sabres.gif (4521 bytes)

U.VA. NOTEBOOK

Aug 14, 2002
 

ONE FOR ALL? Visitors to University Hall soon will notice a significant change on the basketball court at the University of Virginia's aging arena.

Gone at midcourt is the hard-to-decipher design that featured the Rotunda and a reproduction of university founder Thomas Jefferson's signature. Replacing it will be U.Va.'s most popular logo: the "V" over two crossed sabers. Until now, that logo has not been used by Virginia's basketball teams.

No official announcement has been made, but the crossed-sabers logo is likely to soon be the only one U.Va. uses, sources said. The "split V-Virginia" has been the school's official logo since 1995, but various other logos are found on U.Va. merchandise and on the uniforms of its varsity teams.

U.Va.'s brand identity would improve, athletic department officials believe, if the school's teams shared the same logo. The crossed-sabers logo has been associated with Virginia's football team since 1994. Players wear the logo - which Matt Welsh, one of former coach George Welsh's sons, designed - on their helmets and jerseys.

BASIC TRAINING: Defensive linemen Robert Armstrong and Keenan Carter, who signed with U.Va. in February but failed to qualify academically, arrived at Fork Union Military Academy last weekend. A third Virginia signee, Parade All-America linebacker Ahmad Brooks, is expected to start practicing at FUMA this week.

"I told him to take a few more days," said John Shuman, who coaches Fork Union's postgraduate team.

When they report to the Fluvanna County school, players are measured and weighed. Armstrong was 6-5, 320 and Carter 6-1, 390.

Carter has gained about 100 pounds since his junior year at Potomac High, "but we're working on him," Shuman said. "It all depends on his attitude. We're just adjusting his attitude. He's not really tough enough, but we're going to get something out of him."

Armstrong, meanwhile, already has won over his new coach. "He was could one of our best players, without a doubt," Shuman said.

When they visited FUMA last month, Shuman said, Carter, Armstrong and Brooks indicated that they planned to sign with U.Va. again this winter.

"I told all three of three days when I walked them around that they're out of the recruiting pool, and Fork Union's not going to put them in the recruiting pool," Shuman said.

That could change if any of them decides he wants to re-start the process, Shuman said, but "right now they're pretty firm on what they want to do. They want to get eligible and get to Virginia."

TIME WELL SPENT: After appearing in seven games as a true freshman in 2000, George Welsh's final season at Virginia, defensive lineman Andrew Hoffman redshirted in 2001. He wouldn't have played much in the 3-4 defense run by Welsh's successor, Al Groh, and Hoffman knew he needed to get stronger.

A season later, the 6-5 290-pounder is the Cavaliers' starting nose tackle.

"He became physically stronger," Groh said, "which has tremendously added to his confidence and how he plays the position."

It's possible, Groh said, that some of the true freshmen who play for Virginia this season would redshirt in the future as the team's depth improves.

COMING ON STRONG: Groh told reporters last month that sophomore Alvin Pearman would be U.Va.'s starting tailback in its Aug. 22 opener against Colorado State.

Pearman may start against the Rams, but redshirt sophomore Marquis Weeks is pressing him for the starting job. "That's the direction it's going right now," Groh said Monday.

Weeks, who's from Berwyn, Pa., carried only four times (for 16 yards) last season, when he played extensively on special teams. At Conestoga High in Pennsylvania, though, he rushed for 6,193 yards, and his stock is rising at Virginia.

"He's really raised his game significantly since the end of spring practice," Groh said.

Another tailback certain to be in the Cavaliers' rotation is Wali Lundy, a freshman from New Jersey. Lundy was an all-state wideout in 2000 and an all-state tailback last season, when he rushed for 2,030 yards and 30 touchdowns.

HIGH PRAISE: He's the smallest of Virginia's starting defensive linemen, but 6-3, 275-pound end Brennan Schmidt concedes nothing on the field.

The redshirt freshman from Arlington is a "high-energy kid," Groh said. "He's a real tough kid, and he's got a nice sense for making plays. He's not just a guy slugging it out in there."

Schmidt graduated from DeMatha High in Hyattsville, Md. His brother plays football for Boston College, and their father played at Notre Dame and Southern Cal. - Jeff White

 

 

10 U.Va. players make 50th-anniversary unit

Aug 14, 2002
 

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The University of Virginia, which has won five NCAA titles in men's soccer, placed 10 players on the ACC's 50th anniversary team.

