The toughness within him
In the 26 years he was alive, Ljubomir Stamenich let few people see the hard-luck story behind his tough outer shell.
By DARRYL SLATER
dslater@dailypress.com | 247-4641

Bill Renner knew right away there was something different about this kid. Renner arrived in 1994 at Langley High in Northern Virginia to coach football and soon spotted the big sophomore with a strange name and a scary glare.

The kid was 6 feet, 210 pounds as a freshman. He picked on upperclassmen. He talked to few people. He was so intense in the weight room that he let only Renner spot him.

"Why do you think you're so tough?" Renner asked.

"Because when I was younger and I messed up," the kid said, "my dad would make me stand up all night."

"How'd he know you were standing?"

"He stood right behind me."

Ljubomir Stamenich rarely shared these childhood stories. Besides Renner, Stamenich told just a few close friends how his father fought in the Serbian army during World War II, how his mother has been bed-ridden with multiple sclerosis since he was in fourth grade, how his family struggled after his dad got the bad end of a buyout deal for the restaurant he owned.

Instead, Stamenich hid behind the toughness that helped him play his entire senior season at Langley with a dislocated shoulder. He let few college teammates see more of him than the aggressive defensive end, the intense and diligent three-year starter on the Virginia football team.

"He didn't trust many people," Renner said. "He would never talk to you if you didn't speak to him."

Even while Stamenich lay in a Fairfax hospital last week, dying of leukemia, he refused to tell his parents about his sickness. He and his two siblings were afraid the sorrow would kill them.

His father, Zlatan, is in his mid-80s, stricken with Parkinson's Disease and nearing his end. His mother, Yelena, about 30 years younger than his dad, is in a nursing home, robbed of speech by her illness, tube-fed and on a ventilator.

Stamenich died at age 26 last Thursday, 12 days after he was diagnosed. His siblings and friends likely will never tell his parents.

Friends and teammates gathered on Monday for Stamenich's funeral. Few will know that the casket in which he'll be buried was meant for his father. Stamenich started paying for the casket three years ago to prepare for his dad's death.

It's an ironic final twist to Stamenich's life - and his last response to Renner's question: "Why do you think you're so tough?"

Stamenich answered that question so many times, in so many ways during his life.

Mark Drever, one his best friends, met Stamenich at Langley. Drever was a junior the first time he saw Stamenich, a freshman, harassing some upperclassmen.

Drever found out about Stamenich's home life - his mom's disease and his dad's financial troubles - and decided to mentor the kid. So did Anne and Ray Ritchey, whose son, David, also attended Langley.

With an aging father and debilitated mother, Stamenich and his siblings - sister Milica is now 24; brother Draza is 21 - had essentially raised themselves. "You're talking about a young man who developed survival skills at a very early age," Renner said.

"I don't really know if they had any income."

So the wealthy Langley community chipped in, providing food for the family. The Ritcheys arranged a tutor for Stamenich and bought him a car. "He's the one who took those tools and made it happen," Anne Ritchey said.

Stamenich joined Langley's football team as a freshman and was on varsity by his sophomore year. By his senior season in 1996, he was a 6-foot-3, 250-pound lineman. But during a scrimmage before the season, he dislocated his right shoulder. He refused surgery and played hurt every game. He made the all-state team and signed with Virginia.

With football steadying him, he started opening up his life to friends. He told Drever how his father was a Serbian prisoner of war in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, how he escaped and eventually immigrated with his wife to America, where the couple had their three kids. Stamenich told Renner how, as a child, he used to dart around his dad's Serbian restaurant in McLean.

He explained how to pronounce his given name: Loo-ba-meer. He embraced the nickname everyone gave him: Lube.

Still, when colleges recruited him, he insisted on one thing: no home visits. "He just didn't think it was anybody's business about his home life," Renner said.

Art Markos recruited Stamenich for U.Va. After Stamenich's official visit to Charlottesville, Markos drove him home to Great Falls. When Markos pulled up to the house, he saw a well-worn punching bag hanging next to the garage.

Everyone else at U.Va. saw Stamenich's aggressiveness during preseason practices in 1997. "He probably was too intense his first year," said Bob Petchel, U.Va.'s defensive line coach then. "The guys had to loosen him up a little bit."

Stamenich redshirted at defensive end in '97 and backed up future NFL star Patrick Kerney in '98. Stamenich started the next three seasons, despite undergoing two shoulder surgeries in addition to the one he had after high school. Though he often played hurt, he started 35 of his final 36 games. He was also undersized (6-foot-3, 262 pounds), especially when coach Al Groh arrived before his senior season and installed a 3-4 defense that called for three defensive linemen.

"He got the most out of himself that he could get as far as football was concerned," former U.Va. recruiting coordinator Danny Wilmer said.

Stamenich often flexed after making a big play, as teammates and fans shouted the sound that became synonymous with his career: "Luuuuuube!"

His fellow students saw him as that big, tough guy when he and his teammates, and occasionally his high school buddy Drever, partied at The Biltmore, a well-known campus bar. "He was a legend down there," Drever said. "We never paid for drinks."

What everyone didn't see was Stamenich calling home to check on his family, speaking to his parents and siblings in Serbian. Volunteering his Jeep Cherokee when his friends went grocery shopping. Laughing and smiling as he parasailed off Oahu with teammate Kenny Crawford when injuries prevented them from practicing for the 2000 Oahu Bowl. Responding to a best-wishes note Markos sent 23 of the players he recruited when he stopped coaching in 2000. Stamenich thanked Markos for the opportunity he provided him. He was the only player of the 23 who wrote back.

