Are the 'Hoos on threshold?
The Cavaliers are hoping to finish stronger than they did in 2004.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- There is nothing unique about the challenges facing a Virginia football program that has won no fewer than eight games in each of the past three seasons.

"We don't really have any causes -- other than winning," UVa head coach Al Groh said. "For me, that's always been a pretty powerful cause."

The Cavaliers were big winners over the first half of the 2004 season, rising to sixth in The Associated Press poll after a 5-0 start. In the final week of the regular season, UVa went to Virginia Tech with a shot at winning the ACC championship.

The Cavaliers squandered a third-quarter lead that day, just as they did exactly one month later against Fresno State in the MPC Computers Bowl. In the process, they dropped to 23rd in the final poll, finishing 8-4 overall and 5-3 in the ACC.

Is this a program at a crossroads?

"Crossroads?" Groh said. "I'd say crossroads come when you've been having bad times. This team played the last game with a chance at the conference championship. We're not happy with the results. But, hey, we're just trying to move on."

Vote
Is Marques Hagans big enough to play QB?
Assistant head coach Danny Rocco, a member of Groh's staff since its inception, had another word for the state of the Cavaliers' program: threshold.

"I think we're on the threshold of being able to put together a special year," Rocco said. "There is so much talent in this league that you could be really, really good and still not make it to the promised land. But, the way I see us now, we're in a three-, four- or five-year period when we can be in the hunt."

Rocco said he doesn't think the talent level has dropped despite the loss of 11 players who began the summer in NFL camps.

By the numbers

1
Kicks blocked by UVa in 2004.

1.7
Coach Al Groh's annual compensation in millions of dollars.

5
Interceptions thrown by UVa quarterback Marques Hagans in 261 attempts.

9
Passes intercepted by UVa last year.

17
ACC-leading TDs by tailback Wali Lundy in '04

25
School record for wins over three-year span.

99
Team-high career receptions for Lundy.

116
Where UVa ranked in net punting among 117 Division I-A teams.
The exodus to the NFL has been a double-edged sword. Critics want to know why Virginia didn't win more than eight games last year and wonder how the Cavaliers can do as well this year.

One possible reason for the late-season swoon last year was the absence of defensive end Chris Canty, lost for the season after suffering a knee injury in Week 5.

"When he got hurt, he was the best player on our football team," Rocco said.

A rehabilitated Canty is competing for playing time with the Dallas Cowboys, but that won't help the Cavaliers, whose defense was riddled for 457 yards by Fresno State -- 222 on the ground.

Much of that came over the right-end spot vacated by Canty, but help is on the way. Chris Johnson, who started the last four games as a redshirt freshman, fell off the depth chart during the offseason and was replaced by Chris Long.

Long, son of NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long, got early playing time as a true freshman and showed flashes of potential before a midseason bout with mononucleosis.

With all of the players they had drafted, the Cavaliers were fortunate to hold onto inside linebacker Ahmad Brooks, a first-team All-ACC selection as a sophomore. Brooks underwent offseason surgery to regenerate bone growth in one of his knees but is expected in the lineup by Game 2 at the latest.

There was ongoing speculation that Brooks was more likely to make an early move to the NFL than Darryl Blackstock, who had 27 sacks over his first three seasons. The departure of Blackstock and free agent Dennis Haley left the Cavaliers without a returning outside linebacker who has started a game.

Rocco, who coaches outside linebackers, thinks redshirt freshman Clint Sintim and sophomore Jermaine Dias are more physical than what he has had in the past. More problematic is the safety position vacated by seniors Jermaine Hardy and Marquis Weeks.

Groh was so concerned by the secondary that he put defensive coordinator Al Golden in charge of that unit.

On offense, Virginia must also replace Heath Miller, winner of the John Mackey Award as the nation's top tight end, but UVa's reputation for featuring tight ends has allowed it to lure the likes of Jon Stupar, Tom Santi and Bath County product John Phillips.

In left offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the Cavaliers boast a player who was projected as a first-round pick had he made himself available for the NFL draft. Ferguson, right tackle Brad Butler and left guard Brian Barthelmes have made a combined 92 starts.

