U.VA. NOTES
Friday, Jul 13, 2007 - 12:06 AM Updated: 08:21 AM

CAVALIERS 13TH AGAIN IN DIRECTORS' CUP
Had its baseball and men's lacrosse teams not stumbled in NCAA tournament play, the University of Virginia almost certainly would have finished in the top 10 of the U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup, a feat U.Va. has accomplished only once in the competition's 14 years.

The Cavaliers ended up 13th, tying their second-best finish in the Directors' Cup. U.Va., which placed eighth in 1999, has finished 13th four times: in 1998, 2000, 2005 and 2007.

"Are we happy with where we are? Sure," said Jon Oliver, second in command in the U.Va. athletic department. "Are we trying to get better? No question. Our goal is to break the top 10."

For the 13th straight year, Stanford won the Directors' Cup, which reflects schools' performances in NCAA championships. The Cardinal amassed 1,429 points. Virginia, with 945, was 60 points behind No. 10 Arizona State. Virginia Tech finished 48th, with 434 points.

All 24 football recruits have been admitted

Of the 24 football players who signed letters of intent with U.Va. in February 2006, only 16 were admitted for the 2006-07 academic year, a failure rate that didn't please fans or university officials.

Coach Al Groh's incoming class has a stronger academic profile. Twenty-four players signed with Virginia in February, and all have been admitted for 2007-08. They include two players - Billy Cuffee and Ras-I Dowling - who first signed with the Cavaliers in February 2006. Cuffee and Dowling spent the 2006-07 academic year at Hargrave Military Academy.

Sewell still on the mend after offseason surgery

Training camp for the football teams opens in about three weeks. U.Va.'s starting quarterback, Jameel Sewell, participated on a limited basis during spring practice while recovering from wrist surgery.

Since then, Groh said Wednesday night, there "certainly has been improvement with it. There's a ways to go with it, but right now we anticipate him being able to go Aug. 5."

Sewell, a Hermitage High graduate, will be a redshirt sophomore this season. The 6-3, 230-pound left-hander played the entire 2006 season with a broken bone in his left wrist. In a Dec. 22 operation, Sewell had two screws inserted in his wrist.

Ogletree, Brown likely sidelined for season

Don't expect to see Kevin Ogletree or Mike Brown playing this season. Ogletree, a wide receiver, tore the ACL in his left knee March 23, but there's been speculation that he could return sometime in the fall.

"I think that would be a surprise," Groh said Wednesday night.

Ogletree caught 52 passes for 582 yards and four touchdowns in 2006 and was named honorable-mention all-ACC.

Brown, one of the Wahoos' top three cornerbacks coming out of spring practice, suffered a serious knee injury last month. He was Virginia's top punt-returner last season.

Like Ogletree, Brown played as a true freshman in 2005, so both can take medical redshirts this season.

"It's not to our benefit in the immediacy," Groh said, "but in the long run it will be to their benefit."

Episcopal's Blunt among the recruited walk-ons

Recruited walk-ons joining Groh's program this summer include Warner Blunt, who's from the Richmond area. The 6-4, 210-pound Blunt starred at quarterback and linebacker for Episcopal High, a boarding school in Alexandria from which he recently graduated.

Blunt, whose father is a U.Va. alumnus, committed to Army in January. About a week later, however, Bobby Ross retired as the Black Knights' coach, and Blunt decided to re-evaluate his options.

At Episcopal, to which he transferred from St. Christopher's in 2004, Blunt was a three-year starter at quarterback. His favorite target was wideout Danny Coale, a Virginia Tech recruit whose brother plays lacrosse at U.Va. Episcopal finished 8-1 last season, and its victims included Collegiate and St. Christopher's.

Blunt also played basketball and lacrosse at Episcopal. He's likely to work initially with the quarterbacks at U.Va., but he could end up at linebacker or tight end.

- Jeff White

 

D.C. standout opts for U.Va.
2-sport standout Johnson, McLeod among 2008 class
Tuesday, Jul 10, 2007 - 12:06 AM Updated: 01:05 AM
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The University of Virginia football program yesterday landed another of the D.C. area's elite players.

