Rushing through the rain
Groh singles out younger players in intra-squad game
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 15, 2007

Chris Long, clearly the face of Virginia’s football program and one of the nation’s best defensive ends, looked at the spring practice period as an opportunity to shake the rust off.

Had members of the fanbase looked at Saturday’s spring game in the same light, they would likely be headed for additional karaoke practice.

As steady rain fell at Scott Stadium, the spotty crowd in attendance had only one opportunity to break out the “Good Old Song,” an age-old tradition that follows every score.

That chance followed the lone touchdown - quarterback Scott Deke connected with wide receiver Simon Manka on a 24-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter - which propelled the Blue team to a 7-0 win over the White team.

For a program returning 10 starters on defense and playing without quarterback Jameel Sewell (wrist) and wide receiver Kevin Ogletree (knee), the results did not come as a shock.

“I will say it now, but I would have been just as happy if it would have been a 0-0 tie, because that means the defense was getting it done,” said Long, who assisted on one tackle in limited duty for a blue side stacked with many of the returning defensive stars.

“It is not even so much about each team winning, we are all teammates. It is about individual improvement and guys showing what they have learned all spring, which I think a lot of guys showed.”

That was what Virginia coach Al Groh was hanging his hat on.

Entering his seventh year at his alma mater, Groh said he was solely looking at “some younger players who haven’t been out there, to try and find out who might be ready for primetime and maybe who’s not, just in terms to their reaction to things.

“My impressions are based more on individuals than they are on looking at the overall operation.”

While Groh singled out linebacker John Bivens and cornerback Mike Parker for positive spring-game debuts, he offered a mixed review for the player that most fans longed to see the most.

“I thought [running back Keith] Payne had his moments, but what he has to do is put some definition into his game, landmarks on his runs, tempo on the screen,” Groh said. “His talent is obviously, to anybody looking at it, high-end talent. His game is still a little bit schoolyard.”

Payne, who played on the Blue team, rushed for 29 yards on eight carries, but was outgained by the White team’s Cedric Peerman (5 carries, 37 yards) and fellow redshirt freshman Raynard Horne (12 carries, 39 yards), the starting tailback for the Blue squad.

The star of the game, at least considering his path to the team, was Manka.

After arriving at Virginia as a lacrosse player on a partial scholarship in 2004, the Buffalo, N.Y., native has slowly worked his way up the depth chart at wideout, a position looking for playmakers with Ogletree likely sidelined for the upcoming season.

Ironically, Manka’s lone catch came after Deke looked his way on the previous play, one that ended up as an incompletion.

“I didn’t say much to him after that play, but thinking about it now, much to his credit, I’m glad that he had the faith in me to make that next throw,” Manka said. “I showed him all spring that I am a good player so I don’t think he thought twice about it.”

Manka, who was lined up in single coverage, beat junior cornerback Brandon Jarvis off the line of scrimmage, and, after getting free on the “shake route,” he turned to corral the pass just 15 yards from the entrance to the opposing locker room.

“Every quarterback has to have faith in his receivers,” said Deke, who completed 13 of 23 passes for 129 yards behind the backup offensive line. “Every quarterback throws a bad ball. Every receiver drops a ball. You think people are going to be perfect, but that’s not how it is.

“Not for a second did I think that he wasn’t going to catch it. He ran a great route and I am excited about it.”

Marc Verica, who got the nod at quarterback for the White team, a unit comprised mainly of first-team offensive players, expressed feelings from the opposite end of the spectrum.

On 9-for-21 passing, the redshirt freshman threw for 94 yards. He also set up the game’s lone score by tossing the only interception, a ball that was tipped around in the air and finally collected by cornerback Vic Hall.

“There are certainly things that I could have been better at,” Verica said. “I felt like it was a decent performance, but I am kinda disappointed because we didn’t win.

“I feel like it was directly related to my mistakes.”

Extra points …

Prior to the game, Groh announced the winners of the Rock Weir Award and three team captains for the upcoming season. Linebacker Antonio Appleby and offensive tackle Eugene Monroe were honored for showing the most improvement in spring practice, while tight end Tom Santi, guard Branden Albert and Long were named tri-captains. … Santi was held out of action with a shoulder injury suffered earlier in the week, but Groh said the senior could have played with it in a regular-season game.

 

Peerman not a forgotten talent at UVa
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
April 15, 2007

Even before spring practice started several weeks ago, Virginia fans were clamoring about a pair of redshirt freshmen running backs, Keith Payne and Raynard Horne.

Their reputations, built not only in high school but as members of the Cavaliers’ scout team last fall, had preceded the big, physical backs. The excitement was understandable, especially coming from a fan base that remained bitter over last season’s 5-7 finish.

It would have been equally understandable had junior tailback Cedric Peerman asked, ‘What about me?’

Kind of overlooked

Somewhere along the way, Peerman, who hails from William Campbell High School, was kind of overlooked by a healthy portion of Wahoo Nation.

But not by UVa’s coaching staff. They liked what they saw from the 5-foot-10, 205-pounder.

“I saw a lot of resolve and grit,” said Virginia coach Al Groh after Saturday’s spring game. “But that’s Cedric. Without him saying it, his whole performance this spring said, ‘Look, you guys can write all you want about these other two backs, but I’m not giving up my time.’ That’s kind of the way he went about it every day.”

Peerman, who broke the state record with 708 career points and came close to the career touchdowns mark with his 112 of them, said he didn’t notice all the hoopla surrounding Payne and Horne.

“I was just trying to prove to the coaches what I could do,” he said. “They’re the ones who are going to put you in, not those cheering on the side. I gave it 110 percent every time I touched the ball, on my pass protections, special teams, any way I could to make this team better.”

Plenty of competition

While he may not have noticed all the love that his fellow backs were getting from fans and media, he did notice the competition for his position.

“I watched the way they run and the way they perform,” Peerman said. “They have picked up their game as spring ball has progressed and that has motivated me to push myself even more. I can see them doing well out there, but I want to do well, too.”

Having already proven himself this spring, Peerman’s role was somewhat limited during Saturday’s rainy 7-0 win by the opposing Blue team.

He only rushed five times for 37 yards, 30 of those coming on one breakaway. He also caught a pass for 4 yards.

Meanwhile, Payne had eight carries for 29 yards and Horne a dozen attempts for 34. Both caught a pass for 12 yards.

