Groh not set on QB
Cavs' competition among Deke, Verica, Lalich for starting spot is still open
Sunday, Apr 13, 2008 - 12:07 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Scott Deke went first, Marc Verica second and Peter Lalich third yesterday.

But don't read too much into the quarterback rotation used in the University of Virginia spring game, eighth-year coach Al Groh told reporters afterward. To determine which quarterback would direct the first series in the offense-versus-defense scrimmage, Deke, Verica and Lalich were told to each pick a number between 1 and 50.

Deke correctly guessed the number the coaching staff had chosen, so he got the "start" yesterday. Then Verica and Lalich each picked a number between 1 and 20. Verica was closer, so he was the second quarterback the crowd of about 5,000 saw on a pleasant spring afternoon at Scott Stadium.

Lalich, who as a redshirt freshman backed up Jameel Sewell last season, is considered by many outside the U.Va. program to be the front-runner for the starting job this year. But Groh isn't ready to name his starter for the Aug. 30 opener against Southern California, and the quarterbacks know that.

"I guess right now it's an open competition, but we're not really caught up in who's going to be the guy," Verica said. "We're just focused on what we can do to move the team forward. In these upcoming months, we're just going to continue to work hard and encourage each other and see where the chips fall in [training] camp."

Deke, who'll be a fifth-year senior in the fall, has played in only game at U.Va. He completed 17 of 23 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns yesterday.

Verica, who'll be a redshirt sophomore, has yet to take a snap in a college game. He was 17 for 25 for 110 yards and one TD yesterday. Lalich completed only 6 of 18 passes for 72 yards and threw three interceptions.

Even so, Groh said, "I saw pretty much the same thing out of all three of them. They ran their team well. They made good decisions with what was unfolding in front of them. Each one of them made some throws up the field that have to be made."

One of Lalich's interceptions came on a beautifully thrown pass that wideout Dontrelle Inman appeared to catch along the right sideline for a 43-yard gain. But safety Matt Leemhuis ripped the ball away from Inman for the pick.

"It's great to see that play made on defense," Groh said, "but in terms of looking at it from an offensive standpoint and firepower on offense, that was right on the fringe of being a very exciting play and probably should have been for the offense."

Lalich's unimpressive statistics didn't seem to concern Groh.

"If you look at numbers, you can't get the picture on that in the spring game," Groh said. "You don't know what line they were [behind], you don't know what receivers they had in there. If you're trying to form any conclusions on that, you're fooling yourself."

For the past 22 games, U.Va.'s starting quarterback has been Sewell. But the former Hermitage High star was placed on academic suspension in January, and he's not expected back at Virginia before 2009. Deke hadn't planned on returning for a fifth year, but after Sewell left school, those plans changed.

Deke met with Groh, who made it clear that there'd be a competition for the starting job.

"He wouldn't have brought me back if he [wasn't going to give] me an opportunity," Deke said.

 

U.Va. ends spring drills with issues
Sunday, Apr 13, 2008 - 12:07 AM
By BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST

CHARLOTTESVILLE You buy into college football spring games, you should not expect a high-wattage return on the investment. They're fairly frivolous undertakings (well, this side of Tuscaloosa, anyhow), useful mostly for dusting off the portable grill and cooler and bringing your tailgating skills out of hi bernation.

Virginia, for instance, is low key about the on-field component of spring games. It billed yesterday's windup to offseason drills as the Virginia Spring Football Festival and threw in raffles, face-painting, tattoos (presumably washable) and assorted other activities to go along with its oh-by-the-way modified scrimmage that pitted a depleted offense against a depleted defense.

There also was a Cavalier Essay contest for grade-schoolers on the subject, "Why character matters."

Their elders were more inclined to ask: Who'll put heat on rival quarterbacks next season? Who can instantly recognize a cover-2 and zip passes to open receivers? Who in the secondary has speed to close on the ball faster than a used Camaro? And who can nail a 42-yard field goal at money time (hint: It won't be Chris Gould)?

None of those questions was answered during 68 minutes and 86 snaps of quarterbacks-audition-before-sparse-crowd -- highlights being mostly in the eyes of the beholder.

"We all felt we had a positive day today," coach Al Groh said. "Clearly, we have twice as many practices available to us in August. That'll be an important time for us. . . . We have a very challenging road in front us."

Behind these Cavaliers, on the other hand, is a tumultuous offseason that cost the team several projected starters, not to mention its defensive coordinator/ace recruiter. Groh calls a coach's job "perpetual problem-solving." He's maybe on pace for a record year in that department.

You might remember that last year's Cavs won five games by one or two points -- more close calls by such margins than any campusball team in history. To say those guys had a thin margin of error is to say Barack and Hillary are making nice to superdelegates these days.

Now comes a 2008 schedule that begins with a certain West Coast pulverizer you've possibly heard about (Southern Cal, otherwise known as L.A.'s pro team). It also includes dicey home encounters with East Carolina and Clemson and nervous road tests at UConn, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech.

Gaze upon that itinerary and upon a roster that's missing six starters from the offense, six from the defense and both kickers and boasts few identifiable playmakers, and you might be inclined to reach for the worry beads -- until you factor in the ACC's mushy consistency.

My guess is the '08 Cavaliers go anywhere from 5-7 to 7-5, but it wouldn't shock me to see them dip or rise another game in either direction. What nobody knows is who'll actually win games for them when push comes to shove.

It won't be Chris Long or Jameel Sewell. Long ran out of eligibility. Sewell ran out of academic rope. Their absences loom large.

Close your eyes and imagine 2007 without them. Long -- and his presence alone was of incalculable value -- had a pass interception that resulted in the winning field goal at North Carolina, a safety-inducing tackle in the one-point squeaker at Maryland and a blocked field goal in the two-point win at Middle Tennessee. Sewell, for all his inconsistency, spearheaded decisive fourth-quarter drives in five U.Va. victories.