Cameron Johnson, a rising senior at Gonzaga High in Washington, is the 12th player to commit to U.Va. coach Al Groh for 2008. The 6-4, 225-pound Johnson, who lives in Greenbelt, Md., will attend Virginia on a football scholarship. But he's also a basketball standout and hopes to play that sport at U.Va., too.

"That was a main concern with us," his father, Eugene, said yesterday. "We wanted a school that would at least give him the opportunity to walk on or try out for basketball. I know if he does try out, he's going to make the team, because he's such a good athlete."

A safety and wide receiver for Gonzaga, Johnson could end up at linebacker at U.Va. Leading Virginia's pursuit of Johnson was defensive coordinator Mike London.

Johnson, considered a mid-major prospect in hoops, also had scholarship offers in football from Illinois, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Duke and Georgia, his father said. Johnson's parents visited U.Va. without their son Saturday.

The Washington Post ranks Johnson No. 11 in the D.C. area's Class of 2008. U.Va. also has commitments from No. 7 Rodney McLeod (DeMatha High) and No. 14 Devin Wallace (Friendly High).

Matt Zubyk became U.Va.'s 11th commitment for 2008 last month. Zubyk is a 6-4, 180-pound punter from Francis W. Parker School in San Diego. Former U.Va. kicker Michael Husted recommended him to the Cavaliers' staff.

Of Virginia's commitments for 2008, none attends an in-state high school. Offensive tackle Corey Lewis was a boarding student at Christchurch as a ninthand 10th-grader but attends a high school in Pennsylvania.

 

Johnson makes commitment
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
July 12, 2007

The old adage that when momma’s happy, everyone’s happy could have been applied to Virginia’s recruitment of Cameron Johnson, the Cavaliers’ 12th football commitment.

Johnson, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound athlete with 4.5 speed in the 40-yard dash, had visited UVa several times and was high on Wahoo football. His father, Eugene, was also favoring Cameron wearing Cavalier orange and blue.

But when Johnson’s mother came down with her son for a visit last weekend, she was impressed with the entire UVa experience, particularly the academic side of things. It didn’t take long for Cameron to commit to lead recruiter Mike London and head coach Al Groh.

Johnson, who has been recruited as an inside linebacker/safety, is a standout player at Gonzaga High School in Washington, D.C., where he recorded 85 tackles and four interceptions as a junior.

He selected Virginia over offers from Georgia, Pittsburgh, Maryland, Syracuse, Illinois and Duke.

The two-sport star has also been offered basketball scholarships from VCU, George Mason and William & Mary. He hopes to play basketball at Virginia as well.

Johnson, the only linebacker/safety committed thus far in the 2008 recruiting class, is ranked the No. 27 safety prospect in the nation by Rivals, which also ranked him the No. 2 overall prospect in the District of Columbia.

Virginia has yet to gain a commitment from a player within state borders, with all 12 commits thus far having come from other states.

 

Werman joins UVa coaching staff
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
July 13, 2007

Mike Martin, the legendary baseball coach at Florida State, joked a few years ago that he had journeyed out to Virginia’s Davenport Field one day just to watch second baseman Kyle Werman turn double plays.

When Virginia reappears on the Seminoles’ schedule next year, Martin will get to watch the former Cavalier perform in a new role.

Werman accepted an offer earlier this week to join the Cavaliers’ coaching staff as the volunteer assistant, a post that will allow him to coach first base and work with the program’s catchers, his original position at UVa. He replaces Brian Anderson, who accepted a post earlier this week as the pitching coach at Radford.

“I am really excited and I know this is a tremendous opportunity,” Werman said. “I know there are a lot of people who had their eyes on this [job].”

The hiring involved two interesting concessions.

Werman, 25, had to announce his retirement from the Washington (Pa.) Wild Things, an independent baseball team that competes in the Frontier League.

In his final game on Monday, Werman went 3 for 4 and had a hit in what could be his final professional at-bat. Adding to the moment, Werman was pulled from the home game in the bottom of the ninth with one out, allowing the fan favorite to leave to a standing ovation in front of almost 4,000 fans.

