Santi looks to get grip
The UVa tight end had a career-best season in 2006, but with less drops, it could have been better.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- There's a movie that Tom Santi keeps watching even though he doesn't like the ending.

Unless wide receiver Kevin Ogletree can make an unexpectedly swift recover from knee surgery, Santi will go into the 2007 football season as Virginia's top returning receiver.

Santi had a career-high 29 receptions in 2006, but he could have had 35 and maybe as many as 40.

"The coaches made a tape of all the balls I dropped," said Santi, a 6-foot-5, 243-pound tight end who will be a senior this coming season. "There were more than I would have liked .

"I had never had a problems with dropping balls. Ever. It wasn't technique. It was just a matter of not concentrating on the point of the ball at the last second and getting in a hurry trying to turn upfield too fast.

"I got into some bad habits."

Ogletree, who underwent surgery Tuesday for a torn anterior cruciate ligament, is likely to miss the 2007 season. Yet, even before that, head coach Al Groh had envisioned a heightened role for Santi.

"We were moving in that direction already," said Santi, who has 61 career receptions. "A lot of that came from Rashawn [Jackson] moving to fullback."

Santi frequently has lined up at fullback over the past three seasons, sometimes serving as the lead blocker but mostly going into motion and creating one-back sets

At Saturday's practice, Santi frequently flanked out wide or in the slot.

"If you look at him, well, he's not a fullback," coach Al Groh said earlier this week. "He clearly isn't a true wide receiver, if you look at him. But, he's not 6-5, 255 or 260. [He's not] one of these bulky tight ends either.

"If you're familiar with Dallas Clark of Indianapolis, he's a tight end but he'll line up in the backfield, on the wing, in the slot. They do a lot of versatile things with him. That would be a quick visualization of some of the things Tom can do."

Besides, Virginia's other two returning tight ends, senior Jonathan Stupar and junior John Phillips, are more than capable of handling the conventional tight end roles.

"I don't think we've installed a lot of the stuff we're going to do," said Santi, who caught two touchdown passes Saturday. "We've just kind of scratched the surface in the spring."

The best look at Santi's potential came in the 2005 Music City Bowl, when he returned to his hometown of Nashville, Tenn., and caught five passes for a career-high 128 yards in Virginia's 34-31 victory over Minnesota.

While his total receptions rose from 19 to 29, Santi's per-catch average dropped from 18.8 yards in 2005 to 8.7 last year. He did not have a reception in either of UVa's last two games.

"I was very ready to move on," Santi said. "Last year was just frustrating for everybody. Nobody wants to go 5-7. In particular, I felt I had a frustrating, disappointing season. I felt like I was better prepared than I performed."

Even Santi didn't realize the challenge of replacing Ogletree's 2006 productivity.

"He had 52 receptions?" Santi said. "Everybody together is going to have to pick up the slack. We've got a pretty unproven group of guys."

Other than Ogletree, no returning Virginia wide receiver had more than six receptions last year. Ogletree, who was on crutches at practice Saturday and walked unaided at times, has not ruled out the possibility of playing in 2007.

"He and I have talked about it," Groh said Friday. "That's the only way to approach it. To do anything otherwise probably would keep his rehab from going as positively as it could. I told him we were going to assess it and do what's best for him on a long-term basis."

If Virginia were to feature the tight ends in 2007, it wouldn't be the first time. In 2003, Heath Miller had a team-high 70 receptions for a Virginia team that won eight games.

"I don't know if anybody is going to catch 70 like Heath Miller did," Groh said Saturday, "but, the whole position, collectively, might catch 70 [or] 75. Maybe each guy will catch 25. I think the total number for that position will be up pretty good.

"It will have to be up for us."
 

34th Annual Capital Classic
Sneak peek at future Six incoming Cavs and Hokies get a jump on rivalry in all-star clash
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Apr 8, 2007

COLLEGE PARK, Md. For three days they were teammates, working toward a common goal: victory in the 34th annual Capital Classic. That didn't stop the future Hokies from ribbing the Wahoos-to-be, and vice versa.

"We've been talking trash all week," Malcolm Delaney said Thursday night.

Delaney, a 6-3 guard from Baltimore, was one of four Virginia Tech basketball recruits in the Capital Classic. Three of them -- Delaney, 6-4 guard Dorenzo Hudson and 6-7 forward Jeff Allen played for the U.S. All-Stars, as did University of Virginia recruits Jeff Jones and Mike Scott.

"Everybody got here Tuesday, so we had three days with each other," said Jones, a 6-4 guard from Wilmington, Del. "It was a lot of fun, in the hotel and on the bus, bragging and cracking jokes about who's going to win next year."

