culver and Matt Poskay couldn't help but talk about the effect that the situation has had - and will continue to have - on them.

"We have discussed it a lot as a team," Culver said. "I think what it comes down to is you just have to be really [thankful]. It's a pleasure to wear a Virginia uniform and go out and play lacrosse every day. It's a great sport and I have so much fun playing it. All my best friends are out here. It's a special opportunity and you have to keep that in the back of your mind."

Poskay said the team needs to focus on its game against North Carolina and not think about its 14-day break until it has to.

"It's in guys' heads for the future," he said. "We'll just have to stay sharp and go after it every day like we have been."

 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Apr 6, 2006

TOUGH BLOW: Eugene Monroe, who's expected to start at left offensive tackle for Virginia's football season, is out indefinitely with a dislocated kneecap. The 6-6, 318-pound freshman injured his left knee in practice Sunday.

"He wasn't in any particular discomfort on Sunday, and he said he was feeling even better on Monday," U.Va. coach Al Groh said yesterday.

Groh said he's not sure if surgery will be required or how long Monroe will be sidelined. An MRI on Monroe's knee was done Tuesday, but Groh said he had yet to receive a report from the team's orthopedic surgeon, Dr. David Diduch, who'd been out of town. Monroe's injury is believed to be less severe than, say, a torn ACL.

With Monroe out, 6-6, 294-pound Zak Stair, a rising sophomore from Manassas, has been working with the first team at left tackle and is "doing a nice job here in the spring," Groh said.

FIELD OF DREAMS: Groh's decision to dismiss Vince Redd from the team created an opportunity for Alex Field, who's been working with the first team at defensive end this spring.

As a true freshman last season, Field played in only five games. But at 6-7, 275 pounds, and with excellent speed for his size, he has the potential to become a standout end in Virginia's 3-4 defense.

Field, a Broad Run High graduate, said playing behind Brennan Schmidt, who was a four-year starter at U.Va., helped him immensely.

"Of course he'd teach me techniques and tricks and tips," Field said, "but it was more just how he handled his stuff and his attitude, and I'm just trying to emulate that."

Of Redd's departure, Field said, "I was disappointed to see him go, because he's one of my teammates, one of my friends. We're just going to work hard with the guys we got."

COMEBACK KID: Chris Cook, who as a true freshman won a starting job at cornerback before suffering a season-ending injury last year, has shown significant improvement in practice recently, Groh said yesterday.

Cook, who broke his right leg in early October in a game at Boston College, was cleared for contact before the start of spring drills last month.

"It wasn't really hard to deal with it," Cook said of his injury. "All my teammates were by my side, pushing me on and telling me it'd be all right and I'd have a good year this year."

Cook said he has most of his speed back, but admitted he'd been tentative at times on the practice field.

"Yeah, it's psychological," he said, "because sometimes when I think about it, it hurts. Other times when I go out and play it doesn't hurt."

OFF TO THE RACES: That sophomore wideout Andrew Pearman is fast - very fast - is evident to anyone who watches him run.

"But the thing that's probably most eye-catching about his speed is that he's able to make his cuts at full speed," Groh said. "There are some players that are fast players, but they have to slow down to make their cuts."

Pearman, whose brother, Alvin, starred at tailback for U.Va., sat out last season after transferring from Hawaii. He's listed at 5-10, 166 and, like his big brother did, wears jersey No. 21.

ON THE MEND: Virginia's all-ACC point guard, sophomore Sean Singletary, had arthroscopic surgery on his hip last Thursday and will spend the rest of the spring rehabilitating from the operation, the school announced yesterday. He hurt his hip in early December but missed only one game because of the injury.

Singletary will take part in the Cavaliers' offseason program on a limited basis but is expected to be back at full strength this summer.

WHERE'S THE BEEF? Of the players on U.Va. coach Dave Leitao's basketball team in 2005-06, only 6-8 freshman Laurynas Mikalauskas (241) weighed more than 215 pounds. Jason Cain, a 6-10 junior who started 24 games, and Tunji Soroye, a 6-10 sophomore who started 23, were each listed at 212 pounds.