Now they're gone. "That's the cycle of college football," Groh said. Fail to cycle in offsetting replacement parts, and next season will resemble nothing close to a festival.


 

Cavaliers air it out to wide receivers
Wide receivers catch 22 passes in the final spring scrimmage after only 76 catches last season.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Al Groh said he wasn't trying to make a statement Saturday. The numbers would suggest otherwise.

During the 2007 football season, the Cavaliers completed 76 passes to wide receivers, fewer than six per game during a 13-game schedule.

On Saturday, UVa wide receivers caught 22 passes in the Cavaliers' final spring scrimmage.

The Cavaliers picked a bad day not to keep score as veteran quarterbacks Scott Deke and Marc Verica combined for three touchdown passes.

One year earlier, a Deke touchdown pass had accounted for the lone score as the Blue team defeated the White team 7-0.

Groh was able to form two separate teams in that game, but it was the offense against the defense Saturday because of injuries and unscheduled academic and disciplinary departures.

Some of the 5,000 might have wanted to size up new place-kicker Chris Hinkebein, whose consistency has been discussed in Groh teleconferences, but Groh said the Cavaliers devoted ample time to special teams in their first 14 practices.

Symbolically, the first play was a pass from Deke to wide receiver Kevin Ogletree, who sat out the 2007 season after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament on the third day of spring practice.

Ogletree had a team-high 52 receptions during the 2006 season, but no UVa wide receiver last year had more than Maurice Covington's 21.

"If you look at it, we've got some guys who deserve the ball out there," Ogletree said.

There were 86 plays in the scrimmage -- 70 pass attempts and 16 runs. Deke was 17-of-23 for 160 yards and two touchdowns; Verica was 17-of-25 for 110 yards.

Peter Lalich was the third quarterback to enter the game and was intercepted three times, although the first came on a deep ball that wideout Dontrelle Inman had in his grasp before it was wrestled away by safety Matt Leemhuis.

"I thought the ball was caught," Groh said. "And apparently the people in the stands did, too. It's great to see that play made on defense, but, in terms of offensive firepower, that was on the fringe of being a very exciting play.

"It was a positive day for the quarterbacks. This was practice [No.] 15 and we haven't had many where all three quarterbacks performed at the level they did today."

Sophomore Raynard Horne carried the ball four times for 12 yards. The two tailbacks who combined to rush for more than 1,200 yards last year, Cedric Peerman and Mikell Simpson, had one carry between them.

"Quite a few of our veteran players just made token appearances," Groh said.

UVa's top returning pass rusher, Clint Sintim, recently underwent surgery and was not in uniform. Peerman had foot surgery that caused him to miss the final seven games of the 2007 season but was held out as a precaution.

"That decision was made March 21," Groh said. "Ced had an excellent spring. He's ready to go."

Ogletree said he was on the field for 25-30 snaps Saturday and was eager for all the work he could get. He watched the 2007 spring game from crutches.

Notes

Tight end John Phillips (Bath County) was a double-winner. He was one of three recipients of the Rock Weir Award that goes to the most improved players during the spring and then was introduced as one of four co-captains, joining Peerman, Sintim and cornerback Vic Hall. Phillips also had a touchdown reception in limited action. ... Other Rock Weir Award recipients were tackle Landon Bradley and outside linebacker Denzel Burrell. ... Corey Lillard, a safety from Liberty High School in Fauquier County, committed to the Cavaliers. Lillard (5-11, 205) had offers from West Virginia, Wake Forest, North Carolina, N.C. State and Duke, according to rivals.com.
 

Phillips on deck for ‘Tight End U’
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: April 13, 2008

The tight end is a forgotten soul in some of today’s aerial circus offenses.
Some of them are relegated to blocking on most every down as a glorified guard or tackle. Some offenses have evolved to where they don’t even have a tight end, opting to use four- and five-wide receiver formations.
Not at Virginia, where coach Al Groh views the tight end as one of the marquee positions on the team.
And why not?
Over the past three seasons, Cavalier tight ends have hauled in a total of 184 passes for a collective 2,104 yards and 12 touchdowns. Those numbers are AHM — After Heath Miller, who rewrote UVa and ACC records for a tight end before he went on to become a first-round draft choice for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2005.
During part of those three aforementioned seasons, John Phillips labored in a sort of anonymity as Virginia’s third tight end. Higher-profile recruits — Tom Santi from Tennessee and Jon Stupar from Pennyslvania — were up in the pecking order, while Phillips waited his turn in the barrel.
“He’s sort of moved up the ladder from a spot player his first year to a good role as a second-year player to a tremendous role last year,” Groh said of Phillips after Saturday’s spring game. “Now he moves into the clean-up spot.”
Phillips started eight of UVa’s 13 games as a junior in 2007 and was fifth on the team in receptions with 17 for 193 yards - although if you played defensive back for Miami, you would have sworn that Phillips caught 20 passes in that game alone (actually it was four for a career-high 77 yards).
At 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds, Phillips has the brawn and the brains to be a star for the Cavaliers this season.
In fact, UVa quarterback candidate Peter Lalich had high praise for Phillips.
“I think he’s going to be one of the best tight ends in the country,” Lalich said. “He’s a great leader, a solid blocker, can run routes, catch the ball, and he’s a great target.”
In support of Lalich’s thoughts, teammates voted Phillips as one of the team captains, capping of a productive spring for the rising senior from Warm Springs — an area known more for The Homestead and golf than for producing Division I football players. The big tight end was also honored as one of three recipients of the Rock Weir Award for most improved player.
“John had a great spring in every aspect,” Groh said. “…Special teams, all aspects of the offense, catching the ball, running routes, blocking at the point, the red zone area, first downs. He has seen how it has been done here and his game has grown with it.”
Phillips — who is a team-first, aw-shucks kind of guy, who is so modest that he takes little personal credit for anything - caught but one pass in Saturday’s scrimmage, which was basically a passing exercise for Lalich and the Cavs’ two other quarterback candidates, Marc Verica and Scott Deke. But the one reception was for a touchdown.
He shunned a lot of personal attention after the scrimmage, but acknowledged his satisfaction in being voted one of the captains along with senior tailback Cedric Peerman, senior linebacker Clint Sintim and junior cornerback Vic Hall.
“It means a lot when your peers vote you as a captain,” said Phillips, who, like Miller, is a man of few words. “The Rock Weir Award is a very prestigious honor.”
Ask him about his spring and he will quietly mention that he just worked hard at blocking and catching, which is what a tight end is supposed to do.
“I’m just a hard-working guy and I’m going to do whatever it takes,” Phillips said. “I’m trying to be the best player I can be.”
As best as we know, there are two players from Warm Springs in D-I football and they’re both named Phillips. His brother, Jake, is starting quarterback at I-AA William & Mary. Their father, Gene, attended the Tribe’s spring game in Williamsburg on Saturday, while the mom, Susan, was in Charlottesville.
Certainly, they are the pride of Bath County.
Groh believes that John Phillips will continue UVa’s legacy of standout tight ends, which won’t end with him.
“Joe Torchia is like John of a year or two ago, and then [Andrew] Devlin is like Joe from last year,” Groh said. “We hope to keep feeding it that way because it is a very important position for us.”
In a season that looms ahead where the passing game may be ultra important, Phillips’ position may be even more important than anyone thinks.
 