There is plenty of young talent on hand, including center Ian-Yates Cunningham, who started as a true freshman in 2004, and first-year behemoths Eugene Monroe (6-6, 330) and Brandon Albert (6-7, 320). They will provide interference for senior tailback Wali Lundy, who has rushed for more than 2,600 yards in his career.

Questions persist about quarterback Marques Hagans' size (5-10, 211) but not his productivity.

His elusiveness resulted in three runs of more than 40 yards and he passed for more than 2,000 yards without the benefit of a big-play wide receiver.

"I'm not in the wide receiver-bashers club," said Groh, pleased by the improvement shown by 2004 starter Deyon Williams after a pulled muscle kept him out of early workouts.

At midsummer, Sports Illustrated's Web site placed Groh on a list of the most overrated coaches in the country, but that view isn't shared by UVa administrators who will pay Groh $1.7 million per year after he signed a five-year extension in August.

SI.com also rated Virginia's schedule as the easiest in the ACC, which isn't the way Groh looks at it.

"I know we're one of the few teams to play Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech in the same season," Groh said, "and I think that four-game stretch [in October] is pretty challenging."

The Cavaliers visit Maryland and Boston College in consecutive weeks, return home to entertain Florida State, then travel to North Carolina.

With that kind of competition, who needs causes?

 

Pain is just another 4-letter word for Cavaliers' Schmidt
Brennan Schmidt has played in 39 straight games, overcoming an injured labrum last year.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

If given an excuse for missing spring drills, some college football players would be overjoyed.

At Virginia, defensive tackle Brennan Schmidt felt lost.

"It was a tough time for me," said Schmidt, a fifth-year senior who is entering his second season as a Cavaliers co-captain. "It was the first time in eight years that I had not been able to play or practice for an [extended] period."

Schmidt underwent surgery in January for a torn labrum and, while doctors had him in the operating room, they also repaired torn ligaments in one of his thumbs.

It was eight months before he had the opportunity to play in a game, but don't assume Schmidt couldn't have returned sooner.

His streak of 39 consecutive starts speaks for itself.

Or, maybe it doesn't.

Schmidt already had experienced shoulder problems before an Oct. 16 visit to Florida State, where he injured his labrum, the ligament that attaches the arm to the shoulder.

UVa head coach Al Groh knew that Schmidt was hurt but kept pencilling him into the starting lineup.

"You just had to look at his face," Groh said. "Rarely did he ever miss a play. It's rare or unlikely that a football player, once the season starts, doesn't have a something that's a little bit uncomfortable, whether it's a banged shoulder or sore elbow or strained hamstring.

Brennan Schmidt

Position: Defensive end
Hometown: McLean, Va.

Height: 6-foot-3

Weight: 269

Year '02 '03 '04 Career
Games 14 13 12 39
Tackles 65 47 23 135
Assists 22 40 27 89
Totals 87 87 50 224
For loss 4-8 7-27 8-28 19-63
Sacks 0 4 2 6
"That's just the way it goes. He's got a good understanding of that."

Schmidt, named third-team freshman All-American by The Sporting News in 2002, had 87 tackles in each of his first two seasons. Last year, that number dropped to 50.

"There were a lot of times it held me back," Schmidt said. "I couldn't keep up in the weight room. I wasn't strong enough. Now, I'm feeling better than ever. I'm stronger than I was before my injury."

At 6-foot-3 and 269 pounds, Schmidt is undersized for a defensive tackle and must rely on quickness, strength and smarts. Nobody is better at recognizing formations, plays and audibles before the snap.

If he stays injury-free, and even if he doesn't, Schmidt has a chance to break the school record for consecutive starts, 48, set by former UVa defensive back Tyrone Lewis between 1988-91.

Offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson also has 39 consecutive starts.

"I don't care as much about the record as what it represents," Schmidt said. "I think it shows toughness, particularly for me and 'Brick' playing down in the trenches."