Leitao and strength coach Shaun Brown know the Cavaliers need more bulk.

"I'm looking at the team, and I don't see a high-major team in terms of its appearance, and we've got to change that over time," Leitao said. "How many teams across the country, never mind high-major teams, have a starting [power forward) and starting [center] who are both under 220 pounds? It doesn't happen. So I like to think that's an area that we'll address significantly this summer."

ALL-STAR: U.Va. basketball recruit Jamil Tucker will play for the U.S. team in the Capital Classic next Thursday night at George Washington University's Smith Center in D.C. Tucker, a 6-9 forward who's most comfortable on the perimeter, is from Gary, Ind.

The 6 p.m. preliminary game will match the Suburban All-Stars against the District All-Stars. The U.S. All-Stars and the Capital All-Stars will follow at appromixately 8 p.m. The Capital team includes Virginia Tech recruit Nigel Munson, a point guard from DeMatha High. - Jeff White

 

Sports Focus: College Lacrosse
The long-range effects People now are paying attention to the sport, but not for good reason
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Apr 7, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE Duke University's decision to shut down its men's lacrosse team leaves Virginia with one less obstacle to clear in its bid for the NCAA championship.

That didn't seem important yesterday to Dom Starsia, the Cavaliers' longtime coach. He's a good friend of Mike Pressler, who resigned as Duke's coach Wednesday. Starsia knows these are dark days for the sport he loves and to which he has devoted his professional life.

"It certainly feels like we are not going to be the same people we were before this happened," said Starsia, who tried unsuccessfully to reach Pressler on the telephone Wednesday night.

Members of the team at Duke have been accused of sexually assaulting a woman March 13 at an off-campus party. Authorities in Durham, N.C., obtained DNA samples from 46 of the Blue Devils' 47 players, and the incident has exploded into a national story. The Blue Devils were NCAA runners-up in 2005 and began this season ranked No.1.

It's impossible to say what the long-term damage to lacrosse will be, but many people who had never paid attention to the sport now associate it with allegations of rape and racism.

"At the very base of this whole thing, lacrosse is just a great game, which is why it's growing so quickly at the youth and high school levels around the country," Starsia said.

"I think the game will survive. This is a blow to our sport and to college lacrosse. I don't think that this happens without affecting everyone, though. Maybe this is a bit of a wake-up call for all college athletes, not just lacrosse players."

Duke's roster includes four players from this state: freshman Steve Schoeffel and sophomores Jay Jennison, Bo Carrington and Kevin Mayer.

Jennison, whose parents, George and Cal, are Duke alumni, is a graduate of St. Christopher's School in Richmond. The Times-Dispatch's attempts to reach the Jennisons for comment have been unsuccessful.

Mayer attended the Potomac School in McLean. Schoeffel and Carrington are graduates of the Covenant School in Charlottesville.

"These are two outstanding young men," Covenant coach Dave Breslin said last week. "They're doing as well as could be expected, based on that fact that they have been put in a position unlike any position they've been put in in their lives."

Neither Schoeffel nor Carrington was at the party when the sexual assault is alleged to have taken place, Breslin said. Once the dancers arrived, Breslin said, Schoeffel and Carrington "left immediately," the players told him.

Virginia (10-0), the nation's top-ranked team, was scheduled to face Duke on April 15 to Klockner Stadium. That game, which was expected to draw a large crowd, has been canceled, and Starsia said U.Va. is not likely to find an opponent to take Duke's place.

Only four ACC schools field men's lacrosse teams. With the Blue Devils out, the conference tournament April 28-30 in Baltimore will be a three-team affair. Starsia said ACC officials have assured U.Va. that the tourney will be held as scheduled, though the format has yet to be announced.