Fans express optimism for ’08
By Brian McNeill
Published: April 13, 2008

It’s been a rough few months for the University of Virginia’s football team.
The Cavaliers’ starting quarterback and three others were not enrolled for spring semester classes — apparently for academic reasons — most likely benching them for the fall football season.
A promising young linebacker was kicked off the team in March after UVa police arrested him on credit card fraud and theft charges.
And a cornerback is facing felony charges in connection with a reported theft in February of $3,400 worth of audio equipment that had been left inside another UVa’s student’s car.
Yet despite the recent hardships facing their beloved Cavaliers, few fans professed pessimism at Saturday’s Virginia Spring Football Festival at Scott Stadium.
Prior to the game, children raced one another in the 40-yard dash, spun on a gyroscope and jumped around inside two moon bounces. The cheery mood was evident among fans young and old.
“I have no concerns,” said Ernest Capp of Covington. “We’ve lost some people, but my message on that is — next man up.”
Bucky Johnson drove in from New Castle — near “enemy territory,” he said — to catch Saturday’s spring scrimmage game. He admitted to being a bit worried about the Cavaliers’ defensive line, but expects the team’s offense to excel.
“I’m optimistic,” Johnson said. “I think we’ll be fine. I expect seven or eight wins.”
Jason Robinson, a former Cavalier linebacker who graduated in 1996, sat in the Scott Stadium bleachers and said that he anticipates UVa will build on its successes last season, when the Cavs went 9-3 during the regular season.
“The guys’ll step it up. Everybody here is here for a reason,” said Robinson, who teaches high school and coaches football at Heritage High School in Newport News. “A lot of these guys [who are replacing the lost players] may not have known that their time was coming so quickly, but they’ll do fine.”
Not everyone at Scott Stadium on Saturday was seeing the Cavaliers in a happy light.
“There’s been a lot of losses. I’m conscious of that,” said Ashraf El-Arini, a fourth-year biomedical engineering student, whose friends call him the “sports authority.” “I think we can make a bowl game. But it’s annoying to see people ruining their opportunities.”
Chris Dolce, a fourth-year English major, said the football team does not need players who might reflect poorly on the university.
“If they try to do that stuff, they don’t deserve to be playing,” he said.
For Nick Burd, the team’s troubles don’t matter. Saturday’s game and the upcoming season simply represent an exciting chance to finally see his brother, redshirt freshman wide receiver Kris Burd, play for the Cavs.
“It’s going to be pretty good,” he said. “Kris Burd and [quarterback] Peter Lalich — nasty combination.”

 

Virginia's QB spot up for grabs
The three candidates play well, but no one stands out in Virginia's spring game.
By MELINDA WALDROP | 247-4634
April 13, 2008
 

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Virginia coach Al Groh has said before that the Cavaliers don't yet know who their starting quarterback is. His words took on added weight after Saturday's spring game.

Sophomore Peter Lalich, the only candidate who's thrown a pass in a game, seemed the logical choice to replace Jameel Sewell, who threw for 2,176 yards last season but is serving an academic suspension.

That decision seemed a little muddier Saturday, after Lalich completed six of his 18 attempts for 72 yards and threw three interceptions.

Senior Scott Deke, who's appeared in one game at U.Va., bettered those numbers with two touchdowns and 17 completions for 160 yards, and sophomore Marc Verica was 17-for-25 for 110 yards and a TD.

"I saw the same thing out of all three of them," Groh said. "They ran their team well. They made good decisions with what was unfolding in front of them. Each one of them made some throws up the field that have to be made, (and) each one of them got out of trouble and made some plays."

Groh repeated that all three have a shot to start when Virginia opens the 2008 season Aug. 30 against Southern California, but said Saturday's statistics won't influence his choice.

"If you look at numbers, you can't get the picture on that in a spring game," Groh said. "You don't know what (formation) they were in. You don't know what receivers they had in there. If you're trying to form any conclusions based on that, you're fooling yourself."

The way the Cavs' quarterback rotation — Deke, followed by Verica and Lalich — was determined emphasized Saturday's unofficial status.

