U.VA. NOTES
Aug 11, 2003
STIFF COMPETITION: A season ago, four wide receivers caught passes for Virginia:
Billy McMullen (69 receptions), Michael McGrew (27), Ottowa Anderson (17) and
Ryan Sawyer (11). McGrew, Anderson and Sawyer are back, and they've been joined
in the receiving corps by converted quarterback Marques Hagans, converted
cornerback Art Thomas, redshirt freshman Ron Morton and true freshmen Fontel
Mines, Deyon Williams and Emmanuel Byers.
Of the 55 or 60 players Virginia will take to road games, third-year coach Al
Groh expects no more than five will be receivers. That should make for spirited
practices this summer and fall.
"We've got a lot of guys there competing for spots," Groh said.
Of the receivers, Groh said, "Michael McGrew is a proven, dependable in-the-game
player. Now the other players need to show they can be proven, dependable
in-the-game players, and they's going to have to show it out here" on the
practice field.
After McGrew, "I'd say Ottowa has the next-lengthiest resume," Groh said, and
Sawyer sparkled after replacing the injured McMullen in last season's
Continental Tire Bowl. Assuming those three veterans will be in the rotation,
that leaves six candidates for perhaps as few as two slots.
"We're always going to play the players who give us the best chance to win,"
Groh said, "and that's established on an ongoing basis."
YOUNG GUNS: Junior tailback Alvin Pearman, who yesterday had perhaps his best
practice since returning from a knee injury, likes what he's seen of freshmen
Vince Redd and Eddie Pinigis.
Redd, a 6-6, 275-pound outside linebacker from Elizabethton, Tenn., is "a load,"
Pearman said. Pinigis is a 6-7, 275-pound offensive tackle from Forest. "He has
great footwork, and he's a fighter," Pearman said. "You rarely see that much
fight in a freshman."
A graduate of Jefferson Forest High, Pinigis is a nephew of Calvert Jones, a
former offensive lineman at Virginia Tech. Jones attended yesterday's practice
in Charlottesville and supports his nephew's decision to attend U.Va.
"He actually likes it," Pinigis said. "He switched his season tickets from Tech
to Virginia."
LIVING LEGEND: Several other Jefferson Forest graduates have preceded Pinigis in
U.Va.'s football program, among them Butch Jefferson, Jerton Evans and Anthony
Poindexter. An All-America safety for the Cavaliers in the'90s, Poindexter is
now on Groh's staff as the graduate assistant for offense.
"I've always known about him, ever since I was a little kid," Pinigis said.
"I've always looked up to him. He's a cool guy. He was a legend, I guess you
could say."
THIS YEAR'S MODEL: Darryl Blackstock, perhaps the nation's top freshman
linebacker in 2002, has gained more than 20 pounds since season's end, and the
added muscle will enable him to "play with more power," Groh said.
But at 242 pounds, does the 6-4 Blackstock still have the burst that last season
helped him record 10 sacks, an ACC record for a freshman?
"He's got more," Groh said.
INTERESTED OBSERVER: A fixture at U.Va.'s training camp has been Chris Long, a
rising senior at nearby St. Anne's-Belfield. Long, a 6-4, 260-pound lineman, was
the first player to commit to the Cavaliers for 2004. His father is Pro Football
Hall of Famer Howie Long.
The younger Long, a gifted athlete like his father, can dunk a basketball and is
limber enough to do splits.
ALL SYSTEMS GO: The crowd at Friday's practice held its collective breath after
sophomore tailback Wali Lundy went down in pain then was driven in a cart to the
McCue Center.
"I caught a body cramp," Lundy said after Saturday's practice, in which he
participated at full speed. "I wasn't hydrating myself well enough."
Lundy, the MVP of the Continental Tire Bowl, said he experienced severe cramping
in his "toes, arms, shoulders - everywhere," and didn't shake the pain until
Saturday.
- Jeff White
Ahmad Brooks, Kai Parham and Willie Davis are among the most gifted
athletes on the Virginia football team. For now, however, none of them is a
starter.
The 11 members of UVa’s first-team defense all wear bright-orange jerseys,
while the backups wear blue. Through the first five days of practice, juniors
Rich Bedesem and Bryan White have been the starting inside linebackers. Two
more juniors, Jermaine Hardy and Jay Dorsey, have been the first-team
safeties.
Many expect that to change by the Aug. 30 opener or shortly thereafter. That’s
not a knock on the current starters so much as a testament to the ability of
Brooks and Parham, freshman linebackers who were Parade All-Americans in high
school, and Davis, a sophomore safety who started five games as a true
freshman.
Virginia coach Al Groh says the competition at those positions is strong, but
don’t expect the starters to relinquish their orange jerseys without a fight.
Bedesem and White “are off to a very fast start,” Groh said. “Hopefully now,
in the first camp with Brooks and Parham, we’ll be able to say they are
improving by leaps and bounds.”