Clemson had 13 representatives on the 55-member team, the most of any of the seven ACC schools that sponsor men's soccer. Duke and Virginia were next with 10 apiece.

The Cavaliers on the 50th anniversary team, in alphabetical order, are: Jeff Agoos (1986-90), Mike Fisher (1993-96), Jeff Gaffney, a paid up subscriber to the Daily Bull (www.theragingbull.com) (1982-85), George Gelnovatch (1983-86), John Harkes (1985-87), Kyle Martino (1999-2001), Tony Meola (1988-89), Ben Olsen (1995-97), Claudio Reyna (1991-93) and A.J. Wood (1991-94). Gelnovatch now coaches the Cavaliers.

Also on the team are two players who grew up in Virginia: Stafford's Chris Carrieri (North Carolina, 1998-2000) and Falls Church's John Kerr (Duke, 1991-94). - Jeff White

 

 

Cavs aim to recapture enthusiasm
By Joseph Person
Telegraph Staff Writer

Editor's Note: This is the seventh in a series of stories previewing football teams in the ACC and SEC. The series begins with the ACC schools. Next: Wake Forest.

Virginia students have a keen awareness of history.

You can't walk through Charlottesville without bumping into a building that Jefferson either built or slept in, but the UVA undergrads know a little something about their school's football history, too.

So they surely sensed that the Cavaliers' 5-7 finish in Al Groh's first season wasn't quite right. In fact, it was Virginia's first losing season since 1986, when George Welsh posted only his second sub-.500 record in 19 years in Charlottesville.

The players sensed it, too.

"We lost the enthusiasm we used to have, but each year a new team develops," said middle linebacker Angelo Crowell, whose older brother, Germane, starred at receiver for the Wahoos in the mid-1990s.

The Cavs' seventh-place finish in the ACC was also their worst since '86, and represented a significant drop for a school that was the chief competition to Florida State during the Seminoles' first several years in the conference.

Virginia was an equal opportunity disappointment last fall under Groh: The Cavaliers were dismal both offensively and defensively. With quarterbacks Bryson Spinner and Matt Schaub both struggling to find a rhythm, the Cavs finished eighth in the ACC in total offense, their 345 yards a game just a yard better than winless Duke.

The defense also was worse than any other ACC team besides Duke, giving up an alarming 430 yards a game while never getting completely comfortable with new defensive coordinator Al Golden's 3-4 scheme.

"When you're out there just thinking, you're not really showing your talent and how you can play," said Crowell, an all-American candidate who set a school record with 144 tackles last year. "We knew the defense well enough to go out and execute some things, but didn't know it well enough to go out and just play."

Crowell insists things finally started clicking for the defense last spring, but the loss of three starters on the defensive line could make for some challenging Saturdays for an experienced secondary that has all four starters back.

With Spinner transferring to Richmond, Schaub finally has the quarterback position all to himself. Unless the junior from Pennsylvania shows some vast improvement over last year, that might not necessarily be a good thing. Schaub threw nearly as many interceptions (eight) as touchdowns (10) in 2001, and was eighth in the conference in passing efficiency.

"I think he should play better. He's a second-year player now. He's been through a lot more games," Groh said. "I have strong feelings that he'll have a very good season."

Schaub's best strategy might be to simply throw the ball in the general vicinity of 6-foot-4 receiver Billy McMullen, a first-team all-ACC selection after leading the conference in every receiving category.

McMullen finished with 83 receptions, shattering the school record by 29, and added 1,060 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. Teams won't just watch McMullen closely this year: They'll build entire gameplans around stopping him.

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

Already Virginia's career receptions leader, McMullen needs 76 catches to break the ACC mark held by Wake Forest's Desmond Clark. But McMullen refused to make any predictions.

"Don't get me wrong: I do want the ball," he said. "But if I get less plays or less catches, I'm going to make something happen."

McMullen took a subtle swipe at Welsh's play-calling, saying he preferred offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave's pro-style sets to Welsh's "run, run, throw deep" philosophy.

But McMullen should know as well as anyone not to turn his back on history at Virginia, especially when the present still seems shaky.