"We let the quarterbacks choose a number between 1 and 50," Groh said. "Whoever got the number that we had in our head, he got the start, and we had the next two choose a number between one and 20, and whoever got closest to the number, he got to go second."

Deke nailed the first number, guessing 27, and was as sharp when he took the field. He capped Virginia's first offensive possession with a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end John Phillips.

"I think everyone that's ever talked to Coach Groh has realized he's a black-and-white guy. Not a lot of gray," said Deke, who got 42 of his yards after scooping up a bad snap and firing a pass to a streaking Matt Snyder. "So whatever he says is pretty much gonna be the way it is. And when he says (the quarterback competition) is wide-open, it's wide-open, just like it is at every position."

Lalich's first series ended when Matt Leemhuis wrestled away what looked like a deep completion to Dontrelle Inman. Defensive end Matt Conrath cut Lalich's second appearance short with a diving pick.

And Lalich's third interception came off a ball tipped into Trey Womack's hands as linebacker Jared Detrick closed in on Lalich.

"Those things don't matter to the team right now," Lalich said. "It's the spring, and we have a long way to go."

Lalich played in eight games last season, completing 35 of his 61 pass attempts for 321 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

"I think Pete having that experience definitely works to his benefit, but I think having an open competition makes everyone work harder," Verica said. "We're not really caught up in who's gonna be the guy. We're just focusing on what we can do to move this team forward."

"We just plow ahead," Groh said. "There's a lot of things to occur between now and Aug. 30."

NOTES
Corey Lillard, a 5-foot-11, 205 pound athlete out of Liberty High School in Bealeton, has verbally committed to Virginia, where he'll likely play safety. Lillard is the Cavs' fifth commitment for 2009. ... Senior tight end John Phillips, senior tailback Cedric Peerman, senior linebacker Clint Sintim and junior cornerback Vic Hall will serve as U.Va.'s 2008 captains. Peerman, whose 2007 season ended after six games with a foot injury, didn't play in Saturday's spring game as a precaution.

Deke gets his chance to shine
By Jay Jenkins
Published: April 13, 2008

Mathematically speaking, Scott Deke had a 2 percent chance at starting Virginia’s spring game Saturday at a sun-filled Scott Stadium.
Several months ago, however, the odds were stacked far higher as the quarterback prepared for life after football.
As events unfolded and players left unexpectedly, Deke was invited back for what will be his fifth season with the program.
The California native took full advantage at the spring festival, completing 17 of 23 passes for 160 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Cavaliers freely rotated three quarterbacks that apparently have an equal shot at starting the season opener on Aug. 30 against Southern Cal.
“It wasn’t my first rodeo by any means,” Deke chuckled. “I just wanted to make plays.”
How Deke landed the opportunity was beyond odd. Positioned in a so-called dead heat with sophomores Peter Lalich and Marc Verica, Virginia coach Al Groh allowed the players to pick a number between one and 50.
Deke took the first stab at guessing the number of choice as selected by Groh’s personal assistant, Thurston Childress. He guessed 27. Verica, using his bidding strategy, picked 28 and Lalich followed with 26.
The number of choice, obviously, was 27.
“I guess I was lucky,” Deke. “That’s just what I thought the number would be.”
Verica added: “He was mad when we picked the numbers around his.”
Deke won and took full advantage on his first drive, which happened to include several front-line starters that made what Groh coined “a token appearance” before watching from the sidelines.
The senior quarterback converted twice on consecutive 4th-and-1 opportunities with short keepers, and later connected with wideout Cary Koch on a 26-yard completion that moved the ball 12 yards from the end zone.
Four plays later, Deke found tight end John Phillips for a 3-yard touchdown pass.
“He made a great catch on that,” Deke said. “He always bails me out.”
Verica, who finished 17 of 25 for 110 yards passing, also threw a touchdown, finding redshirt freshman tight end Andrew Devlin on a 13-yard strike. Devlin finished with six catches for 58 yards, which was only bettered by redshirt freshman wideout Kris Burd’s 7-catch, 64-yard performance.
“Devlin had a nice day,” Verica said. “Coach Mike [Groh] always tells us to be aware of where the tight ends are. You can tell he is going to be a great player.”
Lalich, considered by many the favorite to win the quarterback job, finished with what could be considered a misleading performance. He completed only nine passes, three of which landed in the hands of opposing defenders (defensive end Matt Conrath and safeties Matt Leemhuis and Rico Bell).
Officially, Lalich was 6 for 18 for 72 yards, giving Virginia 358 total yards through the air.
To Lalich’s credit, drawing the shortest straw left him with a number of inexperienced wide receivers at his disposal.
“It was a positive day for the quarterbacks,” Al Groh said. “We are trying to coach all three.”
While the score was not kept due to the offense-versus-defense format and the limited players in uniform, the head coach was pleased with the performance as a whole, too, and the progress made during the 15-practice spring practice period.
“The general mood inside was that we all felt we had a positive day today, which was a positive finish to this time frame,” Groh said. “Clearly, we have twice as many practices available to us in August to follow up on those things as we did here in this time frame. That will obviously be a very important time, and the team understands that we have double the opportunity to move along.
“We feel like we have accomplished a number of things that we set out to do. Accomplished doesn’t mean that they have been fulfilled, but we’ve accomplished them as far as going down the road on those particular things.”
Groh cited the improvements of several players directly. Three of those Cavaliers were even honored as Rock Weir Award winners, which Groh uses to “really highlight the purpose of spring practice, which is player improvement.”
Linebacker Denzel Burrell, offensive tackle Landon Bradley and Phillips were honored with the annual award.
“You can run a play on the first day and not necessarily execute that much better on the last day [of spring] because some significant players are missing from the lineup,” Groh added.
“I just used that as an example for the whole team. But if individual players are getting better throughout the course of the spring, the team is in fact improving, whether it shows up on that play or not.”
Groh cited the progress of several veterans, including a collection of returning starters, to the entire team.
“When your veteran players do that, guys who have been in an awful lot of games and played well, that’s a really positive thing in terms of the ambition and the leadership and the mood of the team,” he said. “And then there was another group of players that significantly raised their game from where they were. Maybe not to the level of the aforementioned, but significantly raised the level of their game.”
Spring improvement was not limited to the veterans, Groh pointed out.
“There was another group of players, the first-year players rising up, who we left unnamed, but a nice group of those players that as we said to them, ‘They are ready for the big leagues. They don’t need to go back to the minors,’” the coach said. “It doesn’t mean that their game is where it needs to be or that they are going to play 40 plays a game, but they’re ready to play in the games next year.”
“That’s a positive thing there, too.”
 

