Who will back up Hagans?
Olsen, McCabe and Martinez all have a chance
By Jerry Miller / Daily Progress staff writer
August 21, 2004

Virginia football coach Al Groh hoped to have his backup quarterback in line on Thursday.

With junior Marques Hagans established as the starter, a cast of three gunners have drop stepped their way through the muggy Virginia heat, fighting for the second slot.

The challengers: No. 11 Christian Olsen, No. 4 Anthony Martinez and No. 13 Kevin McCabe.

“There’s nowhere in the country that you’re going to go and not compete if you want to play at this level,” said Olsen, whose chinstrap beard crawls around his face. “You can go other places and be guaranteed to be a starter but you’re probably not going to be able to play in a national championship. Here we got a shot to play in the national championship so it’s worth the fight we’re going to go through.”

Olsen, who appears to have the edge for the backup spot, transferred from Notre Dame prior to last year.

While in South Bend, Ind., Olsen was named the offensive most valuable player of Notre Dame’s 2003 Blue-Gold spring game and posted another fine performance in Virginia’s 2004 spring game, finishing 7 of 8 for 30 yards.

The three-year letterman out of New Jersey, who set four career passing records at Wayne Hills High School, speaks with confidence.

“Everyone knows you are here to compete,” said Olsen, a sophomore who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 226 pounds. “You don’t go to a school like Virginia or anywhere else in the country to be the backup, number three or number four. We’re all out there competing and everybody understands that we’re all going through the same thing.”

After a quick glance, Martinez’s 6-2, 254-pound frame will make you do a double take. He’s thick like an oak tree. To put how thick into perspective, consider Virginia linebackers Ahmad Brooks (249), Darryl Blackstock (240) and Kai Parham (247) each weigh less than Martinez.

But forget weight.

Martinez, a sophomore, can flat out throw the pigskin. (Interestingly, his fastball was clocked at 94 mph.) In the spring game that velocity was evident in completing 3 of 6 passes for 19 yards.

“I think [Coach Groh] wants a leader at quarterback,” Martinez said. “Someone the team can trust and have a lot of confidence in. Someone who will go out and be a warrior and win ballgames.”

In 2003, Martinez experienced the good, bad and ugly that college football had to offer.

The good: He entered on the second series of the season opener against Duke and closed 6 of 15 for 76 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions to help lead the Cavs to a 27-0 victory.

The bad: With starter Matt Schaub still out with shoulder injury, Martinez, only a freshman at the time, was set to start before 80,150 screaming South Carolina fans. That’s the bad.

Now the ugly: In the awfully hostile Williams-Brice Stadium, Martinez finished 10 of 20 for 50 yards, no touchdowns and two picks, both in Gamecock territory. The 31-7 loss was a learning experience to say the least.

“I’m going to use it to my advantage,” Martinez said of last season’s playing time. “I have a taste of the good side and the bad side. I can deal with it a little more if I’m able to step on the field now. I’m fortunate enough to have been in those two situations. They can help me in the future.”

McCabe is another intriguing prospect. Although he did redshirt his freshman year, McCabe is very much a newbie in regards to football. The 6-2, 203-pound redshirt freshman first played the game in the ninth grade.

“I really don’t count that season because it’s freshman ball,” said McCabe, a Wexford, Pa., native. “I’ve only played three years of football and I think the best years are way ahead of me. I’m still learning this game. I’m a student of the game. I’m getting better every day.”

With wavy, shoulder length blonde hair (think Sunshine in “Remember the Titans”), McCabe’s passion and competitive spirit are evident in his speech.

“It’s been a competitive battle, but at the same time, all of us keep it within the boundaries of competition,” he said. “We’re buddy buddy. We’re trying to help each other out. Everyone wants to see everyone else succeed.”

Is it tough on the quarterbacks to keep the competition from getting personal?

After a noticeable pause McCabe said, “At times it can be because all of us have a competitive nature about us. The main thing is we just want to see the field. But we also want the best thing for the team. We want the best guys on the team on the field.”
 

