Young QBs must mature
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: March 31, 2008

Bringing along a young quarterback is a process that coach Al Groh truly understands.
While there’s meetings, film study, weight-lifting, running, practice, and more that goes into the routine of developing a quarterback, there’s one value that towers above all others.
“Patience,” Groh said on a chilly Sunday after watching his quarterbacks go through a two-hour open spring practice. “It’s like no other position.”
That’s why Groh and his son, Mike, who is Virginia’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, are working hard with the Cavaliers’ QBs this spring.
When incumbent quarterback and two-year starter Jameel Sewell was declared academically ineligible after UVa’s loss in the Gator Bowl, the focus turned toward Peter Lalich, one of the nation’s most highly sought-after prospects two years ago, and his fellow quarterbacks.
Up in the air
During Sunday’s practice, the Grohs rotated Lalich, a sophomore, along with another sophomore, Marc Verica, and senior Scott Deke without any indication that one had impressed any more than the other.
“That position has been moving positively on a daily basis,” the head coach said of the quarterback competition. “There’s been a little bit of a popcorn deal in that one of them each day is not quite as sharp as the other two.”
The smart money is on Lalich to win the job, but nothing is automatic in Groh’s system. He normally will go with the player that gives his team the best chance of winning.
Ready for the Trojans?
Lalich, a confident kid by nature, has remained positive and somewhat humble.
“I’m still working on it every day,” the 6-foot-5, 225-pound passer from Springfield said. “I don’t think I’m ready for USC right now, but hopefully this summer.”
Virginia opens the season against Southern Cal, the closest thing to a dynasty that college football has to offer in the last six years or so.
If the Cavaliers are to have a chance against the Trojans, then someone will certainly have to work some magic, and who better than a passing wizard such as Lalich?
He threw for nearly 6,000 yards and 55 TDs his final two years at West Springfield High under Coach Bill Renner. He could have gone to USC, Miami, Florida State, or any number of football factories, but chose Virginia, mostly because of his relationship with Mike Groh, whom he refers to as simply “Coach Mike.”
So far this spring he has focused on making the best decisions on his passes, not necessarily waiting on the home run throw, but checking down to the shorter routes and hitting the guy who is the most wide open.
Coach Mike and other assistants have helped him in the film room.
“I feel like I know the offense pretty well, I just have to work on little things every day, get better on my reads and reading the defenses,” Lalich said. “I want to make good decisions and make fast decisions.”
That, my friends, is often the hard part, the part that prevents or at least delays great athletes from becoming great quarterbacks, and particularly, great passers.
“You think about all the terrific performers in every sport,” Al Groh said. “Very few of them perform at the highest level when there are a number of 250-pound players running at them and, at the same time, trying to hit them.
“Just picture hitting the ball off the tee, or serving, or taking a free throw with a pass rush coming at you,” Groh said.
“That’s what makes that position so much different than any other skill position in sports. Then, not only be able to physically execute, but to make significant decisions as to where the ball goes under those circumstances ...”
The coach explained that it takes a lot of turns for quarterbacks to see that, especially young quarterbacks not accustomed to such pressure.
“Generally, the pass rush pressure they experience on the college level is different than anything they see in high school,” Groh said.
“A lot of times, if you watch top players’ high school tapes, there’s a lot of passes thrown with relatively little pressure on them. Even with the best college pockets, you can hold them out only so long, and that’s what [quarterbacks] have to experience.”
Lalich got a taste of college football as a true freshman, playing in the first four games and the last four, a move that was widely criticized by those who felt it was a wasted year for the youngster.
However, Groh realized Sewell’s academic issues could bite the program at any time, just as the starter’s injured wrist could go at any time. He needed a reliable backup and Lalich seemed like the best answer.
“Playing last season definitely helped,” Lalich said. “I got a chance to see the speed of college football. You can’t really see that in practice. The game is a lot faster than practice.”
Groh believed last season made a dramatic impact on Lalich’s future in terms of the information he absorbed in meetings, the practice routine and game environment.
Now, Lalich has to convert those factors onto the practice field.
“I’m looking at it as that I have to win the job, that I have to come out every day and compete with the other quarterbacks,” No. 7 said. “I think we’re all competing for the job and whoever does the best in the spring is going to have the best shot in the fall.”
Throughout the past few months, he has been joining some of the receivers, specifically Kevin Ogletree, Maurice Covington, and Dontrelle Inman in voluntary passing drills, working on timing.
“I think that’s the No. 1 thing in our offense, the timing,” Lalich said. “Knowing where people are going to be ... the anticipation, what we’re going to do against different coverages. I think the more we get together, the better we will look.”
It’s all part of the process of maturing as a quarterback, something that Lalich must do, and do in a hurry.