Safety Lillard commits to Cavs
By From Staff Reports
Published: April 13, 2008

The Virginia football program gained its fifth in-state football commitment for the class of 2009 on Saturday when safety Corey Lillard gave his commitment to coach Al Groh at UVa’s spring game on Saturday.
“I just knew right then and there that my decision is not going to change any more,” Lillard said. “All I could think about was UVa and orange and blue, so why not go for it?”
The 5-foot-11, 205-pound Lillard is a rising senior at Liberty High School in Bealeton. He chose the Cavaliers over offers from Wake Forest, Arkansas, Boston College, Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State and Rutgers.
Lillard, whose primary recruiter on the UVa staff was wide receivers coach Wayne Lineburg, was an all-Cedar Run District pick at linebacker after recording 67 tackles (52 solo) in 2007. As a running back, he rushed for 639 yards and eight touchdowns while catching two touchdown passes.
“Virginia is getting a great kid,” Liberty coach Tom Buzzo said. “He’s absolutely a very humble, a very respectful kid. I love all my kids, but he’s a good one.
“I think he does a lot of good things, but probably his best attribute right now is his ability to hit.”
UVa also has commitments from Orange County safety Quintin Hunter, Sherando quarterback Ross Metheny, Harrisonburg running back Alex Owah and Chancellor running back Dominique Wallace.

 

Cavs' area of concern?
Virginia's Bob Pruett has big shoes to fill in recruiting the Peninsula.
By Melinda Waldrop | 247-4634
April 13, 2008
 

Jared Detrick admitted it wasn't easy.

When Mike London, the man who had recruited Detrick to Virginia, left his post as the Cavaliers' defensive coordinator to become the head coach at Richmond, it smarted.

"It got to me, because I'd known him for a while and he'd recruited me since I was in 11th grade," said Detrick, a sophomore linebacker and Woodside High product. "We pretty much had a great relationship. We're both from the same area. When he left, I felt it. It kind of hurt a little bit, but you know, that's the nature of business, so we just have to move on."

Virginia is moving on with a coaching veteran filling London's dual roles as coordinator and chief recruiter for the Tidewater area.

Bob Pruett, a 43-year high school and college coach who compiled a 94-23 record in nine seasons as head coach at Marshall University, is no stranger to identifying and recruiting potential players. But whether he can navigate the talent-rich Peninsula as well as London, a former player at Tabb and Bethel high schools and assistant coach at William and Mary, remains to be seen.

"I'm sure he's gonna work very hard at recruiting," longtime Hampton High coach Mike Smith said. "But does he have the same inroads as Mike London did down here? I don't think so. (London) is a hometown boy that grew up here, was well-liked and has a lot of friends down here."

Pruett said he mined the Peninsula heavily at Marshall as an assistant from 1979-1982 and as head coach from 1996-2004. He coached Denbigh graduate Max Yates at Marshall, and he's eager to build more Peninsula connections.

"I'm excited about it," Pruett said. "Mike Smith and I (are) really good friends. We've recruited that area at previous schools, and so I'm really excited about it. I think there's a lot of great players down there, and hopefully we can get our share."

London certainly did in his six years at Virginia, two of which he spent as the Cavs' recruiting coordinator. He lured the likes of Darryl Blackstock and Michael Johnson to Charlottesville — catches he knows his local ties helped him land.

"If you took me and put me in southwest Virginia, I wouldn't have the same effect, I don't think, because I played high school ball down there in Tidewater and grew up with a lot of those coaches that are mentors and role models for me," London said. "It's about building relationships with people."

London has talked with Pruett a few times, and "I know he's a well-respected guy," London said. "Good luck to him. I think he's got the credentials that he knows what he's talking about when it comes to football and evaluating talent. If he can do well down there in Tidewater, that would be great."

Virginia coach Al Groh, Pruett's longtime friend who first hired him as an assistant in 1983 at Wake Forest, has confidence in Pruett's recruiting ability.

"Bob can relate to anybody, and Bob's had excellent success recruiting a lot of players to schools where he coached from Virginia," Groh said. "So he knows how to get to all the schools, and if people have stayed in coaching as long as he has, he'll know a lot of the coaches."

Challenges lie ahead, though, in the serious business of vying for Peninsula players.

Smith, whose Hampton team beat Pruett's Gar-Field team 12-7 in the 1977 state championship game, said there's been enough local coaching turnover since Pruett retired from Marshall in 2004 — at Bethel, Kecoughtan and Menchville, for instance — to leave Pruett dealing with new faces. And that's not the only change Pruett may have to cope with in recruiting the area.

"He was representing himself at Marshall," Smith said. "He's gonna be representing somebody else at U.Va. now, so that's gonna be a little bit different. I think he's probably gonna encounter maybe a little different attitude. ... I'm not gonna say that he's not as good a recruiter (as London). The only thing I'm saying is that one guy's going into home territory, and the other one's going into a foreign country. (London) was a well-known guy, a very trusty guy. Not that they won't trust Bob, but you know, sometimes it takes a little while to get to know people."