"I think he was afraid to show that to a lot of people, show his warmth," Renner said. "If you think like Lube, you'd think, 'OK, what bad thing is happening next?' He would never say that, but I think he had some of those defenses built in."

Stamenich wanted to play pro football, but he failed the NFL's pre-draft physical because of his shoulder. He played a couple of seasons in arenafootball2, staying away from home for months at a time. "(His dad) knew what he was doing, but if he didn't check in, he didn't check in," Renner said.

But, in a way, Stamenich never abandoned his roots. On his cell phone voicemail, he didn't identify himself as "Lube," but rather by his full name, "Ljubomir Stamenich" - each syllable pronounced with its proper ethnic inflection.

Stamenich rarely called before coming home. If he was gone for a while, his parents wouldn't worry, Renner said, which is why friends say keeping his death from them won't be difficult.

Football drained him, though, and in February, Drever helped him get a job as a consultant for IBM. Stamenich wanted to settle down.

In May, he had a full physical, including blood tests, and was totally healthy, Drever said. He started feeling tired around July 4 but figured he was just out of football shape. The first week of August, he experienced cold-like symptoms. A doctor prescribed antibiotics. Those didn't work. Just a viral infection, the doctor said, let it run its course.

But things got worse, friends said. He had trouble breathing. He went to the emergency room on Aug. 6. Doctors performed a chest X-ray and blood tests. Leukemia, they told him, a lump in his chest half the size of a Nerf football. He had two types of the disease: acute myelogenous and acute lymphoblastic.

He spent three days in the intensive-care unit and underwent a round of chemotherapy, which didn't work. Friends called and tried to cheer him up. Drever spent most days with him, bringing him Lance Armstrong's book and walking with him inside Inova Fairfax Hospital.

His condition became grave last Tuesday, and he spent Wednesday in the ICU with fluid on his heart. During his final days, Stamenich withdrew, shutting out most visitors except his siblings and the Ritcheys. "He really put that shield up full-force, his defense mechanism," Drever said.

He wanted to conquer this challenge like he conquered so many others in his life: with his instincts, his survival skills, like standing up alone all night - without his father behind him. He wanted to answer Renner's question again: "Why do you think you're so tough?"

But the disease finally killed him at 3:30 a.m. last Thursday.

More than 400 people filed through the funeral home on Sunday for Stamenich's three-hour visitation.

Maybe they all had seen what he tried so hard to hide: his private kindness, the part of him that spent every possible day sitting with his mom at the nursing home, visiting with her even when she couldn't talk back. The kid behind the scary glare who cooked for his brother and sister and made sure they kept up on their homework. The grown man who took the responsibility of paying for his father's casket - the casket in which he'll now rest - so the old man could have a respectable funeral.

So maybe, by trying to shut out those hundreds of strangers, he finally let them all in.
 

Schaub adopts role as preseason all-star
Ex-UVa QB Matt Schaub continues to learn in Atlanta as Michael Vick's backup.
By Mark Berman
The Roanoke Times 981-3125

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- They are only exhibition games, what the NFL likes to call preseason games. But to Matt Schaub, they are the real thing.

The former Virginia standout is entering his second season as Michael Vick's top backup. That means plenty of action in exhibition games and, the Atlanta Falcons hope, plenty of standing around in the regular season.

"It's something I have to handle because I'm the backup quarterback here as long as Mike's healthy." Schaub said after practice this week. "I'm going to get a lot of reps in the preseason because it's the preseason. I look at it as regular games. I can't look at it as, 'Oh, it doesn't mean anything, it's a preseason game.' It means a lot to me.

"Anytime you line up against another team, you want to win."

Schaub also wants to start.

"I want to continue to show I can be a capable backup here and eventually be a starter in this league somewhere," said Schaub, a former ACC player of the year who was drafted in the third round in 2004. "A competitor wants to be the starter. I definitely look to do that. I just have to wait my turn. Do better every time I go out on the field, in preseason or in the regular season ... and people will notice me and hopefully down the road something will happen."

Schaub was named the most valuable player of the American Bowl in Tokyo on Aug. 6, when he completed 11 of 13 passes for 117 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Indianapolis. He has more completions and attempts than Vick or No. 3 quarterback Ty Detmer this preseason but has completed only 22 of his 44 passes for 250 yards and two TDs with one interception.

Schaub, who completed 67 percent of his passes in his UVa career, said he still needs to get his timing and rhythm down this year. Falcons coach Jim Mora also sees room for improvement.

"What isn't left for him to work on?" Mora said, "If there was one thing ... it's probably getting experience. It's getting snaps in regular-season games where it's real, real competition. And we really don't want him to get those snaps."

So Schaub focuses on learning from practice and from studying the film of the preseason games. He is still working on "catching up with what the defensive looks are," but he does feel much more comfortable in the huddle than he did as a rookie last season.

"Things aren't swirling around, my mind isn't going a thousand miles per hour," Schaub, 24, said. "Command of the game situations is a little bit better, and the speed of the game has slowed down to where I can react and see things as they play out."

After beating out Detmer for the second-string job with his good exhibition outings last summer, Schaub played in six regular-season games. He completed only 33 of 70 passes for 330 yards and one touchdown with four interceptions.

"We're extremely happy with Matt," Mora said. "He's just a smart player, understands our system. The players have complete confidence in him. We feel like we can win if he's playing for us."