Likewise, at safety, Dorsey is holding off Davis, a phenomenal athlete who
made some assignment errors last season and lost his starting spot in the
spring.
“Willie’s got some dramatic ability, but Dorsey has played the best he’s
played since he got here,” Groh said. “He sees an opportunity and he’s not
going to give it up easily.”
Dorsey saw little action behind starters Jerton Evans and Shernard Newby last
year, but he made an impact on special teams. Now he wants to prove his value
on defense.
“I’ve been waiting, just minding my time,” Dorsey said. “This is my
opportunity to show everyone what I can do.”
For now, the biggest advantage Dorsey and the other juniors have over their
younger competition may be experience.
“I really know the defense now,” Dorsey said. “I know it inside-out. It’s like
second nature to me.”
Coach’s clearance. Brooks, who pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor
marijuana possession charge two weeks ago, is eligible to play in the opener
against Duke.
Placed on six months probation, Brooks discussed the matter with Groh, who
said that “whatever I did is between him and me.”
Centers of attention. Senior center Kevin Bailey, who tore his left ACL in
last season’s second game and did not return, has been limited to non-contact
drills during practice.
Meanwhile, Zac Yarbrough, who started 12 games after Bailey’s injury, has
looked good. He missed spring practice after undergoing surgery for a double
hernia, but the operation was a success.
“This is the best I’ve felt in a long time,” said Yarbrough, a 6-foot-4,
275-pound junior. “I’d been hurting since my senior year of high school but I
hadn’t done anything about it. I played in some pain last year but I feel 100
percent better now.”
Until Bailey returns, Yarbrough’s backups are redshirt freshman Philip Sims
and true freshman Jordy Lipsey.
Where’s the beef? During goal-line drills during Sunday’s practice, there
were plenty of big bodies on the defensive line.
Keenan Carter, D.J. Bell and Kwakou Robinson, all weighing more than 300
pounds, tried plugging up the middle. Still, the offense scored nearly every
time.
In all, there are eight Cavaliers listed at more than 300 pounds.
Last look. About 600 fans braved the heat to watch Sunday’s practice. Today
marks the first time the Cavaliers can practice twice in a day. It is also the
last time fans will be allowed to watch.
Today’s practices will start at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., with each session likely to
last for about two hours. Fans are asked to pick up a pass at the reception
desk in the football office of the McCue Center. Cameras and cell phones are
not permitted.
Duke wants to rev up its offense
By J.P. GIGLIO, Staff Writer
DURHAM -- Duke, after losing five games by five or fewer points in 2002, has 20
starters -- including all 11 on offense -- returning to its football team this
fall.
And coach Carl Franks has 91 players believing that they can break a 25-game ACC
losing streak and change the Blue Devils' losing reputation in football during
his fifth season at Duke.
How much the Devils can improve upon last season's 2-10 record depends largely
on an offense that scored only 27 touchdowns -- the fewest in the ACC.
Franks, who also served as offensive coordinator his first four seasons, has
transferred that title to second-year quarterbacks coach Jim Pry, insisting that
the change is a matter of semantics since the two conferred on game plans last
season and will continue to do so.
"I've said before I would give it to somebody when I felt it was the right
time," Franks said. "I didn't think it was the right time early on [in my career
at Duke]. I didn't think anybody else needed the extra pressure.
"When we had a team that was young, we knew we'd have a team that would
struggle. I'd rather let all that extra stuff come to me. Now I thought it was
the appropriate time because we have an experienced team."
The first priority for Pry will be getting more points out of an offense that
moved the ball freely between the 20-yard lines but froze once inside the 20.
The Devils had 38 possessions inside the 20 during the 12-game season. In only
17 of those possessions did the Blue Devils score a touchdown. That difficulty
in converting possessions into touchdowns partially resulted in a scoring
average of 18.9 points per game, eighth in the ACC.
Franks said the Devils' scoring problems were a matter of efficiency. Senior
guard Rusty Wilson said the offense has watched hours of game film and could see
where the breakdowns would occur.
"We'd be one block away or one guy away from making a play," Wilson said. "When
we're inside that 20, it has to be our time to take care of it."
The answer might be expanding the predominantly one-back offense to utilize both
Alex Wade, a fifth-year senior fullback, and quicksilver running back Chris
Douglas. As different as the Devils' top two offensive threats are physically --
Wade is 6 feet 1 and 255 pounds and Douglas is 6 feet and 190 -- they share a
position. Both are listed as starters in the media guide even though in 2002 the
Devils used mainly a one-back set.
"We need to come up with creative ways to get Chris and Alex the ball and get
both those guys on the field at the same time," Franks said.
Wade led the team, and ranked fourth in the ACC, with 979 rushing yards in 2002.
Douglas finished with 640 yards despite playing most of the season with a
sprained left ankle.
