Cavs get pair of in-state players
By Jeff White
Published: July 3, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The University of Virginia football program started the day with no commitments from in-state players in the Class of 2010. By mid-afternoon yesterday, the Cavaliers had two.

The newest members of U.Va.'s recruiting class are Conner Davis, a 6-5, 280-pound offensive tackle from Deep Run High, and Henry Coley, a 6-2, 230-pound linebacker from Bayside High in Virginia Beach. Each is a rising senior.

"It's a relief," Davis said of reaching a decision. "Now, I can concentrate on my senior year and get ready with the team. It was a fun time, but I'm kind of glad it's over with."

Davis, who's been attending games at Scott Stadium with his family since he was in elementary school, seriously considered Virginia Tech before choosing U.Va. He also had scholarship offers from Wake Forest, West Virginia, Boston College, Duke, Maryland and Syracuse.

"It was tough, especially with Tech being a recent powerhouse and having really good things going on up there," said Davis, who was second-team All-Metro in 2008. "But it was hard for me to think about going to another school when all I could think about was sitting in the stands watching U.Va. play and just dreaming about playing there. That just kept coming back to me, and I couldn't avoid it. Ultimately, it was just a dream come true, and that's why I picked Virginia."

As for his college position, Davis said, "I'd be willing to play center, guard, tackle -- whatever it takes to get on that field."

Virginia's roster includes his friends Matt and Jake Snyder, brothers who graduated from Deep Run. Davis leaned on the Snyders during the recruiting process. Whatever questions he had about U.Va., they would try to answer, Davis said, and "it was definitely a blessing to have people like that helping you out."

Coley chose U.Va. over Louisville, Navy, Temple, Richmond and Liberty. He'd been favoring Virginia for some time.

"My mother liked it, everybody liked it," Coley said last night, "so I just figured, 'Why not? Let's get this thing over with so I can go ahead and focus on this season and know where I'm going to go to school.'"

Coley, who has played several positions on defense for Bayside, will line up at middle linebacker this season. He's also a standout tight end who made the all-Tidewater second team on offense in 2008. He's projected to play inside linebacker in Virginia's 3-4 defense.
 

Virginia adds first in-state recruits to 2010 class
By Jay Jenkins
Published: July 3, 2009

The McCue Center enjoyed an early fireworks show on Thursday.

In a matter of hours, Virginia’s football program landed a pair of rising seniors as verbal commitments for the class of 2010.

Henry Coley, a linebacker from Bayside High in Virginia Beach, and offensive tackle Conner Davis, who is from Deep Run High in Glen Allen, became the seventh and eighth commitments in the class and the first two from Virginia.

“It is really exciting that we both came on in the same day,” said Coley, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 230 pounds. “I talked my coaches, my mom and my uncles and all the questions were already answered. We all loved the university.”

Well, almost all the questions were answered.

Prior to announcing his intentions during a phone call with coach Al Groh, Coley’s mom asked one important question.

“My mom only had one last question for me and that was, ‘Could I see myself going to that university and being happy even if the coaches weren’t there?’” he recounted. “I told her, ‘Yeah.’ From there on everything was rolling.”

Coley, who has not yet been rated by Rivals.com, picked Virginia over offers from Louisville and Richmond and looked into the new football program at Old Dominion before settling on Virginia.

Davis said he had envisioned playing at UVa since his childhood, which included numerous trips to games at Scott Stadium.

At 6-foot-5 and 280 pounds, the three-star prospect had offers from numerous schools including Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia and Boston College.

Davis is the first offensive lineman in the class to verbally commit to the Cavaliers.
 

UVa football commitments - Doug Doughty

Offensive lineman Conner Davis from Deep Run High School in Richmond and outside linebacker Henry Coley from Bayside High School in Virginia Beach have become the first two in-state players to commit to Virginia for the class of 2010.

Davis (6 foot 5, 245 pounds) is rated the No. 13 prospect in the state by Virginia Preps and picked the Cavaliers over Virginia Tech. Among the eight Division I-A programs to offer him were West Virginia, Maryland. Boston College and Syracuse.

Davis is the son of UVa season-ticket holders and will join three former Deep Run teammates, including highly rated 2009 recruit Jake Snyder.

Coley (6-2, 230) is the 37th player on Virginia Preps' list. Coley had 93 tackles, including 19 for loss, as a junior. Louisville, Temple and Navy had made offers to Coley, according to rivals.com
 

Young Chiefs lineman Albert is trying to be a leader
By KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star

It wasn’t easy for Branden Albert to sit at the barbecue joint and take a pass on the ribs, the brisket, the pulled pork — everything. It wasn’t easy to keep his mind on a strict offseason diet and exercise plan and ignore the meat-scented air and the colleague across from him, digging in.

“You’re sitting right there,” Albert said Tuesday, “and everybody’s enjoying the food.”

