Will Cavaliers compete for ACC title?
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
July 26, 2004

GREENSBORO, N.C. - For each of the past 12 years, members of the media covering football in the Atlantic Coast Conference have made Florida State the No. 1 preseason pick to win the league championship. That trend could be stopped today.
With the additions of Miami and Virginia Tech to the league, the Seminoles may lose their grasp on the top spot of the predicted order of finish when league officials announce the results from the ACC Football Kickoff.
Virginia, which has only been the ACC’s preseason favorite once (1990), was predicted to finish fourth last season. UVa went 4-4 in league play and tied with N.C. State for fourth place.
Virginia defensive end Chris Canty said on Sunday while meeting with reporters at the Kickoff, that he thinks the Cavaliers will play a major role in the race for the title.
“I think Virginia is a championship caliber team right now,” said Canty, a two-time All-ACC second team selection. “I think we are ready to show the conference and the rest of the college football world that we are just that.”
Elton Brown, who was second team All-ACC last year as well, agreed with his teammate.
“The last couple of years we’ve been right there knocking at the door,” Brown said. “I think we’re ready to walk right in. We just have to finish. We have to start off and maintain that level throughout the season and finish games.”
Canty said one of the keys to competing for the title will center on the ability of the team to stay “consistent.” Last season, Virginia opened the ACC season 3-0 with wins over Duke, Wake Forest and North Carolina but then reeled off four straight losses, three of which were on the road.
UVa did bounce back, by winning its three final games, including a 23-16 victory over Pittsburgh in the Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, N.C.
“I think that we have had a tremendous resolve to finish seasons but I don’t think we’ve been consistent throughout the season from the beginning to the end,” Canty said. “I am just really excited about guys understanding the game of football, understanding Virginia football and how we play the game and being able to get the job done and compete for a conference championship.”
Canty knows that for the team to have a chance at the ACC crown, it will have to start with the defense. UVa welcomes back eight starters from a unit that ranked 26th in the country in scoring defense (20.4 points per game).
“Anytime you talk about winning championships, you have to talk about defense,” said the 6-foot-7, 290-pounder. “Defense wins championships. That’s our motto … DWC. When you talk about playing good defense, you gotta talk about pass rush, you have to talk about in-your-face defense, [that is] physical, brutally physical and creating that mentality and playing with emotion. I think that is a part of college football.”
Canty also knows that as one of the four captains on the team, he will need to be a leader - on and off the field.
“This year, hopefully we will have good leadership and be able to be in the hunt for the conference championship and the national championship,” Canty said.
A sign that Canty is serious about the Cavaliers’ chances can be derived from the fact that he is still in Charlottesville a few months after completing his undergraduate degree in African-American studies. Thanks to a redshirt season in 2000, Canty can play this season as a graduate student and said he will be in the Curry School of Education.
Canty could have elected to enter the NFL Draft.
“I definitely considered it heavily … coming out early, but I decided I wanted to come back and compete for a conference championship and a national championship,” Canty said. “I enjoyed college and it has been a great time. I have enjoyed my camaraderie with my teammates.
“I am very confident. That’s why I am here … because we have tremendous players, we believe in our system, we understand how we play football and how that positions us for the championship,” Canty said.
With a buzz in the air about the additions of Miami and Virginia Tech, Canty - a Lombardi Award and
All-American candidate - said that it would be exciting having the two schools in the league this year.
“Everybody is talking about it. Everybody is buzzing about VT and Miami joining,” Canty said. “It becomes the best football conference in America.”
Canty, who said he would have a playing weight between 291 and 294 pounds, said it also adds some importance to the already present rivalry with the Hokies.
“I am excited for them and I am excited for us,” Canty said. “It just adds a little bonus for them to be a conference game. The atmosphere is already electric. I just think it will be that much more intense and I think that could come down to an ACC Championship.”