 

Ogletree on comeback trail for UVa
By Andy Bitter
Published: March 31, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Kevin Ogletree has always been an athlete, a fiery competitor first and foremost. His body had never let him down, so when the Virginia wideout got the grim diagnosis at this time last year — an MRI revealed a torn left anterior cruciate ligament, ending his 2007 season before it began — he didn’t accept it.
He sought out alternatives as surgery loomed. Even after he went under the knife, he was the last person to rule himself out for the season, despite the eight-plus months of rehab ACL injuries normally require.
Eventually, the reality of the situation set in. Ogletree put 2007 out of his mind and 2008 became the focus.
“That was my whole motto,” he said after UVa’s practice Sunday. “Just trying to get back. Trying to get back. Trying to get back.”
A year after the injury, Ogletree is back. The 6-foot-2, 189-pound rising junior is the offensive piece the Cavaliers were missing in 2007 — a go-to receiver with big-play ability.
In 2006, his sophomore season, Ogletree stepped in for an injured Deyon Williams and caught 52 passes for 582 yards and four touchdowns, earning an all-ACC honorable mention nod. He and Virginia had grand plans for 2007 before Ogletree made a hard cut while running a route at the beginning of spring. His knee, he said, “kind of did something funny.”
Already short on receivers due to the graduation of Williams and Fontel Mines, Virginia had to rely on a young group of wideouts that couldn’t make up for the lost production.
Junior Maurice Covington, who missed four games with a broken hand, led the way with 21 receptions for 259 yards. Two freshmen — Staton Jobe, a redshirt, and Dontrelle Inman — combined for 34 catches, but neither had more than 37 receiving yards in any of UVa’s 13 games.
For the season, Cavaliers wideouts caught 72 passes. In Division I, 39 individuals caught more passes.
Virginia instead relied even more on its tight ends and running backs in the passing game, regularly throwing short passes and screens. Mikell Simpson, Jonathan Stupar and Tom Santi — a running back and two tight ends — finished as the team’s top three pass catchers.
“I would say (defenses) had to notice, because we didn’t have that deep-ball threat,” Simpson said. “Everybody saw it. That’s why they stacked eight, nine guys in the box. … Now that K.O.’s back, they’re going to have to really respect it.”
Especially if presumed starting quarterback Peter Lalich has the rocket arm that has been advertised.
“No matter how deep I’m at, he’s accurate,” said Ogletree, giving an early review.
Ogletree claims to be better off because of his injury. He got a different perspective of football last season, actively watching games from the sidelines (sometimes too actively — he was warned once by officials to tone it down). But the rising junior made his biggest strides — and impressed his teammates the most — by diligently going about his rehab.
“You really didn’t hear any crying, any moaning about nothing,” Simpson said. “He just got in rehab and worked hard.”
Doctors gave him the go-ahead to be a full participant in the practices leading up to the Gator Bowl and he hit the ground running once spring practice opened last week.
“Definitely a blessing in disguise,” an older, wiser Ogletree said. “It helped me realize how much football means to me and how much of an opportunity I have here. I really feel like I’m different than I was before, just as far as knowing what I want to do, knowing how hard I work (and) knowing what I want to get accomplished.”

 

Cavs already focused on next season
Leitao, U.Va. players begin work on renewing tough defense for'08-09
Tuesday, Apr 01, 2008 - 12:07 AM 
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- For 10 men's basketball teams in Division I -- four in the NCAA tournament, four in the NIT and two in the new CBI -- the season continues.

For the University of Virginia, 2007-08 ended last week with a semifinal loss in the CBI. The Cavaliers' push for 2008-09 began yesterday at 6 a.m. That's when U.Va. coach Dave Leitao's returning players gathered for a pre-dawn workout.

