Report says Brooks has dropped 32 pounds
Miss Virginia has sports angle
Doug Doughty

Unlike the pro timing day that Virginia held for its senior football players in March, the media was not welcome when 2005 Butkus Award finalist Ahmad Brooks worked out Thursday in Charlottesville.

Brooks, who was dismissed from the UVa program in March, has applied for the NFL’s supplemental draft, to be held July 13. Representatives of 31 of the 32 NCAA teams – everybody but Minnesota – was on hand for his workout.

In a sidebar to the column that ex-Dallas Cowboys general manager Gil Brandt “writes” for NFL.com, it was reported that Brooks had passed five drug tests in the last 10 weeks and had been measured at 6 foot 3 and 260 pounds.

When he ran 40 yards, Brooks was timed in 4.68, 4.75 and 4.74 seconds in what was described as less than ideal conditions. He also lifted 225 pounds 19 times in the bench press.

A 4.72 average in the 40 was well off the 4.5 that had been attributed to Brooks in his earlier days but it’s still good for a player his size. The story on NFL.com also said that Brooks had lost 32 pounds in 10 weeks, which speaks to his condition at the time that he would have reported for spring practice.

A source told me that Brooks had met with Cincinnati Bengals’ coach Marvin Lewis, although the Internet report did not confirm that. Bengals’ linebacker coach Ricky Hunley, a one-time Petersburg High School star conducted the workout in 96-degree heat, with a 110-degree heat index.

THE OFF-BEAT ITEM of the week comes courtesy of Roanoke Times prep editor Robert Anderson, who was on Roanoke’s City Market on Friday when he spied legendary Hampton High School football coach Mike Smith.

It turns out that Smith was in town for the Miss Virginia Pageant. His 20-year-old daughter, Leigh-Taylor Savannah Smith, is Miss Hampton-Newport News and won the swimsuit competition Thursday night.

Smith was optimistic that the swimsuit victory would elevate his daughter, a University of Virginia drama major, into a spot in the top 10 and a television appearance Saturday night.

Anderson said he almost didn’t recognize Smith, who has dropped more than 40 pounds, from a high of 223 to 181 (take that, Ahmad). However, Smith said he was not prepared to enter any swimsuit competitions himself.

Smith said he had not seen Kyle Tucker’s piece in Norfolk’s Virginian-Pilot on Hampton quarterback Tyrod Taylor. All signs are pointing toward Taylor making a July commitment to Virginia Tech, possibly on ESPN.

Smith said he thinks it is likely that Taylor will take at least an unofficial visit to Florida and possibly to Florida State before making an announcement.

FORK UNION MILITARY ACADEMY football coach John Shuman said Arizona Western is among the junior colleges that have sent representatives to Fork Union to speak to wide receiver Todd Nolen, who has signed a letter-of-intent with Virginia Tech.

Nolen, who originally signed with Tech in 2005 as a senior at Hampton High School, has graduated from Fork Union but it waiting on a test score to determine if he can qualify for freshman eligibility.

A DECISION BY Notre Dame to make a scholarship for Stone Bridge High School lineman Andrew Nuss is going to make it very difficult for either Virginia Tech or Virginia to keep Nuss in state.

Tech and UVa both had made scholarship offers to Nuss, considered one of the top 10 prospects in the state, but comments by Nuss after a recent visit to South Bend, Ind., left little doubt as to his fascination with the Irish.

A CHECK OF THE UVA student directory reveals that running back and Group AAA player of the year Keith Payne is enrolled as a student, as is basketball recruit Solomon Tat, who committed to the Cavaliers in September 2005 but never signed with UVa.

Defensive-line recruit Gavin Smith is enrolled (there had been some question about him), but seven UVa football signees are not currently listed: Billy Cuffee, Ras-I Dowling, DeAndre Filer, O.C. Wardlow, George Johnson, Almondo Sewell and Asa Chapman.