UVa's Korte, Johnson vie for punting job
By Jonathan Schwab / Daily Progress correspondent
August 21, 2004

Although the Virginia football team returns to the field this season with All-American candidate Connor Hughes as its placekicker, coach Al Groh admits that it remains a question to him who will be the starting punter after Tom Hagan gave up football after last season to concentrate on baseball.

After several weeks of practice, Groh said the competition is focused on junior Kurt Korte, who transferred from William and Mary and joined the Cavaliers as a walk-on during the 2004 spring practice period, and sophomore Sean Johnson, who returns to the Cavaliers after spending two years on a Mormon mission in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Chris Gould, a freshman from Lock Haven, Pa., is also vying for the starting spot, as are sophomore Noah Greenbaum and freshman Bryan Lescanec.

“We’ve got [Korte and Johnson] working on the punt,” said Groh. “It’s a snap deal, and we will chart each punt for get-off time. We plan to play everybody when they’re ready.”

Hughes, who ranked as the second best placekicker in the nation last season after making 92 percent of his field goals and punting three 50-yard long ones, said he is excited about the talent his fellow Cavaliers bring on the kicking side of the field and added that, as a junior, he is ready to take on more of a leadership role.

“I’m trying to work with the guys coming in,” said Hughes. “It feels good to be one of the guys people listen to as a leader. You get talked to a certain way.” He added that kicking “is a mind thing,” and he wants to make sure he conveys that message to the incoming kickers on the team.

No one should be more pleased than Groh that Hughes is stepping into his role as a team leader with open arms.

“Confidence is certainly the case with Connor,” he said. “Because of his consistency, he allows us to conduct the game in a certain way.”

Looking at the potential of Korte, Johnson and Gould, Groh and the Cavaliers must hope that these three contenders for the punter position will take advantage of the opportunity to work and learn with Hughes over the course of the season.

Making the transfer from William and Mary and the Atlantic 10 to one of the top contenders in the nation, Korte said the quality of the coaching staff and team at Virginia is incredible. He has worked consistently over the summer on kicking and has gotten a lot of time to work with Hughes.

Johnson has had less time to prepare than Korte because he returned from his Mormon mission at the end of May. In his time back in Virginia, he worked with his former high school coach Bill Renner, who now teaches at West Springfield High School (Johnson went to Langley High School). He said he does not know if he will get the starting job but is ready to take a spot on the bench if Korte or Gould beat him out.

“It’s not really up to me,” said Johnson. “It’s a good competition, and there’s a ton of talent on this team.”

Gould is the top freshman in the running and will carry some knowledge with him that was passed on from his brother, Robbie Gould, a senior kicker at Penn State who has made

32 field goals in three seasons with the Nittany Lions. He admitted since he played high school football in Pennsylvania that he hasn’t followed Virginia football as closely as Korte and Johnson, both Virginia high schoolers. Still he is optimistic about his chances and the chances of the Virginia football team.

“I’ve been just giving my best at whatever I do over the summer I was here,” said Gould, who said he only met Hughes during camp but plans to get a lot of time working with him and using whatever advice the senior placekicker can give him in the early part of the season.

Whoever winds up attempting to fill Hagan’s shoes as the starting punter for the Cavaliers, it is clear that it will be a hard-earned job.

The wealth of selection for Groh should reflect his statement that Virginia has a lot of versatile players, and that versatility should lead to plenty of success on the football field.

Still loading up on home teams
Picking Hokies or Cavs tough for Sheil
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

By now, I guess the word is out that I picked Virginia Tech to go 9-3 overall and 6-2 in the ACC, which would give the Hokies sole possession of third place in the conference.

Think Frank Beamer would take that?

Within hours of making my prediction, arrived at by taking the composite ACC schedule and picking the winners and losers of every game, I wanted to revise my prediction to 8-4 and 5-3, but the copy for The Roanoke Times' football section already had been submitted.

Besides, my reasons for such a lofty prediction hadn't changed.