“It was probably my greatest baseball moment ever,” said Werman, who joined the Wild Things in 2006 after a brief stint in the New York Mets farm system in ’05. “It was hard to have to give up baseball for [the position at Virginia], but talk about a stepping stone for me.”

Werman, who held a job in the offseason in Northern Virginia, said he also had to relay the news that he would not be returning.

O’Connor said he had spoken to Werman several times about coaching in recent years and was excited that his former pupil agreed.

Anderson’s move was logical - it reunited him with Joe Raccuia, who was announced as the Highlanders’ coach on Tuesday. In 2004 and 2005, Anderson worked as an assistant under Raccuia at Marist.

“Coach Anderson did a great job working with catchers and with coach [Kevin] McMullan with our hitters and as our first-base coach,” O’Connor said. “He is a very good coach and we were fortunate to have him for two years, and I am sure that he will do a great job building up Radford’s baseball program.”

It marked the second time an assistant left Virginia’s program in O’Connor’s tenure to assume a bigger role within the commonwealth.

Joe Hastings created the vacancy originally assumed by Anderson in 2005 when he joined the staff at VMI. He has since moved to Boston College.

It’s a small world

Sean Doolittle knew that Casey Lambert, a former teammate at Virginia, was getting promoted on the same day.

Still, Doolittle did not expect to see Lambert until the pair met on the diamond in Midwest League action at the Class-A level in the minors later that week.

Yet as Doolittle stood inside Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport he spotted the newest addition to the roster of the Peoria Chiefs, an affiliate of the Cubs.

“That is one of the biggest airports in the country and we saw each other at the baggage claim,” said Doolittle, who is playing for the Oakland A’s in Kane County (Wis.). “When we were talking, he said he was going to throw in a certain game in our series and, sure enough, he did.”

The story gets better.

On July 5, Lambert was summoned out of Peoria’s bullpen by coach Ryne Sandberg and the left-hander got to face Doolittle during the outing.

Having witnessed Lambert’s knee-buckling curveball in scrimmages, Doolittle knew what he would see early in the count.

“I was looking for that breaking ball and he threw me two to start me and it was 1-1 in the count,” Doolittle said.

The third pitch was an optical illusion from Doolittle’s perspective.

“Casey came up in and it started pretty much in the same spot as his curveball, and I kept waiting for it to break and it never really did,” Doolittle said. “It got me square in the back … in the back of the shoulder.”

As one would expect, the crowd of over 6,000 did not see Doolittle charge the mound.

“I just flipped the bat and both of us had big smiles on our faces,” said Doolittle, who has split time at designated hitter and first base. “I thought the whole thing was pretty funny and I think he did, too.

“We looked at it as a win-win for each other. He didn’t give up a hit to me and I didn’t get out against him … I didn’t score so he wasn’t too upset about it.”

Entering Thursday’s game, Lambert had yet to allow an earned run in 4.2 innings of work. The ACC’s most prolific closer also recorded his first professional save.

Doolittle registered only five hits in his first 19 at-bats after being promoted but the 2006 ACC Player of the Year has drawn five walks and has the team’s second highest on-base percentage (.385).

 

Cavs corral some of nation's best
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
July 1, 2007

Several weeks ago, Steve Garland watched his prized possessions drop collectively in the national rankings.

The smile, however, displayed on the face of the Virginia wrestling coach only grew.

The Cavaliers’ 10-member recruiting class dropped a pair of spots, finishing ranked No. 5 nationally by Wrestling International Newsmagazine. It easily marks the highest ranking ever at Virginia.

Garland, however, expected the minimal decline - UVa signed all of its targets in November, essentially ignoring the late-signing period, which impacted the final rankings.

“We actually got penalized for doing a good job in the fall,” said Garland, who is entering his second year at the program’s helm. “We actually got all of our recruiting done so early that we didn’t sign anybody in the spring. We had all 10 kids set in the fall.”

Remarkably, and perhaps following in a pattern with other new hires made at Virginia, Garland landed every single prospect that he sought, which he said “doesn’t usually happen.”