Schaub started in a November win at New Orleans because Vick was injured. He completed 17 of 41 passes with two interceptions. He passed for 188 yards, the second-highest total by a Falcons rookie quarterback in his starting debut. Schaub also got plenty of playing time in the regular-season finale, a loss at Seattle in which he was 14-of-22 for 132 yards and one TD with one interception.

Those two games provided great experience, Schaub said.

"To get back out there and get back into a groove and a rhythm and the game tempo was really good," he said. "To play against two teams that were still fighting for a playoff spot, it was good to go to their house and get their best shot."

Even though his long-term NFL future might not be in Atlanta, Schaub has put down roots. He bought a home in the area, and his parents moved to suburban Atlanta six years ago. He has friends from UVa who now live in the area.

In the locker room, though, he is surrounded by Hokies. Schaub not only has an ex-Hokie in front of him on the depth chart but behind him as well. NFL rookie Bryan Randall is the Falcons' No. 4 quarterback. The addition of Randall and free-agent guard Matt Lehr this year give the Falcons eight ex-Hokies, compared to two ex-Cavs, Schaub and defensive end Patrick Kerney.

"Tell me about it," Schaub said with a grin. "No, it's good to have guys that you've played against in college. ... It makes it more fun. It's good to have that rivalry and competition. It's all jokes now. It makes for fun meetings and good times.

"Bryan's a good guy and so is Mike, so we have a lot of fun together. They have the bragging rights now so I can't really say a whole lot, but we'll just see how it goes this year in that game."
 

No lounge act
UVa receiver Ottowa Anderson returns for his senior season after spending last year working in a La-Z-Boy warehouse.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE --Not too long ago, a reporter asked Virginia football coach Al Groh if Ottowa Anderson could be considered a "role model" for the Cavaliers' younger wide receivers.

Anderson a role model? My, how times have changed!

At this time a year ago, Anderson was nowhere to be found -- literally -- when police attempted to serve a warrant for his arrest. Anderson, who earlier had flunked out of school, was charged with assaulting his girlfriend.

"It was just a bad situation that I should have ridded myself of earlier," Anderson said. "You never want your dirty laundry out there, all in the papers and on the news. I understand what it might look like. I understand exactly what it looked like.

"The people who matter to me and the people who know me, they know my true character. The situation seemed worse than what it was. But, I was putting a bad mark on the school and I didn't want that to happen, so I just had to get away from everything."

As a result, Anderson returned home to Virginia Beach, where police found him without much difficulty. Both he and his girlfriend were charged with assault, charges that later were dismissed.

"I'm not sure what she had to do," Anderson said. "I had to go to a couple of [anger-management] classes."

Fortunately for Anderson, who would have been a senior in 2004, he had never been redshirted. He knew he was eligible for reinstatement when his one-year suspension expired, but he had to find a way to support himself until his grant-in-aid was restored.

"His accountability was very strong from the outset," UVa head coach Al Groh said. "He told me, 'I've just got to listen better. I've learned my lesson. You can count on me. I'm going to be ready to go.'

"Let's just put it this way: All of us here will have a much more positive response to the phrase La-Z-Boy recliner than Ottowa will because he worked in a La-Z-Boy warehouse for a year. He's moved all of those that he wants to move."

That wasn't all.

"Shipping furniture, putting it together; anything by La-Z-Boy, I might have touched it," Anderson said.

Michael McGrew, whose 30 receptions led the Cavaliers' wide receivers, completed his eligibility last season. So, there was a need for a wideout with experience, but furniture assembly cannot be compared to an offseason of supervised strength and speed work.

"We had a lot of conversations with Ottowa," Groh said. "Given the hours and demands of what he was doing, he allowed that he hadn't had much time to work out. So, when he got back here in the summer program it took a little while -- maybe 4-5 weeks -- to [adapt].

"There was one day when both the strength coach and a couple players said after one of the workouts, 'Hey, Ottowa's back.' He'd really gotten back in real good shape. Ever since, then he's really been what we remembered."

At his best, Anderson (6 feet, 186 pounds) was the best blocker among the Cavalier wide receivers and a demon on special teams. Moreover, he had 33 receptions in 2003, when he was the only UVa wide receiver with at least one reception in every game.

At the start of preseason camp, Anderson was listed as the backup to Fontel Mines at one wide-receiver spot, with Theirrien Davis and Deyon Williams listed as co-No. 1s at the other spot. However, when muscle pulls sidelined Williams and Mines during the first week of practice, Anderson was quick to join the first team.

None of the other wide receivers is close to Anderson's 62 career receptions.

Anderson has never been the Cavaliers' go-to receiver, "but I feel as if I can be, if they give me the opportunity," he said. "Throw me the ball and I feel like I've got a good chance of catching it against any DB in the conference."

Groh once characterized Anderson, academically, as a student who was quick to lose interest and stop going to class but one who was capable of making A's if a subject interested him.

"He's probably right about that," Anderson said. "I'm not going to lie. I'm not really into school, but that's what you've got to do."

There's little that would have kept Anderson from returning for the opener Sept. 3 against Western Michigan.

"You make mistakes," he said. "You're young, you're out on your own, feeling like you can do it all. You don't realize how much you love something until it's taken away from you. I've been thinking about this September since last September."

 

Va. Tech coaches hit the lottery
Published August 25 2005
David Teel

Don't know about you, but I like some venom in my rivalries. Nothing too vile or violent, mind you, but 24/7 verbal warfare and the occasional WWF-style, summon-the-SWAT-team smackdown are preferred.