Sewell is headed to Hargrave Military Academy and has some jaw-dropping film, according to coach Robert Prunty. Wardlow, a talented quarterback from Winston-Salem, N.C., will not be going to Hargrave, Prunty said, and could be headed to junior college.

Cuffee said Friday that he will be going to Fork Union. When asked how close he came to making the grade, he said. “I don’t even know. They told me I had to go up there regardless.”

Cuffee said he has not spoken to his teammate, Dowling, in a week and is unaware of his plans.

 

Carrying the load

/noticias.info/ Gary Kubiak was pleased with many aspects of his team following 14 days of offseason team activities and two mini-camp sessions. The area he was most excited about, though, might surprise some people.

The Texans’ head coach couldn’t say enough good things about the running backs, which was bold praise considering incumbent starter Domanick Davis was sidelined while recovering from offseason knee surgery, and 2005 third-round pick Vernand Morency also missed time with plantar fasciitis.

The remaining ball carriers included a nine-year veteran and three rookies, two of which were undrafted. Even one of the first-year players, sixth-round pick Wali Lundy, missed some time while recovering from a strained hamstring, leaving Antowain Smith, Chris Taylor and Damien Rhodes to split the majority of reps. Smith, with his fifth NFL club, was the only player with any pro experience.

Yet Kubiak couldn’t be happier with the group heading into training camp. He loves Smith’s leadership and the example he sets, as well as the energy and competitiveness of his first-year players. Part of Kubiak’s optimism could stem from his history of turning previously unheralded and so-called “washed up” running backs into solid contributors.

In the past eight seasons, five different Denver Broncos running backs have rushed for 1,000 yards in Kubiak’s offense. Only two of those players were drafted before the fourth round, and none were first-round picks.

That’s not to say any running back can gain 1,000 yards under Kubiak, but it certainly is a good track record that the Texans would not mind replicating.

“I’m surprised (at our depth),” Kubiak said. “I guess that would be a good way to put it…Antowain is a veteran guy that we’re very excited to get. We think he fits what we do. Then the surprise comes from these young kids. Morency has missed some time, but you look at Wali Lundy, Taylor and Rhodes. We’re very, very fortunate to pick these young men up, and they have been a big surprise throughout this summer. They’re doing a good job.”

Lundy played in a zone scheme under head coach Al Groh, so he’s familiar with Kubiak’s offense. Meanwhile, Taylor, a former Indiana Hoosier, and Rhodes, who played at Syracuse, have caught on quickly with their speed and decisiveness.

Running backs coach Chick Harris credits Kubiak for uncovering the talented prospects.

“I think that it’s really good to be able to find young players like we’ve been able to do,” Harris said. “I tell you what, our head coach went out and he constantly pounded on looking everywhere, near and far, to find young players. I think that’s a credit to what coach Kubiak did in Denver. And I think we have some young, quality backs in our camp right now that are going to have to be reckoned with.”

According to Harris, each running back has a slightly different style, but they all work well in the system that the Texans run, which emphasizes quick cuts upfield without a lot of shake-and-baking.

“The running style is based on inside and outside zone principles and being decisive and going north and south as soon as you see a vertical lane to run in,” Harris said. “I think that’s so important, and then really emphasizing that over and over and over. They get a lot out of it and they get a good push at the line of scrimmage with the line play. We’re looking forward to seeing that pay dividends.”

Taylor (5-11, 220) slipped through the cracks after rushing for 740 yards on 156 carries (4.7 avg.) last year in a spread offense. His compact frame and breakaway speed turned heads this offseason, but he’s not taking anything for granted.

“This is my type of offense with zones and powers,” Taylor said during mini-camps. “I’m just trying to take one day at a time. I’m going out there every play trying to give it 100 percent. It’s hard for free agents to make the team normally. So I’m just doing my best and hopefully everything will work out.”