Everybody except Albert. Heck, even first-year coach Todd Haley and general manager Scott Pioli ran into Albert that day at Jack Stack. They wondered what the Chiefs’ most promising offensive lineman — a second-year left tackle who reported in March to offseason practice at 341 pounds, 26 pounds heavier than his 2008 playing weight — was doing at a barbecue restaurant. After Albert had done so well to lose more than 30 pounds, had his willpower already been put on the smoker?

Then they saw the strangest thing: An NFL offensive lineman without a plate in front of him. Carry on, they told Albert.

“You know how easy it is to fall off,” Albert said. “One day you can be on point, and then the next day …”

He trailed off and then continued.

“I’m trying to be a leader, and I’m trying to win games. Coach Haley and Scott were on me so hard about: ‘You know what type of guy you can be. So why don’t you be that guy?’ ”

So Albert pushed away the barbecue and the weakness, started running and began carrying his lunch in plastic containers. Boring containers with boring lunches inside: grilled chicken, steamed vegetables and meals that had all the flavor of a manila envelope.

Leader. That’s the word that kept bouncing in Albert’s mind. The Chiefs need strong voices, especially considering that four-time Pro Bowl guard Brian Waters hasn’t made it known whether he’ll line up with the Chiefs in 2009. The offense needs a leader, and Albert said he wants to prove he’s up to the challenge, even if he is entering only his second NFL season.

Albert worked to lose the weight — he said he’s down to 305 pounds, the lightest he’s been since spending a season at a Virginia prep school five years ago — and he began noticing the results. He was suddenly out front during players’ running sessions. Haley praised Albert in news conferences and in private, the stone-faced coach telling his left tackle that he had something special — but he could only tap into it if he was willing to work.

That’s something I’m trying to establish myself,” Albert said. “Getting my body in the best shape was the first step. I can’t preach something that I’m not doing.”

Then he started thinking of other ways he could grab his teammates’ respect and his city’s admiration. He thought of ways he could expand his reach beyond the Chiefs’ locker room. He visited Children’s Mercy Hospital and donated tickets to another organization.

Then Albert involved himself with the Love Fund, taking over the spot that Waters once held. And whether that means Waters continues to distance himself from the Chiefs or that the veteran is simply handing off to his young teammate, Albert said he wants Kansas City to know that, even after six wins the last two seasons, there are still some things worth smiling about.

“I want to be a face in the community that people know,” Albert said. “They know the name but don’t know the face. I want them to come up and talk to me and not be scared. I want people to come relate to me.”

“They love their football here. They love their football just like a college town. They want winners. It’s important that we let them know that this new regime we have, it’s going to come to pass this year.”

Albert said he has no idea whether Waters will play the 2009 season. Albert said he still considers Waters a mentor, the man who taught the youngster about sacrifice and community service and restraint — and the rewards that might be waiting if the young lineman stays focused.

Albert said it’s too early to call him a potential Pro Bowler. He said he doesn’t want that kind of pressure following him around. He has enough pressure as it is, staving off his outspoken appetite.

“You can treat yourself every once in a while,” he said. “You just can’t make it a habit.”

He said there’s too much to lose and too many people now watching him to succumb to dangerous routines. Albert said he wants to emerge this season as one of the NFL’s best tackles, and he knows that won’t come easy. He acknowledged the work that remains for himself and the Chiefs, and he doesn’t want to add more work than he has to.

“A lot of people might say I’ve got the tag of being the franchise left tackle or whatever,” he said. “I just want people to know that I take this serious.”
 

For the troops: Pete Gillen spreads goodwill in Afghanistan
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: July 2, 2009

Most of Pete Gillen’s week-long goodwill trip to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan had gone about as well as could be expected until the ride back from Bagram Air Base to Kabul.

Gillen, the former University of Virginia basketball coach and current CBS Sports television commentator, and a group of other coaches and former coaches had felt pretty secure up until that point.

Traveling in a Blackhawk helicopter, Gillen was peering out the window, noticing all the huts dotting the landscape when all of a sudden he saw two flares zooming past the helicopter. Thirty seconds later, two more flares go zooming by.

“I know it’s not a missile, but I’m wondering, ‘What the hell was that?’” Gillen said. “I looked at the Manhattan coach [Barry Rohrssen], who saw the flares, too. Nobody told me there were going to be flares. I thought the Taliban was shooting up some flares and then bullets might be flying.”

The co-pilot spoke into Gillen’s headset that they were smoke flares, and later explained that when devices on the helicopters detect something metallic on the ground or something unusual in the atmosphere, flares are automatically released to draw potential enemy fire away from the aircraft.

Other than those few anxious moments, Gillen, former UVa player and coach Jeff Jones (now head coach at American), former Jones assistant Dennis Wolff, former UVa assistant Dave Odom, Rohrssen, Gary Stewart of Cal-Davis, and Reggie Minton, deputy director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, felt pretty safe during their “Operation Hoop Talk” sponsored by the USO.

