Media selects FSU to win ACC; Virginia slotted 3rd
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
July 27, 2004

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The members of the media covering the Atlantic Coast Conference have named, for the 13th straight year, Florida State as the preseason favorite to capture the league crown.
Florida State, which received first-place votes on 49 of the 88 ballots cast, narrowly edged Miami (36 first-place votes) by just 12 overall votes, 925-913. Virginia received a pair of first-place votes and was predicted to finish in third place with 697 points.
Clemson, which was picked first on one ballot, was picked fourth (664 points) ahead of Maryland (653), Virginia Tech (511) and N.C. State (509). Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, North Carolina and Duke rounded out the selections.
Virginia coach Al Groh said he would have voted differently if he had been filling out the poll, mainly due to the returning quarterbacks that many teams have.
“Because of the great weight that goes with the quarterback position … if I was in the position to be one of the pickers I would not pick a team that did not have a returning quarterback, ahead of a team that did,” said Groh on Monday. “Obviously, what you have in this conference, you have two teams in Florida State and Miami who won their respective championships last year and a team in Clemson who might have been playing better than anybody at the end of the year, of that group. All three of those return quarterbacks who won a lot of games and performed very well last year.
“I think that’s what you gotta go through in order to finish in the top [of the ACC]. That is the briar patch right there.”
Groh said that since UVa had Matt Schaub returning last year, he could relate to what Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, Miami’s Larry Coker and Clemson’s Terry Bowden are feeling entering the season.
“I know how that feels as the coach coming back, having one of those kind of quarterbacks,” Groh said. “I can relate to how those coaches feel about their circumstances.”
With Schaub now playing for the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL, Groh’s squad will likely turn to Marques Hagans, at least initially, as its signal-caller.
“Now we don’t have that,” Groh said. “I think the quarterback position is such a weighted position on a football team and it is the most dynamic position in organized sports, today, in how he can affect the game. If you get superior quarterback play it can magnify the results that the other 21 positions might have produced and it can also minimize the results that the other 21 positions have provided. I think that is the story of the conference right now.”
When asked about the poll, N.C. State coach Chuck Amato said he was hoping his team would be lower than seventh.
“I was looking for 11th to help motivate us a little,” Amato said with a big grin. “If that was basketball it would be the other way around. It is just a poll.”

Cunningham goes under the knife. Virginia offensive lineman Ian Yates-Cunningham had surgery on his back in May according to Groh.
“Cunningham had back surgery,” Groh said. “I would say that he is on what we call PUP right now - physically unable to perform.”
Groh also added that Kai Parham would be ready to practice when the preseason opens.

No timetable for Groh. When asked on Monday if he felt his program was on schedule for the plan that he had when he left the New York Jets to man the sidelines at his alma mater, Groh said he “didn’t have a time frame, so I didn’t have a schedule. … I knew that there were certain jobs that needed to be done and we had to get to work on those jobs. When those jobs were completed, the team would get better.”
Groh said that his main focus initially was to recruit better talent to the program.
“Number one, we had to increase the talent pool. That has come along nicely,” Groh said. “I think it is in the process of making more progress. I don’t think it is a fully stocked lake yet, but the talent pool has increased significantly and is getting ready to do more so.”
Groh also added that the team has made huge strides in its system, mainly the 3-4 defense.
“I think we needed time in the systems. That has occurred,” Groh said. “I think the results would substantiate that we can say we are a pretty good team. We are [one] of only 13 teams over the last two years to win consecutive bowl games. We have had a good closing run, a season-ending stretch. Of the last three years we are 8-2. That is what teams have to learn how to do.”

New duds. The Cavaliers will be wearing new uniforms this season according to Groh.
“Wait till you see the uniforms, they look pretty good,” Groh said.
While Groh indicated that he did not design the uniforms he “did have the option of signing off on them.”

Right off the bat. Florida State coach Bobby Bowden was his usual colorful self at the kickoff festivities.
When asked if he was happy to be playing Miami right off the bat in the first game of the season, Bowden quipped, “I like to get them before they get all greased up.”
 

Sewell is UVa's 20th commitment
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
July 27, 2004

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Virginia coach Al Groh spent Monday at the ACC Football Kickoff but got some good news from back home: the Cavaliers landed their 20th commitment.

Jameel Sewell, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound quarterback from Richmond’s Hermitage High School announced he will play for Virginia. Sewell, ranked the No. 12 prospect in the state in the upcoming senior class by Rivals recruiting analyst Mike Farrell, chose the Cavaliers over a host of schools.

“It came down to Virginia and Maryland,” said Hermitage coach Patrick Kane in a telephone interview. “Jameel also had offers from Syracuse, North Carolina and Cincinnati.”