Like Ali-Frazier, Clinton-Starr and Batman-Catwoman.

But not Al Groh-Frank Beamer. Squandering boundless potential, the football coaches at Virginia and Virginia Tech are just too darn cozy.

Case in point: Virginia signing Groh to a six-season contract that pays him $1.7 million this year and escalates to $2.17 million in 2010. That's guaranteed money kids, with six-figure bonuses if the Cavaliers stand at attention during the National Anthem.

Now the only person happier about this deal than Anne Groh is Cheryl Beamer (don't wives control the checkbook?). Yes, it just so happens that Groh's 122-percent raise comes as Frank Beamer is negotiating his next (final?) contract to coach at Virginia Tech.

Athletic director Jim Weaver said Monday that Virginia Tech has offered Beamer a seven-year deal for more than $2 million a year. But how much more? And what are the annual raises (Groh's are 5 percent)? Those details are critical, for if Groh's market value tops out around two mil, then Beamer and his agent, Jimmy Sexton, need to be demanding three.

Not immediately - Southern California's Pete Carroll, he of two consecutive national championships, is the only college football coach presently in the $3 million 'hood. But as Beamer's next contract progresses, three ought to be the magic number.

See what I mean about cozy? Groh and Beamer may compete annually on the field and often in prospects' living rooms, but Groh and his agent, Neil Cornrich, with considerable help from Virginia's generous (gullible?) administrators, just nudged Beamer and Virginia Tech's assistants into the next tax bracket.

No offense to Groh. Although his first four seasons (30-21 overall, 18-14 in the ACC) don't match the final four of his predecessor (George Welsh was 29-18, 21-11), he has energized the program, recruited effectively, and in 2002 his team became the first in school history to defeat four top-25 opponents.

Still, one-point-seven? When the going rate for national-championship coaches such as Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and Miami's Larry Coker is about $2 million?

Groh, 61, was neither pursuing other jobs nor wading in offers. He's a Virginia alum who's refreshingly content with his career lot and who, at $765,000, merited a pay bump.

But one-point-seven? Odds are Virginia could have stood firm at one-two or so without drawing the ire of the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division. Then again, what's 500K among friends?

While Groh bargained a new deal three years before the old expired, Beamer works on a five-year rollover deal that assures him approximately $1.3 million. For a coach who's guided his program to 12 consecutive bowl bids, including three Sugars and an Orange as conference champions, that's bordering on a slave wage.

Beamer said that negotiations with Virginia Tech hinge on compensation for his staff, and rest assured he knows that Groh's two coordinators, Al Golden and Ron Prince, make a combined $371,000 annually, $41,000 more than Tech's, Bud Foster and Bryan Stinespring.

But Beamer has every right to use his success and Groh's contract as leverage with Virginia Tech. He's two years younger than Groh, more accomplished and experienced as a head coach and more likely to attract rival offers.

This Groh-Beamer seesaw is almost as odd as the summer of 2003, when the Hokies were groveling for ACC membership. Virginia Tech had zero chance and was destined to remain in a retooled Big East, until Virginia president John Casteen refused to cast the deciding pro-expansion vote unless his best buddies from Blacksburg were added.

Casteen undoubtedly played a role in Groh's new contract. No matter that outside sources such as Nike and the Virginia Sports Network will provide most of Groh's compensation - a university doesn't grant million-dollar raises absent presidential approval.

And Virginia Tech won't elevate Beamer's compensation without a nod from its president, Charles Steger. Given the program's national ambitions, and recent developments in Charlottesville, he's in no position to decline.

Special teams will be crucial for Cavaliers
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress
August 25, 2005

The late, great Washington Redskins coach George Allen once said that football is one-third offense, one-third defense and one-third special teams. Ah, yes, special teams, an oft-overlooked part of the game by fans, but not coaches.
Any coach worth his salt will tell you how important special teams are to winning football. To illustrate how quickly a game can turn on one special teams play, Wahoo fans can point back to the last two seasons.

Game-changing plays
Virginia trailed North Carolina 21-0 at halftime in 2002 before Marquis Weeks bolted 100 yards for a momentum-swinging touchdown to open the second half in Scott Stadium. Weeks’ return ignited an offensive explosion by the Cavaliers, who charged back to win 37-27.
Last season, also in Scott Stadium, Virginia was battling Miami for a shot at the ACC title, but the opportunity for a Cavalier upset was betrayed by a weak Wahoo punting game.
The Cavs punted seven times in that contest for a putrid net yards per punt average of 16.9. Roscoe Parrish, one of the most dangerous and speediest players in college football, returned three of the four returnable punts a total of 121 yards, 62 of them for another momentum-changing score in a 31-21 Hurricanes’ win.
UVa coach Al Groh had drilled his punting team extra long in preparation but the execution didn’t match the advanced work. Groh, who was livid over the performance, pointed out the Cavs had been “dancing around [punting] problems for two years,” and changed starting punters for the next game.
Any punt or kickoff is equivalent to a time bomb waiting to go off. Everything depends on just how good your bomb squad might be.