Wade said he doesn't see a problem sharing the ball with Douglas, with whom he
shared an apartment for two and a half years.
"It's not like we're going to get into a shouting match over who has more
carries," Wade said. "We're good friends and it really doesn't matter to us.
There's enough carries for both of us."
Although Franks may be a graduate of the Steve Spurrier Fun 'N' Gun school of
coaching, his team did plenty of running in 2002.
The Devils ran 487 times, or 56 percent of their plays. And with Wade or Douglas
behind a veteran offensive line that weighs an average of 313 pounds, the Devils
will be running again this season.
"I'm going to do whatever is necessary to win," Franks said.
Ticket issue for ACC
Miami, VT may get partial allotments
By JOSEPH SMITH, Staff Writer
The ACC is considering giving Miami and Virginia Tech partial ticket allotments
for the ACC men's basketball tournaments in 2005 and 2006, the schools' first
two years in the league.
Brian Cockerham, Miami's assistant athletics director for development, said that
when the two schools joined the ACC, they agreed they would be willing to accept
a third of the full ticket allotment ACC member schools will get for the men's
basketball tournament in 2005 in Washington, D.C., and two-thirds for the 2006
tournament in Greensboro.
In 2007, when the tournament moves to Tampa, Fla., the Hurricanes and Hokies
each will get a full share , Cockerham said.
That tournament will be held at the St. Pete Times Forum, which seats 20,500 for
basketball.
Phasing in changes for distribution of ACC Tournament tickets is critical in
softening the blow to booster clubs at the ACC's current nine member schools.
Reducing the number of boosters who are given a chance at basketball tournament
tickets is painful because the tickets, which aren't available for public sale,
are used to reward loyal fans and big donors.
Even with partial allotments for Miami and Virginia Tech, the current ACC
schools could have close to 500 fewer tickets to work with in 2005 than they did
in Greensboro last season, said Fred Barakat, the ACC associate commissioner who
manages the tournament. Each school had 2,440 tickets in Greensboro, Barakat
said.
"It'll be a challenge for us," said Jack Winters, executive director of the Iron
Dukes, Duke University's booster organization.
"We'll have to see the official numbers for it first, but we'll do the best we
can to keep as many donors happy as possible. No one likes to be told, 'No.' "
ACC officials say no final decisions have been made about how tickets to
Virginia Tech and Miami will be distributed. Barakat said the issue likely will
be discussed by athletics directors and faculty representatives in ACC meetings
Sept. 10 in Greensboro.
ACC Associate Commissioner Jeff Elliott said the league plans to recommend to
the voting schools that Miami and Virginia Tech be given partial allotments of
one-third in 2005 and two-thirds in 2006 and a full allotment in the third year
. He said that's what the ACC did when it added Georgia Tech in 1978 and Florida
State in 1991.
ACC Commissioner John Swofford was on vacation and unavailable for comment.
Miami and Virginia Tech appear willing to accept the limitations.
"We're the new kids on the block, so we'll work through any system and try to be
a good partner," said Jim Weaver, Virginia Tech's athletics director. "If we
can't have the full allotment for the first year or two, we'll make it work."
Some schools reward longtime boosters using a system in which donors accumulate
points for giving certain amounts for extended periods. For example, N.C.
State's Wolfpack Club uses a priority ranking system, determined by the
combination of current annual giving, consecutive years giving and cumulative
giving, said Bobby Purcell, the club's executive director. The top 250 donors
get the chance to purchase four tickets -- as long as they give at least $2,500
that year. Purcell said donors ranked 251 to approximately 400 get a chance at
two tickets, provided they give $1,000. All endowment donors, regardless of
rank, are allotted four tickets.
New donors can guarantee themselves a chance for four tickets with an $18,000
contribution, but only for that year, Purcell said. An $11,000, one-time
donation would guarantee two tickets, he added.
Other schools have a flat amount that must be donated to be considered for
tickets. At Duke, the projected level of giving for two ACC tickets in 2004 is
an $8,000 annual gift, said Winters of the Iron Dukes.
But although the size of the annual gift is the first determining factor for
tournament ticket priority, Winters said, other factors such as number of years
donating and the cumulative amount of donations are considered .
The MCI Center in Washington, site of the 2005 tournament, seats 20,000 for
basketball. After teams and media are allotted space, the 11 ACC schools will
share about 18,500 tickets .
North Carolina athletics director Dick Baddour said having a lower allotment
could affect the level of giving by some donors.
"It's a concern," he said. "It's something we're going to have to watch very
carefully. "
Barry Faircloth, executive director of the Deacon Club at Wake Forest, said his
organization probably will "raise the bar" on the number of points a donor must
have to be eligible for tickets -- and that other schools could do the same.
N.C. State AD Lee Fowler said another solution might be to reduce the number of
tickets given to each donor.
"We can also cut back on some tickets that our staff may get to make sure that
our boosters are happy," Fowler said. "That's important."