The two rookies may bring bulk to the job, but Peerman has two years of experience behind him and a toughness that will make it challenging for either of the newcomers to root him out of the spot.

As a redshirt freshman in 2005, Peerman rushed for 237 yards and had 153 last year as a reserve. He also created a lot of damage to opponents via his kickoff returns both of those seasons.

But last season, Peerman kind of got away from what he did best and Groh was quick to analyze that in the offseason and make corrections.

“Every player has to understand who he is and what kind of player he is at his position,” Groh said. “Sometimes that isn’t who you dreamed about being. You might have dreamed about being Jerry Rice, but you’re not.”

Groh noticed that Peerman had drifted away from his original, aggressive, one-cut, get-up-the-field style.

“He’s not a shake-’n-bake guy,” Groh said. “He got back to that [one-cut style] real good in the spring and made a couple of cuts like that today.”

Peerman, who rushed for 5,078 yards in high school and was state champion in the 100 meters, believes that he was simply trying to do too much.

“I wouldn’t say the shaking and baking doesn’t work for me, but everybody is so fast in the ACC that you really don’t have time to fiddle around in the backfield,” Peerman said. “The one-cut helps me and I think it will help any back.”

That’s certainly the style that Groh prefers for his offensive system and emphasizes it every day in practice.

“One day in the offseason, I went into Coach’s office and he showed me a run where I didn’t quite hit the hole hard enough and it became apparent to me at that time,” Peerman said. “I think it was more subconscious that I got away from that style, that maybe I was trying to hit that home-run ball every time I touched the ball.”

Admirable, but usually doesn’t work unless you’re Tiki Barber.

Now that he has switched back to his previous form, Peerman feels good, feels that he’s running faster and not doing a “Dancing With the Stars” number in the backfield.

Behind a big, more experienced offensive line, the Cavaliers could return to a more dominant running game as the one that led the ACC a few years ago. Certainly Peerman and his cohorts would relish that thought.

With that said, he is still leery of his competition, enough so that he plans on staying in Charlottesville this summer, working on his fitness, but mostly submerging himself in the film room to make himself a more complete back.

That’s just another example of Peerman being Peerman. And that’s hard to beat.

 

Adams' walk-off homer gives UVa some needed momentum
By Todd Merchant / tmerchant@dailyprogress.com | 978-7236
April 15, 2007

Stuck in the middle of a tight three-team race for the division crown and coming off a heartbreaking loss in extra innings the night before, the Virginia baseball team could ill afford dropping another game to Georgia Tech.

But late in Saturday’s contest, the Cavaliers were on the brink of doing just that. Following a strikeout and a popout in the bottom of the ninth, UVa was down to its last out and trailing the Yellow Jackets by two runs.

Then, just a few minutes later, the stands had erupted and the Cavs were swarming David Adams at home plate following his walk-off, three-run home run that gave No. 5 Virginia a 7-6 victory over Georgia Tech on a cold, rain-soaked day at Davenport Field.

“A win like that will carry this team a long ways,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “I think that was our best win of the year because of how we [battled back].

“[You have] the confidence in your teammates that, no matter what situation you’re in, you keep fighting and keep battling and good things can happen.”

It was a complete twist-ending for a Virginia team that had grabbed a pair of early leads only to watch them slip away.

After falling behind 3-2 in the third inning, Georgia Tech (21-14, 10-7 ACC) plated three runs in the fifth and tacked on another in the sixth to take a comfortable 6-3 lead.

The Cavs (31-8, 11-6) were able to scratch out a run in the seventh to close the gap, and reliever Pat McAnaney (2-0) held Tech scoreless the final three frames to set up Adams’ last-inning heroics.

“David doesn’t get that chance to hit the ball out of the ballpark to win the game unless Pat McAnaney goes out there and throws three shutout innings,” O’Connor said. “There in the middle of the game, the game was close to getting out of control for us, and it didn’t because Pat McAnaney came in and saved the game for us.”

The junior left-hander faced 10 batters, allowing just one hit and one walk to go with four strikeouts and one hit batsmen. He retired the side in the top of the ninth to give his team one last chance.

Even though things looked bleak for his team, O’Connor remained positive, knowing he had the heart of his order coming up.

“You’ve got two guys in Brandon Guyer and David Adams who’ve shown me that they can hit the ball out of the ballpark,” O’Connor said. “A home run would be great, but you’re just hoping for a base hit to keep the inning alive.”

They didn’t disappoint as junior designated hitter Sean Doolittle drew a walk with two outs to breathe some life into the UVa dugout. Guyer came up and swiftly got plunked by a pitch to put two runners on base for Adams.

That’s when the sophomore second baseman took an offering from Tech reliever Danny Payne and deposited it into the newly installed bleachers in left field to end the game.

“I hit the ball well and was hoping it would carry, but I was just glad I hit the ball hard,” Adams said. “I was just so happy for our guys. We worked so hard all game, had a heartbreaker [Friday night], and I just felt so good.”

Adams finished the day 3 for 5 with four RBI. Tyler Cannon went 2 for 4, and Brandon Marsh was 2 for 3 with two runs scored. Marsh gave the Cavs an early 1-0 lead when he sent a pitch over the left-field fence in the first inning.

“I really think [Adams’] hit is going to be a turning point,” Marsh said, “and it really restored a lot of confidence in the team and our hitters and everybody.”

Georgia Tech took a 2-1 lead in the third before UVa put up two runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

Cavs starter Matt Packer gave up four runs on seven hits, while striking out five and walking two in 4.0 innings of work.

Saturday’s game had originally been scheduled to start at 4 p.m., but was pushed up to noon due to the threat of inclement weather. Early rains ended up delaying the start of the game until a little after 1, and a light drizzle persisted for much of the contest.

With rain in the forecast today, the teams are hopeful they can get in the rubber match, which is set to begin at 1 p.m. The Yellow Jackets will send senior southpaw Ryan Turner (3-3, 3.88) to the mound, while the Cavs will counter with the left-handed Doolittle (6-2, 2.42).

 

Duke tops Virginia in OT for top seed
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 14, 2007

DURHAM, N.C. - For much of the last year, Duke lacrosse has been synonymous with the word “scandal.”

On Saturday, just three days after former Blue Devils players Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann and David Evans were cleared of all criminal charges stemming from an off-campus party, the program momentarily became synonymous with another word - “mumbo.”