No chance for revenge. Wake Forest cornerback Eric King does not like to talk about Sept. 27, 2003. It still haunts him to this day.
On that day, King and his teammates watched former UVa quarterback Matt Schaub return to action from an injury that sidelined him for three complete games and lead the Cavaliers to a 27-24 come-from-behind win.
Virginia placekicker Connor Hughes kicked a 38-yard field goal with 10 seconds left to seal the victory.
Thanks to the two new ACC schedule, King will not be able to get revenge for the loss. Virginia and Wake Forest do not play each other this season for the first time since 1979.
“That was one of those teams that we wanted to play. We wanted to redeem ourselves for last year,” King said.
Wake Forest, however, is one of five teams in the league that will play both Miami and Virginia Tech.
“We don’t get to play Virginia but we do get to play Virginia Tech and Miami instead. Those will be exciting games.”

Hitting the links. Brown and Canty are set to play a round of golf today at one of the two golf courses at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, N.C.
Don’t expect either to be pursuing a career on the PGA Tour.
When Brown was asked if he was a golfer, he replied, “No, but I am trying to learn.”
Canty has a little more experience on the links and said his father Joseph and mother Shirley play regularly. Canty’s dad shoots around 85 for 18 holes.
“They’ve dragged me out on the course, when I was little, so I guess I have gotten accustomed to it.”
The younger Canty said he has never broken 100.
“I get out there and throw the sticks around, but I am not very good, but I love it. I just love to compete.”
 

Big E worth his weight in UVa gold
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
July 26, 2004

GREENSBORO, N.C.

Elton Brown is a good-natured soul and much of Tidewater’s population should be thankful.

Teased constantly about his weight as a wide-bodied youngster growing up in the Hampton area, he did what most any heavy kid would do. He laughed ... and he cried.

Where ya going fat boy? Hey, hey, hey, it’s Fat Albert. Please don’t eat us.

Those were the typical verbal jabs slung his way by neighborhood kids and schoolmates. The ribbing got old, but instead of physically lashing out, which Elton was big enough to do, he buried the pain and joked his way through the situations.

“I was teased all the time,” said Virginia’s All-American candidate at right guard during Sunday’s ACC Football Kickoff at the Grandover Resort. “That’s why I can say I’m a funny guy now because I used to get joked on a lot. I was like, ‘Well, I’m not going to exercise and lose the weight, so I might as well just start joking back.’”

There are a lot of folks who sit in Scott Stadium on autumn afternoons that are glad Big E never lost that weight. There are a lot of defensive players who wished he had.

A quick, blockin’ lineman

When No. 61 breaks the huddle and trots to the offensive line, the Cavaliers’ right offensive guard is an imposing figure. Mount Elton is 6-foot-6, 338 pounds and as quick as a cat. It’s not unusual for Virginia to call a lot of plays that require Brown to pull and move his frame out in front of its speedy running backs.

When he was named second team All-ACC last season it was a bit of a letdown because Brown wanted to be the best.

A few days later, he was voted the ACC’s Jacobs Blocking Trophy winner, symbolic of the best blocker in the league. The league’s defensive coordinators voted on that one.

Heading into his senior year with 27 career starts, Brown is an All-American candidate and an Outland Trophy nominee. While all those awards are meaningful, Brown’s biggest concern is helping Virginia’s program take the next step.

“The last couple of years we’ve been right there knocking at the door,” Brown said. “I think we’re ready to walk right in.”

Trenchwork is a big key

While the results of the media’s preseason ACC vote won’t be released until later today, those with a watchful eye on Virginia believe much rests on the big uglies who call the trenches their home.

With the entire offensive line returning intact and a loaded stable of running backs, the Cavs must break in a new quarterback with some unproven wide receivers. There is no question that coach Al Groh plans on pounding the ball with an aggressive running game,which puts pressure on the Brown-led line.

Any lineman worth his salt pines for the day when coaches rely on the running game to get the job done. Groh did just that on a couple of occasions late in the season last year and will likely pay more visits to his line during battles this fall.

In key games against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, Groh stopped his sideline prowl and came to the offensive line on the bench and encouraged them to pound it out. Both times the line responded.