Gillen, who still lives in Charlottesville with his wife, Ginnie, said it was an eye-opening experience, first visiting wounded troops at Walter Reed Hospital and Bethesda Naval Hospital, then trekking through the desolate countryside of Afghanistan.

He truly understood the old expression that war is hell after witnessing what sacrifices have been made by young soldiers and the collateral damage to some Afghan citizens. Living in a wooden hut with a 60-yard walk to the bathroom, which was adorned by a sign that read “Beware of Snakes,” with someone’s scribbling below adding, “And the Spiders,” wasn’t exactly a stay at the Waldorf Astoria, but the coaches managed.

As tough as the trip was, Gillen said he would do it again tomorrow if they asked him. In fact, he drove from Charlottesville to Chevy Chase, Md., to caddy for a Wounded Warriors golf tournament on Tuesday.

The trip began at the hospitals where the coaches met with wounded troops, most of whom were amputees due to injuries received in the war.

“One poor guy had lost both his legs and both his arms,” Gillen said. “It was the first time in this war that somebody had lost all four appendages and survived. He must have been 21 or 22. He had lost an eye, and as sad as it was, he was such a great kid.”

The soldier was a devout Yankees fan and Wolff gave him a Yankee hat. Manhattan’s Rohrssen, who had been part of a Big East championship at Pitt, put his title ring on the finger of the soldier’s prosthesis.

Another soldier who had undergone 130 surgeries and procedures had one leg and was in a wheelchair. Part of the tattoo on his arm that he showed the coaches was missing because that part of his arm was missing, too.

“We all stood up to have a photo taken with him and he insisted that if we were standing, he would, too, and he got up on his crutches for the photo,” Gillen said.

Gillen gave out Conference USA t-shirts and CBS Sports hats. Jones distributed American U shirts and UVa gave Wolff some Wahoo paraphernalia to give out. All the coaches and former coaches brought gifts to give to the troops.

After the hospital tour, the group flew to Kuwait where it was 110 degrees, then flew the next day to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

“We took a C-17 cargo plane and it was like flying in a sardine can,” Gillen commented. “It was cramped. Four hours flying time, I had this big helmet on and, I have such a big head, it kept falling off. I got a 60- or 80-pound flak jacket on. My nose is running. It wasn’t comfortable, but no one was complaining.”

In Kandahar, the coaches gave out more stuff to the troops, had meet and greets with them, signed autographs, posed for photos and talked basketball.

The next day, they were off to Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, passing over the towering, rugged mountain terrain.

“I don’t know how people live there,” Gillen said.

It was Bagram where Gillen’s heart was broken.

It was in the base hospital there that Gillen and the coaches met a little 8-year-old girl named Razia, who had been significantly burned and disfigured when her home had been destroyed by a weapon containing white phosphorus, a lethal chemical.

Her face, head, neck and arms had been scorched yellow, pink and black. Her hair was burned away. They were told that when the doctors tried to scrape away the dead tissue, flames leaped out as the white phosphorous burned itself out.

She had been recovering for three months and endured more than 15 surgeries. She has since been released, but the family’s home was destroyed. Two of her siblings had been killed in the incident.

“She talked to us some and it was so sad,” Gillen said. “The nurses there painted her nails and then she painted theirs, little red dots on her fingernails.”

Gillen grew appreciative of the work doctors and nurses were doing there at the Bagram base. In fact, unsolicited, when UVa doctors and nurses learned that he would be making the trip, they all signed a thank you letter to the surgeons and nurses of Bagram for working their miracles.

“Dr. Jon McKnight, a wonderful guy, had given me some tetanus and typhoid shots before I left and he asked if I would take a letter on UVa Hospital stationary that thanked the troops, and thanked the doctors and nurses over there, that we all appreciate what they are doing over there, and that all of us back home think of them every day.

“The nurses at Bagram’s crisis unit were so excited to get that letter, it meant so much to them, that they put it on their bulletin board,” Gillen said. “They just wanted to be noticed and appreciated. It was so nice for the UVa hospital staff to do that.”

Gillen said Odom was great in coming up with basketball games they could play with the troops over there.

One night, back in Kuwait, Gillen had dinner with what he called the biggest human being he had ever seen. He gave the guy an extra-large shirt, that barely covered the soldier’s arm.

“I told him I feel right at home because I have such a big head that when I was in college, they used to call me ‘Headquarters,’” Gillen laughed. “That was my nickname because my head was so big.”

Because it was karaoke night at the base, Gillen, a pretty good singer, got up and did “Doo Wah Diddy,” which even impressed the USO rep, who used to be the stage manager for Led Zeppelin.

“I think the soldiers really appreciated us being there and spending time with them,” Gillen said. “It had been a long time since they could laugh it up and talk about sports and things with some new faces from back home. Seeing these young men and women and the sacrifices they make daily was so heartwarming.

“I hope that in some way, I gave a little something back to them,” Gillen said. “We all hear and read about the war, but until you see it, there’s no other way to put it in perspective.”