The mumbo, the name of a commonly used play, propelled No. 6 Duke to a 7-6 overtime win over No. 2 Virginia in front of 6,558 fans at Koskinen Stadium.

With the win, Duke won the ACC regular-season championship and earned the No. 1 seed in ACC Tournament that takes place in Durham, April 27-29.

“It was a good lacrosse game,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, whose team closes out its regular season at home versus Dartmouth this Saturday. “Two teams battling the whole time, typical ACC. I’d say there’s a better than fare chance we’ll see them again down the road.

“If I was a little bigger person, I might tell you that I’m happy for Duke after a long week,” Starsia joked. “But the distractions were there for both teams and somebody was going to lose today.”

Since Duke’s 2006 season was canceled, the game was the first between the schools in nearly two years. Blue Devils coach John Danowski was proud of his players.

“It was a true testament to their character today,” said Danowski, whose team never led until the final goal. “Sometimes that’s over-used in athletics, but I just thought our guys figured out a way to fight. What a week for them.

“It’s been a very difficult set of circumstances for kids 18 to 22 [years old] to deal with.”

Virginia (10-2, 2-1), which saw its 10-game winning streak snapped, was led by Ben Rubeor’s two goals. Brad Ross scored three goals for Duke (10-2, 3-0).

Blue Devils defender Jay Jennison said the team felt relieved.

“We couldn’t be happier after a very emotional week,” he said. “It ended very well.”

It was with less than 2 ½ minutes remaining in overtime when Duke ran the mumbo, which involves players setting multiple screens for each other.

Matt Danowski found Ross in front of the net. The middie was surrounded by Virginia players, but somehow scored on a miraculous behind-the-back attempt known as an “around-the-world” shot.

“I set a pick for [Zack] Greer and then just dropped back to the ball,” explained Ross, who was mobbed by his teammates. “[Danowski] threw it to my inside. ‘Around the world’ is something you do when you’re a little kid. You don’t practice that. It just kind of happens. It’s instinct.”

Virginia goalie Kip Turner, who played one of the best games of his career in registering 20 saves, said he never saw the ball.

“He wrapped it around his whole body and it went in the bottom corner,” Turner said. “What are you gonna do?”

Virginia’s defense was solid all day. Duke’s Danowski and Greer came into the contest with a combined 99 points, but were held to just five.

Starsia was pleased with the unit’s play. What bugged him was the sloppy play of the offense, which was outshot, 44-29. In addition, the Blue Devils held a 58-38 edge in ground balls.

“I don’t think we were sharp and they took advantage of opportunities,” Starsia said. “I don’t think Danny [Glading], Garrett [Billings] and Ben [Rubeor] played their best games.”

Still, Virginia was up 5-3 after a goal by Stave Giannone with 6:13 left in the third quarter.

However, Duke scored twice within a 1:20 span to tie things up at the beginning of the fourth.

Rubeor scored with just over eight minutes remaining to put Virginia up, 6-5, but Danowski - who hadn’t scored all day - tied the game on a tough-angle shot that squeaked past Turner to his short side.

Duke had several good chances at winning the game in the final minute, but Turner, along with Virginia defenders Ricky Smith and Matt Kelly - came up big.

At the start of overtime, UVa had the ball in Duke territory, but Jack Riley turned the ball over when he couldn’t handle a pass from Drew Thompson.

Then came the mumbo.

“We were coming down to help Ricky [Smith] with Matt Danowski, and then Ross slipped inside because you’re trying to lock off Greer in there,” Starsia said, “so we were a little soft inside and they took advantage of it.”

Ground balls

Virginia midfielder Mike Timms had to leave the game in the second quarter after an injury to his right shoulder that he sustained on a check. Later in the game, he was hit in the same shoulder by a shot. “He was holding his arm every time he came off the field,” Starsia said. “I give him a lot of credit for going back out there. We won’t know [how serious] it is for another day or so.” … Rubeor sprained his knee in the fourth quarter, but was able to return. … Duke players honored Evans, Seligmann and Finnerty - as they have all season - by wearing their uniform numbers during warm-ups.

 

Cavs' comeback falls short against Blue Jays
By Sean McLernon / smclernon@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
April 14, 2007

BALTIMORE - It was a frantic and feverish comeback attempt that yielded three unanswered goals in the game’s final 4 minutes.

But for a Virginia team down by six on the road against Johns Hopkins, it wasn’t nearly enough.

Despite pockets of strong, even dominant play, the No. 5 Cavaliers struggled with their consistency against the No. 16 Blue Jays and Hopkins pulled off the 12-9 upset Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field.

Hopkins coach Janine Tucker called the victory “the biggest win in the program’s history.” For Virginia coach Julie Myers, it was “hard to watch,” as the Cavaliers (11-3, 2-2 ACC) fell to a non-conference opponent for the first time this season.

“We were just all over the place today,” Myers said. “We had some great plays, some great opportunities and then some really poorly executed opportunities right after that. We would make a phenomenal interception save and then throw it away. We’d transition the ball great, we’d be in the right space and then we’d miss the catch. We’d get our hands free and get a good shot off but hit the goalie.

“We were out-determined today.”

After grabbing a four-goal lead at the half, Hopkins (8-5, 1-1 ALC) went up by six with 12 minutes left and spent the next 6 minutes killing the clock. When the Cavaliers finally got the ball back, Jess Wasilewski, who tied with Brittany Kalkstein for a team-high three goals, scored on a free-position shot with 4:09 remaining to make the score 12-7.

Kaitlin Duff won the ensuing draw and Wasilewski scored again - this time cutting across the middle on a pass from Kate Breslin with 2:50 left. Breslin found the back of the net 40 seconds later, putting the Cavaliers down by three with just over two minutes remaining.

Kalkstein picked up the draw control to keep UVa’s hopes alive, but a Breslin shot with about 90 seconds left was snagged by Hopkins goalkeeper Lizzie O’Ferrall (9 saves) to stymie the Cavaliers’ comeback hopes.

Virginia was unable to get the ball back until the game’s final seconds and watched dejectedly as the Blue Jays, in only their eighth season of Division I competition, celebrated as if they had won a national championship.

“We came out lackadaisical,” UVa senior defenseman Jessy Morgan said. “I wouldn’t say we really took them for granted - I realize Hopkins is a really good team - but I don’t think we gave them our all today.”