Schmidt, 22, said he probably did too much yelling in his first season as a co-captain and will try to be a little more positive as a fifth-year senior.

"It's tough being a junior captain because it's not your last year," he said. "You don't feel the same urgency as you would in your last year, when it's your last shot."

Schmidt enters the 2004 season with 224 career tackles, seventh all-time among UVa defensive linemen. No interior lineman has had as many as 300, but Schmidt's legacy more likely will hinge on what the team does.

"We know there has been a recurrent theme of us blowing the big games," he said. "The challenge this year is to play our best and not go in the tank."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EMERGING STAR

Chris Long
Defensive end
(6-foot-4, 265 pounds, soph.)

Long was unstoppable in the Cavaliers' spring game, but head coach Al Groh feels his performance might have misleading because of the nature of the competition.
That's why Groh was pleased this preseason when Long was lined up opposite senior left offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, a preseason All-American who is projected as a first-round NFL draft pick. Long has outstanding quickness for his size and has earned raves from his efforts in the weight room.

"I'm probably the biggest Chris Long fan. He's got an immense amount of talent that he's just beginning to tap into." -- Brennan Schmidt, Virginia defensive tackle on teammate Chris Long
 

Easy beginnings come with price
Virginia opens with a cupcake opponent on Saturday. But the rest of the season will be a test to see how ready the Cavs are to beat the ACC's big boys.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
Published August 30, 2005

The next step is now.

As Al Groh enters his fifth season as the Virginia football team's head coach, the Cavaliers can smile about their recent success. They've won at least eight games the past three seasons - the first time they've done that since the George Welsh Golden Era of 1989, '90 and '91.


But U.Va. is 1-8 under Groh against ACC powers Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech. All three of U.Va.'s ACC losses last season came against those teams. Though the Cavs have played in three consecutive lower-tier bowl games, the hurdle of beating the ACC's big three remains.

The Cavs begin their attempt to jump it - and answer some of this week and this season's pressing questions - on Saturday at 6 p.m., when they play Western Michigan at Scott Stadium.

1. SO IS THIS THE YEAR THE CAVS CAN BEAT AT LEAST ONE OF THE BIG THREE?

Well, offseason injuries and academic suspensions have slowed Florida State. The Virginia Tech game will be at Scott Stadium. And Miami's sophomore quarterback, Kyle Wright, has played in two games during his career.

Seems U.Va. at least has a good chance.

2. WILL U.VA. BEAT WESTERN MICHIGAN BY AT LEAST 40 POINTS?

The Cavs are 32-point favorites against the Broncos, who were 1-10 last season. Western Michigan's only win was against Tennessee-Martin, a Division I-AA team that finished 2-9.

No so fast. This is after all, the 100th season of Western Michigan football, so the kids from Kalamazoo will be hungry for an upset - or at least a respectable 25-point loss.

3. WHICH INEXPERIENCED CENTER WILL START?

Sophomore Ian-Yates Cunningham was listed first on the preseason depth chart, ahead of sophomore Jordy Lipsey. Cunningham missed last year with a back injury and started two years ago at left guard.

But fifth-year senior Brian Barthelmes has practiced at center, and Groh said there's a good chance he could start the season there. Barthelmes was slotted to start his second consecutive season at left guard.

4. CAN QUARTERBACK MARQUES HAGANS PLAY WELL AND STAY HEALTHY ALL SEASON?

The Hampton High graduate's production tailed off during the second half of last season while, Groh said, he was banged up. Over the first six games, in which U.Va. went 5-1, Hagans completed 69.2 percent of his passes and threw for 1,209 yards. Over the last six games, in which U.Va. went 3-3, those numbers dropped to 56.7 and 815.

Injuries are inevitable for a scrambling quarterback like Hagans, who rushed for four touchdowns last season. Junior Christian Olsen recently beat out sophomore Kevin McCabe as the No. 2 quarterback. Olsen transferred from Notre Dame, sat out 2003 and appeared in five games last season.

5. HOW WILL THE

SECONDARY SHAPE UP?