"That's human nature," London said. "When you first go in a different area, if the coaches don't know you, obviously they're gonna watch what you do and watch what you say. If they see positive results on both sides of that, that's how you establish those relationships."

Another potential obstacle looms in the form of Curt Newsome, Virginia Tech's offensive line coach and Tidewater-area recruiter responsible for getting former Hampton star Tyrod Taylor to Blacksburg. Newsome, who coached at Kecoughtan High from 1987-1997 and at Heritage High in 1998, also helped the Hokies land seven players from Norfolk or Virginia Beach, including Maury lineman and Rivals.com four-star recruit Vinston Painter, in their 2008 signing class.

"Anybody that recruits down here has still got to go through Curt Newsome, and that's not easy," Smith said. "You're climbing uphill right off the start."

London acknowledged Newsome is a formidable foe, and Peninsula recruiters face more competition in former Landstown High coach Chris Beatty, in his first year at West Virginia, which just received a commitment from Phoebus quarterback Tajh Boyd.

While no longer competing against I-A schools for area blue-chip prospects, London, 47, has gotten commitments from Phoebus' Darius McMillan, Hampton's Pierre Wynn and Kecoughtan's Derek Mayo since taking over at I-AA Richmond in January. Much of his success stems from his personal approach, and Pruett, 64, seems to have some of the same hands-on charisma.

Pruett said he missed the players more than anything during his brief retirement, and he's already made an impression on the Cavaliers, who just completed spring practice after a 9-4 season.

"He came in knowing what we had to do," Detrick said. "He said nine (victories) wasn't good enough, so we just had to work harder. He came with the same intensity as Coach London did, if not probably more. ... Don't let the age fool you. He's a pretty intense guy, and he wants everything to be straight."

Such focus likely will help Pruett as he takes over London's crucial roles at U.Va., and London added some simple advice.

"Just be yourself and be true to who you are," London said. "It's OK to tell somebody that you love them and hug them up, but it's also OK if you kick them in the butt once in a while and tell them they're not doing things the way they need to. When guys see you have a genuine concern for them as individuals, man, they'll do anything for you."

The Pruett file
BOB PRUETT

AGE: 64.

JOB: Defensive coordinator at Virginia.

WORK HISTORY: Head coach at Marshall, 1996-2004 (94-23 record). ... Assistant coach at Marshall, 1979-1982. ... Was on Al Groh's staff at Wake Forest in 1983. ... Also worked on the coaching staffs at Mississippi, Tulane and Florida. ... Coached Virginia high school teams for 14 years, including 1973-78 at Gar-Field in Woodbridge, where he compiled a 49-14-1 record and won three district championships.



 

For Cavaliers, it was over in a flash
U.Va. battles back before experienced Duke nets 10 straight
Sunday, Apr 13, 2008 - 12:07 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- One moment the game was tied, and the record crowd was roaring. An instant later, it seemed, Duke had blown this ACC men's lacrosse game open.

"Those goals happened so quick," said University of Virginia defenseman Ken Clausen, a one-time Duke recruit. "It was 9-9, and all of the sudden on the sideline, you look and it's 19-9."

That was the final score. The second-ranked Blue Devils scored the last 10 goals to stun the third-ranked Cavaliers before a capacity crowd of 8,000, the largest to see a lacrosse game at Klockner Stadium.

Duke (3-0, 12-1) clinched the No. 1 seed in the ACC tourney, which will be held late this month at Klockner. Virginia (1-2, 10-2) will be seeded No. 3.

Yesterday's loss was the most one-sided ever for U.Va. at Klockner, which opened in 1993. This is Dom Starsia's 16th season as the Cavaliers' coach, and he's rarely had to address his players after such a pummelling. His postgame message?

"I tell the team I'm with them the whole way," Starsia said. "These kind of things happen. We didn't stop fighting. We came out in the third quarter, and I thought we got right back into it. But [Duke] can score so quickly and in such bunches. What I said to them after the game was, 'We don't want to be pretty good. We want to be really good. And that team is really good right now, and that's where we've got to get to.'"

Because of the NCAA's decision to award an extra season of eligibility to Duke players affected by the school's cancellation of the team's 2006 season, the college careers of such stars as attackman Matt Danowski, defensemen Tony McDevitt and Nick O'Hara and goalie Dan Loftus were extended. So was the career of midfielder Peter Lamade, who transferred from Duke to U.Va. to attend graduate school.

The Blue Devils' late spree didn't shock Lamade.

"Experience is something you can't coach," he said, "and they have a lot of it."

Twice U.Va. battled back from substantial deficits to tie the game. Three straight goals pulled the Cavaliers to 4-4 early in the second quarter. Duke went into halftime up 8-4 and scored the first goal of the third quarter, only to see the Cavaliers rally again.

Virginia never claimed the lead, however, and Duke's game-ending deluge began with a Zack Greer goal that made it 10-9 with 4:18 left in the third quarter. About three minutes later, Starsia substituted Mark Wade for goalie Bud Petit. A Collegiate School graduate, Petit was slowed by a hip flexor that worsened as the game went on.

The final quarter was a comedy of errors for Virginia, which struggled to pass and catch.

Sophomore attackman Max Quinzani led Duke with a career-high seven goals. The Devils got three from junior midfielder Steve Schoeffel, a graduate of the nearby Covenant School.

"It was a bit surreal coming back here," Schoeffel said after his first game at Klockner. "I watched a lot of games here when I was growing up."

Duke Runs Away from Virginia 19-9
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Courtesy: Pete Emerson/UVa Media Relations

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA—Second-ranked Duke exploded for 10 unanswered goals to gain a convincing 19-9 win over Virginia tonight before a record crowd of 8000 fans at Klöckner Stadium. The loss is Virginia’s first ever night loss at Klöckner after 21 consecutive wins dating back to 1993.