Myers said she thought the Virginia defense was prepared for Hopkins’ offensive sets, but the UVa attack was unable to capitalize. The Cavaliers failed to reach double-digits in goals for only the third time this season and gave up 13 turnovers to Hopkins’ nine.

“We weren’t prepared for our key attackers not playing sharp,” said Myers, whose team tied Hopkins in draw controls but was outshot 28-25. “It’s contagious when you don’t move off the ball and we didn’t really work that hard offensively.”

The Cavaliers started out strong, winning three of the first four draw controls and taking a 2-1 lead three minutes into the contest. UVa took eight of the game’s first nine shots.

Hopkins quickly seized control from there, taking the lead on a point-blank goal from Sarah Walsh at the 20-minute mark and going up by two five minutes later on a Kadie Stamper score.

Wasilewski made the score 4-3 on a breakaway goal with 12 minutes left, but Hopkins answered back only 12 seconds later, as Laura Schwarzmann controlled the draw and took it into the UVa circle by herself and fired it past UVa goalkeeper Kendall McBrearty (8 saves).

Hopkins scored three more goals to go up 8-3 before Kalkstein scored on a free-position shot just before the end of the half to cut the Virginia deficit to four.

UVa pulled within two goals in the first 5 minutes of the second half, getting tallies from Kalkstein and Megan O’Malley, but Hopkins answered back with a 4-0 run to pull ahead by six.

The Blue Jays competed in NCAA Division III until the 1999 season. Since then, they have reached the Division I NCAA Tournament twice (2004 and ’05), losing in the first round both times. The 2005 defeat came in Charlottesville against Virginia. Last year Hopkins went 12-4, but failed to qualify for the 16-team tournament. Saturday’s historic win - Hopkins had never before beaten a top-five opponent - should help the Blue Jays get back there this season.

“I still can’t breathe,” said Tucker, whose team was led by Stamper’s three goals and Key’s three assists. “I’ve got goosebumps. I’ve got chills. My heart is in my throat. I’m just so proud of the team, I couldn’t be happier with their fight and I just don’t know what to do with myself right now.”

The Cavaliers head back up U.S. 29 on Tuesday to face George Mason before closing out the regular season at Boston College on Saturday.

 

Hall helps himself, Cavs with switch
Former QB stands out in U.Va. spring game; Blue squad wins 7-0
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Apr 15, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Even now in Gretna, many football fans will tell you the University of Virginia is foolish to not play Vic Hall at quarterback.

Some, in fact, have advised him to transfer to a school that will put him behind center. The man in question, however, says he's happy lining up on defense.

"I've gotten to the point where I see myself as a defensive back right now," Hall said after U.Va.'s soggy spring game yesterday at Scott Stadium.

At Gretna High, he totaled a state-record 13,751 yards of career offense 8,725 passing and 5,026 rushing. But Hall, at 5-9, is short for a Division I-A quarterback, and a few months after arriving at U.Va. in 2005 he moved to defense to help shore up a depleted secondary.

He was a backup cornerback and a special-teams standout as a redshirt freshman last season. This year he's competing with rising junior Mike Brown for a starting job at one corner -- all-ACC candidate Chris Cook has locked up the other one -- and Hall showed yesterday why his coaches are so high on him.

Early in the second quarter, Hall got his hands on a long pass from quarterback Marc Verica. After bobbling the football, Hall secured it and took off running across the field.

"It felt good," he said, "because I like the ball in my hands."

Hall couldn't elude tailback-turned-tackler Cedric Peerman on his east-west return, but his interception gave the Blue team excellent field position. Five plays later, quarterback Scott Deke connected with wide receiver Simon Manka on a 24-yard pass play that produced the game's only touchdown.

Former Collegiate star Noah Greenbaum's PAT closed out the scoring in the Blue's 7-0 victory over the White in a defense-dominated scrimmage before several thousand fans.

"Vic, true to his résumé for wherever he's played, has got a habit of making plays," U.Va. coach Al Groh said. "He shows up on the ball, and he certainly did on that one. He's really got a good sense of the game and how things are unfolding, and he put himself in real good position for it.

"I was really standing right behind the flight path of the ball, so I had a very good look at how he was reacting to it. I thought he was real savvy in terms of the position he put himself in."

In Hall's final three seasons as quarterback, Gretna went 39-1 and won two state Group AA, Division 3 titles. Still, as much as he might miss playing quarterback, Hall said, he's never considered transferring.

"I'm here, and I'm at a great university," he said. "Whether I succeed in the future in football, or out in the career world, so I feel like I can't go wrong being here. And I'm going to make the best of it. I'm going to work hard, and nothing or nobody is going to stop me from doing what I want to do."

Hall holds on extra points and field goals -- think U.Va. might run some trick plays this season? and he's the No. 2 punt returner, behind Brown. At corner, Groh said, neither Hall nor Brown has been able to pull away from the other this spring.

"Either way it goes -- he starts or I start -- we're both going to be rotating, so it really doesn't matter," Hall said.

As for those who contend he's at the wrong position, a "lot of people say you got to look out for yourself," Hall said. "I feel like I got to help the team, and in helping the team I'm helping myself."


 

Blue skies for Hall
While the former Gretna star was known for being a QB in high school, he continues to show the Cavs his versatility.
By Doug Doughty

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- On a Saturday afternoon when Virginia might have hoped it could establish a backup quarterback, it was a former quarterback who provided one of the few highlights at Scott Stadium.

Sophomore cornerback Vic Hall, who set VHSL passing and total offense records at Gretna High School, set up the only touchdown in UVa's spring game with a leaping, one-handed interception.

It took only four plays before Scott Deke connected with Simon Manka on a 24-yard touchdown pass that provided the Blue team with a 7-0 win.

"Vic, true to his resume from wherever he has played, has got a habit of making plays," UVa coach Al Groh said. "He shows up on the ball and he certainly did on that one. He really has a good sense for the game and how things are unfolding."

To watch Hall cross the field before he was tackled for minimal gain, it seemed as if he might have lost some of his instincts for finding the end zone.

"No, I haven't," said Hall, who rushed or passed for 170 touchdowns in his Gretna career. "I was thinking score, score, score. It felt good because I like the ball in my hands."

Hall has never publicly complained about being moved to cornerback during a redshirt season in 2005, although friends and family in Gretna would have liked to see him get a shot at QB.