“I think we had some momentum on our side with me being a new hire, and that obviously helped, but Virginia sells itself,” Garland said of his alma mater. “Once you get a guy down here, it kind of sells itself.”

Garland had help. He pointed out that assistant coach Scott Moore, an accomplished wrestler in his career at Penn State and later at Virginia, was instrumental.

“There was a lot of work that went into getting these guys and not just, ‘Hey man, are you good? Let us see if we can throw you a scholarship,’” Garland said. “Scott Moore went on the road with me and we just hit the Chevy hard.

“We got the best kids that we could find, and I can’t give Scott enough credit. He was with me every step of the way.”

Garland approached the class with a plan that carried over from his time as an assistant coach at Cornell.

He wanted great wrestlers and great students. Both were a must.

“It should go without saying, but you would be surprised how many kids have gone through this program and haven’t taken both aspects of their life that seriously,” Garland said. “I went to school here, I lived in this program, and there are a lot of guys on this team that were either into wrestling or school, but not both. The two weren’t mutually exclusive.

“I come from the Ivy League where every single kid took both seriously. Nobody quit and everybody strived to do something great on the mat, and they also wanted to excel in the classroom so they could build a life for themselves, a career for themselves, and hopefully provide for a future family down the road.”

Sounding similar to a broken record, the veterans in the program have already heard the message.

“It is something that I am trying to instill in these guys every day,” Garland said, “and they are probably sick of hearing me say it. I tell them that everything you do in this [wrestling] room is going to apply to the rest of your lives.”

As an example, Garland shared a recent conversation with a tutor at UVa about one of the members of the Class of 2007.

Chris Henrich, who is from Germantown (Pa.) Academy, was ranked third nationally in his weight class by two different publications and arrived at Virginia for an early summer school session.

“The tutor said that they couldn’t believe he was only a freshman,” Garland said. “This kid is so mature mentally, physically, emotionally and socially for his age. It is unbelievable.

“That is the type of kid that you want. He is already building a name for himself and a life for himself, and it is only the summer time.”

Another recruit, Scott O’Donnell, was a prep champion in Missouri and earned all-state honors academically.

“He is a four-time state champ, but more importantly, he is second in his class,” Garland said. “He has unbelievable SAT scores, he has a 4.0 [grade-point average] and he is a great kid.

“He is just a hard worker and he loves wrestling.”

Perhaps the biggest acquisition, however, was Michael Chaires. At 160 pounds, the New Yorker was the top-ranked grappler by Wrestling USA.

“He was a double national champion in his age group, which is unbelievable,” Garland said. “We have never had a guy like that down here.”

The list of award winners goes on and on and even includes a set of twins from Pennsylvania and one of Henrich’s high school teammates.

With the new talent on board, Garland knows the pressure will be on to produce on the mat.

“It is scary now, because if I don’t win, I might not be here anymore,” Garland chuckled. “These kids are really that good.”

 

Cain looking at Germany
Former UVa forward eyeing pros
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
June 29, 2007

It’s a known fact that actor/singer David Hasselhoff is beloved in Germany. Pretty soon, the country could be taking in a new icon - one with a sweet ’stache.

Former Virginia basketball player Jason Cain already has several offers to play in German professional leagues, according to his agent, Tyler Glass.

Cain, who, as expected, was not selected in Thursday night’s NBA Draft, averaged 6.8 points and 6.3 rebounds for Virginia this past season - a far cry from his first two years when he averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds. His development under coach Dave Leitao was a main reason UVa was able to claim a share of the ACC regular-season title.

Glass says European clubs are intrigued by Cain’s athleticism.

“For a 6-foot-10 kid, he’s got great footwork,” Glass said. “He’s got those moves where he can put the ball on the floor and throw it down or can step back and shoot a 3.

“When you’re 6-foot-10 and can shoot 3’s … they love that.”

Never mind that Cain had just two career 3-pointers - from the shorter college distance. Apparently, scouts feel the potential is there.

Whether or not Cain’s former teammate, J.R. Reynolds, also plays in Europe remains to be seen.