Sewell is the second quarterback to accept a UVa offer in the class of early commitments. Last year, Gretna quarterback Vic Hall, committed to the Cavaliers and has since stated his commitment was firm even though other colleges have continued to recruit him.

A left-handed passer, Sewell completed 65 of 135 passes (48 percent) for 1,032 yards as a junior last season. His touchdown-to-interception ratio was impressive, with 16 scoring tosses compared to a mere five pickoffs.

“Jameel has very good mechanics,” Kane said. “He has very quick feet in the pocket and has an excellent touch on the ball. He knows how much zip to put on the ball depending on what type of pass he has to throw.”

The Richmond quarterback has attended Virginia’s summer football camp for the past two years, giving Wahoo coaches a good look at the prospect. UVa quarterbacks coach Mike Groh was the principle recruiter.

“Jameel told me he felt most comfortable at Virginia than the other schools,” Kane said. “He felt comfortable with their coaching staff and their style of offense.”

Sewell, who will also play free safety on defense for Hermitage this coming season, has played in the I-formation in high school. Virginia uses the West Coast offensive philosophy.

“Jameel had a very good year last season,” Kane said. “He has a strong arm and his footwork in the pocket gives him a chance to throw. We do some bootleg stuff, but if you need him to roll out, he can do that too.”

Kane believes that Sewell has displayed leadership throughout his career at Hermitage, particularly during crunch time last season.

“There were times when we trailed in games and we called for our two-minute offense and with Jameel in control, he either put us in position to score a field goal or led us to a touchdown,” Kane said. “That’s the kind of leader you want at quarterback.”

Virginia’s 20 early commitments are not eligible to sign national letters-of-intent until the National Signing Day, which comes a bit earlier this season, falling on Feb. 2, 2005.
 

Hokies welcomed to new conference as No. 6 pick
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
July 27, 2004

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer made one quick observation about life in the ACC during the league’s 33rd annual kickoff festivities Monday.

“There are a lot more media people here. You all are gathered all around this table. We never had quite this many around the table in the Big East,” said Beamer, decked out in a Virginia Tech maroon shirt with an ACC logo emblazoned on the sleeve.

In all seriousness, Beamer acknowledged the enormous impact that change in venue has caused.

“I think this an extremely exciting time for Virginia Tech and its future,” Beamer said. “I think all the possibilities are great and honestly I think this is the biggest and best thing to ever happen to Virginia Tech athletics.”

Much of the afternoon was focused on Beamer’s thoughts of entering the ACC but the status of sophomore quarterback Marcus Vick was also a popular topic.

Vick, already suspended indefinitely from an on-campus incident in the spring, recently ran afoul of the law earlier this month. Vick was slated to be suspended three games but right now his availability for the entire 2004 season is in serious doubt.

“All I can say is that Marcus is indefinitely suspended and that the status of his future is undetermined,” Beamer said.

As for the offseason issues generally and the effect on his program, Beamer maintains that the right focus and attention has survived.

“It’s important to move ahead as a football team. I think that’s important for the chemistry of a team. You have to take care of issues, which we are, and we have to move on, which we will do,” Beamer said.

Of practical and immediate concern for Beamer is that Vick’s absence leaves senior Bryan Randall as the only quarterback with experience on the roster. Beamer admits he will need freshmen Sean Glennon and Cory Holt to grow up fast.

“We’ll have to see how things are going but we are going to have to play one of them. I don’t want to play both of them but we’re going to need one of them,” Beamer said.

Beamer and his program saw an early glimpse of the difference between the Big East and the ACC when he was handed a list of the preseason league predictions. The Hokies, traditionally either No. 1 or No. 2 in similar Big East rankings, were picked to finish sixth in their first year in the ACC.

“I think we are a football team that’s a little too young starting out. This is a team with more question marks and unknowns then we’ve had in a while,” Beamer said. “This is just a very competitive league. Clearly the TV people think that as they’ve doubled the money in the contract.”

For him personally, Beamer’s new surroundings and even his new coaching fraternity are not totally unfamiliar. He and Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen are longtime friends having both been on the same staff at Citadel early in their careers. He already had played UVa coach Al Groh every year prior to joining the league.

“This is a good group of coaches. I’ve certainly know Ralph for a long time and we play Al and Virginia every year,” Beamer said.

Virginia Tech’s entrance into the league last summer was certainly spurred by the success of Beamer’s program. That success made the Hokies attractive to the ACC but a devil’s advocate might wonder if that fit with the ACC is solely dependent with Beamer’s continued path.