At the University of Maryland's Comcast Center, the U.S. team faced the Capital All-Stars, whose post players included another Tech recruit, 6-9, 230-pound Augustus Gilchrist. Numerous times Thursday night Gilchrist found himself covering -- or covered by -- future teammate Allen or future foe Scott.

"I was talking to him, trying to get him out of his game, because he was killing us," Allen said. "I knew he was pretty good. I didn't know he was that good, though."

Gilchrist missed a breakaway dunk attempt in the first quarter but didn't let that embarrassing moment deter him. He totaled 24 points and nine rebounds in the Capital All-Stars' 149-145 victory.

"I had all the confidence in the world," said Gilchrist, who was named the game's MVP. "Things happen. You just got to have humility and roll with the punches."

Jones may not treasure his memories of this all-star game as much, and not only because he shot poorly. Maryland fans in the crowd of 3,127 booed Jones during pregame introductions, and the jeers continued whenever he touched the ball.

"I knew the noise was coming, but I tried to tune that out," said Jones, who originally committed to Maryland before changing his mind and signing with U.Va. "I don't think that affected my game at all."

Jones, the all-time leading scorer in Philadelphia's storied Catholic League, struggled in a game notable for its lack of defensive intensity. Paired in the backcourt with Clemson recruit Terrence Oglesby, who hoisted 13 3-pointers, Jones didn't touch the ball much. He made only 3 of 9 field-goal attempts and finished with seven points.

At U.Va., he'll be among the candidates to replace J.R. Reynolds at shooting guard, and those "are definitely some big shoes to fill," Jones said. "You've seen what J.R. Reynolds did for all four years, but I've been working hard all spring, all winter, and I'll continue to work hard."

Scott fared better than Jones in College Park, as did the Tech recruits. Scott, Allen and Hudson played this season for Kevin Keatts on the postgraduate team at Hargrave Military Academy, and Keatts was their coach in the Capital Classic, too.

Delaney, a Towson Catholic senior who was the top player in the Baltimore area this season, scored a game-high 31 points Thursday night. In one third-quarter sequence, he stole the ball and then passed ahead to Hudson for an emphatic dunk.

Hudson sank two treys and scored 14 points. Allen, whose low-post scoring will be needed next season at Tech, contributed 16 points, 15 rebounds, two assists and two steals.

"We just all feed off each other, even in this game right here," Delaney said of playing with Hudson and Allen.

From a team that advanced to the NCAA tournament's second round, the Hokies lost guards Zabian Dowdell, Jamon Gordon and Markus Sailes, among other players. Delaney could well start as a freshman.

"There's a lot of pressure, but I can take it," he said. "I'm used to being under pressure."

Allen said the Capital Classic let him "see what Virginia Tech is going to look like next year. And it was cool playing with Mike, even though he's going to Virginia, and Jeff Jones."

Scott, who starred at Deep Creek High before enrolling at Hargrave, showed offensive skills not often seen from U.Va. post players the past two seasons. The 6-8 forward made 11 of 18 shots from the floor and scored 25 points. Many came on dunks, including one that capped a breakaway on which Scott flipped the ball to himself and then threw it down to pull the U.S. All-Stars to 123-121.

"He's real long, and he's real athletic," Jones said, "and I think that's something Virginia has been missing: an above-the-rim player."
 

Cavs rally, topple Heels in overtime
By Macon Gunter / Daily Progress correspondent
April 8, 2007

On a brutally cold night under the Klockner Stadium lights, the third-ranked Virginia men’s lacrosse team came from behind to knock off No. 11 North Carolina, 10-9, in an overtime thriller for the ages.

Sophomore Garrett Billings corralled a Jack Riley pass with 1 minute, 38 seconds remaining in the extra session and deposited a twine-tickling blast behind Carolina goalie Grant Zimmerman to give Virginia (10-1, 2-0) its 10th straight victory.

“I give our kids a lot of credit for battling right to the very end,” said Cavalier coach Dom Starsia, whose team has never lost under the home lights. “It’s a meaningful win against a quality team.”

With the victory, the Cavaliers extended their 23-game Klockner Stadium win streak and have now topped UNC 14 times in their last 16 meetings. Granted, few of those wins came in such adverse conditions.

“Is this cold?” deadpanned Starsia after a game played in 30-degree weather throughout. “This wasn’t cold. This was nothing. … Maybe I generated my own heat on the sideline, but I could have peeled off some clothes.

“As many overtimes as it would have required for us to win, I would have been happy to stand here.”

Carolina (7-4, 0-3) drew first blood just 63 seconds into the game when sophomore Ben Hunt beat Cavalier netminder Kip Turner after a missed defensive assignment.

