7/30/02 - Refresher Course

PINEHURST, N.C. As the 2001 football season progressed and Virginia's losses mounted, the weekly updates became a focal point of media coverage of the team.

Billy McMullen needs eight more catches to break this record . . . Billy McMullen needs 50 more yards to break that record . . . Billy McMullen needs two more touchdown catches to break . . .

"I got tired of hearing it," McMullen told reporters Sunday at the ACC Football Kickoff. "I just want to win. All that stuff means nothing unless you win."

Will the Cavaliers, who went 5-7 and tied for seventh in the ACC last season, win more in 2002? Not if you believe the media members who cover the ACC. They picked U.Va. to finish eighth, ahead of only hapless Duke.

McMullen, not surprisingly, sees things differently. "We're expecting to go to a bowl," he said.

However the season unfolds for Virginia, no one expects anything less than another terrific year for McMullen, a 1998 graduate of Henrico High.

"You almost don't have to say it," said Al Groh, the Cavaliers' second-year coach. "If you know Billy McMullen, you know he's worked very, very hard. When two of your very best players are your two hardest workers, that really sets the tone for your team, as McMullen and [senior linebacker] Angelo Crowell have done for us."

As a junior in 2001, McMullen caught 83 passes - 29 more than the previous record at U.Va. - for 1,060 yards and 12 touchdowns. The 6-4 208-pounder was named to the all-ACC first team and to Football News' All-America third team.

"I'd be surprised if there's a better wide receiver in the country than Billy McMullen," Groh said. "He caught 83 passes last year, high ones, low ones, deep ones, short ones, zone coverage, man coverage. I wouldn't trade him for anybody."

McMullen, who spent the 1998-99 school year at Fork Union Military Academy, remains the undisputed leader of U.Va.'s receiving corps. Junior Michael McGrew and sophomore Ottowa Anderson are expected to play larger roles this season, though, so don't be shocked if McMullen's statistics aren't as eye-catching as in 2001.

"I wouldn't be disappointed or surprised at all," he said, "as long as I do something with ones I catch and we're winning."

McMullen's numbers may drop, but Groh expects him to be a more pol ished receiver. McMullen hopes to play in the NFL and, with that goal in mind, trains religiously. Want to find No. 11 when he's not in class? Look in the weight room or on the practice field.

"Billy's worked very hard on two particular areas," Groh said. "One is with his blocking, and the other one is run after the catch. Not that he was deficient in those areas, but those are two areas that his substantial size should give him the opportunity to really excel at."

No matter how hard he trains, McMullen will never be as fast as, say, an Andre Davis or a Santana Moss. But McMullen compensates in other ways.

"One, he's a tremendous competitor," Groh said. "He's got really good ball skills, and he's got something that all those other so-called great receivers don't have: He's [6-4], with tremendous wingspan. That's hard to deal with as blazing speed; in some situations, more difficult."

Even after a superb season for FUMA's postgraduate team in 1998, McMullen was lightly recruited, and U.Va. only offered him a scholarship after a passionate sales pitch by Fork Union coach John Shuman. Now McMullen hears people calling him one of the nation's elite receivers.

Unbelievable? Maybe to some, but McMullen isn't pinching himself.

"I always had big expectations for myself, even when other people didn't," he said. "I think I'm right in line with where I should be."

ATTRITION: Virginia football coach Al Groh is a realist. He knew when Antwoine Womack suffered a serious injury in last year's opener that the Cavaliers would probably struggle in the star tailback's absence, and that's what happened.

Groh has long known, too, that the 2002 season would severely test his inexperienced and depth-shy team, and offseason developments haven't helped matters at U.Va. Three players who were expected to be on the Cavaliers' two-deep this season have either left or failed to enter the program.

Fullback Jonathan Ward has given up football after sufferering a series of concussions. Linebacker Ahmad Brooks, USA Today's defensive player of the year as a Hylton High senior in 2001, failed to qualify academically and will spend the coming school year at Fork Union Military Academy. Finally, reserve defensive end Larry Simmons informed his coaches Wednesday that he was leaving the team to concentrate on his schoolwork.

Simmons would have been the Cavaliers' most experienced defensive lineman. That distinction now belongs to starting end Chris Canty, who's recovering from a broken leg. Canty, a redshirt sophomore, appeared in all 12 games last season as a reserve and made 23 tackles.

MINISTER OF DEFENSE: The top returning men's basketball player at Virginia - and perhaps in the ACC - has yet to meet Rod Jensen. But Travis Watson, the 6-8 rising senior who led the ACC in rebounding last season, says he likes what he's heard and read about Jensen, whom U.Va. coach Pete Gillen recently hired as an assistant.

Jensen, who spent seven years as Boise State's head coach, is known for his defensive expertise, and by season's end in 2001-02, Virginia's defense was the flimsiest in the ACC.

"Our offense feeds off our defense," Watson said yesterday, "and if him coming in helps us out with that, that's a great plus for us."

ANOTHER BIG ONE: Offensive linemen Marshall Ausberry and Gordie Sammis committed to U.Va. early this month. Another rising 12th-grader who's projected to play on the offensive line, Eddie Pinigis, followed suit recently.

Pinigis, a 6-7, 285-pound tackle, attends Jefferson Forest High, for which he was an all-Seminole District and all-Region III selection in 2001. He also had scholarship offers from Wake Forest and Maryland, and North Carolina and Tennessee were seriously interested, Jefferson Forest coach Terry Smith said, but Virginia was his favorite all along.

"I think a lot had to do with the fact that he has seven brothers and sisters," said Smith, a former U.Va. graduate assistant, "and a lot of them want to watch him play."