“We’re proud of what we’ve done. I think many people would say that the Virginia Tech football program helped considerably in the move,” Beamer said. “We certainly want to maintain that consistency.”
 

With veteran Elton Brown, U.Va.’s offense is ready to make a run
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© July 27, 2004

GREENSBORO — Elton Brown, 6-foot-6 and 338 pounds, made quite an entrance at the ACC’s Football Kickoff Sunday afternoon.

Brown, who played Santa Claus at Virginia’s last two team Christmas parties, looked every inch the gentle giant as he rolled into the room, smiling, and shook hands with every media member seated at his table.

Don’t be fooled, teammate Chris Canty said.

“I’ve experienced what it’s like to be hit by Elton Brown,” Canty said quietly, like a man who had survived a great trauma.

“Sometimes I’ve seen him coming, sometimes I haven’t,” Canty continued. “It’s definitely not something I want to experience over and over again.”

At 6-7 and 290 pounds, Canty is no delicate flower himself. But Brown is no ordinary lineman.

“Big E” was the best offensive lineman in the ACC last year, at least according to those who should know — the league’s defensive coordinators. They awarded him the Jacobs Blocking Trophy, given annually to the best blocker.

Brown combines speed, maneuverability and power to devastating effect, particularly when he’s pulling on running plays.

“He hits people with bad intentions, very bad intentions,” said Canty, a defensive end. “He’s a great guy off the field. But all football players have that little switch that clicks on when you step across those white lines.”

Now, if Virginia could only flip that switch on the rest of the offensive line.

Brown is the anchor of a unit that returns all five starters, but a unit that has been considered both too young and too light — across the board — to allow Virginia to run the ball “with authority,” the phrase coach Al Groh likes to use. Finally grown up, as well as bulked up, it’s time for the line to flex its muscles, Brown said.

“We’ve been preaching about running the ball ever since coach Groh got here,” Brown said. “It’s been up and down and back and forth.

“With five starters back, there’s no more excuses why we shouldn’t be able to run the ball.”

Virginia ranked eighth in the ACC and 82nd nationally in rushing offense last year.

That was OK when quarterback Matt Schaub was completing passes all over the field.

But with Schaub gone, running the football could become more important this year, particularly while breaking in a new quarterback in the early going.

Virginia appears to have the pieces in place to move the ball more consistently on the ground. Tailbacks Wali Lundy and Alvin Pearman return, and tailback Michael Johnson and fullback Jason Snelling are back from redshirt years.

The biggest key, though, is the expected development of the offensive line. Brown and center Zac Yarbrough are seniors.

Tackles D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Brad Butler are juniors with 41 career starts between them. Guard Ron Darden is a third-year sophomore.

Ferguson, who played two years ago as a 248-pound true freshman, now weighs 295 pounds. Butler is up to 296, on a 6-8 frame. Darden is 6-4, 327 and Yarbrough weighs 275 pounds.

Everything starts with Brown, a Hampton High graduate who broke into the starting lineup as a true freshman in 2001. “Elton’s got a real confidence about him that he projects to the other players,” Groh said.

It took time to develop. As a kid, Brown was ridiculed with taunts of “Fat boy.” He ballooned up to 360 pounds as a freshman at Virginia before toning down to his current 338, give or take a few pounds.

Brown said the teasing he endured as a kid actually helped him develop his easygoing nature. “I wasn’t going to exercise and lose the weight, so I figured I’d start joking back at people,” he said. “It still hurt, hearing 'fat boy.’ But now I can look back on it and laugh.”

Now, the joke’s on anyone unfortunate enough to be in Brown’s path as he leads a running back around the corner on a sweep.

“You ever been in front of a freight train?” Canty said. “That’s what it’s like. If you’re on the warning track and the train’s coming, you’re going to get out of the way.”

Notes: Florida State is the media’s pick to win the conference, receiving 49 first-place votes to 36 for Miami. Virginia was picked third, followed by Clemson, Maryland, Virginia Tech, N.C. State, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, North Carolina and Duke. ... Groh said that receiver Ottowa Anderson has told him he would like to rejoin the team next season. Anderson, from Norview High, was ruled academically ineligible but has one season of eligibility remaining. Groh said Anderson could reapply under standard procedures for students under academic suspension.

Groh also said guard Ian-Yates Cunningham would be out for an unspecfied period after undergoing back surgery in May.
 

WILLIE WILLIAMS
Source: Recruit accepted into UM
Star recruit and ex-Carol City High linebacker Willie Williams was accepted to the University of Miami, months after legal woes threatened to derail his career.
BY SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Willie Williams is a Miami Hurricane.