“Anytime the head coach comes down your way and says, ‘I really need you guys to do this,’ then it’s a pride check,” Brown said. “You want to get the job done. We responded against Georgia Tech and again against Virginia Tech by running the ball strong and winning the games.”

Brown said that Groh doesn’t come back ranting and raving, but approaches the line with a very encouraging, positive request.

“It’s never a pressure thing, but more like, ‘Let’s go.’ By him being in the NFL for so long, he knows how to approach players. When he puts that on you, you look at the other linemen and we know what we have to do.”

Elton Brown has come a long way since those days in Hampton. He once got up to 362 pounds before he came to Virginia, was overweight and out of condition. Today at 330, he’s in great shape and is just, well, BIG.

Anybody who calls him names now is taking a big risk. He won’t laugh about it anymore, at least not until he’s through beating opponents to a pulp.

“Elton is a tough guy and he’s not afraid to let you know he’s a tough guy,” said defensive teammate Chris Canty. “He hits people with bad intentions ... very bad intentions. I’ve been the victim of an ‘Elton moment.’ He caught me on an inside trap one time and kind of had a little fun with me.”

Slobberknocking the sense out of opponents is Big E’s favorite pastime, but still the gigantic lineman harbors a fantasy much like most guards and tackles. He’d like to carry the ball, ala The Fridge, down into the end zone one time ... well, maybe two times.

“All summer I’ve been politicking that we should give Big E the ball on the goal line one time,” Brown said Sunday. “Coach, just give me the ball. If I run it and I don’t get in, give it to me again. But I promise I’ll get in the first time.”

If that happens, no one will be laughing at Elton Brown. They’ll be laughing with him. And he will be laughing louder than them all.
 

A tall, John Paul Jones order
UVa arena is taking shape
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
July 25, 2004

Standing at center court of the John Paul Jones Arena and watching the skeleton of the University of Virginia’s new 15,000-seat basketball facility going up, it was abundantly clear that this would become an intimidating place for opponents to play.

The intent was to build not only a much larger facility, but to make it as unique with the Virginia “brand” and as intimidating a venue as possible in order to add to the Cavaliers’ home court advantage.

After a tour of the construction site, there is no question that lead architect Bob Moje (pronounced Mo-jay) of VMDO Architects in Charlottesville has fulfilled those intentions.

The project started in May of 2003 and is slated for completion in May of 2006. Rumors that the building will open prior to the designated June of 2006 projection are unfounded and the three-year plan - one year to get itout of the ground, one year to build the shell and one year to complete the inside - is right on schedule, according to Moje.

This will not be your typical vanilla basketball arena. Walk into many of the newest arenas around the country or even some of the bigger facilities built in the last couple of decades and there’s little to distinguish one from another.

Not so with JPJ. Moje, a UVa alum, was as concerned as university officials and others involved that the “Virginia brand” be evident throughout this building. It is being built on the culture founded by Thomas Jefferson and is an on-going vision of what Jefferson had.

One of the biggest building projects in the Commonwealth and what will be the largest arena between Washington, D.C., and Raleigh, N.C., this facility will be easily distinguished from the others.

“You can begin to see some of the design intent,” Moje said during the tour. “One of the things we tried very hard to do was to create an atmosphere inside the seating bowl that would be as good as it could be as a home court advantage for basketball.”

Expanded research

Moje and other VMDO architects, university officials and others did their research for this project. They toured many other arenas around the country, borrowing good ideas, discarding bad ones. The concept was to blend the good ideas with the uniqueness of this arena so fans can tell where they are without looking for the logo on the floor.

VMDO has accomplished this in various ways, some unorthodox but brilliant.

The idea was to build the seating and create a sense to be as close to the court as possible, exactly the opposite of what Virginia fans experience in the existing University Hall. There are two concepts that are somewhat unique.

The horseshoe shape of the arena’s inside is extremely distinctive. While most of the court will be wrapped by seats from floor to the top concourse, the open end of the horseshoe will feature student bleachers on the lower bowl. However, that flat end will be much closer to the court than a conventional 360-degree seating bowl.