After the two teams battled back and forth throughout the first quarter - neither team had more than a one-goal advantage - Virginia appeared to earn the upper hand.

Three minutes into the second stanza, freshman Ken Clausen took possession of the ball at midfield, tore through the Tar Heel defense and sent a shot into the back of the net to give the Wahoos a 5-4 lead.

After two dynamic saves by Turner on the other end, Brian Carroll one-timed a slick pass from teammate Ben Rubeor to give Virginia a two-goal advantage with 9:35 remaining in the second period.

Minutes later, sophomore Steve Giannone tossed a 15-yard offering past the outstretched stick of Zimmerman and promptly sent his team into the locker room with what appeared to be a comfortable 7-4 lead.

The resilient Tar Heels, however, took the field with a vengeance in the second half, held the Cavaliers without a third-quarter goal, and eventually captured an 8-7 lead with 12:34 remaining in the game.

“I thought we were making a lot of mistakes,” said Starsia, whose team outshot Carolina, 37-34, but lost 14 of 22 faceoffs. “We gave the ball back to them a number of times, but I thought we were playing hard, which has been sort of the defining characteristic of this team to date.”

Determined not to lose under the lights, Virginia fought for every loose ball and received determined defensive play down the stretch - but it was nearly not enough.

After trading goals, the Cavaliers found themselves down 9-8 with less than three minutes to play. Not to be denied, however, Virginia captain Drew Thompson dodged in and out of Carolina blue-clad defenders en route to an unassisted, game-saving goal with just 2:06 remaining to send the game to sudden-death overtime.

With not-so-distant memories of a one-goal, season-opening loss to Drexel in their minds, the Cavaliers failed to secure the faceoff and feared for the worst.

“My legs were getting a little tight,” said Turner. “But I felt confident in our defense.”

After saving a Brian Connors shot from nearly 10 yards out, Turner quickly turned the ball back over to the Tar Heels, who politely returned the favor just seconds later.

With a bundled-up crowd holding its collective breath, Riley fired the potential game-winner off of the post, but the Cavaliers retained possession after Carolina defenseman Brian Burke was whistled for a 30-second pushing penalty.

A man-up, Virginia took full advantage as Billings buried his second goal of the game and prompted a well-deserved Wahoo celebration.

“There’s no guarantee you’re going to win a game like this,” said Starsia. “It certainly could have gone the other way, but we’ll certainly cherish this win.

“If you had offered me 10-1 back in January before we started this whole thing, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. If you had said to me you would lose your first game and be 10-1, I would have thought you were crazy. I’ve never seen a season quite like this, but we’re very grateful to be where we are.”

 

Sammis earns another year
Senior will add depth to offensive line
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 8, 2007

Gordie Sammis just wanted an answer.

Good or bad, he longed to know what his future would entail.

Without the NCAA’s permission for a fifth year of eligibility, Sammis was likely headed into the business world as funds for graduate school were missing from his bank account.

As Sammis strolled out to practice on Friday he was stopped by Virginia coach Al Groh.

Fearing the worst, Sammis failed to hide his smile as Groh informed the offensive lineman that he would, in fact, be a Cavalier next season.

“That made my day and it made practice that much better,” Sammis said. “It is just awesome. It really was an answer to my prayers. I have been waiting for this.

“I am just ecstatic to have one more year and be with the team.”

Sammis, who provides the team with needed depth in the trenches, knew he was participating in spring drills without any sort of guarantee.

“I said from the beginning that even if I found out during practice it would have still been worth it because I would have helped out the team,” Sammis explained. “I would have had one last shot on the field with my teammates … I guess that one last moment of glory.”

Virginia tight end Tom Santi said the entire team rejoiced when the news spread throughout Friday’s session.

“I am so happy for him. He is a guy that works so hard every day,” Santi said. “He knows it’s going to be his last year of playing football and it was great to see how excited he was. He was cheesing all day.

“He is an older guy, he knows what we want around here and he knows how to work.”

The response meant the world to Sammis.

“My teammates and coaches were really pumped that I was coming back,” Sammis said. “That made it that much better.”

Sammis needed the additional year from the NCAA because he played what he called “three or four plays” against Akron during a blowout win in 2004.

“I still remember it because that year I was doing Friday morning rookie lift,” Sammis said. “My legs were so sore in that game. I had done 20 sets of squats or something and during the game I was always stretching since I was so tight.”

Sammis knows he is not expected to supplant a starter on Virginia’s offensive line, but he is happy with his role as a reserve.