While he had to watch from the sidelines for significant portions of the offseason, Lundy (5-10, 214) possesses superb footwork and an uncanny scoring ability. He scored a school-record 50 touchdowns in Charlottesville.

Harris’ only concern is keeping Lundy on the field.

“Wali Lundy gives you a lot of vision and balance and he can go between the tackles or inside the tackles and do a good job,” Harris said. “He’s got good lower legs, and the vision and patience to see the holes.”

Rhodes also is comfortable in the Texans’ offense after working under current tight ends coach Brian Pariani at Syracuse, where Pariani served as the offensive coordinator last season.

After finishing his career ranked fifth in all-purpose yards (3,972) at Syracuse, Rhodes has a chance to contribute to the Texans on offense and in the return game.

“Damien Rhodes possesses a lot of speed,” Harris said. “He plays into the mix very well.”

Even if Davis and Morency return to full strength, and Smith continues to play well, Kubiak anticipates each of the young runners to push for playing time during the preseason. They showed this offseason that they’re up for the challenge.

“Opportunity is knocking with those kids,” Kubiak said at mini-camp. “It was a little scary at one time putting our backfield together, but now once they are all healthy, it’s going to be a strength on our team. I think they’re all going to do a good job for us and it’s going to be a (heck) of a battle.”

 

UVa recruit Bell earns honor
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
June 24, 2006

It’s easy to see why Rico Bell was shocked to hear this week that he was awarded the Male Athlete of the Year Award by the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, the top honor given by a newspaper that covers 120 high schools.

The future Virginia football player was snubbed as the Player of the Year at his own school, Vance High in Charlotte.

The school’s honor went to two-sport star Kevin Edwards, who inked a scholarship at the Naval Academy to play quarterback and run track.

“When my coach told me, I didn’t think I was going to get it at first,” Bell said. “That was a big honor.”

To say it accurately, the incoming Cavalier freshman ran away with the award.

At the North Carolina 4A State Track Championship’s, Bell won the 100 meters in 10.48 seconds, a time that tied for the best in meet history, and finished second in the 200. Bell also ran a leg on the 400 relay team that took first and the runner-up 800 relay team.

Not bad for a guy that picked up the sport just two years ago.

“I didn’t start running track until the end of my sophomore year,” Bell said. “That’s when I started getting in shape and I started picking it up my junior year, and that’s when I was the fastest guy around.”

The track times only boosted an impressive senior campaign for Bell - he said he made 105 tackles and intercepted six passes. With Bell securing the secondary, Vance claimed the first conference title in the school’s history.

With high school graduation completed and a few monetary gifts from family members in his pocket, Bell said he has started shifting his thoughts from track back to football.

The first official step in the process comes on July 5 with orientation.

Luckily for Bell and UVa coach Al Groh, the defensive back has already gotten a crash course in the 3-4 defensive scheme that the Cavaliers employ.

“We ran the 3-4 one time last year, so I had to get familiar with that,” Bell said. “I know Coach [Groh] said there is going to be a lot of blitzing schemes in there and covering 1-on-1 and all that. It will be pretty easy. I just need to learn it.”

While Virginia returns a number of key pieces in the secondary, including starting cornerback Marcus Hamilton, Bell said he remains confident that he will see the field as a true freshman.

Will it be at corner or safety?

“I think I can play both. I can lay the pad and I can cover for you,” Bell said. “That’s why I think I can help them out a lot, because I can play safety or corner.”

Don’t expect Bell to complain either way.

“I just want to play,” he said, “and hopefully I can help the team out how I can.”

 

Woman altered stories of rape
A Duke player's attorney makes public a report saying the accuser was inconsistent
Benjamin Niolet and Joseph Neff, Staff Writers

DURHAM - Hours after a March 13 Duke University lacrosse team party, the woman who said players raped her that night told police changing stories.
An officer at Duke Hospital wrote in a report released Friday that the accuser said she was one of four women who danced at the party; every other account of that night says only two women danced.