“There is still some balcony seating there but that end will sort of loom over the court more so than most any other court,” Moje said. “A key component to making the inside of it sort of unique to the University of Virginia is the open-end wall, which has the brick and white motif that picks up on the idea of The Lawn and similar things we did with Scott Stadium.”

Moje’s architectural approach carries that theme of UVa’s brand and keeps a consistent look between the football and basketball facilities throughout the rest of the university.

“The other thing is that we brought the side pieces in much tighter to the court on the upper deck,” Moje said.

He explained that conventional wisdom in arena building is to make the lower seating bowl as large as possible. However, many arenas that have followed that logic have bad sight lines for fans at the top of the lower bowl because they are so far away from the court.

“In the traditional way of thinking, the lower bowl has very shallow rises and it spreads away from the court faster because of the shallower angles,” Moje said. “Most people try to make that lower bowl as big as possible but we actually did the opposite.”

JPJ’s lower bowl will be as small as possible, which brings in the majority of the seats in the upper bowl with the intent of putting all the fans right on top of the court.

The Badger influence

Moje said that a couple of buildings influenced the plan, including Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium, recognized as the most intimidating atmosphere in college basketball. The other came during a visit to the Virginia football game at Wisconsin a few years ago.

“The one that probably made the biggest impression was at Wisconsin’s old basketball arena,” Moje said.

Wisconsin had just build a new facility to replace its old Armory arena; however, when a thunderstorm sent Virginia and Wisconsin fans indoors prior to the kickoff of the football game, Cavalier boosters found themselves standing on the floor of the old basketball building, with Wisconsin fans hovering over them on the upper concourse’s overhangs.

When Badger fans began to badger the Wahoo fans below, there was definitely an intimidation factor felt by Moje and some of the others down below.

“The old Armory building really defined their home court advantage because it was an intimidating atmosphere,” Moje said. “The most intimidating thing you can do is put fans close to the court and above the court.

“In a lot of ways, our new arena is similar to what Duke has with a small lower bowl and the main concourse hanging toward the court,” Moje said. “We tried to replicate that in a modern arena and I don’t know if anyone else has ever done that.”

The lower bowl seats will be closer to the court, as will the upper bowl seats and the 20 luxury suites in between along with the open end of the horseshoe where the students will lurk.

In, out of the ground

As Moje explained the past year has been the most difficult part of the project in getting it out of the ground. By design, more than half of the building is buried in the ground in order to reduce the size of the building, “So it won’t overwhelm everything else around it,” Moje said.

The JPJ will rise to about the same point as University Hall, but it starts much lower. University Hall could easily fit inside the new facility.

When fans eventually walk into the front door of the arena, they will be on the main concourse, which has the suite level and access to the lower bowl. Below that is the event level. Architects wanted to minimize the amount of walking to either of the lower or upper levels for fans.

Folks who drive by it daily probably don’t notice the progress as much as those who haven’t visited the facility (across from U-Hall) for some time. Students who left in May may be surprised to see the hole in the ground now has life.

Subcontractors and construction personnel, who are specialists from all over the country, are working from 6:30 in the morning to 7 or 8 at night, six-and-a-half days a week so that they can get their part of the project done and move on to another job.

Currently workers are pouring and placing concrete in the seating bowl, constructing major rafters and rakers that hold the seating bowl up.

“All of this current construction is enormously difficult because you’re building stuff that’s way up in the air,” Moje said. “The connections the steel has to make are tremendously complicated, 50 to 60 feet in the air.”

Workers are pouring one to three of those rakers a week in a circular motion around the building. The goal is to get all that in place, then the steel work will begin late this summer with the erection of major spans.

That will be the trickiest piece of construction because workers must link all the major supports.

“You have to build something on the ground that’s big enough to get from here to there (he said as he pointed from one side of the building to the other), lift it up and set it there,” Moje said. “It’s enormously unstable initially until all the other pieces get in place. There will be a couple of days where we won’t sleep too good.”