Special teams specialists
Now that the ACC has gone to divisional play, Groh has pointed out to this columnist that his goal is to build a team that can win the Coastal Division. That means he must recruit to defeat the speed of Miami and the power of Virginia Tech.
That goes for special teams play, too. The Hurricanes and the Hokies have consistently featured some of the best special teams play in the nation in the past five years or more. Tech has even labeled its success in that phase of the game as “Beamer Ball,” for coach Frank Beamer, who personally coaches some of the special teams play.
Check this out. Since 1999, Miami has scored more times on returns (54) than any other team in the country, while Virginia Tech is second (45). In fact, Miami had seven touchdowns on punt returns alone last season, while the rest of the ACC had a combined eight.
Likewise, the Hokies have blocked 105 various kicks in the last 218 games. By comparison, UVa has managed to block 8 in the last 51 outings, but has suffered as opponents have blocked 13 Cavalier kicks.
UVa’s special teams coordinator Mark D’Onofrio said there is pressure when it comes to matching that phase of the game to Tech’s and Miami’s efforts.
“No question,” D’Onofrio said. “It’s such a huge part of the game and such a momentum part of the game. But that comes with the territory. Those are certainly two teams that are great ones for us to compete against as the best in our league.”
For the most part, Virginia’s special teams have been good with the exception of punting over the past three years. Last season, the Cavs were No. 2 nationally in kickoff returns.
Part of that was the play of guys like Weeks, who made it “cool” to be a special teams guy. Weeks worked hard to make special teams as a freshman because he felt that was the easiest way to get on the field as a rookie. Some players have gained notoriety for their ability to get down the field and make big stops on the kickoff, such as Ottowa Anderson hopes to do again this season.
Virginia’s play on those teams should be the best it’s been under Groh this season. Connor Hughes, one of the top place-kickers in the country, returns for his senior season as does kickoff man Kurt Smith, who put more than 61 percent of his boots into the end zone in ’04.
The punting game should be better simply because the new punters are better. Chris Gould, who was originally recruited to succeed Hughes as place-kicker, was inserted as UVa’s starting punter in the 10th game of the season after the Miami debacle last year.
Now a sophomore, Gould will battle junior college transfer Ryan Weigand (40.3 average) for the starting nod this season.
While Weeks and Alvin Pearman have departed from the kickoff return chores, speedy Michael Johnson is back after averaging
23.6 yards per runback last season. Don’t be surprised if Johnson raises that average this season.
The only area of special teams that seemed to be of concern to Groh in training camp has been kickoff coverage, but he pointed out that there seems to be more players with special teams skills on the roster than ever before, so that could get straightened out by the start of the season.
Special teams are all about field position. It’s as simple as well water. The farther an opponent has to go to score, the less chance it has of doing so. The shorter the distance a team has to score, the better chance it has.
That part of the game hasn’t changed since the days of the drop kick and five-point touchdowns.

 

Punting race remains tight
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
August 25, 2005

Some high and long. Some short and low.

Those were the words of Virginia coach Al Groh on Wednesday describing the recent kicking performance of the two punters - Chris Gould and Ryan Weigand - that are battling for the starting nod at the position.

Groh said those descriptions are what Gould and Weigand “have in common.”

They also share another thing - a desire to play.

Weigand was brought in from Pasdena City College, a junior college in California, to shore up the punting game. He had given a verbal commitment to play at Tulsa, but made an 11th-hour decision to come to Virginia and try and become the starting punter.

Gould on the other hand knows that he will be the top candidate to take over for placekicker Connor Hughes next season.

That Gould said is - next year.

“I just love being in the games and I don’t want to redshirt so I worked my tail off [in the offseason] trying to make sure that I didn’t have to redshirt,” said Gould, who claimed he lost about 20 pounds this summer. “I wanted to make sure that I am on field and not just that, but I wanted to make sure that I was out there helping my teammates and the punting game that didn’t do so well [last season].”

Gould was inserted into the starting lineup prior to the 10th game last season after former punter Sean Johnson struggled. Johnson had 32 punts and a net punting average of 28.3 yards per kick.

In the three games that Gould played in, he punted 18 times for a net average of 36 yards.

During the summer, Gould found out that Virginia’s coaching staff was bringing Weigand in to battle him for the spot.

“It was good motivation for me,” Gould said.

He spent all summer punting four or five days a week. He did not work on placekicking.

“Coach Groh and I talked about [placekicking] and with Connor being here and Kurt [Smith] being here, even if I didn’t work on that stuff, I knew I was going to have a full year if I redshirted to get that under control.” Gould said. “I really just concentrated on trying to help the team with the punting game.”

While it appeared that Gould had a leg up for the spot early in the preseason practice period, Groh has said over the past two weeks that the position remains up for grabs.

“Right now it is a pretty even deal,” Groh said Wednesday.

To try and find the starting punter, Groh and his staff have scoured “the statistics from every day’s punting to try to come up with some difference” between the two.

Groh admitted that through on-field observation and breaking down practice film, attention has been paid “to every kick in the air because sometimes if you just look at the statistics, it doesn’t tell you if the guy had to kick the ball under rush or whatever the case.”

If one player emerges as the starter in the next week, the other could be redshirted.

Weigand, who will turn 22 in December, redshirted his first two seasons of junior college, once his rookie season (2002) and once for an injury in 2003.

The possibility also remains that both punters could play and specialize in different aspects.

“I don’t think we are going to get into that pinch-hitter routine,” said Groh, “but, for example, if one proves to a more deadly inside the 50 than the other one, and the other proves to be a better long-range directional kicker than the other, we can conceivably use both, if that would give us the best overall punting game.”