The woman said that night that five men sexually assaulted her; District Attorney Mike Nifong and investigators have said there were three.

Durham police officer G.D. Sutton noted that the woman also said at one point that she had not been raped. "While being interviewed at Duke, her story changed several times," the officer wrote in a report.

That document was attached to a letter that a defense attorney sent to an investigator in Nifong's office Friday and copied to reporters. The day before, the investigator, Linwood Wilson, interrupted lawyer Joseph B. Cheshire V as he talked at a news conference Thursday after Nifong gave hundreds of pages of evidence to defense attorneys. Wilson asked to see the document that stated the woman had changed her story.

"Since you are the District Attorney's Investigator, the press could have assumed -- falsely, as it turns out -- that you had actually read your file," Cheshire wrote in his letter to Wilson. "I can only assume your motivation in questioning my assertion was simply ignorance. A simple reading of your file might solve that problem in the future."

The letter was another escalation in the continuing public acrimony between Nifong's office and defense attorneys. Cheshire represents David Evans, one of three indicted lacrosse players.

The report, one of 536 pages handed over to the defense at a court hearing Thursday, is another piece of evidence made public by the defense that could cast doubt on the reliability of the woman, an escort service dancer. Her testimony might be the most important part of Nifong's case.

Evidence made public

North Carolina has rarely, if ever, seen criminal evidence spill so rapidly into the public eye. Police reports, handwritten witness statements and reports on photo identification lineups have all become public.

This steady flow is a direct result of a 2004 law that forces prosecutors to share all their evidence with defendants. Lawmakers made the change after several cases in which prosecutors withheld such material, particularly in the case of former death row inmate Alan Gell. Prosecutors withheld statements showing Gell was in jail when the murder occurred.

Under the old law, Cheshire said, "We would get this evidence when the trial started, if at all."

Nifong has said he has always provided the type of evidence now required by law. Efforts to reach Nifong and Wilson failed Friday.

The accuser has been in hiding for months and could not be reached. The News & Observer generally does not identify people who report that they have been sexually assaulted.

Court filings

Nifong has stopped discussing the case, but lawyers representing the three players have stepped up their attacks through court filings that question the accuser's credibility and Nifong's case. The police report, an account of the early morning hours of March 14, adds to the list of apparent problems with the case against the three lacrosse players.

Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md., Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y. and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J., each face charges of rape, sexual offense and kidnapping.

The lawyers say that no rape or assault happened at the party and that for at least Seligmann, bank machine photos and the testimony of a cab driver would help show he could not have committed a rape.

The woman has given, by Cheshire's count, at least a half-dozen different accounts to police, doctors and nurses. The woman first said she was raped to someone at a mental health facility where police took her for detoxification. At Duke Hospital, her story changed several times:

* She told police she was dancing at a party with three other women when she was pulled into a bathroom and raped by five men.

* She told another police officer that she had been groped by some men in front of the house at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. but had not been raped.

* She told a doctor that three men had assaulted her vaginally.

* She told a nurse that three men had assaulted her vaginally, anally and orally.

* She told the same nurse that two men had assaulted her.

The taxi driver

In an interview Friday, Cheshire said much of the evidence handed over Thursday duplicates documents previously turned over or consists of the players' academic records.

Cheshire said he was struck that police apparently had not investigated the escort services where the two dancers worked, yet they conducted an extensive investigation of a taxi driver whose sworn statement is part of Seligmann's alibi.

When news of the investigation broke in March, protests erupted and Nifong told interviewers that he was sure a crime occurred. Nifong has not changed his mind. But even Nifong supporters are shifting their opinions.

"Unless he has a player from the team who is going to testify that this rape occurred, there is no way he will win this case and there is no way this case should have ever been brought," said Mark Edwards, a Durham criminal defense lawyer. Edwards appeared in an advertisement on Nifong's behalf during the prosecutor's successful campaign in the Democratic primary for district attorney.