"I hear about it every now and then," he said. "People say, 'You've got to look out for yourself.' But I feel like I've got to help the team. In helping the team, I'm helping myself. I bought into it pretty quick. I guess I understood it a little more than other people did."

Even so, Hall found himself in the position of reassuring the UVa coaching staff after last season that he had no interest in transferring.

"I figured, I'm here, I'm at a great university. Whether I succeed in the future in football or in some other career, I figure I can't go wrong," he said. "I'm going to make the best of the situation and nothing or nobody is going to stop me from what I'm going to do."

Friends and family may vent their frustration, he added, but they're always going to be his supporters.

Along with Chris Cook and Mike Brown, Hall is one of three 2005 signees vying for the two starting jobs at cornerback.

There will be times when all three are on the field, and Hall also will serve as the holder for field goals and extra points, as well as a gunner on punts and the No. 2 punt-returner.

Jameel Sewell will go into the season as UVa's starting quarterback, although he did not participate in Saturday's game. Sewell underwent surgery in December to repair a wrist injury incurred before the 2006 season.

Sewell was held out of contact work throughout the spring but "expectations for his participation were much less than was the case," Groh said.

Redshirt freshman Marc Verica played quarterback behind the first line Saturday and completed 9 of 21 passes for 94 yards for the White team. Deke was 13-of-22 for 129 yards for the Blue squad.

"I feel like it can be interpreted a number of ways," Verica said. "You could say I had a really positive spring and maybe I had surpassed Scott. It might be the coaches were just trying to split the teams up and were interested to see how I could do with the first-team unit.

"I'm not going to jump to conclusions and think that I'm solidified as the backup. I think they just wanted to get a glimpse of what I could do. I'm not content with my situation. I'm not comfortable. There's still a lot of work to do."

Groh said he wasn't wowed by either the quarterbacks or the kickers -- the two positions that gave him the most concern coming into the spring. Ryan Weigand punted seven times for a 40.7-yard average and Noah Greenbaum missed his only field-goal attempt, a 44-yarder.

Notes

Junior offensive tackle Branden Albert will join a pair of seniors, defensive end Chris Long and tight end Tom Santi, as 2007 captains. Long also was a captain last season. UVa normally names four captains, but so many players collected votes as a second defensive captain that Groh felt it would be unfair to pick one over the others. ...

Winners of the Rock Weir Awards as most-improved players in the spring were inside linebacker Antonio Appleby and offensive tackle Eugene Monroe.
 

Bestwick still fighting
Despite dealing with a painful disability, the former UVa football coach makes an unlikely visit.
By Doug Doughty

Somehow there was a communications breakdown and former Virginia football player Mike Brancati did not learn until Friday morning that ex-coach Dick Bestwick would be in Charlottesville later in the day for a reunion.

By mid-afternoon, Brancati had rearranged his schedule and was headed north on Interstate 81 without any clear idea of the agenda.

"I wasn't even one of his players," said Brancati, who had been recruited out of Salem's Andrew Lewis High School by Sonny Randle, "but I wouldn't have picked up and gone up there for any other reason."

Bestwick wasn't as outrageous as his predecessor, Randle, nor as successful as his successor, George Welsh, but he was charismatic enough to have attracted at least 75 former players to the reunion.

Chances are, they were inspired at Bestwick's efforts to return to Charlottesville after telling organizer Jim Taylor as late as March 2, that he would be physically unable to attend.

Bestwick learned Aug. 29, 2003, that he has transverse myelitis (TM) an inflammation of the spinal cord that afflicts approximately 1.5 million Americans.

"It constantly feels that I'm so tight that I'm going to split open," said Bestwick, who first thought to see a doctor when he started stumbling on his daily, 2-mile walk. "It feels like I'm experiencing an electric shock. I deal with pain 24-7."

Bestwick originally was told that TM can disappear in 2-3 months, "but maybe that was wishful thinking," he said.

"For me, it will be four years in August. I don't anticipate it will go away. There are times when I've thought, 'Holy Christ, how can I continue to do this?'"

Bestwick noted that an elderly acquaintance and chronic pain-sufferer took his life earlier this year. Bestwick, 77, does not view that as an option.

"I'm too mean," he said. "Too ornery."

And, he might have added, too busy.

Bestwick, formerly the top assistant to University of Georgia athletic director Vince Dooley, is retired in Athens, Ga., but regularly writes a newspaper column for the Athens Banner-Herald.

A recent phone interview interrupted his research for a column on Florida's back-to-back NCAA men's basketball championships and why Georgia could or could not have enjoyed similar success.

"So I guess I can rightly accuse him of crossing over to the dark side?" Al Groh, the Cavaliers' current head coach, asked.

Groh added that he would enjoy reading Bestwick's Georgia-Florida comparisons, but not all of Bestwick's columns pertain to sport.

An online search of the Banner-Herald column archives reveals an April 7 Bestwick column entitled, "Diplomacy, not instinct, needed in war on terror."

As Bestwick's friends might imagine, his political columns generally have a Democratic flavor. That dates back to his western Pennsylvania upbringing.

Bestwick, a longtime Georgia Tech assistant to Bobby Dodd, remembers that he interviewed for the Virginia job on three occasions before he was named to succeed Randle after the 1975 season.

When Bestwick's 1979 team finished 6-5, it marked the Cavaliers' second winning season in 27 years. That year, Virginia won at Georgia.

The next year, UVa won at Tennessee.

How many nonconference teams have posted victories in Athens and Knoxville in back-to-back seasons?

"Maybe his [overall] record wasn't 80-30," Groh said, "but you raise a very good point."

Bestwick had a 16-49-1 record in six seasons as Virginia's head coach, including a 1-10-1 mark in his last season, 1981.

He had time remaining on his contract, but when then-athletic director Dick Schultz proposed a restructured contract that would expire if Virginia didn't win six games in '82, principle told Bestwick to walk.

He never coached again, serving as executive director of the Peach Bowl before a brief stint as athletic director at the University of South Carolina.

"In Dick's case, he came here, he gave it the very best he had, his heart was in it to the fullest and he should be appreciated for that," said Groh, who became an ACC head coach for the first time in 1981 at Wake Forest. "I'm very respectful of what it takes to hold the position, regardless of what the outcomes are."