Virginia, which whipped Maryland last weekend, visits North Carolina tomorrow afternoon. After the game in Chapel Hill, U.Va. isn't scheduled to play again until April 22, when Division I newcomer Bellarmine comes to Charlottesville. The NCAA tourney begins May 13.

"As long as the ACC tournament happens for us, I feel like competitively, we'll be OK," Starsia said.

He's less certain about the future of lacrosse at Duke.

"In such a small community of lacrosse-playing schools, Duke is a significant player," Starsia said. "I would hope in the long run, Duke lacrosse will be able to come back from this. In no way am I taking sides in this argument. This has been as hurtful a situation as I can ever recall being witness."


 

Making the right choice
UVa's Adams happy with decision to wait on pros
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
April 7, 2006

When Virginia freshman David Adams steps to the plate tonight in the first contest of a three-game series at Duke, he will do so at peace with himself.
This time last year, it was quite a different story. Adams was an emotional wreck.

It had nothing to do with high school graduation invitations or landing a date for prom.

Everywhere Adams turned, people were telling him what was best for his future. The phone rang constantly and scouts spent hours picking his brain and watching him perform on the diamond.

Luckily, Adams had two options: head for the professional ranks or spend at least three years in a classroom at Virginia.

"In the beginning it is all fun, but after a while you are just like 'Gosh, get on with it and let it be over with,'" Adams recounted. "It was kind of overwhelming at first. I didn't expect that at all.

"You just take it in one thing at a time and just let it flow."

Adams ultimately let it be known that it would take a truckload of money to keep him from playing college baseball.

The Detroit Tigers were the first team to take a chance, drafting Adams last summer in the 21st round, which proved to be about 20 rounds too late.

"[Scouts] come in and ask personal questions and find out if you are ready, and I guess they hit it on the nose," Adams said. "My time will come. Everyone's time will come. For now, I am happy to be here."

Virginia coach Brian O'Connor is happy too.

"He was very highly thought of in the Major League Baseball Draft out of high school, but he made it known what he wanted to bypass going to college and getting his education and having the college experience," O'Connor said. "We are glad that he did because we think he is going to make a difference in our program for three years."

Initially, Adams expected to play shortstop, the position the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder played at Grandview Prep in Margate, Fla.

The coaching staff had other ideas and told Adams he served the team best at second.

Adams smiled and promptly started trying to learn a new position.

"I always dreamed of playing short, but you never know what can happen down the line," Adams said. "Whatever gets you anywhere quickest, fastest ? someone is always going to ask you to play somewhere else and you have to be willing to make that adjustment."

If Adams was unhappy about the move, his actions never showed it.

"He has never said anything about moving to second base," O'Connor said. "That is probably going to be his position in pro ball - second or third base - and he has been a team guy ever since he arrived here."

Adams' nine errors is the most on the team, but O'Connor said the transition has gone better than expected.

"I think he has made a very good adjustment to second base. He has a few errors, but he has always played on the other side of the bag," O'Connor said. "It is an adjustment, but I think he is doing great defensively."

Miscues in the field can often be overlooked, especially when a rookie is hitting .365 and leads the team in hits (46), runs (36) and total bases (65).

Adams also leads the team in homers, but that's not why he'll hit fourth in the order this weekend for the Cavaliers (25-8, 6-6 ACC) against Duke (10-24, 3-9).

"It's because he is a doubles kind of hitter and very similar to [former UVa star and Washington Nationals third baseman] Ryan Zimmerman," O'Connor said. "He is going to hit the ball in the gaps, he will not strike out much and he puts the ball in play."

Adams said it means little to him where he hits but admits he gets great pitches to hit batting behind Sean Doolittle and in front of Brandon Guyer.

For now, Adams' focus is on the program's future, one that he hopes includes at least one trip to the College Baseball World Series in Omaha, Neb.

"The coaches have said from the start: '1187.' That is how many miles it is to Omaha,'" Adams said. "As a team, we look forward to that with every game that we play. You have to play hard, you have to earn it and you have to want it.

"We definitely want it and we are looking forward to earning it."