Two of the largest nine cranes in the nation will be here to link it all together. Once the structure gets stable, all the architects and workers will breath a lot easier.

The last part of the construction will be the building of the two practice facilities at the backside of the building, which faces Emmet Street. One men’s practice facility and one women’s, each consisting of one-and-a-half courts, linked by a training room in the middle.

These will be state-of-the-art practice facilities as good or better than any in the country. A weight training facility, players’ lounges, teaching rooms, coaches’ offices and a locker room will all be built on that end of the facility.

A connector road from the new building that will link to the bypass will also go in last.

While the opening of John Paul Jones Arena may seem a long way off, for Virginia fans it will be worth the wait.
 

U.Va.'s Miller has a big fan: Brown
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published July 26, 2004

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Notes from Day One of the ACC Football Kickoff, where the topic among players ranged from PlayStation to conference expansion:

CLEMSON

Tiger quarterback Charlie Whitehurst says it isn't true: He didn't punch wide receiver Kelvin Grant during an offseason workout.

"I'd be honest and tell you if something happened," Whitehurst said. "There's no truth to that - not at all. There was not even a disagreement. I wouldn't do that to him, anyway, just from a self-preservation standpoint. I don't know where that got started."

The answer: On an Internet fans' site, of course.

DUKE

Over the last four seasons, the Blue Devils have won two ACC football games. Which matches the number of Final Four appearances Mike Krzyzewski's basketball team has made in that span.

So what's it like being a football player at a basketball school?

"If I had come to Duke just to play football, it would probably bother me," tailback Cedric Dargan said. "But football was just one of the reasons I came to Duke. I think the students came out more to support us last year toward the end of the year, and that was great. But I came here for more reasons than playing football."

FLORIDA STATE

Going into the 11th game of the 2003 regular season, Seminole wideout Craphonso Thorpe was unquestionably the fastest player in the ACC. He had championships in the 100- and 200-meter dashes in the conference track meet to prove it.

In an overtime victory over N.C. State on Nov. 15, that speed was diminished when Thorpe broke his leg. But seven months later, he says he's faster than ever.

"We timed a week ago and it was 4.20 hand-held and 4.30 electronic," he said, referring to the 40-yard dash. "Before, it was 4.38, 4.39. How'd I do it? Come on, now, I can't give that away."

GEORGIA TECH

Count Yellow Jacket safety James Butler among the many who are excited about the ACC's new 11-team look.

"Whenever you add teams like Miami and Virginia Tech, that always gives you more national exposure because they've been in the national spotlight for years," he said. "True, the league is going to be so much tougher now. But in the end, it's going to be much sweeter."

MARYLAND

The Terrapins' 10-2 finish in 2001 turned some heads but left the cynics skeptical. Yet Maryland followed that by going 11-3 in '02 and 10-3 in '03. Only four other Division I-A schools - Miami, Oklahoma Texas and Washington State - have won at least 10 games in each of the last three seasons.

Maybe it's time to believe in the Turtle.

"And we won a conference title (in 2001), so the only thing we haven't done is win the national title," cornerback Domonique Foxworth said. "You can't say we're not a perennial power."

MIAMI

Its program being the driving force behind expansion talk last summer, Miami's players were particularly interested in how things would unfold.

"If you're into college football, you had to think it would be a neat thing if it worked out," Hurricane quarterback Brock Berlin said. "This has always been a good league, but when you add us and Virginia Tech, that's made it even better."

NORTH CAROLINA

Tar Heel defensive tackle Chase Page was in for a shock when he fired up his UNC team on NCAA 2005 PlayStation: He had been suspended for two games for an unspecified violation of team rules.

"So I went up to Coach (John) Bunting and said, 'Why'd you suspend me?'" Page said. "And he was like, 'What are you talking about?' Old guys don't know about PlayStation."

When Bunting finds out Page called him an old guy, he might suspend him for real.

N.C. STATE

Growing up in Deerfield Beach, Fla., Tramain Hall knew all things Miami Hurricanes. And now, he has a chance to play against them. Miami comes to Carter-Finley Stadium on Oct. 23.