Pinigis' uncle, Calvert Jones, is a former offensive lineman at Virginia Tech. Jones' reaction to Pinigis' commitment?

"He loves it," Smith said. "He's very happy for him."

ABOUT-FACE: U.Va.'s All-America wideout, senior Billy McMullen, spent the 1998-99 school year in Fork Union's postgraduate program.

"It's a whole different life up there," McMullen said. "I used to keep my room [trashed] all the time. Fork Union made me a neat freak. My house has got to be clean all the time, or I can't relax."

His roommate, inside linebacker Merrill Robertson, is the same way, McMullen said. Not coincidentally, perhaps, Robertson spent 1998-99 at FUMA too.

NEXT IN LINE? After Germane and Angelo might come Juwon. Groh's recruiting targets for 2003 include wideout Juwon Crowell, a rising senior at Carver High in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The Crowell family has produced several outstanding athletes, among them Germane and Angelo, two of Juwon's four brothers. Germane Crowell, now with the Detroit Lions, starred at receiver for U.Va. Inside linebacker Angelo Crowell is one of the Cavaliers' senior co-captains.

LAST CHANCE: Robertson, an L.C. Bird High graduate, is coming off an injury-marred junior season. He got hurt in the 2001 opener against Wisconsin and never returned to full speed.

His college career, in fact, hasn't gone as he'd hoped. Robertson entered U.Va. in 1999 as a blue-chip recruit but has moved from fullback to defensive end to, finally, inside linebacker.

He's healthy now, though, and "I think this year really means a lot to him," Angelo Crowell said. "He feels like personally he has something to prove to the world." - Jeff White

For the University of Virginia football team, the future is now.

Twenty-two scholarship freshmen reported to U.Va. on Friday, and at least a dozen are likely to play in the Aug. 22 opener against Colorado State at Scott Stadium. As the season progresses, several more of the Cavaliers' newcomers are likely to see action, too.

On a Virginia team with only about 75 scholarship players - the NCAA allows 85 - true freshmen will make up a disproportionate chunk. That's not an ideal situation, as second-year coach Al Groh well knows.

Conventional wisdom holds that most freshmen should redshirt. Groh doesn't have that luxury. "It's going to make it a very challenging season, but I think a very stimulating season," he said.

Twenty-six players signed in February with U.Va., whose recruiting class was widely ranked among the nation's top 10. Because of academic issues, four of those players didn't make it to Virginia, most notably linebacker Ahmad Brooks, a Parade All-American as a Hylton High senior in 2001. Even without Brooks, though, the class is loaded with touted prospects.

"We have a very, very talented young class coming in - a lot of really good players," Groh said. "They're talented and they're hungry. We need the interjection of their ability onto our roster."

The class includes two Central Region products: Patrick Henry High's Anthony Martinez and L.C. Bird's Jason Snelling. Martinez may well be Virginia's No. 3 quarterback this season, and Snelling could break into the rotation at fullback.

At least one newcomer will start against Colorado State: Tom Hagan, who graduated last month from Roanoke's Cave Spring High. Groh named Hagan, who might also handle the Cavs' kicking duties, as his No. 1 punter months ago.

"I want him to understand that not only do I have confidence in him," Groh said, "but I'm depending on him, too."

Hagan's reaction? "In one way it's good that I know exactly what I'm going to be doing [this] year and I can prepare," he said. "On the other hand, I don't know what to expect or how I'll do."

The fastest freshman, tailback Michael Johnson of Newport News, is likely to return punts and/or kickoffs in the opener, and Darryl Blackstock, his former teammate at Heritage High, should see time at outside linebacker. Other newcomers expected to play against the Rams include defensive linemen Kwakou Robinson, D.J. Bell and Braden Campbell, tailback Wali Lundy, offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson and cornerback Marcus Hamilton.

"There's a lot of good teams last year that featured freshmen in prominent roles," Groh said. "There's a lot of NFL teams that featured rookies in prominent roles. So that's why I say I'm not afraid to use young players. I've got confidence in them. Those were the kind of young players we pursued last year . . . I think a lot of them are energized by the idea that they're coming to play."

True, but it's "going to take them a while," said Billy McMullen, Virginia's All-American wide receiver. "It's so hard. Even [Michael] Vick had to take a redshirt year."

After graduating from Henrico High in 1998, McMullen spent a year at Fork Union Military Academy before enrolling at U.Va. He was 19 - no kid - when he suited up for Virginia's 1999 opener against North Carolina. His line against the Tar Heels?

Zero catches.

"It was so fast, I couldn't believe it," McMullen said of the college game. "I'm not doubting my teammates, but it's tough.

McMullen proved to be a quick study, though, and by the end of '99 he was the team's top receiver. For Virginia to succeed this season, Groh needs Hagan and Co. to follow similar learning curves. That's one reason Groh seized the opportunity to schedule a 13th game, the Jim Thorpe Classic against Colorado State.

"It all ties in with the younger players," he said. "A lot of our future is in the development of these players. They're going to learn how to play by playing in the games."

Virginia played six true freshmen in 2001. One of them, offensive guard Elton Brown, watched the first two games.

"We just started him off just going to the game," Groh recalled. "Then we put him on field-goal protection. Then we put him on field-goal block. Then we put him on goal-line defense. Then we put him in the game on offense. Then eventually he started the last four games.

"That pattern would be followed with some players [this season], and there might be some who are in there for 35 plays that first game."

Groh isn't the most patient soul, and freshmen have been known to make freshman mistakes. Given that, Groh said, he's probably going to assign a new job to some lucky staffer: Walk "around and tap the head coach on the shoulder and say, 'Hey, calm down. It was your idea.'"