UVA is bringin' the Payne
By: Dave Buschenfeldt
04/05/2007

When University of Virginia redshirt freshman Keith Payne watched Percy Harvin help the University of Florida capture the NCAA football championship in January, he could have been jealous. While a senior at Oakton High School in 2005, Payne's Cougars beat Harvin's Landstown Eagles for the AAA Division 6 state title, and, in the process, Payne's defensive effort limited the explosive Harvin to just 49 total yards. But, instead of being envious of Harvin's collegiate success, Payne called to congratulate him.

"I gave him a call the day after [the NCAA championship game]," said Payne, who rushed for 250 yards and four touchdowns in the 2005 state title win. "I told him he had a great game. I'm glad for him. It was good to see him do his thing."

Watching Harvin shine on the national stage made Payne even more eager to take the field for the Cavaliers to show what he can do. The 6-foot-3, 243-pound running back is one of several Fairfax County natives fighting for playing time as spring football practice has begun at Division I colleges and universities across the country.

"I guess it's a relief," said Payne, who did not see game action last season but faced first-team competition every day at practice with the scout team. "I get to actually work for playing time."

With his large frame, Payne does not look like the prototypical running back, but that works to his advantage on the field. The Herndon native compares himself to former Tennessee Titans Pro Bowler Eddie George in that he has quick feet but also has the strength to break through tackles.

"He's a running back in a linebacker's body," said Payne's former coach at Oakton, Joe Thompson. "He's unique in his ability because he's capable of running around you or running through you. He's just a great athlete."

Payne's large size also gives him an advantage in pass blocking. This versatility out of the backfield makes him a valuable asset to Virginia head coach Al Groh.

"He's obviously got natural running talent," Groh said. "He has high-end potential. We are trying to emphasize to the players that it is up to them."

Payne, whom Thompson calls a deceptively hard worker, should have no trouble making the most of his opportunity. While he admits that the Cavaliers' playbook is more challenging than the one he used at Oakton, the running back is determined to memorize the more than 100 plays he may be required to run.

Payne, a sports psychology major, will have plenty of time to get comfortable in the offense this spring, as the Cavaliers practice three times a week. According to Payne, the team generally meets at 2:15 in the afternoon to watch game film and go over new plays. They then practice at full speed in full pads from 4 to 6:30 p.m.

At the conclusion of each practice, the players huddle together and in unison cry "ACC champs!" - a reminder of the team's goal to win the Atlantic Coast Conference title.
Payne believes he can be an impact player for Virginia this year and help the team win the conference championship, but he also has a goal of his own.

"My goal is to be the best in the ACC," he said. "I want to be the best running back. I want to run the plays and help us win. That's the ultimate goal, to win games."

With his size, speed and unwavering work ethic, Payne has a chance to do just that.

"I expect that he'll be very special," Thompson said of Payne, who already has a cult following despite having never played a snap on Saturdays. "He'll be playing against the best competition in the nation in the ACC, but he doesn't like to fail. He's got a ton of energy and he's competitive. He's always challenging people to be better."

Key to UVa football season may lie in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Baseball staff knows all about Long
By Doug Doughty

People think I’m crazy when I say the key to Virginia’s 2007 football season will be its non-conference road games with Wyoming and Middle Tennessee State.

For one thing, people act like there’s no way Virginia could lose to Middle Tennessee State.

How soon they forget!

If a team could lose at home to Western Michigan and on the road at East Carolina in the same season, it certainly is capable of losing in Laramie, Wyo., and Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Heck, if Wyoming hadn’t missed an extra point in overtime, the Cowboys might have won in Charlottesville last year.

Virginia traditionally has played well at home, even last year. The Cavaliers were 4-2 at Scott Stadium last year and could – or should – have beaten Western Michigan and Maryland. Even after blowing a 20-0 halftime lead and losing to Maryland 28-26, the Cavaliers won their last three home games.

For the second year in a row, Virginia will play six road games – not a positive omen for a team that struggles on the road.

Virginia has home games next year with Duke, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech. I could see them going 5-1 at home, but in addition to Virginia Tech, against whom Al Groh is 1-5, the Cavaliers must face the two combatants in last year’s ACC championship game (Wake and Georgia Tech).

Road games are against Wyoming, North Carolina, Middle Tennessee State, Maryland, N.C. State and Miami. Sure, some of those ACC teams are beatable, but consider this: Virginia lost in its last trip to UNC, Maryland, N.C. State and Miami.