It was only fitting that the Bestwick reunion included a golf outing because golf was one of Bestwick's passions. For many years after he left UVa, he would head to Southwest Virginia's Groundhog Mountain each summer to play golf with his old sportswriter cronies.

He misses the gamesmanship as much as the birdies and bogeys.

"I always remember him as a pretty energetic guy," said Brancati, the assistant principal at Cave Spring Middle School. "It's hard to imagine him as anything else."

Bestwick doesn't always use the cane he carries with him, but TM makes it difficult for him to sit for long stretches, which is why he dreaded the drive north for the reunion.

Eventually, it was set up for his daughter to drive him from Athens to Hickory, N.C., and for his grandson to take him the rest of the way.

At the end of his journey, there were plenty of former players waiting to ease his pain.

"I'm 77, and from a mental standpoint, I've never felt better," Bestwick said. "If I didn't have this stuff, I feel I'd be coaching for somebody."

For one weekend in April, he still is.

Sewell sitting out spring game

Quarterback Jameel Sewell is one of four 2006 Virginia starters who are being held out of the Cavaliers' spring football game at 2 p.m. today at Scott Stadium.

Also being held out of action are wide receiver Kevin Ogletree, who recently underwent reconstructive knee surgery; outside linebacker Clint Sintim, who had offseason shoulder surgery, and tight end Tom Santi, who does not have a single incapacitating injury.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Marc Verica will line up behind the first-team offensive line against a defense that includes most of last year's No. 1 defense.

Gates open at noon for a host of fan-friendly activities.
 

As Sewell sits, U.Va. QBs vying to be backup battle to a draw
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© April 15, 2007 | Last updated 10:32 PM Apr. 14

CHARLOTTESVILLE - What if they held a spring football game and not much happened?

You'd have a result much like Saturday's at Virginia's Scott Stadium.

Spring games are by nature often poor indicators of a team's prospects for a season more than four months away.

Starters often don't play much. Schemes can be simplified. And if the offense looks good, is that because the defense is vulnerable? Or vice versa?

Even by those standards, Saturday's game, in which the Blue Team beat the White Team 7-0 on a cold, rainy afternoon, revealed little, even to coach Al Groh.

"It's really not an event... where I would try to form any evaluation of the scheme or the team," he said.

Groh split the teams with an eye toward creating match-ups that he hadn't been able to look at during 15 spring practices. He also wanted to see how several of the team's young players would react in a game situation.

The Blue Team, quarterbacked by junior Scott Deke, had much of the first-team defense, but none of the starting offensive line. The White squad, with redshirt freshman Marc Verica at the controls, had most of the first-string offense but just a couple of defensive starters.

At the top of Groh's list of players to watch were Deke and Verica. With starting quarterback Jameel Sewell out while recovering from wrist surgery, the quarterbacks had the day to themselves, and a chance to get a leg up in the race to be Sewell's backup.

Deke completed 13 of 22 passes for 129 yards and the game's only touchdown, a 24-yard pass to Simon Manka. Verica completed 9 of 21 for 94 yards.

Deke was sacked four times, Verica twice. Verica also mishandled a couple of snaps from center Jordy Lipsey.

Groh said each player had his moments but that neither has gained an edge over the other.

"Not based on what I saw today," he said.

Also receiving extra scrutiny were redshirt freshman tailbacks Keith Payne and Raynard Horne, who are vying with junior Cedric Peerman to replace last year's starter, Jason Snelling.

Payne, 6-foot-3 and 243 pounds, has created buzz among fans and players with his unusual size, and with reports of his play in practice. He got big cheers from the smattering of fans in attendance when he ran over a defender for a 7-yard gain on his first carry, and when he moved the pile on a first-down carry later. He finished with eight carries for 29 yards, but also fumbled.

Horne ran for 34 yards on 12 carries. Peerman, playing with the first-team offensive line, ran for 37 yards on five carries.

The play of the afternoon was made by cornerback Vic Hall, who tipped and intercepted a Verica pass. Hall, a former high school quarterback, lost 5 yards on the return, but not for lack of effort, taking the ball from sideline to sideline, evading several defenders before finally going down.

"I was thinking, 'Score, score, score,' " he said.

But there wasn't much scoring to be had. Nor many conclusions to be drawn.

"The spring game is fun and we won and we'll take that," Deke said. "But the games don't start mattering until September."

Notes: Former Virginia quarterback Matt Schaub, recently traded to the Houston Texans, was one of several alumni at the game. Schaub is slated to start in Houston after backing up Michael Vick for three seasons in Atlanta. "This is what I've been playing for, preparing and growing and learning," he said.... Linebacker Antonio Appleby of Virginia Beach and offensive tackle Eugene Monroe were given the Rock Weir Awards as the most improved players in the spring. Both are juniors and returning starters.... Defensive end Chris Long, guard Branden Albert and tight end Tom Santi were voted team captains.

 

Cavs' offense unimpressive in spring game
Virginia still has plenty of questions to answer after concluding spring practices Saturday with a 7-0 game.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
April 15, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The athletic proceedings at Scott Stadium on Saturday were billed as the Virginia Spring Football Festival, though few things that occurred during the two-hour, split-squad "game" gave the brave souls in attendance reason to celebrate.

Rain spit on the hundreds of fans in the bleachers as the Cavaliers' blue team scored an unremarkable 7-0 victory over the white squad.

Quarterbacks Marc Verica and Scott Deke were pedestrian, sharing time - Deke in blue, Verica in white - because sophomore starter Jameel Sewell was held out as he recovers from offseason surgery on his left, throwing wrist.

Playing with the first-team offensive line, Verica, a sophomore, completed 9 of 21 passes for 94 yards and one interception. He fumbled three snaps, losing two of them. Deke, a junior, was 13 of 22 for 129 yards and a 24-yard touchdown pass to receiver Simon Manka. Deke didn't commit a turnover.

The game lacked offensive pizzazz. Sophomore running back Raynard Horne, competing to be Jason Snelling's replacement, was the leading rusher, with 12 carries and 39 yards for the blue team.

Maybe this is why Virginia coach Al Groh said last season that if the Cavaliers dipped past Sewell on the depth chart, the team could become "a real ham-and-egg operation."

Ah, but don't read too much into Saturday, Groh said afterward. "It's really not an event where I myself would try to form any evaluation of the scheme or the team," he said. Think of it more as an appetizer to get a taste of individual players.