To all those people who say the Hokies will go 5-7 or 6-6, I would pose the following question: "Who's going to beat them?"

Almost everybody believes that Tech will lose its opening game to Southern California in Landover, Md., and its final game at Miami, but who else beats the Hokies?

To get to 9-3, I had them losing at Georgia Tech on Week 10. Even when I say they will finish 8-4, I can't say for sure who will administer the fourth loss.

The fallacy of my thinking, at least in the Fearless Forecasters that appear on Thursdays during the fall, is that I attach too much significance to the home-field advantage.

If Tech goes 9-3, according to my picks, it would have to beat North Carolina State, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia at Lane Stadium. Basically, I'm also counting Wake Forest’s Groves Stadium as a virtual Tech home site because Hokie fans probably will outnumber Deacon fans.

But, you know what? Wake has won 18 games in three seasons under Jim Grobe, so the Deacons must have won a few home games.

Virginia is like Tech in that many of the games that otherwise might be viewed as toss-ups will be held in Charlottesville. Predictably, I have the Cavaliers winning at home against Clemson, Maryland and Miami but losing on the road to Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.

If that were the case, Virginia, at 8-1, possibly would be in the top 10 by the time it gets to Blacksburg on Nov. 27.

In between reports from Columbia, S.C., and Oxford, Miss., I ran this all by the SEC Roundtable at noon Friday at Corned Beef & Company and also speculated that Tech's game Nov. 6 at North Carolina would be one of the biggest games on either team's schedule.

Of course, a lot could happen between now and then, but Tech's ability to go on the road and beat a program of North Carolina’s potential -- if not stature -- would send something of a message, as would the Tar Heels' ability to beat a program of Tech's stature.

However, I'm not sure that any game will be bigger for Tech or UVa than the Lane Stadium showdown between state rivals.

CENTREVILLE OFFENSIVE LINEMAN Pat Sheil, speaking about his oral commitment to Boston College, admitted that his decision to leave the state might reduce some of the flak he otherwise might have caught from Tech or UVa supporters.

“There would have been some serious bad blood if I had chosen one or the other,” Sheil said. “I’m closer to UVa location-wide. It would have been a little different playing against [the Cavaliers or Hokies], but now I'll be playing against both of them.”

Sheil had a final four of BC, Tech, UVa and Georgia.

“I was a lock for UVa and Virginia Tech for a while,” he said. “Both were great schools and I really felt that I would probably end up there. [The Cavaliers] were the first team to offer. That was really special for me. It was around Thanksgiving, That was a shock. I took a huge interest in them pretty quick.

“There was a pretty long time when [the Hokies] were No. 1. I really had a special conncection with [assistant] coach [Whammy] Ward. We got along great. A lot of times, I just found myself calling him to talk and to chill. There are a lot of players at Virginia Tech from my school. They talk about great things and I had a lot of fun whenever I went down there.”

Sheil, rated the No. 2 prospect in Virginia by theinsiders.com, is considered the state's top offensive-line prospect despite playing mostly defense for his first two seasons on the Centreville varsity.

“Last year, I was a pass-rushing defense because I was the quickest lineman we had and the tallest,” said Sheil, who is 6-5 and 265 pounds. "I started a couple of games on offense, but they didn’t want me to get hurt. But, I've played offensive tackle my whole life, from the fifth grade on.”

Sheil said he didn't feel any pressure from Virginia, which had taken commitments from four offensive linemen and does not want to sign more than five.

“There wasn’t really a deterrent for me with any of the schools I didn’t choose,” Sheil said. “I could have gone to any of them.”

HIGHLAND SPRINGS running back and defensive back Victor Harris is the only five-star recruit in Virginia, according to theinsiders.com, which list five four-star recruits. They are Sheil, Virginia recruits Vic Hall and Antonio Appleby, Virginia Tech recruit Deveon Simmons and uncommitted Phoebus running back Elan Lewis.