So, if the Cavaliers don’t beat Wyoming and Middle Tennessee State on the road, who will they beat?

Middle Tennessee State probably wasn’t as good as East Carolina last season, but the Blue Raiders received a bid to the Motor City Bowl before finishing 7-6. They are coached by Rick Stockstill, a former Florida State quarterback who is familiar with the Cavaliers from his days as a Clemson assistant and has five former ACC assistants on his staff.

In the spirit of full disclosure, it is also worth mentioning that Middle Tennessee State lost games at Oklahoma and South Carolina by the respective counts of 59-0 and 52-7. The Blue Raiders also lost to then-No. 8 Louisville 44-17 in Nashville, Tenn.

THERE ARE VARIOUS twists to the recruiting of Charlottesville schoolboy star Kyle Long, rated the No. 1 football prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times.

Long, son of NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long and younger brother of UVa preseason All-America candidate Chris Long, also has shown promise as a baseball pitcher at St. Anne’s-Belfield and has not ruled out the possibility that he will play baseball exclusively in college.

Virginia is recruiting the younger Long (6 foot 7, 295 pounds) for football and baseball. He was offered a scholarship for football at the earliest opportunity, Sept. 1, but so far he has not been offered for baseball.

That is not to say that Virginia does not like Long as a baseball prospect. If he were to commit for football, the UVa baseball staff would welcome his baseball involvement in any capacity.

If he played football and baseball, he would count against the football scholarship limit.

The only way he would count against the baseball limit is if he played baseball exclusively. Schools like Florida State have started to pursue him from that angle, but you’d have to believe the football staffs at those schools would be nosing around as soon as he arrived on campus.

UVa's Web site posters seem surprised that Virginia hasn’t offered Long a baseball-only scholarship, but coach Brian O’Connor has done due diligence. He already has been to two of Long’s games this season and has other scouting missions planned, with the bulk of the evaluation slated for the summer.

O’Connor already has four commitments for 2008-2009, one of them from Tunstall High School junior Justin Thompson, brother of current UVa pitching ace Jacob Thompson. There are very few full scholarships in Division I baseball; if it’s going to take a 75-percent offer to get Long for baseball, O’Connor wants to make sure he’s worth it.

Don’t mistake the absence of an offer to this point for negligence. O’Connor is fully aware of Long’s importance to the UVa program at all levels.

YOU DON’T USUALLY get much information about women’s recruiting in this column, but the Cavaliers are still waiting to hear from Jordan Jones, a 5-9 baskeball prospect from Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Ga.

Jones signed with Texas Tech during the fall but was released from her letter-of-intent due to illness in her family. She subsequently has narrowed her choices to South Carolina, Wake Forest and UVa.

Jones is considered one of the top shooters in the women’s class of 2007. Collins Hill, led by Connecticut signee Maya Moore, finished 31-0 and was rated No. 1 in the country in the final USA Today poll.
 

Cavs aim to rebound vs. Devils
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 6, 2007

Brian O’Connor corrals his players into the outfield grass after every baseball game.

Some of those sessions are short and sweet. Others, as was the case after a three-run loss at VMI on Tuesday, include numerous teaching points.

With Virginia’s coach pacing feverishly and flapping his arms through the air, it appeared the most recent discussion was very heated.

Think again.

“People were down so Coach was telling us not to get too down about this one loss, and that’s exactly right,” said left fielder Brandon Guyer. “You can’t get down about [one] loss. We played a good team and we had one bad inning.

“If you have a bad inning against a team like that, that’s what happens.”

O’Connor, whose team opens a three-game series with Duke (21-11, 2-10 ACC) at 7 p.m. today at Davenport Field, said he wanted to reinforce to his team how well it has played - Virginia is 27-6 overall and 8-4 in the ACC.

“We had an honest conversation. Sometimes they just need to be reminded how good they are, too,” O’Connor said. “We are one of two schools in the country that is top 10 in runs scored and not just ERA, but fewest runs allowed, which is important because it ties in defense.

“That tells them there that we have a pretty darn good team.”

Given the length of the season, O’Connor said the reminder was helpful to put the big picture in place.

“A lot of other coaches and athletes don’t understand the game of baseball. What I mean by that is that we, in our sport, deal with failure more than any other sport,” O’Connor said. “You are a championship team in baseball if you win 75 percent of your games. That means you are going to lose 25 percent, and how you handle that is vital into having a great team.