“I look at it as I am going to do anything to help, whether it is helping the younger guys learn the plays,” Sammis said, “and if, God forbid, a guy gets injured or needs a breather, I can go in and help.”

So much for getting a leg up

The battle to become Virginia’s placekicker continues without progress, Groh said on Friday.

Chris Gould and Noah Greenbaum, both seniors, are the candidates currently with the team, and ample opportunity to claim the spot has not led to answers.

“We are kicking under pressure every day,” Groh said. “We have a regular routine. We are kicking from certain hashmarks and certain distances every day so we get a consistent measure … we’re not jumping all over the place.

“We do have a formula to be able to track their progress.”

Or, perhaps, the lack thereof.

Last season, Gould finished 11 of 19 on field-goal attempts, while Greenbaum nailed one of his two chances.

Incoming freshman Chris Hinkebein, who is from Providence High in Charlotte, N.C., is also expected to join the battle in August. The former soccer player set the school record with 256 career points and nailed a 54-yarder last season.

 

Lyles still improving for Cavs
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
April 8, 2007

Nate Lyles is a player that coach Al Groh believes can become a difference-maker this fall when Virginia attempts to return as a contender for the ACC football championship.

With 33 games under his belt, the senior safety leads the Cavaliers’ deepest and most-experienced secondary during Groh’s seven seasons at the helm.

That said, you would think this spring practice would be a breeze for Lyles, who hails from Chicago. You would be wrong.

When Groh told media this week that the defense had made more progress at the cornerback spots than at safety so far this spring and that he wanted to see that pick up before drills conclude, the statement came as no surprise to Lyles.

“He’s made that clear,” Lyles said of Groh’s statement. “He wants us to get more balls, get more chances at the ball and create more turnovers. We need more interceptions.”

That has been a point of emphasis for a secondary that had but 10 interceptions last season, half of those by the only departed starter, corner Marcus Hamilton. Lyles had one, that coming in the opener at Pittsburgh, which he returned his pick 47 yards.

Just the fact that Lyles did make an interception and some impressive tackles at Pitt was somewhat of an accomplishment because there was some doubt the season before that he would ever play football again.

A career-changing play

In the ninth game of the season against Georgia Tech, Lyles recognized the play call when Reggie Ball handed off to ACC rushing leader P.J. Daniels.

“I remember it clearly,” Lyles said Saturday after a practice in chilling temperatures. “It was actually a play I had seen in practice that week. [Daniels] came around the corner and I was supposed to fill the alley.

“I ran up and [Daniels] thought I was going to cut him ... I ducked my head to hit him and he tried to jump over me, so his knee caught my head,” Lyles recalled.

It was one of those dreadful moments on a football field when everyone in the stadium holds their collective breath in hopes that the player’s injury isn’t a serious one. Time passes slowly until the player is cautiously taken to the hospital.

Months filled with doubt

Lyles suffered a serious neck injury, one that was touch-and-go for the longest time, even after successful surgery. Was it a career-ending injury, just as Willie Davis had suffered a couple of years before?

“I had a lot of doubt, a lot of worry,” Lyles said of those tense months between the hit and the end of his rehab. “The trainers, doctors and coaches really worked with me and helped me overcome it. I’m really thankful.”

He spent the entire 2006 spring and summer in rehab but couldn’t work out with the team until training camp last August. By then, he was chomping at the bit because he felt like he was letting his teammates down.

“I love this team, I love the game,” Lyles said.

Before he came back he talked extensively with doctors about whether he should take any precautions, just what he could do or shouldn’t do. Doctors explained to him that his tackle had not been a technique error on his part and that he shouldn’t change his style of play.

The message was comforting to Lyles, who built a reputation as a vicious hitter, who threw caution and his body to the wind.

“I trusted that the surgery went well and that the doctors did their job because I was going to go out there and do my job,” Lyles said.

Once he made his return and put the pads on, the safety soon proved to everyone that he hadn’t changed. Groh told media during last year’s training camp that as soon as he watched Lyles make his first hit that he was convinced that things hadn’t changed.

“Once I saw him make the first hit, I thought, ‘Nate’s back,’” Groh said. “That’s the same Nate Lyles as before.”

Lyles said he couldn’t settle for anything less.

“As soon as I got pads on I was trying to hit anybody I could see,” he said. “I told myself, ‘This feels good. I really missed it.”

It’s the same mentality he took into a season that resulted in a career-high 46 tackles, one interception, four tackles for loss, his first two quarterback sacks, a fumble recovery and three pass breakups.

“When you come up and get the chance to knock the snot out of somebody, it sends a message to them,” Lyles said. “You’ve got to make the ball carrier pay.”