GEORGE WYTHE RUNNING BACK Robert Barcliff, who headed The Roanoke Times’ Waiting List of players with Top 25 ability who were unlikely to meet Division I eligibility requirements, has been joined at Hargrave Military Academy by the No. 3 player on that list, 6-4, 305-pound offensive guard Christian Johnson from West Potomac.

A recent Notebook Plus that listed ACC signees headed to Hargrave did not include 6-9, 330-pound Maryland signee Jared Gaither from White Plains, Md. Gaither, who has a basketball background, is listed by Hargrave as a tight end.

BASKETBALL COACH Kevin Keatts, never far from the buffet line on football media day, said Virginia and Virginia Tech have inquired about Hargrave's 6-5 Marc Egerson, who averaged 19 points last year and was named his state’s player of the year at Glasgow (Del.) High School. In fact, said Keatts, Tech has made scholarship offers to Egerson and 6-7 Sam Young from Friendly High School in Fort Washington, Md.

A NOTE ON OSMAR STAPLES in Thursday's Roanoke Times brought back memories of a photo previously published on roanoke.com in which the subject had a striking resemblance to Tech Insider author Nappy King.

In the San Jose State media guide, where it was reported incorrectly that Staples’ brother plays for the Roanoke "Drizzle,” it also said that Osmar Staples had attended junior college at College of the Siskiyous in Weed, Calif.

Efforts are under way to contact the College of the Siskiyous registrar to determine if there is any record of King’s enrollment.

 

Schaub throws three TDs as Falcons get on track
By MATT WINKELJOHN
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer
Published on: 8/20/04

Michael Vick and the Falcons have been through this before, where another quarterback appeared to have better command of the offense than he did during the drudgery they call the NFL preseason.

Former coach Dan Reeves stood his ground two summers ago and stuck with Vick as his starter and was greatly rewarded even though Doug Johnson had been better in the pretend games. Jim Mora is wearing Reeves' old headset these days, and likewise will stick with No. 7 under center.

But while the Falcons rallied from a 17-point deficit to beat the Vikings 27-24 Friday night in the Georgia Dome, rookie Matt Schaub was so good that nobody seemed to care how much Vick played.

What was a big issue days earlier became a non-issue, at least for a while, after Schaub completed 16 of 19 passes for 205 yards, three touchdowns and a passer rating of 151.2, and the home team overcame an early avalanche of mistakes.

"That's a tremendous game," Mora said. "I don't care if it's a preseason game, a regular-season game, the Super Bowl, or you're throwing it around in the back yard. That's a tremendous game."

And it wasn't just the numbers that overwhelmed. It was the feel of it all.

Schaub's go-ahead touchdown pass, a 1-yarder to wide receiver Jimmy Farris with 6:47 left in the game, was his third option on the play. Yet Schaub looked cool standing in the pocket, waiting, surveying, firing to a receiver who had a defender practically in his jersey.

"That poise is awfully hard to evaluate in college," offensive coordinator Greg Knapp said of the Falcons' third-round draft choice, a former University of Virginia star. "You can see it a little bit on tape when teams blitz, when you see how he reacts. I don't know if it's so much that he's surprising me -- he's building confidence, not only with [coaches], but with his teammates."

Running back Warrick Dunn confirmed that.

"It's impressed, I think, everybody. This is a guy who's not forcing anything," the eight-year veteran said. "He's taking what the defense gives him. He's making plays with his feet, evading defensive linemen and hitting short passes. To have so much poise is surprising. You really can't teach that, but he has it."

Earlier on the same drive, a quarterback not known for fancy footwork dodged the rush on third-and-6, scrambled left and just before hitting the sideline threw across his body, a 14-yard completion to Woody Dantzler to keep the drive alive.

Later, Schaub did his best to deflect credit. "I bounced back from last week [when he threw two interceptions at Baltimore] and was able to redeem myself," he said. "You've just got to stay relaxed and have fun out there. It's just football."

It may be just football, but for quite a while it was bad football.