Groh liked what he saw from two redshirt freshmen: cornerback Mike Parker and inside linebacker John Bivens. As far as three of the positions - running back, backup quarterback and kicker - that were tightly contested this spring, Groh hasn't reached any decisions.

Redshirt freshman running back Keith Payne (eight carries and 29 yards for the blue team) had his moments this spring, Groh said. "His game is still a little bit schoolyard," he said, adding that he wants Payne to be more decisive with running plays that call for him to cut to preplanned spots. Virginia's coaches call these spots "landmarks." "You better be on your landmarks," junior running back Cedric Peerman said. "Otherwise, you're not going to fare well with what the schemes are."

Payne knew nothing about landmarks before coming to Charlottesville. "I just knew there was a hole you had to hit," he said.

Groh tried to focus on positive developments with his quarterbacks this spring. Verica's botched exchanges with senior center Jordy Lipsey certainly wouldn't qualify, especially since Verica took his fair share of snaps this spring with the first-team line.

"I feel like I did get enough reps with him this spring where it shouldn't be a problem," Verica said.

Groh wasn't ready to name a backup quarterback after the game, though he seemed rightfully more concerned about his kicking.

Senior Noah Greenbaum (blue) missed a 44-yard field goal and made an extra point. Senior Chris Gould (white) got no chances to kick.

But did Groh even see enough to evaluate? "I saw enough today," he said. "I thought the kicking left a little bit to be desired."

He said incoming freshman Chris Hinkebein will be in the running for the job during the preseason.

THIS AND THAT

Virginia named its captains before the game: senior tight end Tom Santi, senior defensive end Chris Long and junior left guard Branden Albert. ... Held out of the game with injuries: Sewell, Santi, receiver Kevin Ogletree, defensive end John Roberts and linebackers Darren Childs and Clint Sintim. ... The team also named its most improved players of the spring: junior inside linebacker Antonio Appleby and junior left tackle Eugene Monroe.

Trick shot helps Duke beat defending champ Cavs
BY BRYAN STRICKLAND : The Herald-Sun
bstrickland@heraldsun.com
Apr 14, 2007 : 11:46 pm ET

Duke junior Brad Ross estimated that he hadn't dared to attempt what's called "Around the World", a showy shot flung over the shoulder, in a real lacrosse game since seventh grade.

But when Ross unleashed one in overtime of Saturday's showdown against Virginia with the ACC's regular season title on the line, Ross and his teammates got to act like seventh-graders -- a much-needed unleashing of emotion following the Blue Devils' 7-6 triumph in front of 6,588 fans at Koskinen Stadium.

"The 'Around the World' is something you do when you're a little kid. You don't really practice that, but it just kind of happened," said Ross, whose first career three-goal game helped the Blue Devils knock off Virginia and led his teammates to sprint toward him in raucous celebration.

"You just run away from it," Ross said, "and try to not get trampled."

Duke's program has been trampled upon for more than a year now following a party that cost the team its coach and the balance of its 2006 season and threatened to cost three teams members much more. But on Wednesday, former players David Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann were ruled innocent of all charges before the nationally hyped case ever reached the trial stage.

The Blue Devils (10-2, 3-0 ACC) had hoped that the collective relief brought on by the ruling would bring out a positive energy for their showdown with the reigning NCAA champions, but it didn't work that way.

Still, thanks to Ross' goal that gave Duke its lone lead of the day, it worked out in the end.

"There's been a lot of talk all season about our emotions with everything going on, and I think today was actually the first time that I can say that our emotions got the best of us," said senior Matt Danowski, who assisted on the game-winning goal with 1:41 into sudden death. "Now that we proved everyone wrong in the court, we wanted to prove them wrong on the field again. There were a lot of different things that went into it.

"It definitely played a factor, but I guess it's under the rug now that we got the win."

Duke coach John Danowski said he could sense it from the beginning but couldn't seem to do much about it until the latter stages of the game, when he loosened up on the sidelines in hopes that his team would follow suit.

It certainly seemed to work when, down 5-3, sophomore Mike Catalino scored in the final minute of the third period and junior Zack Greer scored in the first minute of the fourth period to tie it up.

The goal was the first and only one of the day for Greer, the nation's second-leading scorer, but it soon was answered by Virginia junior Ben Rubeor the nation's leading scorer, who put the Cavaliers ahead again with his second goal of the day at the 8:48 mark.

That left the Blue Devils to erase a deficit for the fourth time, and that's just what they did. Matt Danowski, who has at least one goal in every game this season, tied it up when he snuck one just inside the post and off the foot of Virginia goalie Kip Tucker.

Tucker had a chance to stop that one -- he stopped 20 Saturday while facing 44 shots to just 29 shots for the Cavs -- but he had no chance on the game-winner. Greer acted as sort of a decoy, and Ross slid in front of the goal to receive Danowski's third assist and give Duke's senior class its first overtime victory in four tries

"I didn't even see it," Tucker said of Ross' trick shot. "He wrapped it around his whole body and it went in the bottom corner. What are you going to do?"

With that, the Blue Devils displayed the emotion that was missing for parts of the game, the type of emotion that had been difficult to express before Wednesday's ruling.

"You try to pretend that this is not going to be difficult, that, 'It's just a game. Let's just play, and it will be business as usual,' " Coach John Danowski said. "It was not business as usual. The kids were exhausted. You could see it; you could see it in their legs in the second half. I'm so proud to be associated with them in that this is not easy.

"The whole concept of being mentally tough, today that was more apparent than ever before, where you've just got to keep scratching and clawing and figuring out a way to stay in the game until somebody can make a play."

NOTES--Virginia (10-2, 2-1) saw the nation's longest winning streak end at 10 in a fashion that harkened back to the Cavs' season-opening loss to Drexel on two goals in the final 10 seconds. Cavs coach Dom Starsia, however, couldn't bring himself to be overly upset. "If I was a little bigger person, I might tell you that I was happy for Duke," Starsia said. "I know it's been a hard week for Duke, and I like John Danowski and I like their kids." ... Duke scooped up 58 groundballs -- an unheard of figure according to Coach Danowski -- to 38 for Virginia. The Cavs got four ground balls from freshman defensemen Ken Clausen, one of three former Duke signees who decided to play elsewhere when the school suspended play last season. "I believed they were innocent from the start. It was just the question of whether they were going to field the program," Clausen said. "I've got a special place for the guys on this (Duke) team." ... Duke senior midfielder Peter Lamade added a goal and an assist, his third multi-point game in his last four outings.