"I've been telling my friends, 'Welcome to beautiful Raleigh, North Carolina," Hall said. "I'm going to get a chance to play against guys I didn't get the chance to play against in high school. I'm so excited I don't know what to do with myself."

VIRGINIA

Cavalier offensive guard Elton Brown on teammate Heath Miller, considered one of the top tight ends in college football:

"Heath Miller's the best tight end in the country - hands down. Double-team him and he'll catch the ball. Triple-team him and he'll catch the ball. Throw the ball up and he'll catch the ball. People see all that, but behind the scenes he's a great run-blocker, too."

VIRGINIA TECH

Vincent Fuller isn't a golfer. Which isn't to say he isn't going to give it a whack - probably literally - as the players hit the links today at Grandover Resort.

"I wouldn't call it my golfing debut - I'd call it my actually-trying-to-hit-the-ball-off-the-tee debut," he said. "There's a first time for everything. But I told Bryan (Randall) - he's a great golfer; he shoots in the high 80s - that if I'm doing too bad I'm going to stop. I'm not going to embarrass myself like that."

WAKE FOREST

The flip side to conference expansion is that the days of everybody playing everybody else are gone. The Demon Deacons won't see Virginia, a team they lost to in 2002 and '03 by a combined seven points, this year. And wide receiver Jason Anderson hates it.

"I'm very disappointed we won't be playing Virginia," said Anderson, who grew up in Hampton before moving to Charlotte, N.C., prior to his ninth-grade year. "That hurt my heart, honestly. In Hampton, that's all you hear about is Virginia football."

And he no doubt remembers his five-catch, 150-yard performance against the Cavs in 2001.

Va. Tech, Miami bring troubling crimes to ACC
BOB LIPPER
POINT OF VIEW Jul 26, 2004

GREENSBORO, N.C. The ACC (a.k.a. the Big 11 and Pending) began its annual beat-the-drums Football Kickoff yesterday, and the whole gang was here.

Well, except for MarcusVick, Willie Williams, Antrel Rolle, Ottowa Anderson, Bobby Meeks and their see-ya-in-court friends, of course.

For which Guilford County peace activists are grateful.

The ACC wanted big-time football, it's got big-time football. It's got upwards of five Top 25 entries in most preseason forecasts. It's got a championship game on the horizon. It's got a fat new TV contract. It's got 'Canes and 'Noles under the same big tent. It's got Mike Krzyzewski grinding his teeth (yeah, but he'll be doing it in Durham, not L.A., and for this gift the ACC should be grateful).

But the league's got smudges as well all of them applied during a fairly tumultuous offseason that particularly shined a light (hand-held by one of CSI: College Football's finest) on the newest members of the clan.

You add schools to your conference, you want them to arrive as tuxedoed gentry, governed by etiquette that'd make Miss Manners proud. What you don't want is some lout who'll guzzle the champagne, knock over the tray of after-dinner mints and put a move on the hired help.

The ACC should be afraid. It should be very afraid.

It's uncertain whether Vick will be lining up for Virginia Tech and Williams and Rolle for Miami this season, but they already have cracked the sorts of lineups that give image-conscious commissioners indigestion. That they made unwanted headlines within days of their schools' official entrance to the ACC only boosted the acid content in John Swofford's stomach.

Vick is the sophomore quarterback who was suspended by Tech after being arrested for speeding and marijuana possession this following his conviction (along with teammates Mike Imoh and Brenden Hill) for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Williams, meanwhile, is the coveted linebacker who got probation from a friendly Fort Lauderdale judge after his criminal misbehavior during a recruiting visit to Florida triggered conditions tied to 11 priors he'd piled up in high school. Now he hopes he'll get similar treatment from Miami's admissions office so he can suit up at linebacker for the Hurricanes.

As for Rolle, he's maybe the country's best suspended cornerback following his arrest for battery on a law-enforcement officer a felony.