With the victory—its fourth in a row over Virginia—Duke earns the top seed in the upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament and improves its record to 12-1 this season.

Virginia is now 10-2 this season and will be the third seed in the conference tournament in two weeks.

The Blue Devils opened the contest with three goals in the first five minutes, but Virginia chipped away and tied the score at four on a Ben Rubeor goal at the 12:01 mark of the second quarter.

Max Quinzani scored three of Duke’s next four goals to give the Blue Devils an 8-4 lead at halftime. He scored early in the third quarter to extend Duke’s lead to five at 9-4. Quinzani finished with a career-high seven goals. He also snagged 10 ground balls, including four that he turned into goals.

“They are so good with the ball on the ground. I really felt like that’s where the game was won and lost, with the ball on the ground,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. “When the ball is on the deck, they have a chance to pick it up and make an unsettled opportunity. They were just so slick around the cage. Defensively we weren’t as smart as we needed to be throughout the game. They took advantage of every unsettled opportunity.”

The Cavaliers gave the record crowd plenty to cheer about as they fought back with five goals of their own to knot the score at 9-all with 8:31 left in the third quarter. Garrett Billings got Virginia started with his only goal of the night to answer Quinzani’s goal less than a minute after halftime.

Peter Lamade, a Duke graduate playing at UVa as a grad student this season, scored following a nice pass from Brian Carroll to draw the Cavaliers closer.

Will Barrow trimmed Duke’s lead to 9-7 with his fourth goal of the year with less than four minutes elapsed. Carroll’s extra-man goal cut the deficit to one and Steve Giannone, last week’s Cavalier hero, tied the score at nine with 8:31 to go in the third quarter.

More than four minutes passed before Zack Greer notched his second goal of the game to start Duke on its impressive run that ended any hopes the Cavaliers had of winning. Michael Ward and Zach Howell scored quickly as Duke’s lead grew to 12-9 with fewer than three minutes to play in the quarter.

Following Brad Ross’ goal with 1:36 remaining in the period, Mark Wade replaced an injured Bud Petit in goal for Virginia.

Mike Catalino scored on the Blue Devils’ first shot against Wade to close the third quarter scoring as they took a 14-9 lead into the final period. Five different players scored for Duke in the final 15 minutes as Virginia suffered its worst home loss in 21 years.

The Cavaliers return to action next Saturday (April 19) at home against Dartmouth in their annual Senior Day contest. The game is scheduled to face off at 1 pm and will broadcast on ACC Select.

Duke 4-4-6-5—19 record: 12-1/3-0 ACC
Virginia 1-3-5-0—9 record: 10-2/1-2 ACC
att—8000 (Klöckner Stadium record)

Scoring (G-A)— D: Max Quinzani 7-1, Zack Greer 3-0, Steve Schoeffel 3-0, Matt Danowski 1-3, Nick O’Hara 1-1, Mike Catalino 1-0, Zach Howell 1-0, Brad Ross 1-0, Michael Ward 1-0, Sam Payton 0-1. V: Ben Rubeor 2-1, Will Barrow 1-1, Garrett Billings 1-1, Brian Carroll 1-1, Gavin Gill 1-1, Shamel Bratton 1-0, Steve Giannone 1-0, Peter Lamade 1-0, Danny Glading 0-1, Garett Ince 0-1.

Goalie Summary—D: Dan Loftus 52:46 mins., 12 saves, 9 goals allowed; Rob Schroeder 7:14 mins., 1 save, 0 goals allowed. V: Bud Petit 43:24 mins., 9 saves, 13 goals allowed; Mark Wade 16:36 mins., 1 save, 6 goals allowed.

Shots: D—46, V—40
Ground Balls: D—45, V—44
Clearing: D—26x33, V—20x25
Faceoffs: D —13, V—17
Penalties: D—6-4:30, V—3-2:00
EMO: D—1x2, V—1x6


 

Duke overwhelms U.Va. in lacrosse
The No. 2 Blue Devils score 11 second-half goals to crush the Cavs and a former teammate.
By MELINDA WALDROP | | 247-4634
April 13, 2008
 

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Knowing it was coming didn't make it any easier to stop.

Having played four seasons at Duke, Virginia midfielder Peter Lamade knew the Blue Devils were capable of striking quickly. He saw that ability first-hand Saturday night as Duke reeled off 10 unanswered goals to beat Virginia 19-9, giving the Cavaliers their worst lacrosse loss in the 15-year history of Klockner Stadium.

"They're a very experienced team," said Lamade, who scored a goal at the 12:24 mark of third period as the Cavaliers (10-2), ranked No. 3 in the latest U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll, rallied from a four-goal halftime deficit to eventually tie the game at 9 before a stadium-record crowd of 8,000. "Experience is something you can't coach, and they have a lot of it, so that explosiveness is gonna come."

It came right after Steve Giannone's goal knotted the score at 9 with 8:31 to play in the third period, when Duke's Zack Greer finished off a break with a goal that put the Blue Devils (12-1), the USILA's No. 2 team, back up 10-9 with 4:18 to go. Four more goals before the third period ended made it 14-9, and Duke piled on five more goals in the final 15 minutes.

"They can score so quickly, in such bunches," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "What I said to (the Virginia players) after the game was, we don't want to be pretty good, we want to be really good, and that team is really good right now. That's where we've got to get to."

Duke sophomore Max Quinzani had seven goals. He started the scoring 16 seconds into the game and finished the first half with five, including one with less than a second left that gave the Blue Devils an 8-4 lead.

Quinzani's sixth goal put Duke up 9-4 to open the second half, but Garrett Billings started a five-goal U.Va. spurt that tied the game at 9.