Williams, the country's top-rated high school linebacker whose recent legal troubles and lengthy arrest record put his UM status in limbo, was told Monday he has been accepted to the University of Miami, a school source told The Herald.

An official announcement will be made by the school today. Williams is expected to appear at a news conference this afternoon.

Williams, a 6-2, 230-pound Carol City High graduate, had just signed a UM letter-of-intent in early February when his behavior during a January recruiting trip to Gainesville came to light. He was charged with a felony and misdemeanor for allegedly discharging hotel fire extinguishers, and also charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly hugging a female University of Florida student against her will. He also got into a bar fight in Gainesville the same weekend.

Williams -- who was arrested 10 times for theft-related incidents as a juvenile -- was already on probation in Broward for a 2002 burglary case, raising the possibility his probation would be revoked and he would be sent to jail.

But Broward County Circuit Court Judge Michael Kaplan withheld adjudication for violation of probation in the burglary case and extended his probation three years.

Additionally, he was ordered to serve 250 hours of community service and ordered to abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs. Williams will also be tested randomly for alcohol and drugs.

In the recent Gainesville case, he pleaded no contest and was sentenced to a year of probation. He had been under house arrest from February until mid-July.

When reached late Monday, Williams' attorney, Paul Lazarus, would neither confirm nor deny that Williams, 19, has been admitted to UM.

''I can't comment,'' Lazarus said.

When The Herald called Williams' cellphone late Monday night, a man identifying himself as Williams' cousin answered. When told The Herald had learned of Williams' admittance, he said Williams was unavailable but that the linebacker was ``real excited, real excited.''

A later attempt to reach Williams was unsuccessful.

Lazarus did say that from the admission process, he is aware that ``if Willie Williams is admitted, the university will make him toe the line. He would have to get passing grades and his conduct would be expected to be exemplary.

``I know that he has been working out and getting in shape in the hopes that he is accepted and playing ball.''

UM football coach Larry Coker, in North Carolina to address the media of the Atlantic Coast Conference, told The Herald late Monday he didn't know about Williams being admitted.

''I'm not aware of that,'' Coker said. ``I know that he's in the admissions process, but nobody has told me that he's been admitted.''

Earlier in the day, Coker adamantly defended Williams, telling reporters he had gotten to know him through exhaustive research and conversations.

``It's just the feedback I've gotten from coaches. . . . His work ethic. . . . He has turned his life around. . . . I think he deserves an opportunity, and I don't think we'll be disappointed. I really don't.''

Miami badly needs Williams' talent, after graduating all three starting linebackers. Two -- Jonathan Vilma and D.J. Williams -- were selected in the first round of the NFL draft.

At Carol City, Williams was a Parade All-American and was voted the MVP of the Class 6A state championship game.
 

Pigskin pay dirt for ACC
BOB LIPPER
POINT OF VIEW Jul 27, 2004

GREENSBORO, N.C. This never was about Rick Barry or Dell Curry, you know. When the ACC and its independent contractors invited Miami and (grudgingly) Virginia Tech to join the conglomerate, nobody gave a chest pass about those schools' basketball pasts or futures. Or Miami's crack oceanography department. Or Tech's first-rate engineering school.

All that mattered was football. And sizzle. And greenbacks.

So let's take stock. Sizzle? Check. Folks are paying more attention to ACC football than ever before (Jim Tatum and Frank Howard would be proud). Greenbacks? Check. The ACC just cut a hefty new TV deal and is headed for a big-bucks championship game as soon as Boston College shows up next season.

Football? Well, we'll have to see how that plays out on the field, now, won't we?

No question, Miami and Tech have bloodlines. One or the other has played in three of the past five national-title games. They've forwarded Ray Lewis and Michael Vick to the pros. The'Canes have finished in the AP's top five the past four years. The Hokies have been to 11 straight bowls.

But that was then, and this is the brawnier ACC. Miami had no Florida State to worry about in the Big East. Now it's got the Seminoles in a Sept. 6 faceoff, and this time it counts. Tech, even at its wobbliest, most always could rely on get-well weekends against Rutgers and Temple. It can't be even quite so certain about Wake Forest and Duke.

Ergo, we'll have to wait and see.

"It's not going to be a cakewalk for either team," is the way FSU wideout Craphonso Thorpe put it. "They're going to have to work for everything they get."

Tech figures to hit more speed bumps. The Hokies were only 11-10 against Big East opponents over the past three years. They lapsed into meltdown after a 6-0 liftoff last season and wound up a tattered 8-5. They lost 13 starters, their deluxe tailback, their star cornerback, their best blocker and their top receiver from that squad. They've also lost considerable luster.