Nor have the holdover lodge brothers been inactive. Virginia's depth chart has had an ongoing relationship with Charlottesville constables since last spring, for instance wideout and academic casualty Anderson (assault and battery) and excised signee Ahmad Bradshaw (underage alcohol possession, obstruction) being the most recent perps.

And Meeks, a starting Florida State guard, conjured Sebastian Janikowski flashbacks when he had to be pepper-sprayed and stun-gunned into submission during his apprehension after a fracas at a Tallahassee, Fla., bar. He's been socked with two felony counts for resisting arrest with violence and battery against a police officer. And people wonder how the 'Noles have steamrolled the league since coming aboard in 1992.

"Anytime you have athletes having off-the-field problems, it's troubling," Swofford said. "Particularly when they're in your conference."

The baggage the newcomers carry in?

"I would be troubled in the same way if it were other schools," Swofford replied. "Expansion is a long-term decision. Certainly the schools and programs coming into the ACC will enhance the league."

For now, they've lengthened its rap sheet.
 

A New Era Begins in NCAA Football
ACC lands letter-perfect fit Tech's addition to conference energizes Hokies, opponents
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jul 26, 2004

GREENSBORO, N.C Virginia Tech fans weren't the only ones ecstatic about the school's entry into the Atlantic Coast Conference. Most Tech players grew up in ACC country, and many are well-versed in the conference's football tradition.

Senior safety Vincent Fuller, who's from Baltimore, couldn't be happier about the Hokies' move from the Big East to the ACC.

"It means the world to me," Fuller said. "Growing up, I watched all the [ACC] games on Jefferson-Pilot Sports and ESPN the Florida State-Virginia games, all the Maryland games every weekend . . . It's a childhood dream of mine to play against some of these teams, and I'm realizing that dream."

Fuller was among the players who met with the media yesterday during the ACC Football Kickoff at the Grandover Resort. Also there from Tech was senior quarterback Bryan Randall, a Williamsburg resident. Representing the University of Virginia were senior defensive end Chris Canty, who grew up in Charlotte, N.C., and senior offensive guard Elton Brown, a graduate of Hampton High.

Virginia Tech and Miami joined the ACC on July 1. Much of the talk yesterday focused on how the newcomers will bolster the reputation of a league Florida State has ruled since becoming the ACC's ninth member in 1992.

"Look at everybody," Canty said, flashing his trademark smile. "Everybody's buzzing about it. Everybody's buzzing about V-Tech and Miami joining. It's incredible. It becomes the best football conference in the country."

If so, the road to the ACC title for Virginia will be fraught with more obstacles. That's fine with Canty.

"It's more competition," he said. "I'm all for that. As a competitor, that's what you play for."

Brown grew up watching the Hokies as well as the Cavaliers. Tech is "an extraordinary program," Brown said, "and it just makes the conference that much better. I feel like the ACC is the best conference in the country right now."

Brown's cousin and roommate Elton Brown, who plays basketball at U.Va., was an AAU teammate of Randall in the storied Boo Williams program. The football Elton got to know Randall casually in high school, but they didn't develop a friendship until college.

"Now I feel like we have a little relationship," Brown said yesterday.

The tense relationship between Tech and U.Va. has been exhaustively chronicled through the years. It's not likely to improve now that the Hokies call the ACC home. When Boston College comes aboard next summer, the ACC will divide its football teams into two six-team groups. Tech and U.Va. will be in the same division.

"It's an extra bonus," Canty said. "You're playing those guys, and you already don't like them very much. It intensifies the rivalry, and the ACC championship could come down to the game."

Randall said: "I think there's a little more incentive for the game now. Not only is it a rivalry for the Commonwealth Cup, but now it's the Commonwealth Cup and potentially the ACC championship. It just throws a little more gasoline on the flames."

That's on game day, Randall emphasized. The rest of the year, he said, the players from the schools generally get along well with each other.

"We're all real cool," he said. "The rivalry is when you put the pads on. The schools in general, there's not a lot of love between Virginia Tech and Virginia, but the [U.Va. players], they're all right with me."