"You know when it is 9-9 midway through the third, you have the potential to play with this team," Cavs sophomore defender Ken Clausen said.

Then came Duke's onslaught, which included Quinzani's seventh goal with 13:30 to play.

Quinzani was one of seven members of Duke's 2006 recruiting class, formed in the midst of rape allegations, later disproved, that rocked the program. Quinzani and two other recruits opted to stay at Duke. Clausen and three others decided to leave.

"There's always gonna be a connection there," Clausen said. "I was supposed to play there. There's always something special about playing them, and I have the utmost respect for their team and what they've done."

Lamade was a senior on Duke's national runner-up team in 2007, one year after the team's 2006 season was canceled after eight games. The NCAA gave Duke players who weren't seniors in 2006 another year of eligibility, and Lamade — who graduated in 2007 — elected to use his at Virginia.

His said his reunion with his ex-teammates was cordial, and Duke fans shouted and waved to him after the game.

"We love Peter, and he's moved on with his life," Duke coach John Danowski said. " ... Everybody made different choices. Out of the 13 seniors last year, five chose to stay, one came to Virginia, and seven made other choices in their lives. So we're happy for all of them."

 

Record crowd sees record UVa defeat
By Whitey Reid
Published: April 13, 2008

Bud Petit took a knee behind the Virginia bench. One by one, teammates walked by him and slapped him on the back.
Finally, after staring down at the grass for several minutes, the fifth-year senior goalie slammed his helmet down in disgust.
It was only the third quarter.
Yes, it was that kind of game for the UVa men’s lacrosse team.
Playing in front of a record crowd of 8,000 at Klockner Stadium on Saturday night, Virginia was hammered by No. 2 Duke, 19-9. It was UVa’s worst home loss in the 15-year history of the facility.
The third-ranked Cavaliers were outscored 10-0 over the game’s final 19:18.
“They can score so quickly and in such bunches,” said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. “I said to [my players] after the game that we don’t want to be pretty good. We want to be really good. And that team [Duke] is really good right now. That’s where we have to get to.”
Duke was led by sophomore Max Quinzani’s seven goals. The Blue Devils’ dominating performance was reminiscent of those by the 2006 Virginia NCAA championship team.
“They beat us in every aspect of the game today,” said UVa senior Ben Rubeor, who led the Cavs with two goals. “I think it starts with the small things. If you can’t get groundballs, you’re not going to come back, especially against a team that’s that talented.”
Virginia (10-2, 1-2 ACC) never led in the game. Before the crowd - which was capped at 8,000 due to safety concerns - could settle in, Duke led 3-0.
UVa would tie the game at 4 on a goal by Ben Rubeor early in the second quarter, but the Blue Devils (12-1,
3-0) answered with four straight goals - the last coming by Quinzani as time expired - to take an 8-4 lead at the half.
When Quinzani scored less than a minute into the third quarter to put Duke up 9-4, the game looked all but over. However, Virginia responded with five goals over the next six minutes to tie things up.
“I turned to one of my assistant coaches and said, ‘Boy, I don’t know about this one,’” said Duke coach John Danowski. “They [had] momentum, huge crowd and were playing well. They had us on our heels.”
But it was all downhill for Virginia from there.
Duke, buoyed by its efficiency on key groundballs and faceoffs, dominated the final 19 minutes of the contest.
“They are so good with the ball on the ground,” Starsia said. “I really feel that’s where the game was won and lost. If I was them, I’d throw it on the ground periodically. They’re so good. When the ball’s on the deck, they were able to pick it up and [convert] on unsettled opportunities.
“They were just so slick around the cage and I think defensively we weren’t as smart as we needed to be.”
After Brad Ross scored to put Duke up 13-9 with 1:36 seconds left in the third quarter, Starsia replaced Petit - who was hobbled by a hip flexor injury - with sophomore Mark Wade.
It made little difference. Duke, which locked up a No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, continued its onslaught and left the capacity crowd looking glum.
“They’re a real good team and they capitalized on our mistakes,” said UVa defender Ken Clausen. “If you want to beat a good team, you can’t make some of the errors we did.”

 

Cavs rally for win over Terps
By From Staff Reports
Published: April 13, 2008

In College Park, Md., Virginia apparently has no problem doing things the hard way.
After failing behind early against Maryland for the second straight game, the Cavaliers mounted a rally to claim what proved to be a series-securing victory.
UVa first baseman Jeremy Farrell planted a pitch over the left-field wall in the fifth inning for a three-run homer that propelled the Cavaliers to a 5-4 victory over Maryland on Saturday.
Virginia, which won 11-6 on Friday, improved to 28-9 overall (10-7 ACC) and won its 17th straight over the Terrapins.
“This was a big win for team, and I am proud of how our team remained resilient throughout,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “Every win on the road in the ACC is big.”
Maryland took an early lead in the second after catcher Mike Moss drilled a three-run homer to center off Virginia starter Pat McAnaney.
“Moss took a good swing, but Pat really buckled down,” O’Connor said. “I think he knew that three runs were not going to win the ballgame.”
McAnaney, who entered having allowed only nine earned runs on the season, pitched into the eighth inning to improve to 4-1 overall. The southpaw allowed four hits and four earned runs, but fanned nine batters.
Virginia’s offense generated a pair of runs in the third inning after Tyler Cannon and David Adams reached base and advanced from first to third on pitches that sailed to the backstop.
“You will take what they give you in the game of baseball,” O’Connor said.
Maryland scored a lone run in the eighth, but reliever Matt Packer escaped a jam in the eighth and Michael Schwimer was perfect in the ninth.
“Schwimer was lights out,” O’Connor said. “It was great to see him pitch that way on back-to-back days.”
Cannon led Virginia in the contest with three hits.
UVa will try to complete the sweep today at 1 p.m.