 

Smith shoots for end zone at every chance
By Craig Kotarski / Daily Progress correspondent
August 25, 2005

Can you feel it? Nine days from now, when you enter Scott Stadium for the first time, it will be present. It’s a fresh start, a new year full of anticipation and excitement for Virginia football. As the anticipation in the stadium increases while kickoff nears, one Cavalier steps into the limelight, but only for a play here and there.

Kickoff specialist Kurt Smith has led the Wahoos on the field numerous times to start the game and nothing can give a player more of an adrenaline rush than commencing the game with a single kick.

“I think that one of the biggest privileges of my job is being able to touch the ball and kick it off at the beginning of a game,” Smith said. “The atmosphere is always at its peak. I love the adrenaline in the stadium, it’s fun.”

That adrenaline has more than given him an edge on kickoffs. The fifth-year graduate student placed more than 61 percent of his kickoffs in the end zone, while 37 percent resulted in a touchback last year. His kicking prowess has given Virginia a head start in stopping returns, so much so that only eight kickoffs were returned for 30 or more yards last season. Opponents’ average starting position is the 22-yard line during Smith’s career.

“I would say I have one goal every time I go out on the field and that’s to kick a touchback,” Smith said. “That doesn’t always happen, which doesn’t mean it’s a bad kick, but that’s my goal.

“I’m disappointed with myself if I don’t kick a touchback, because I know I can. If I said I was happy with not kicking a touchback that would be a lie, because if I can do it the majority of the time, I should be able to do it every time.”

Last year, Smith had outstanding games against Akron (5 touchbacks) Syracuse (4 touchbacks), rival North Carolina (2 touchbacks) and ACC foe Clemson (reaching the end zone six out of seven kickoffs).

In fact for his career, for which he has 224 total kickoffs, Smith has watched 136 balls sail into the end zone where 81 were taken as touchbacks. Those numbers result in giving Virginia’s defense a big advantage.

Smith, along with many kickers and punters, grew up playing soccer. As an All-State soccer player, he led his team to a record that had a single loss over his final two seasons. The soccer skills he developed at an early age have aided this special teams contributor’s performance.

“Ball striking has carried over from soccer. The way I generate a lot of leg speed is the same from growing up playing soccer,” Kurt explained. “Your contact point of where you hit the ball is a huge part of it.

“In practice I won’t even kick a lot of full strength kickoffs. A lot of it is just working on making sure I am making good contact with it and that my form is right. I’ll only hit about 10 to 15 full kickoffs a day.”

While practice is of utmost importance, game time is a whole other thing. As you may have noticed, a kickoff only comes after a team’s offensive highlights. So while everyone is chiming in, singing the “Good Old Song”, Kurt Smith is mentally preparing himself for the kickoff that will follow.

No jumping up and down with teammates. No helmet-raising celebrations. No screaming and yelling. It’s all OK with Smith.

“I have to delay my time of celebration. But it is good, because there is a lot of energy on the sideline before I go out,” Smith said. “It gets me ready and puts me in a good mindset and I’m ready to go.”

Come Sept. 3, while Scott Stadium is rocking for Western Michigan, Smith hopes that mindset equals one sequence - end zone, kneel down, touchback.
 

Helping hands: Gardner, Phillips aid kicking game
By John Shifflett / Daily Progress staff writer
August 25, 2005

Almost any football fan can tell you what player has kicked two game-winning field goals for the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Very few could tell you who snapped the ball and who put it in place for him each time.

Welcome to the world of two of the special teams’ unsung heroes, the snapper and the holder.

While the placekicker gets the headlines and the glory for splitting the uprights, these two quietly ensure that he has the opportunity to do so.

The Virginia football team boasts one of the top college kickers in the country in Connor Hughes, but his job will be made much easier this season by a pair of solid sophomores - snapper Tyrus Gardner and holder John Phillips.

Hughes will be the first to tell you that. He, Gardner and Phillips are all good friends and have worked together during the summer perfecting their pressure-packed craft. Hughes is expecting a strong senior campaign with Gardner and Phillips playing key roles in his success.

“I feel like I am going to have a great year with them,” Hughes said of his comrades. “We have been working even more this summer on the operation and really taking it as a priority.”

This season, the field-goal and extra-point tries will start under center with Gardner, a 6-foot-1 232-pounder from Wytheville. He takes over the field-goal and extra-point snapping duties from Zac Yarbrough.

Last season, Gardner handled the long-snapping duties for punts as a freshman and was nearly perfect, registering just one bad snap in 52 tries in 2004. This season, Gardner will likely handle snapping for both punts and field goals, making him one of the most critical pieces in the Cavaliers’ special teams puzzle. So valuable, in fact, that coach Al Groh recently rewarded him with a scholarship.

“I take a lot of pride in it,” Gardner said of being the team’s longsnapper. “It is a very valuable position and it is very important. I have to work on it every day to get better and better at it.”

Now that he will be handling all of Virginia’s snapping duties, Gardner will have much more to keep up with than he did last season. One of the main things he will have to keep in mind is the difference in the way a field goal and punt are snapped.

“There is a different angle that the ball comes out of,” said Gardner of the difference. “It is a different grip too and a different spin.”

The transition into his new role, Gardner says, will be made a lot easier thanks to the work he did with Yarbrough last season.

“Zac helped me out on field goals on just trying to get the spin down and the spot I have to hit for the snap,” said Gardner, who also took pointers from Ryan Childress, Virginia’s long snapper from 2000-03. “He was very helpful in my transition to punts and field goals.”