On Wednesday, Cain took part in a pre-draft workout for his hometown Philadelphia 76ers. He went up against Boston College’s Sean Williams, LSU’s Glen Davis and Purdue’s Carl Landry, all of whom were picked in the draft.

“He got his first little taste of what the NBA is about,” Glass said. “From what I understand, he did pretty well. He was kind of overpowered because all of those guys have like 50 pounds on him, but I heard he shot the ball the best out of all four of them.”

Glass, who also represents Chinese point forward Sun Yue - a second-round pick of the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday - is steering Cain away from the NBA Developmental League.

“I think he would like to play in Europe and wants the experience and exposure,” Glass said. “We want to take it step by step.”

The first step will be playing for an NBA summer-league squad, which is usually comprised of draft picks and free agents.

“I’ve spoken to all 30 teams,” Glass said, “and every one has said that he is definitely summer-league-roster material.”

Cain, who could not be reached for comment, hopes to impress the European scouts in attendance. He will likely be looking at a salary between $30,000 and $100,000, according to Glass.

That, however, could quickly escalate if he ever learns to shake his hips like Hasselhoff.

 

Syracuse latest marquee foe for Cavs at JPJ Arena

Although it will be hard for Virginia to match the star power of its first home schedule in the John Paul Jones Arena, it appears that a marquee opponent has been added for Year 2.

Senior associate athletic director Jon Oliver confirmed that Syracuse will be coming to the JPJ Arena in 2007-08 as part of a two-year home-and-home series.

Arizona, Gonzaga and Stanford were among the intersectional powers that came to Charlottesville last season.

UVa visits Arizona in the final game of a four-year series; a two-year series with Gonzaga has expired; and a return game at Stanford will not be played before 2008-09 at the earliest.

Virginia's schedule, which has not been released, also has a possible four-game tournament that would take the Cavaliers to Philadelphia.

That tournament, sponsored by the Hoop Group, was attractive because it will enable two-time All-ACC selection Sean Singletary to return to his hometown. UVa also has two freshmen from the Philadelphia area, Sam Zeglinski and Jeff Jones.

Oliver primarily is involved with football recruiting and said Al Groh's Cavaliers are looking for a big-name non-conference opponent in 2009 and 2011, sandwiched around games in 2008 and 2010 with Southern Cal.

The Southeastern Conference is one area of interest.

Virginia earlier announced a two-game series with Penn State for 2012 and 2013.

Reynolds update

Four-year Virginia basketball standout J.R. Reynolds has been difficult to locate since the NBA Draft, but his agent, Jason Levien, has called the UVa sports information office with a progress report.

Reynolds, a Roanoke product, was undrafted and has not appeared on an NBA summer-league roster.

"No players in J.R.'s situation have signed unless they were first-round picks," Levien wrote.

"Second-round picks and undrafted players sign after the summer mostly. Right now J.R. has some big-time offers coming in from overseas teams but we haven't committed to anything yet as we are still focusing on the NBA."

Recruiting

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Virginia has taken a women's basketball commitment from 15-year-old Jazmin Pitts, who averaged 15 points and 12 rebounds last season as a freshman at Cosby High School in Midlothian. Pitts, a 6-foot-1 post player, led the Dominion District in scoring.

n Virginia's recruiting class for women's swimming, which includes Nancy Baar from Patrick Henry High School, was ranked No. 3 in the country by collegeswimming.com.

Baar was rated the No. 71 prospect in the country.

The UVa men's class was fifth.
 

Rose's recruiting speaks to larger issues
Commitments should follow Tech camp
By Doug Doughty

Virginia hasn’t taken a commitment from an Amherst County football player in the last 30 years and, chances are, that situation isn’t going to change in the coming weeks.

Amherst coach Scott Abell said Friday that quarterback/athlete Peter Rose hopes to announce a decision by the start of preseason practice in early August and that he almost certainly will choose from between UVa and Virginia Tech.

Rose, who most likely will play receiver in college, also has offers from Maryland, Syracuse and Marshall. It was his intention to make campus visits this summer to all the schools that have offered him, but so far he has been to only Tech and UVa.