That is a football philosophy he grew up with, but said it was reinforced once he joined Groh’s program.

“Put your face in the fan and play smackmouth football,” Lyles said. “Physical is the best way to play.”

One of the dangers of being such a physical safety is that sometimes he becomes so conscious of making a hit in run support that he may lose focus on pass defense. That’s a huge point of emphasis this spring.

“It does happen sometimes and one of my focuses this spring is to become a more balanced player,” Lyles said. “You have to be good at both.”

Groh has pushed that point a lot this spring in extra meetings where route recognition and learning defensive calls and coverages has been the key.

Expect the final week of spring practice to be an intense one, particularly for Virginia’s safeties as they attempt to take their game to another level, particularly in the deep half of the field. That could be the difference in a win or a loss in close games this fall.

That could make Lyles a difference-maker and help his dream come true.

“More than anything, I want an ACC championship,” Lyles said. “We’re hungry.”

If the Cavs are going to fulfill that wish, the defense will be the key.

 

Cavs roll over and die against Blue Devils
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 8, 2007

Brian O’Connor admitted he had never seen anything quite like it.
With a chance to win a fourth-straight ACC series hanging in the balance, the Cavaliers’ coach watched his team essentially roll over for the league’s worst team.
Duke, behind 17 hits, cruised to a 13-9 victory over third-ranked Virginia at Davenport Field, marking the second straight Saturday that the Blue Devils knocked off a top-3 opponent.
“We did not in any way deserve to win today’s ball game,” O’Connor said. “It is very, very frustrating. I told the team after the game that we played very soft. That is as soft as I can remember one of our team’s playing.
“It is very disappointing and, quite frankly, there are a couple of our guys that need to shake themselves and get out of their comfort zone and play a little harder.”
With the win, the Blue Devils (22-12, 3-11 ACC) evened the series with UVa, which won 4-0 on Friday. The Cavaliers (28-7, 9-5 ACC) dropped into a second-place tie with Georgia Tech in the league’s Coastal Division, one game behind North Carolina.
The Blue Devils struck early against Virginia starter Matt Packer (3.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 ER), plating a pair of runs in the third on a two-out double by first baseman Nate Freiman.
Virginia bounced back in its half of the third, taking a 4-2 lead after Sean Doolittle delivered a two-out, two-run single and scored one pitch later on a monstrous home run by fellow junior Brandon Guyer that drilled the top of the left-field foul pole.
It was all downhill from there as Duke scored four in the fourth, five in the fifth and added two more in the sixth, claiming a 13-4 lead.
Throughout the mess, O’Connor tried unsuccessfully to find an option out of the bullpen after pulling Packer (3-2).
Andrew Carraway, who entered with a 0.64 ERA, allowed five runs and recorded only four outs. Neal Davis, who worked two innings, gave up four hits and two earned runs.
“You have to go out on the mound and do the job when you get the momentum back. We didn’t do that,” O’Connor said. “We had two outs and nobody on and we walked a guy [in the fourth] and that’s when it started.”
Virginia did not help itself defensively - shortstop Tyler Cannon and second baseman David Adams made back-to-back errors in the lengthy fourth inning as Duke sent eight men to the plate.
For the game, Duke scored 11 of its 13 runs with two outs.
“You never know what is going to happen” said Duke coach Sean McNally. “We know that Virginia has great pitching, but it seemed like today, wherever we hit the ball it just found a hole.”
O’Connor added: “You have to tip your hat to them. Duke did a great job and we didn’t execute the pitches that we needed and we didn’t make the plays that we needed to in the clutch.”
Virginia avoided its worst loss of the season with a five-run eighth inning, taking advantage of three hits and two Blue Devil errors.
“That approach that we had in the eighth inning … why don’t we have that approach in the first inning?” O’Connor wondered. “That’s my concern and my disappointment. Let’s show that when it counts. Quite frankly, I am a little concerned that we haven’t played tough [in two of our last three games].
“Obviously, my job as the coach and manager is to find out why that is.”
Duke starter Tony Bajoczky, who allowed six hits and four earned runs in six innings, earned the win to improve to 6-2 on the season.
“Tony didn’t have his best stuff today, but I always know he is going to compete, and you never know until you get that 27th out, but Tony was good enough today to win,” McNally said.
Virginia and Duke close out the series today at 1 p.m. Guyer said it is important that the Cavaliers, who also lost on Tuesday at VMI, regroup and regain their focus.
“We have had two tough losses this week and that’s how the game goes,” Guyer said. “We have a 56-game schedule so you have to put it behind you and come out and get the series win. That is what it is all about.
“It hurts right now but tomorrow the sun rises and it is a different day. I think we will be all right.”