Cornerback Tony Franklin has worked out at safety. If he plays there, that leaves one cornerback spot possibly up for grabs between sophomore Chris Gorham and true freshmen Mike Brown and Chris Cook. Gorham played in four games last season as a true freshman.

U.Va. faces one of the ACC's top wideouts, Georgia Tech's Calvin Johnson, on Nov. 12. Tech receivers Josh Hyman, Eddie Royal and David Clowney are speedsters, too. Hyman caught two touchdown passes last season against the Cavs.

Franklin may move to safety, Brown, Gorham practice with first team
Groh pleased with outlook at secondary after Franklin's third position change of career

Tony Franklin finally may have found his home on the Virginia football team. The team journeyman, Franklin will most likely spend significant time at safety in 2005, following a season and a half of starting at cornerback.

Franklin entered Virginia as a highly touted running back from St. Peter Chanel H.S. in Cleveland three years ago but found himself stuck in a crowded backfield among Wali Lundi and Alvin Pearman.

Following the 2002 season, which he red-shirted, Franklin was moved to cornerback at the start of the 2003 season, where he saw playing time in every game while starting the final six. Last season Franklin started every game while recording 78 tackles -- an all-time record among Cavalier cornerbacks. Following the departure of last season's two starting safeties, Jermaine Hardy and Marquis Weeks, and the suspension of talented junior cornerback Philip Brown, the safety position was left depleted. Now it appears that Franklin will move to fill that void and take over one of the starting safety positions.

Franklin "seemed very comfortable there from the start," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "The first day he was there, it was amazing to see how quickly he acted right at home – making calls, knowing how he fit into the coverage after pattern reads."

Under the new direction of defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach Al Golden, Franklin should have no problem adjusting. While his presence at safety is welcome, his exit leaves junior Marcus Hamilton as the only other experienced cornerback. Hamilton led the team last year with four interceptions and was named the National Defensive Player of the Week last season following a two-pick performance against Georgia Tech. Luckily for Hamilton, two younger players, sophomore Chris Gorham and speedy true freshman Mike Brown, look ready to step up in Franklin's wake.

Gorham was one of only 10 true freshmen to see action last season, appearing in four games and making two tackles. Despite his limited playing time, he was listed as Franklin's backup in the already outdated 2005 pre-fall depth chart.

Brown, a SuperPrep All-American as a senior at St. Peter's Prep (Jersey City, N.J.), is only 5-feet-9-inches but has the necessary toughness and speed -- he rushed for over 3,000 yards in his high school career -- to thrive at cornerback.

Despite the all-around lack of experience, Hamilton seems confident in his fellow teammate's abilities and resolve.

"The secondary is a very tight unit," Hamilton said. "We just have fun out there together, that's what we've decided to do. I think it's one of the closest units on the team."

Franklin seconded Hamilton's mentality.

"I'm trying to be a leader and make some big plays this year," Franklin said. "Defensively, we need to step up all around."

Since Groh's arrival, the secondary has continually boasted an extremely high turnover because of various injuries and academic problems, hardly an atmosphere conducive to bring players together.

For the first time in a long time, the 2005 secondary will most likely not be starting a senior, meaning that next season all four starting cornerbacks, safeties and key back-ups should return.
 

Va.'s Lundy having a 'senior's moment'
With Pearman in the NFL, Lundy again draws Cavs' backfield spotlight
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Aug 30, 2005

University of Virginia's Wali Lundy (33) runs for yardage in the 2nd half against University of North Carolina in Charlottesville, Sept. 11, 2004. MARK GORMUS/TIMES-DISPATCH
CHARLOTTESVILLE - Wasn't it only the other day that the kid from South Jersey first donned a University of Virginia football uniform? Have three years really passed since Wali Lundy, then three months removed from high school, rushed for 94 yards on a sweltering summer night at Scott Stadium?

"The time has definitely flown by," Lundy said on the eve of his senior season. "You've got to cherish it, because it goes by so fast."

Of the players who started in the 2002 opener against Colorado State Lundy's debut as a true freshman -- only offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson and defensive linemen Brennan Schmidt and Kwakou Robinson still suit up for U.Va. Lundy didn't start that game, but nine days later, he was the first-team tailback when Virginia visited Florida State, and he's retained that job for most of his career.