Dantzler fumbled away the opening kickoff to set up Minnesota's first touchdown, and soon after that Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss torched Atlanta rookie cornerback DeAngelo Hall for a 67-yard touchdown pass.

Dunn (eight carries, 72 yards, including a 47-yarder) lost a fumble to set up another Minnesota score.

But the Falcons rallied, a little behind Vick (5-for-9 passing, 35 yards) and a lot behind Schaub. Just as Mora felt the Moss-Hall play will teach the rookie a thing or two, he thought the game would help his entire team.

"The thing I was most impressed with was . . . we did a great job of fighting back," said Mora, who got his first win of any kind as an NFL head coach. "I thought that was great character. I'm glad that happened. That was a real positive."

If Schaub was the star of the game, he had plenty of company among his fellow rookies. Wide receiver Michael Jenkins, a first-round pick like Hall, caught a 47-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to start the comeback.

Linebacker Demorrio Williams, Atlanta's fourth-round pick, had back-to-back sacks in the fourth quarter to quash a Minnesota drive that reached the Falcons' 25-yard line.

The stud, though, was Schaub. Just don't go asking Mora about quarterback controversies. It's the preseason.

"Oh, gimme a break," he said.

The Falcons have done that before, and they're rather not do it again, even if they feel better about their backup quarterback now than they did before.
 

Rookie Leads Falcons Past Vikings 27-24
By KEITH PARSONS
AP Sports Writer
Published August 21, 2004, 3:29 AM EDT

ATLANTA -- Matt Schaub knows his place on the Atlanta Falcons. If he needs any hints, all he has to do his look at the locker he shares with a fellow rookie, kicker Damon Duval.

There certainly isn't a quarterback controversy in Atlanta.

Schaub threw three touchdown passes in relief of Michael Vick, leading the Falcons to a 27-24 preseason victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Friday night. The rookie out of Virginia completed 16-of-19 passes for 205 yards and no interceptions.

"It felt great," Schaub said. "A lot of guys put a lot into making it happen."

Daunte Culpepper and Gus Frerotte each had long TD tosses for the Vikings (1-1), who jumped to leads of 17-0 and 24-13 before the Falcons rallied behind Schaub and the rest of the reserves. Randy Moss caught three passes for 89 yards for Minnesota, including a 67-yarder for a score in the second quarter.

"We wanted to put up a couple of more scores, but it's still preseason," Culpepper said. "We've got a good offense, if we can stay healthy."

After replacing Vick midway through the second quarter, Schaub connected on his first pass, an 11-yard screen to Warrick Dunn. He fooled the defense with a pump fake on the next play and lofted a perfect pass to Michael Jenkins down the left sideline, and Jenkins sprinted into the end zone untouched for the 47-yard score.

"That felt good. The corner was looking hard inside, and Matt made a good fake," Jenkins said. "All I had to is look up and catch it, then stay inbounds."

Schaub added his second TD pass early in the third quarter, finding Stanley Pritchett alone in the corner to make it 24-20, then gave the Falcons (1-1) the lead for good with a 1-yarder to Jimmy Farris.

"He took another step in his growth," Atlanta coach Jim Mora said of Schaub. "That's a tremendous game, I don't care if it's preseason, regular season, the Super Bowl or in the back yard, that's a heck of a game by him."

When asked if Vick needed to look over his shoulder, Mora simply laughed.

"Give me a break," he said.

Vick, who went only a three-and-out series in last week's 24-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, finished 5-for-9 for 35 yards. He also ran three times for 18 yards, including a 12-yard scamper on the Falcons' first play.

Still, he has yet to lead the first-team offense to a touchdown. A 1-yard plunge by Dunn in the second quarter was nullified by a holding call against tackle Kevin Shaffer, and Jay Feely came on to kick a 28-yard field goal.

"It felt good to play more this week," Vick said. "We're trying to learn this offense and it's going to take time. Warrick had a nice run on that one drive and I wished we could have scored a touchdown instead of a field goal."