Virginia was the first school to offer Rose a scholarship, which was a wise move on the Cavaliers’ part, according to Abell, because otherwise he would have committed to the Hokies by now.

UVa’s campus is located less than an hour’s drive from Rose’s home, while it would take nearly two hours to get to Tech, but if Rose feels like the Hokies are Amherst’s hometown team, who could blame him?

One of his longtime teammates, wide receiver Derrick McCoy, already has committed to the Hokies for 2008. Barry Booker will be a senior defensive lineman at Tech, where he was preceded by ex-Lancer defensive linemen David Pugh and Tim Sandidge.

“It’s just so hard to ignore that and I think it’s hard for our kids to ignore that,” Abell said.

UVa’s last scholarship player from Amherst was quarterback-turned kicking specialist Russ Henderson in the mid-1970s.

Abell grew up outside Charlottesville and, while he didn’t attend UVa, it wouldn’t bother him to have a player in orange and blue. However, he understands the attraction to Tech and praises the Hokies for their diligence in recruiting.

“It’s kind of uncharted waters for us to have a kid considering UVa,” Abell said. “I think they’ve made an effort in the past year or two to be in our school more.

“I think [UVa assistants] Anthony Poindexter and Wayne Lineburg have done an unbelievable job. I would say, back in the spring, it was like 90 percent Tech and 10 percent UVa. I don’t know how much the gap has closed, but I think it’s closed.

“When they offered first, it was a very smart move. I don’t know who decided to pull the trigger or whether it was coach Groh who pulled the trigger, but it’s made it a much more interesting recruiting process for Peter.”

Abell previously built a strong program at Liberty High School in Bedford, “which had a much-bigger Tech feel to it,” he said. In Amherst, winner of the Group AA Division 4 state championship last year, there’s a much more of an even split in Abell’s eyes.

“It’s a 50-50 shot and I think that’s actually playing a part because Peter grew up and his family grew up watching UVa,” Abell said. “They’d get down there to a game every now and then. I know his dad has been a big UVa fan. I’m not sure that that isn’t what’s held up Peter’s commitment to Tech.

“But, the bottom line is, you can’t overlook the success our kids have had at Tech. We’ve gone down there to camp so much and I know that he’s extremely comfortable with Tech and their staff and their facilities.”

There’s also the connection with McCoy, a longtime target who could be in the same receiving corps if Rose goes to Tech. Rose also could be a defensive back in college.

“They’re extremely tight,” Abell said. “They’ve grown up together. They live just a mile or two down the road from each other. They’ve played football together since they were 6 or 7. I think that’s going to have an impact on it as well.”

Besides, by the time Rose returns from team camp next week, he will have spent a week in McCoy’s company. If Virginia ever wants to get an Amherst player, however, it can’t afford to stop trying.

TECH WILL HAVE its second one-day camp of the summer this Saturday and, if it’s anything like 2006, commitments could be furious for the last half of the month.

Of the 140 prospects or so expected in Blacksburg today, approximately 30 have offers. Biggest names among the rising seniors include wide receiver D.J. Coles from Goochland, quarterback Xavier Boyce from Landstown in Virginia Beach and defensive end Antoine Hopkins from Highland Springs.

THE MOST RECENT Prep Stars’ basketball recruiting handbook arrived in the mail and listed Tech first among the suitors for Devoe Joseph, a 6-3 Canadian wing guard who previously had been linked with the Hokies by the ACC Sports Journal.

Prep Stars did not include Virginia among six contenders for Elliott Williams, a 6-4 shooting guard from Memphis, Tenn., whom it rates 17th among the nation’s top rising seniors.

Obviously, that list was compiled before Williams narrowed his choices to Duke, Tennessee, Memphis and UVa.

 

Prosecutors detail dogfights at Vick's property
Court documents show participants adhered to rigorous code
By ALAN JUDD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/13/07

The dogfights on Michael Vick's property followed very strict rules, authorities say.

Weighing in just half a pound too much or too little disqualified dogs from matches.

Dogs were bathed immediately before fights to make sure their coats were not "tainted" with a drug or poison that might hinder an opponent. Sometimes they were starved to make them more vicious in the pit.