Conceded quarterback Bryan Randall, "I think we do have a little bit of proving to do."

Miami has some replenishing to do. The ACC had one player (Philip Rivers) chosen in the first round of April's NFL draft. Miami had six, plus three more players in later rounds. You take hits like that and depend on a quarterback (Brock Berlin) who threw more INTs (17) than TDs (12) there's no way you can be as good, can you? That's conventional wisdom talking. UM players croon a different tune to their new lodge brothers.

"This'll be their first impression of a Miami team," said'Canes defensive tackle Orien Harris. "I think it'll be a good one."

Handle FSU again at home in their ACC debut, and the Hurricanes are instant title faves. Emerge intact from its opener against Southern Cal and take care of a couple of ACC tests, and Tech regains some of its sheen. For now, forecasts are mixed.

"It was only a few years ago Virginia Tech was playing for a national championship," said Maryland cornerback Domonique Foxworth, for instance. "And Miami's Miami. They can lose eight players to the NFL draft, and they bounce right back. They go from Jeremy Shockey to Kellen Winslow. They do it every year."

Others aren't as willing to cede territory to the hyped newcomers.

"That's the story now," said Clemson quarterback Charlie Whitehurst. "They're going to get the attention. That's fine. But they've got to play the whole schedule. It might be harder for them than people are saying."

It's all about the games, in other words. Sooner or later, the talk and flexing ends, and the games begin. We'll know then.
 

ACC NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Jul 27, 2004

NEW LOOK: Virginia will open the season with sophomore Ron Darden, not Ian-Yates Cunningham, as its starter at left offensive guard, fourth-year coach Al Groh told reporters last night at the ACC Football Kickoff.

Cunningham, who started the Cavaliers' final five games as a true freshman last season, injured his back in the spring. The Plano, Texas, resident, who has relatives in the Richmond area, underwent surgery in May to repair a disk problem and may not play this season.

"We'll see," Groh said. "He's what could be called P.U.P. right now - physically unable to perform right now."

Darden, started one game as a redshirt freshman last season, at right guard. Darden, who's from Glen Burnie, Md., is an imposing figure at 6-4, 327 pounds. "He's tremendously blocky and enormously strong," Groh said.

OUT OF LINE: Miami coach Larry Coker had some strong words regarding Virginia Tech's style of play after the Hurricanes' 31-7 loss last season in Blacksburg. He was particularly upset with what he regarded as dirty play by Jake Grove, then Tech's center.

Yesterday, Coker said he was "really out of line" with his comments.

"It was a heated game, we lost two starters that game, it was very emotional," Coker said. "We got a player kicked out in a fight . . . there were a lot of things happened that were just crazy. Plus, we didn't play very well."

Tech coach Frank Beamer said he and Coker talked soon afterward and got everything straight.

OVERRATED? Virginia received two first-place votes and finished third, behind No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Miami, in balloting for the ACC's preseason poll. Groh would have ranked Clemson, which returns star quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, ahead of Virginia, for this reason: Matt Schaub is gone.

"This isn't one of those denigrate-your-own-team type of deals, but because of the great weight that goes with the quarterback position," Groh said. "If I was one of the pickers . . . . I would not pick a team that didn't have a returning quarterback ahead of teams that did."

Clemson "might have been playing better than anybody at the end of the year," Groh said, and FSU and Miami also "return quarterbacks who won a lot of games and performed very well last year. I think that's what you got to go through to finish on the top of the conference. That's the briar patch right there."

GREEN GROUP: Beamer didn't seem surprised or upset that his team was picked sixth in the ACC's preseason poll. The Hokies lost eight players who made first- or second-team all-Big East in 2003, and one of the team's most gifted players, quarterback Marcus Vick, is suspended indefinitely.

"I think we got a football team that's a little too young starting out, to be honest with you," Beamer said. "It's a team that probably has more unknowns than we've had in some time."

Still, Beamer knows not to put much stock in preseason polls.

"We had a streak in the Big East where we finished better than we were picked five or six years in a row," he said.

SELECT COMPANY: Maryland is one of five programs that has won at least 10 games for three straight seasons. The others are Miami, Washington State, Oklahoma and Texas.

"Any time you have a 10-win season, you've had a great season. I don't care what league you are in, it's a great season," Terrapins coach Ralph Friedgen said. "I think I've had six or seven of them in my career. I've been coaching 35 years.

"So to think that we're going to do this every year . . . I think it gets even tougher now with our conference. That doesn't mean I'm not shooting for that. Realistically, you have to look at it and say, 'Is it possible?' You can win the conference this year and not win 10 games." - Mike Harris and Jeff White