Culpepper and the Vikings picked up where they left off last season against Atlanta, when they won 39-26. Atlanta's Woody Dantzler bobbled the opening kickoff and Larry Ned recovered for Minnesota at the 30, and four plays later, Moe Williams bulled in from the 1 for a 7-0 lead.

Later in the first quarter, Culpepper found Moss alone behind the secondary and connected on a pass that covered about 55 yards in the air. Moss caught it in full stride a couple of yards in front of rookie cornerback DeAngelo Hall and raced in for the touchdown.

Frerotte added an 83-yard TD to Kelly Campbell on the first possession of the second half to make it 24-13.

"We had good tempo and played very explosive," Minnesota coach Mike Tice said. "Our quarterbacks were sharp as a tack. I thought our offensive guys did an excellent job keeping their cool."

Culpepper was 6-of-9 for 124 yards, and Frerotte was 6-of-8 for 126.

Dunn rushed for 72 yards, including a 47-yard run, but fumbled early in the second quarter to set up Aaron Elling's 47-yard field goal for Minnesota.

Notes:@ The Falcons again were without starters defensive end Patrick Kerney (knee) and defensive end Brady Smith (knee). Kerney missed last week's game against Baltimore with a sore groin, then injured his knee in practice. ... The Vikings lost safety Tyrone Carter to a sprained knee in the first half. ... Atlanta had 15 players with at least one catch.

Cavs' defensive end continues progress
Summer in Charlottesville helped Robinson improve
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Aug 21, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE Halfway through his college-football career, defensive end Kwakou Robinson remains on the second team, a powerfully built, refreshingly candid work in progress.

He hasn't been a bust at the University of Virginia, but Robinson hasn't become the dominant player many expected, either.

"This is the time for him to make a move," U.Va. coach Al Groh said. "I think most players hit their stride, as far as becoming a very good player, their third year."

Robinson, a 6-4, 323-pound junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., hopes to follow that timetable. Which is why he spent the summer at U.Va. - a first for him - and cranked up his strength-and-conditioning regimen.

"I feel I need to make a big step this year in the right direction and not hold anything back this year," Robinson said. "I've got good guys in front of me like [starting ends] Chris Canty and Brennan Schmidt, so I'm not going to come out expecting to start. But I do expect more plays this year."

Of the players who signed with U.Va. in February, 2002 - a star-studded group that included Ahmad Brooks, Darryl Blackstock, Kai Parham and Wali Lundy - perhaps only Brooks had more impressive credentials than Robinson. As a senior at Poly Prep, Robinson was the Gatorade player of the year in New York. His team finished No. 10 in USA Today's national rankings, and Robinson attracted scholarship offers from such schools as Ohio State, Miami (Fla.), Notre Dame and Southern Cal.

Three months out of high school, Robinson started U.Va.'s 2002 season opener. He stayed on the first team for four more games, but then Canty, back from an injury, reclaimed his spot. Robinson has been on the second team ever since. In his two seasons at U.Va., he's made 58 tackles and has one sack.

A tackle in high school, Robinson has struggled with the techniques required of an end in Virginia's 3-4 defense. Poor footwork occasionally has made Robinson an inviting target for offensive linemen, and he hasn't always used his hands effectively.

"For a defensive lineman in a 3-4," Robinson said, hand speed is "everything. It's the first thing. You don't move your feet till you get your hands on a guy, really. And your first step is the most important step."

Though he isn't likely to supplant Canty or Schmidt, this has been Robinson's best training camp at Virginia. He's been more physical, more active, more of a presence on the line. "I definitely see the signs of progress," Groh said. "I'd like to see a more dramatic move to go along with that progress, but his game is definitely moving along."

Robinson would have benefited from a redshirt season, but the Cavaliers needed him in 2002. He didn't mind playing, and he hasn't lost hope or confidence.

"My hands and my first step have been the big things I'm trying to improve," Robinson said. "I didn't really get it my second year, but my third year I'm really starting to understand how much I have to do."