After Gardner snaps the ball, he has one last thing to worry about, keeping a speedy linebacker from getting through to Phillips, Hughes or the punter. And that is no easy task.

“Usually, I have their main linebacker right over top of me,” said Gardner, who got his start snapping in middle school with his dad, Joseph. “You can’t think about that. You have to worry about getting the snap off and taking the pounding later.”

It takes a split second for Gardner’s bullet snap to reach the sure hands of Phillips, a 6-2, 186-pound quarterback from Memphis, Tenn. Phillips took over the holding duties from the departed Matt Schaub last season as a freshman.

“They asked me and I held all four years in high school so it was kind of a natural thing,” Phillips said. “They tested me out and it ended up working out. It was a good fit.”

Phillips is the middle man in the operation, taking Gardner’s snap and putting it in position for Hughes to kick. Both Gardner and Hughes are very comfortable with that.

“It is a huge trust factor if he is going to catch my snap and get a good hold on it,” Gardner said. “But he is my roommate and I have a lot of trust in him.”

Said Hughes: “I depend on the ball to be in the right place every time. He did a great job with it last year and this year he has gotten even better.”

They have good reason to trust Phillips. Last season, he handled every field goal attempt cleanly. He expects more of the same this season.

“Tyrus Gardner, our new snapper, makes it real easy. He snaps the ball great,” Phillips said. “We have the best kicker in the nation and both make me look really good.”

When Phillips is not holding kicks for Hughes, he also serves as the quarterback on the scout team that goes against Virginia’s first-team defense. It is something Phillips takes pride in.

“When the defense has a good game that weekend, hopefully I can think back and say ‘I did a good job getting them ready,’” Phillips said. “It is fun playing against them and knowing you are playing against some guys that will be playing in the NFL in a few years. It is great experience.”

From there, it is up to Hughes to get the job done. And for the most part, he does. The Williamsburg native has hit

45 of 55 field goal attempts and 98 of 102 extra points in his career in Charlottesville. Hughes enters his senior campaign as one of the top returning kickers in America.

When all three are not on the field, they are good friends and spend time together, something that Hughes says is extremely valuable.

“When you have a friend, you can count on them a lot more than just another person,” Hughes said. “It is really valuable to me to have those guys with me.”

If one of Virginia’s games comes down to a field goal this season, Cavalier fans can rest a little easier. After all, Hughes’ attempt will start ... and finish in good hands.

 

U.Va. hopes for more from its defensive backfield
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Aug 25, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE Ronde Barber left after the 1996 season, and Anthony Poindexter last played at Scott Stadium in 1998. At the University of Virginia, they're still waiting for the school's next great defensive back to emerge.

Of the players Al Groh has coached since returning to his alma mater, three tight ends, three defensive linemen, two tailbacks, two linebackers, one wide receiver, one offensive lineman and one quarterback have been selected in the NFL draft. But no member of the Cavaliers' secondary has been drafted during Groh's tenure, and no defensive back on the current roster is a lock to be picked.

This isn't an unusual situation at U.Va. Groh's predecessor, George Welsh, who retired in December 2000, had seven defensive backs drafted in 19 seasons there. None went in the first round, though Poindexter might have well earned that honor had he not suffered a catastrophic knee injury as a U.Va. senior. Poindexter now coaches Virginia's running backs.

Only two of Groh's defensive backs have been named all-ACC: safeties Shernard Newby and Jerton Evans, second-team selections in 2001 and 2002, respectively. That hasn't kept Groh from fielding winning teams, but it has hindered his bid to build an elite defense. It was no shock, then, when defensive coordinator Al Golden took over the defensive backs before spring practice this year.

"Obviously, as a leader, it's your job to attack those areas on your defense that were perceived to be the weakest point," Golden said.

The Cavaliers' secondary sagged late in 2004. In U.Va.'s regular-season finale, Bryan Randall threw touchdown passes of 45 and 32 yards in the second half to help Virginia Tech rally for a 24-10 victor.

A month later, in the MPC Computers Bowl, Fresno State's Paul Pinegar, who'd never thrown more than three TD passes in a game and had been intercepted 15 times during the regular season, torched Virginia's secondary. He completed 23 of 36 passes for 235 yards and five touchdowns and wasn't intercepted.

In the coaching shuffle at U.Va., Bob Price, who'd tutored the secondary, was moved to the tight ends. Golden, who previously had coached Virginia's inside linebackers in addition to running the defense, embraced his new assignment.

New England Patriots defensive coordinator Eric Mangini, who formerly coached that team's defensive backs, and the Cincinnati Bengals' Kevin Coyle were among a "number of different secondary coaches I've had the opportunity to really study over the last six months," Golden said recently, "and hopefully we'll reap the benefits our here in a couple weeks."

Golden's secondary includes no seniors, and his rotation will include at least one true freshman (cornerback Mike Brown) and three sophomores (cornerback Chris Gorham and safeties Nate Lyles and Jamaal Jackson). Junior Marcus Hamilton is back at cornerback. Classmate Tony Franklin, a returning starter at corner, has been working at safety and may line up there this fall. Junior Lance Evans provides depth at safety, and true freshman Chris Cook could play corner or safety.

How good can this group be? Groh and Golden expect improvement in the secondary, but neither is making any bold predictions.

Hamilton said U.Va.'s defensive backs "just need to continue to play together and have the camaraderie and not get down on each other if something bad happens."