Some career it's been.

Lundy, a Willingboro, N.J., product, led the Cavaliers in rushing as a freshman and again as a sophomore, when he made the all-ACC second team. He rushed for 17 touchdowns last season, by far the most of any ACC running back.

Legend in the making
At the University of Virginia, few running backs have been more productive than Wali Lundy (left), who has 25 career starts as he heads into his senior season. Lundy has scored 41 touchdowns in 38 games, making him one of only two players in U.Va. history to have averaged a TD per game. A look at where Lundy ranks among career rushers at Virginia:

Player Years Carries Yards TDs
1. Thomas Jones 1996-99 809 3,998 36
2. Tiki Barber 1993-96 651 3,389 31
3. Terry Kirby 1989-92 567 3,348 24
4. John Papit 1947-50 537 3,238 27
5. Tommy Vigorito 1977-80 648 2,913 15
6. Frank Quayle 1966-68 514 2,6952 8
7. WALI LUNDY 2002-present 598 2,619 33
8. Jim Bakhtiar 1955-57 555 2,434 13
9. Alvin Pearman 2001-04 500 2,394 19
10. Barry Word 1982-85 405 2,257 17
With 41 career TDs, Lundy ranks third among active players in Division I-A. He needs one reception to become only the third running back in U.Va. history to catch 100 career passes. In the modern era of Virginia football, only Thomas Jones (36) has rushed for more TDs than Lundy (33). He ranks seventh in career rushing at U.Va. with 2,619 yards and could well climb into the No. 2 spot by season's end.

And yet, in all the fanfare accompanying the start of the college season, Lundy's name is rarely heard. He wasn't selected for the media's preseason all-ACC team, and most national publications haven't touted him the 5-10 205-pounder as an All-America candidate.

Lundy, a team captain, said he doesn't feel slighted.

"Not at all," he said. "I got teammates to lead, and we got a team to build to get ready for [this weekend's opener], and I just don't think you can look at that stuff or be upset about it."

Had Lundy's 2004 season unfolded differently, there might be more buzz about his senior year. After a blowout loss at Florida State in mid-October, U.Va. coach Al Groh inserted Alvin Pearman into the starting lineup at tailback. Pearman promptly rushed for 223 yards against Duke, one shy of U.Va.'s single-game record. He kept the starting job for the rest of the season and was voted to the all-ACC first team.


Virginia had used both tailbacks before the switch, Groh noted, and continued to rotate them afterward, even if their roles changed.

"Wali was playing very well when we went down to Duke," Groh said, "and we just decided, coming off the previous game, we were going to try to interject a little more octane into the operation and see what happened. There was no reason other than, 'Let's give it a shot.' And all of the sudden, Alvin went in and rushed for [223] yards, and it didn't make any sense to change things up there."

This is a subject about which Groh is particularly passionate. No. 33 has long been one of his favorite players.

"We've been very pleased with everything Wali Lundy's done since he's been here," Groh said. "He's a non-maintenance player. He's ready for class. He's ready for the weight room. He's ready for practice. He's ready for the games."

For the most part, protecting the football hasn't been a problem for Lundy, who's lost only two fumbles during his college career. Both turnovers came last season, however, and one proved especially damaging. In the regular-season finale at Lane Stadium, with the Cavaliers playing for a share of the ACC title, Lundy and quarterback Marques Hagans botched an exchange on first and goal from at the Virginia Tech 4-yard line. The Hokies recovered the fumble and went on to win the game.

"That hurt me," Lundy recalled in December.

With Pearman in the NFL, Lundy again is the featured tailback in Virginia's offense. He dropped about 10 pounds in the offseason without sacrificing strength, and he's eager to leave his stamp on the Cavaliers' program.

"I would love to be up there with the Thomas Joneses and the Terry Kirbys and the Tiki Barbers," Lundy said. "Just to be remembered as a great back at Virginia would be a great honor for me."