 

UVa Notebook: Manka attones for drop
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
April 14, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Simon Manka thinks he should have caught the first pass. It was a touch high and glanced off his finger tips as he ran a crossing route.
The wideout made sure the second one didn't get away, shucking his defender at the line and getting open in the left corner for a 24-yard touchdown pass from Scott Deke that proved to be the difference in the Blue team's 7-0 win in Virginia's spring game on Saturday.

"He's got real good speed and he's got real good toughness," Virginia coach Al Groh said of Manka, a rising senior. "What you saw on two plays there is Simon's story."

The touchdown reception was Manka's first in four years, dating back to his high school playing days in Orchard Park, N.Y. He came to UVa on a lacrosse scholarship but gave it up, paying his own way to try out as a walk-on with the football team in 2005.

The bulk of Manka's playing time last season came on special teams, but with wide receiver Kevin Ogletree's 2007 season in serious doubt following ACL surgery two weeks ago, Manka is suddenly one of a host of receivers vying for playing time.

"I've just tried to branch out this spring and become a good receiver," said Manka, who was awarded a full football scholarship this semester. "I believe I can do that athletically, so it's just down to learning things and getting a lot of reps."

Cashing in

Matt Schaub was in the press box for the game. The former Virginia quarterback, who was the 2002 ACC Player of the Year, will be the Houston Texans' starter after being traded from Atlanta for a pair of second-round picks last month.

Schaub thinks it's a good fit. The system Houston head coach Gary Kubiak runs is comparable to the one Schaub ran at both Virginia and Atlanta.

"It's similar terminology, so it will be a smooth transition," Schaub said.

After the trade, the 25-year-old Schaub signed a six-year, $48 million contract.

He's made two major purchases with the money, a house and a wedding ring for his fianc?e Laurie, whom he meet in Atlanta.

Like a Rock

A pair of rising juniors, linebacker Antonio Appleby and left tackle Eugene Monroe, were the Rock Weir Award recipients as the most improved players in the spring.

Groh said Appleby "was really on his game all spring long," a continuation of a sophomore campaign that saw him finish second on the team with 68 tackles.

Monroe had different circumstances. This spring was the first time he's been 100 percent since dislocating his kneecap a year ago, an injury that affected him all last season when he split time at left tackle with Zak Stair.

"If we had any other option, it would have been great to hold him out (last year)," Groh said. "We just didn't have any option. ? Now (that) he's got a little background and a little sense of what he's doing and he combines that with his leg being well, we're seeing for the first time a glimpse of some of the things that have been expected of him."

Oh Captain, My Captain

Defensive end Chris Long, offensive guard Branden Albert and tight end Tom Santi were named team captains. Normally, Virginia will vote for four captains - two offensive and two defensive - but the votes on the defensive side after Long were so evenly divided between four players, Groh chose for Long, a two-time captain, to be the voice of the defense.

"It's indicative that there's a good spread of leadership throughout the defense," Groh said, "a lot of voices that players are listening to and a lot of voices to be heard."

Extra points

Groh singled out a pair of redshirt freshmen on defense who stood out Saturday, including cornerback Mike Parker, who made three tackles and broke up a pass, and inside linebacker John Bivens, who was credited with one tackle but created plenty of pressure. "Those are two who look like they might be ready for primetime," Groh said. ? Neither place-kicker did anything to take hold of the starting job. Noah Greenbaum made an extra point but missed a 44-yard field goal attempt wide to the right. Chris Gould did not get an opportunity to kick.


 

Cornerback Halls in key interception in UVa spring game
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
April 14, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE - With quarterback Jameel Sewell sidelined as a precaution and a steady rain falling Saturday afternoon, Virginia's spring game figured to be devoid of many offensive highlights.
As it turned out, a defensive player fans have long clamored to see with his hands on the ball made the game's most exciting play.

Vic Hall intercepted a Marc Verica pass in the second quarter, setting up the only touchdown, a 24-yard Scott Deke to Simon Manka touchdown pass in the Blue team's 7-0 victory.

Hall, a record setting quarterback at Gretna High who moved to cornerback during his first season at UVa, zeroed in on the pick when the White team was backed in to a third-and-35 situation deep in its own territory. He tipped a pass intended for Cary Koch several times before finally getting it under control.

"True to his r?sum? of wherever he plays, he has a habit of making plays," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "He shows up on the ball. He certainly did on that one. He's really got a good sense of the game and how things are unfolding and he put himself in a real good position for (the interception)."

Hall's pick drew one of the few audible cheers from a sparse crowd who have long wondered when they would see one of the state's more dynamic high school players in action. After the interception, Hall ran laterally across the field, trying to find an opening before getting tackled at the 39-yard line after losing five yards.

"I was thinking score, score, score," he said.

For Hall, a rising sophomore who is battling Mike Brown for the starting cornerback spot vacated by Marcus Hamilton, it was the capper to a solid spring, his second since switching to cornerback.

"I've got to the point where I see myself as a defensive back right now," Hall said.

Truth be told, Virginia probably could have used his services at quarterback Saturday. Both Verica and Deke, co-No. 2's behind Sewell on the current depth chart, looked shaky.

Despite working with the first-team offensive line, Verica was 9-for-21 for 94 yards and an interception. He fumbled two snaps, one of which was recovered by the defense. Deke fared slightly

better, going 13-for-22 for 129 yards and the touchdown strike to Manka against what was mostly UVa's second-team defense.

"I thought each one of them had their moments today where they had some good plays," Groh said. "I'm sure there are plays that each one of them would like to have back. ? But I thought there were certainly some positive plays."

Redshirt freshman Raynard Horne got the most carries at tailback, running 12 times for 39 yards. Cedric Peerman (William Campbell), the most experienced of UVa's backs, was limited to five carries but broke one of them for a 30-yard run.

The much-hyped Keith Payne, a redshirt freshman and message board darling, ran eight times for 29 yards, giving fans a glimpse of his bruising style by barreling over a defender after gaining seven yards on his first carry. But he showed some his rawness later, fumbling a fourth-quarter handoff.

"His talent is obviously. to anybody looking at it. pretty high-end talent," Groh said. "(But) his game is still a little bit schoolyard."