For owners and carefully screened spectators, these fights sometimes offered purses worth thousands of dollars.

For the dogs, losing could lead to a gruesome execution.

This is how federal prosecutors describe a large dogfighting operation that they say operated out of Vick's 15-acre property in Surry County, Va. They have filed no charges. And Vick, the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback and one of the highest-paid players in the National Football League, has denied any involvement in dogfighting. His lawyer did not respond Friday to a request for an interview.

Regardless, by giving such a detailed account in court documents, prosecutors are sending strong signals about their investigation's focus. They say the dogfighting organization, known as Bad Newz Kennels, violated federal law by sponsoring or otherwise taking part in fights for which animals were transported across state lines.

Federal authorities in Virginia declined to comment this week.

The documents, filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond, do not name Vick or anyone else. Nor do they say how authorities learned the details of a typical fight night at Vick's property. But the specificity with which they describe the culture of dogfighting, particularly as it allegedly took place on Vick's property within a year after he purchased it in 2001, suggests that one or more informants guided investigators on two recent raids.

"They got good, solid evidence from somewhere, either an informant or a psychic," said John Goodwin of the Humane Society of the United States. "Someone is providing very accurate information."

Surry County officials may present the case to a local grand jury on July 24. They have sent mixed signals on whether they have enough evidence to file charges.

But federal authorities appear to be taking control of the investigation, which began when local police searched Vick's property after his cousin, who lived there, was arrested on drug charges.

On a judge's orders, U.S. marshals last week took custody of the 53 dogs that local authorities seized from Vick's property in April. Many of those dogs, court records say, had scars or injuries that appeared to come from organized fights.

Prosecutors are asking a judge to force the dogs' owners to forfeit their ownership of the animals, since they are considered the gains from illegal activity. If Vick wants to stake claim to any of the animals, he'll have to file a notice in federal court by September.

"The dogs are currently being cared for at facilities in the Eastern District of Virginia," Jim Rybicki, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in Alexandria, Va., said by email Friday. "However, they remain under U.S. government custody. They will continue to be held in government custody until the court adjudicates the forfeiture action."

Along with the dogs, authorities seized performance-enhancing drugs that, court records say, were used to make dogs fight better or to help injured animals fight longer. They found equipment associated with dog fighting operations, including a "rape stand" used in forced breeding, a digital scale used to weigh dogs before fights, and a fighting pit, stained in blood.

Authorities also confiscated two handguns; court records say some dogs have been shot to death after fights.

Despite the illicit nature of the enterprise, the fights operated under a strict code, court records indicate.

The two dogs entered in each fight had to be the same gender and weight. Participants would agree on a fighting weight in advance, and each dog had to weigh within a half-pound of that mark. Any greater deviation would result in a dog being scratched from the fight; its owner might have to pay the opponent's owner to make up for the forfeited purse.

Bathing the dogs also was part of the pre-fight ritual. This prevented owners from gaining an unfair advantage for their dogs by placing poison or drugs on an animal's coat. Otherwise, when an opponent bit the dog, it might be sickened or sedated and lose the fight.

Each fight, according to court records, would "last to the end" — the point at which one dog surrendered or died.

For defeated dogs, though, surviving the fight could lead to an even worse fate.

"At the end of the fight," court documents say, "the losing dog was sometimes put to death by drowning, strangulation, hanging, gun shot, electrocution or some other method."

Other dogs, though, died before they ever got to a formal fight. If animals belonging to Bad Newz Kennels did not test well in training, court records say, "the dogs deemed not to be good fighters would be put to death."

Authorities say seven dogs were killed for that reason and buried on the property in April.

Vick has bred and sold pitbulls and other breeds through two companies: Mike Vick K-9 Kennels and MV7 Inc. (named for his initials and his football jersey number). The companies' Web site — recently taken offline — described their animals as "family pets."

"We do not promote, support or raise dogs for fighting," the Web site said, "and will not knowingly sell, give or trade any dog that may be used for fighting."

-- Staff writer Bill Torpy contributed reporting from Surry County, Va.