“Now we have a great opportunity to come back [tonight] and get ourselves back on the right track.”

O’Connor, however, did not leave Lexington without demanding an intensified effort.

“All of sudden you are the third-ranked team in the country and you think you can throw your gloves out there [and win],” O’Connor said. “You can’t just throw your gloves out there against a team like VMI, nor will we be able to this weekend.

“There was panic that set in at some point in the game. At no point in the game do you need to panic at all. The game will play out itself. If you prepare properly, we have the talent that we are going to win a majority of the time.”

Injury update

O’Connor said he expects leadoff hitter Greg Miclat to play in all three games against Duke.

The sophomore, who has been battling shoulder tendonitis, was held out of Tuesday’s game with VMI.

First baseman Jeremy Farrell (forearm strain) is not expected to play.

The sophomore is expected, however, to start swinging a bat in moderation on Wednesday, and O’Connor remains hopeful that Farrell can return to the lineup near the end of April.

On the mound

Jacob Thompson is slated to start tonight for Virginia. The sophomore, who is 7-0 with a 1.75 ERA, will square off against Duke right-hander Alexander Hassan (2-1, 2.86 ERA).

The Blue Devils are expected to throw their ace, righty Tony Bajoczky, on Saturday against Virginia rookie Matt Packer (3-1, 3.12 ERA).

Virginia junior Sean Doolittle will look for his second straight win on Sunday. Duke has not announced a projected starter for the series finale.

 

Only hair separates Hall, Brown in UVa CB competition
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
April 6, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Mike Brown is a trendsetter. His shoulder-length dreadlocked look appears to be influencing other members of Virginia's secondary.
Chris Cook is sporting the mini-dreads look, as is Brown's chief competition for the other starting cornerback spot, Vic Hall, though his couple months worth of growth pales in comparison.

That appears to be the only real difference between the two.

Brown and Hall are 1A and 1B - and not necessarily in that order - in the competition for Marcus Hamilton's vacated starting cornerback spot. Brown, a 5-foot-9, 180-pound rising junior, will work with the first team one day. Hall, a 5-foot-9, 184-pound rising redshirt sophomore from Gretna, will do the same the next.

Neither has pulled ahead of the other, an encouraging sign considering both are having an excellent spring. It has given credence to the idea that the two could split time at the position next season.

"If both of them are doing real well, then it's not significant that one is necessarily the starter," said Virginia coach Al Groh, who noted that the marked improvement of his three third-year cornerbacks has been one of the more pleasant developments this spring. "They can both play and that competition will remain intact."

If either has an edge in experience, it's Brown, who has played 470 snaps his first two years to Hall's 151. As a freshman in 2005, Brown and Chris Gorham alternated at one corner spot after Cook broke his leg in the fifth game of the season.

When Cook regained his starting spot last season, Brown had to find different ways to contribute. He was a standout gunner, along with Hall, on UVa's punt unit and later in the season began returning punts for the first time in his life. He led the team with a 9.6-yard return average.

"My high school coach always used to say, 'Find your niche,'" said Brown, who still got some backup duty at cornerback. "At first I was a little disappointed (about not starting), but there were so many more opportunities for me to help the team."

Hall, a record-setting quarterback at Gretna, made the switch to cornerback when Cook broke his leg and UVa was worried about depth at the position. Last year, his first full season at cornerback, was a learning experience. He got in a few games in mop-up duty. At Duke, the Blue Devils threw at him twice in the fourth quarter and completed both passes.

"(The game is) pretty fast. You can't slack off," Hall said. "They're out to get you, especially at a position like cornerback."

He made strides, though. At Florida State, he nearly nabbed his first interception. Coaches and players marveled at how quickly Hall picked up the finer points of playing a position he had never seriously played before.

"He's like a sponge," Brown said. "He soaks everything up."

Forget quarterback. Hall is, for now. His focus is on the defensive side of the ball (and as the holder on field goals), though he's eagerly anticipating what he can do when he gets his first interception.

"I feel I can turn it around real quick in the other direction," he said, his voice excited.

As for the competition, it's not affecting the two, who are close friends.

"I'm not so worried about who comes out 1 or 2, because we're both going to be on the field so much," Brown said.

"Whoever comes out as the best player is going to help the team best."

NOTE: The Cavaliers have their final open practice of the spring on Saturday at 9:45 a.m. It is expected to run until 12:20 p.m. UVa's spring game is April 14 at 2 p.m.