The goal between now and semester's end, Leitao said yesterday afternoon, will be getting "our guys to re-focus on what is truly important in terms of winning."

The top priority for a team that finished a disappointing 17-16 is no secret.

"Somewhere along the way, we've got to, in moving forward, reclaim the attitude that made us a good defensive program and a good rebounding program," Leitao said after his team's season-ending loss to Bradley.

Tunji Soroye and Will Harris could help on those fronts. Questions remain, though, remain about each player's health and, in Soroye's case, eligibility. Back problems limited Harris, a 6-6, 245-pound forward, to 15 games this season and Soroye, a 6-11, 252-pound center, to two.

One of four seniors on the roster this season, Soroye is interested in applying for a medical redshirt and competing as a graduate student at U.Va. in 2008-09. There's no guarantee such a request would be granted, but Leitao said yesterday that he would welcome Soroye back.

So would swingman Mamadi Diane, the Cavaliers' second-leading scorer as a junior this season. With 78 career blocked shots, Soroye ranks 12th at Virginia.

"It's not just having a shot-blocker out there, but just having him in the lane," Diane said. "It changes a lot of shots and keeps guards from penetrating. So not having him there really did hurt us."

Harris started three games as a freshman in 2006-07 -- when U.Va. advanced to the NCAA tourney's second round -- and was expected to be a key part of Leitao's rotation this season. But his final appearance came Jan. 30 at Maryland. Doctors don't believe surgery is the answer for Harris, Leitao said, and "right now, he's at the back end of 60 days of rest to see what that does for his back."

Another big man, 6-8, 246-pound junior Laurynas Mikalauskas, missed 13 games with a shoulder injury. This spring, he may have surgery to repair the problem.

Virginia carried the full complement of 13 scholarship players this season, and that didn't include senior center Ryan Pettinella and sophomore guard Calvin Baker. Pettinella and Baker were technically walk-ons responsible for paying their way to U.Va., but each played more than several teammates who were on scholarship.

Pettinella, all-ACC guard Sean Singletary and forward Adrian Joseph have exhausted their eligibility, but unless additional players leave the program -- and that may happen -- U.Va. faces another scholarship crunch in 2008-09. Three recruits signed with the Cavaliers in November, and Leitao wants to add another ball handler to his incoming class.

With Singletary gone, point-guard play is a concern for Leitao as he heads into his fourth season at U.Va. But the Cavaliers' run in the CBI boosted Leitao's confidence in shooting guard Jeff Jones, a 6-4 freshman from Chester, Pa.

In his third college game, Jones looked like the second coming of J.R. Reynolds, hitting five 3-pointers in a Nov. 17 win at Arizona, but he reached double figures only once more during the regular season.

In the CBI, Jones scored 10 points versus Old Dominion in the quarterfinals, then torched Bradley for a career-high 26, making 6 of 8 shots from beyond the arc.

"I think he walks into next season off of that experience better," Leitao said.

 

Leitao to demand defense
UVa ranked in the bottom 100 in four defensive stats this past season.
By Doug Doughty

Dave Leitao's message after Virginia's final game of the men's basketball season wasn't much different than it had been on numerous earlier occasions.

Leitao can only hope it sinks in this time.

"His last words as he left the locker room were, 'We're going to play defense,' " UVa freshman Jeff Jones said.

Minutes earlier, the Cavaliers had seen their season close as Bradley shot 56.5 percent in the second half and defeated Virginia 96-85 in the third round of the College Basketball Invitational.

Virginia (17-15) might have been the only team in the country that peaked Nov. 17, the date of its 75-72 victory at Arizona's McKale Center, where the Wildcats had not lost a November home game in 29 years.

The next week, Virginia lost a neutral-site game to Seton Hall, followed shortly by a home loss to Syracuse and it wasn't long before the Cavaliers were out of NCAA tournament contention.

This from a team that had tied for the regular-season ACC championship in 2006-07 and finished 21-11 following a second-round NCAA tournament loss to Tennessee. The June announcement that point guard extraordinaire Sean Singletary would be returning for a fourth year led many to predict a repeat NCAA trip.