- Contact Person at joeperson@aol.com.

VIRGINIA
• Coach: Al Groh, second season, 5-7; eighth season overall, 31-47.

• 2001 finish: 5-7 overall; 3-5, tied for seventh place in the ACC.

• Postseason: None.

• Returning starters: Offense (7), Defense (6), Special Teams (0).

• Local impact: There are no Middle Georgians on Virginia's roster.

• Season opener: Aug. 22 vs. Colorado State.

• Projected finish: 5-8, 3-5 in ACC.

 

 

Cavaliers begin preparing for Colorado State
By JOHN GALINSKY / Daily Progress staff writer
Aug 13, 2002

The Virginia football team has been concentrating on itself for the past two weeks. Today the Cavaliers start focusing on someone else.

Preparations for the Aug. 22 opener against Colorado State begin in earnest as UVa's coaches start implementing the gameplan for the Rams during today's practice. The Jim Thorpe Classic will be the earliest opening game in Virginia's history, and it will be a challenging one.

Colorado State, which returns 15 starters from a 7-5 team, was picked to win the Mountain West Conference by the league's media. Sonny Lubick's team has won five conference championships in the past eight years.

Having watched extensive film of the Rams, UVa coach Al Groh calls them a formidable opponent.

"They want to run the ball physically and aggressively," Groh said. "Their quarterback is a very good player."

Bradlee Van Pelt, the son of former NFL linebacker Brad Van Pelt, passed for 1,353 yards as a sophomore. He also rushed for 743 yards as part of a ground attack that will test Virginia's run defense, which was 94th in the nation a year ago.

Colorado State has two top-notch tailbacks in Henri Childs and Cecil Sapp. Sapp ran for 1,001 yards two years ago but redshirted last season after having a tumor removed from his heel. In his absence, Childs led the team with 938 rushing yards last year. Now both will share time in the backfield, Lubick said.

"I thought the guys they had last year were pretty good," Groh said. "I understand this guy [Sapp] is supposed to be something. Seems to me that he'll fit right into the physical, win-the-line-of-scrimmage type of game that they enjoy playing."

The Rams are thin on the offensive line and in the secondary, which may explain why they are not ranked. But they have two second-team all-conference linebackers in juniors Eric Pauly and Drew Wood as well as one of the nation's top punters in senior Joey Huber.

Butler did it. Brad Butler was considered something of a project coming out of E.C. Glass High in Lynchburg. Since he did not start playing football until 10th grade, the freshman offensive lineman figured he would redshirt this season and fill out his 6-foot-8, 268-pound frame.

But Butler has impressed Virginia's coaches in the preseason and will play this season, Groh said. He is the backup and heir apparent to senior Mike Mullins at right tackle.

"He's 6-7, he's 270, he's lean, he's got a real good first step. He's smart and he's tough," Groh said. "I think he's going to be a real good player someday."

Schmidt shines. Another player who has impressed Groh during preseason camp is redshirt freshman defensive end Brennan Schmidt.

Schmidt made 21 sacks as a senior at DeMatha High and has gotten significantly bigger since arriving on campus. At 6-3 and about 275 pounds - 10 more than his listed weight - Schmidt is on the first-team defensive line along with sophomores Andrew Hoffman and Chris Canty.

"High-energy kid," Groh said. "Real tough kid and he's got a nice sense for making plays. He's not just slugging it out out there."

Welcome back. Groh said he was pleased that freshman center Damian Spradlin rejoined the team last week after leaving for several days. Spradlin failed the team's conditioning test and had been jogging during practice before he jumped ship. Groh was not surprised that he returned.

"It was more of a case of freshman-itis as anything," Groh said. "We've seen that before. It's like a cold - you only have it for a couple of days."

Extra points. About 2,200 reserved-seat tickets remain for the Colorado State game. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. next Thursday … Redshirt freshman receiver Scott Robinson, who had been jogging with Spradlin, still is not actively participating in practice, Groh said. … The Cavaliers are deep at receiver with senior Billy McMullen, juniors Michael McGrew and Ryan Sawyer, and sophomore Ottowa Anderson. But Groh said it was too early to say whether freshmen Ron Morton and Kenneth Tynes will redshirt.