A season ago, neither of Virginia's first-team safeties intercepted a pass. The secondary didn't cause many fumbles, either. And so Golden has stressed the need for more physical, more aggressive play from his backs.

"They seem to be up to the challenge so far, with everything I've thrown at them," he said. "But the true test obviously will be Sept. 3," when U.Va. plays its opener.

Groh didn't inherit much talent in the secondary from Welsh, and the former NFL defensive coordinator has been forced to improvise. Two of the Cavs' starters last season --Franklin and safety Marquis Weeks -- had begun their college careers as tailbacks.

Unlike U.Va., Virginia Tech has sent numerous defensive backs to the NFL in recent years. The contrast between the two programs in that area probably wouldn't be striking if attrition hadn't taken such a toll on Virginia's secondary. Such well-regarded prospects such as Stefan Orange and Kenneth Tynes left U.Va. with eligibility remaining,. More damaging to Virginia were the fates of three other defensive backs.

Cornerback Randy Jones chose Virginia over Tennessee, Notre Dame and Clemson, among other schools. But he never played for the Cavaliers. In October 2001, Jones, who was redshirting, was seriously injured in a car wreck that killed three people.

Safety Willie Davis started five games as a true freshman in 2002, and his coaches considered him a rare talent who'd play in the NFL some day. On Sept. 6, 2003, however, Davis suffered serious nerve damage while making a tackle against South Carolina. He hasn't played since.

And then there was Ahmad Bradshaw. Expected to play cornerback as a true freshman in 2004, Bradshaw had a run-in with Charlottesville police last summer and never enrolled at U.Va. He ended up transferring to Marshall, where he dazzled as a tailback last fall.

"We've had some unfortunate circumstances back there," Golden said of his secondary.

Groh and Golden are keenly aware that, for Virginia to regularly contend for titles in the expanded ACC, the secondary play must improve. Like their peers in Division I-A, they're searching for cornerbacks who thrive in man-to-man coverage.

"If you can cover [a wideout] with one rather than with two or three, do the math. It means more guys are rushing," Golden told TheSabre.com last week.

"On TV on Saturdays, you hear people talk about 'cover corners' and the value they attract in the NFL draft . . . You hear that term all the time, a 'lockdown corner' -- a guy who can shut someone down by himself -- and that's hard to find. We've had one here in the last 20 years: Ronde Barber."


 

UVa's secondary its primary concern
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
August 25, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE - First Philip Brown received a yearlong academic suspension. Then Mario Moore failed to show up for training camp. Now Tony Franklin is moonlighting at safety.
Suddenly, the loss of two safeties to graduation doesn't seem like the Virginia secondary's biggest problem. It's simply having enough bodies to take the field.

"Certainly, depth is a concern," said Al Golden, the team's defensive coordinator who was reassigned to work with the defensive backs last spring.

"We're trying to get to the point where we have a legitimate two deep. And what I mean by that, you feel like any of those four can go into a game at a certain time and you feel good about it. You know, you're not nervous about it."

That's a discomforting thought for the Cavaliers, whose passing defense was second to last in the ACC in both touchdowns allowed (15) and completion percentage (60.7).

On a team renowned for its linebacking corps and solid on the defensive front, it's the secondary that received most of the blame for last season's defensive shortcomings, warranted or not.

"We always have something to prove," junior cornerback Marcus Hamilton said. "The secondary is always the one that gets yelled at. On TV, something bad happens, and it's always the secondary. That's all anybody sees. And unless you know the game of football, that's all you're going to think."

Virginia head coach Al Groh knows football and felt a change was needed. That's why he reassigned some of his assistants in the spring.

Bob Price, who coached the secondary since 2000, was out, moving to tight ends. Golden was in. The hope was to infuse some new blood into the unit.

"It may have brought new blood into me for all I know," said Golden, who coached the inside linebackers the previous four seasons.

Golden may have his work cut out for him. Though Hamilton and Franklin return as starting cornerbacks and Nate Lyles is an experienced sophomore at safety, the unit has its question marks.

Neither senior Lance Evans nor sophomore Jamaal Jackson has seized the other starting safety spot.

The position is so up-for-grabs that Franklin, a two-year starter at corner, recently spent time working out there.

"He seems to have been very comfortable back there from the start," Groh said. "It's pretty amazing his first day back there how quickly he acted right at home as far as making the calls."

If Franklin were to stick at safety, that would open up the cornerback position opposite Hamilton to competition between sophomore Chris Gorham and true freshman Mike Brown.

Despite his limited playing time last season (he played sparingly in four games, mostly on the nickel and on special teams), Gorham, who stands a lengthy 6 feet tall, is the most experienced of the team's remaining cornerbacks.

"Basically, I'm feeling comfortable out there," Gorham said. "I'm used to the game speed now. I'm more relaxed."

Brown, a 5-foot-9, 170-pound speedster out of St. Peter's Prep in New Jersey, has made a favorable impression in his short time in Charlottesville.

"He's only been here maybe two weeks learning this football stuff, so it's just going to take time," Hamilton said. "But he has all the tools. He's going to look real good out there."

Freshman Chris Cook, a former Heritage standout, is also getting a look at both corner and safety. At 6-foot-2, 170 pounds, Cook, "has excellent tools," Golden said. "He's learning. He's picking up quickly. He's got to work on his consistency and obviously (get) some experience."

That might be an early theme for the Cavaliers.

"Some of the young kids are going to have to play, there's no question about it," Golden said. "Right now, they've been up to the challenge. We'll see how we show up in two weeks."