The Cavaliers were a preseason choice for fifth in the ACC but spent most of the season in the cellar, needing to win four of their last six conference games to finish 10th at 5-11.

There are 328 teams in Division I and Virginia finished in the bottom 100 in four defensive categories: scoring defense (293rd), blocked shots (264th), field-goal percentage defense (240th) and steals (258th).

"Somewhere along the line, there was a disconnect," Leitao said. "It's my belief that you have to go back to square one, step one and re-establish the importance of it. We've got to have them understand that we're not going to go anywhere unless everybody's mind is on the same page about being able to stop people."

Leitao always says that defense is more attitude than ability, but the Cavaliers did lose some of the top defenders off their 2006-07 team, including seniors J.R. Reynolds and Jason Cain.

Moreover, projected center Tunji Soroye underwent preseason knee injury. He played briefly in back-to-back games around New Year's, then missed the rest of the season with a bad back.

"It's not all about having a shot-blocker," said 6-5 junior Mamadi Diane, whose 22 blocks led the team. "It's the idea of having somebody in the lane who can alter shots or have guys think twice about going in there."

Soroye was one of four scholarship UVa players who missed significant playing time due to injuries. Junior post man Lauris Mikalauskas (shoulder) missed 13 games, sophomore forward Will Harris (back) missed 16 games and freshman guard Sammy Zeglinski (foot) missed 24 games.

Zeglinski eventually underwent surgery and plans a hardship appeal for another year of eligibility. Soroye, a senior, also has a case to return in 2008-2009.

"What we've got to do is get together with the doctors," Leitao said Monday. "If the doctors are not in agreement with what's going on medically, then there's no conversation. Where we're at right now mentally is, if it can happen, Tunji would like for it to happen and I wouldn't mind that either."

Of the rest, Mikalauskas is the one most likely to go under the knife. Harris probably presents the biggest mystery.

"We had three guys with similar but different problems with their backs," said Leitao, referring to Harris, Soroye and Jamil Tucker, "and here's what was most perplexing for me -- none of them could be corrected by surgery. Backs are very, very unpredictable like that."

Virginia, with all 13 of its scholarships allocated for 2008-09, is continuing to recruit as if one or more of the upperclassmen will not be returning. There is no scholarship currently earmarked for Soroye or for Calvin Baker, a walk-on who played more than 800 minutes this year.

"Last year, we were [having] the same conversation and I maintain, when school starts in September, we will have 13 guys on scholarship," Leitao said. "That's where I'll leave it."

The Cavaliers won't find it easy to replace Singletary, the only player in ACC history with more than 2,000 points, 500 assists, 400 rebounds and 200 steals. Virginia also loses third-leading scorer and leading rebounder Adrian Joseph from its senior class.

There was some hope for the future when freshman Jeff Jones hit six of eight 3-point shots and finished with a team-high 26 points against Bradley.

"The future is real bright for him," said Singletary of his fellow Philadelphian. "He'll probably be the face of the program because he works his heart out and he's a real good kid."
 

U.Va.'s Singletary named honorable mention All-America
By Melinda Waldrop | 247-4634
9:11 PM EDT, March 31, 2008
 

Virginia senior guard Sean Singletary, who averaged 19.8 points and 6.1 assists this season, is for the second straight year among those receiving honorable mention in The Associated Press All-America selections. Singletary, who also earned honorable mention honors from CollegeHoops.net, is a National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) first-team All-District 5 selection for the second consecutive year and a United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) All-District III selection for the third straight year. Singletary is the only player in ACC history to have 2,000 points, 500 assists, 400 rebounds and 200 steals.

Singletary's senior season included a career-high 41 points against Miami on March 1 and a 21.5 points-per-game average in ACC play. He joined Ralph Sampson (1981-83) and Bryant Stith (1990-92) as the only Cavaliers to be named first-team all-ACC for three straight seasons and was selected conference player of the week two times.

Singletary, the only player in ACC history to have 2,000 career points, 500 assists, 400 rebounds and 200 steals, scored in double digits in the last 55 games of his career. He ranks in the top 10 in six U.Va. career categories: second in steals (200); third in assists (587); third in three-point field goals made (222); fourth in free throws made (573); fifth in scoring (2,079 points); and ninth in field goals made (642).