Sports Focus: U.Va. Football
Filling a wideout void Cavaliers' offense is counting on Ogletree and Covington after the injury to Williams
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Aug 11, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE On the eve of training camp, if you'd asked people close to the University of Virginia football program which offensive player was most likely to blossom this season, Kevin Ogletree probably would have received the most votes.

A week into camp, Ogletree's value to the Cavaliers has grown. The team's best wide receiver, senior Deyon Williams, is scheduled to have surgery today on a stress fracture in his foot and will be sidelined indefinitely. The top candidate to replace him is Ogletree, a fleet 6-2, 189-pound sophomore from Queens, N.Y.

Virginia opens the season Sept. 2 at Pittsburgh.

"I feel real bad for Deyon and the situation he's in," Ogletree said yesterday. "I'm just keeping him in my prayers. Personally, I see it as an opportunity to get out there and once again show people what I'm capable of."

Expectations changed this week for Ogletree's classmate Maurice Covington, too. A 6-4, 215-pound wideout from Durham, N.C., who's been backing up senior Fontel Mines at the "Z" position in U.Va.'s offense, Covington also will be asked to contribute more in Williams' absence. In Virginia's three- and four-receiver sets, Covington can play alongside the 6-4, 223-pound Mines.

"I knew from the get-go," Covington said, "even before Deyon got hurt, that I had to step my game up."

As true freshmen last season, neither Ogletree nor Covington got on the field in U.Va.'s first five games. Their debuts came Oct. 15 in Virginia's 26-21 upset of No. 4 Florida State at Scott Stadium. Covington's first college reception went for 15 yards against the Seminoles. Ogletree's first catch came a week later in a two-point loss at North Carolina.

Each started Nov. 5 against Temple, when Virginia opened in a four-receiver set, but neither Ogletree nor Covington had much impact last season. Ogletree appeared in seven games, catching seven passes for 27 yards. In five games, Covington had five receptions for 60 yards. Nine of their 12 receptions came against lowly Temple.

Even so, both say they benefited from playing in 2005 and weren't unhappy about losing their redshirts.

"Because game experience is a lot different," said Ogletree, who'll room with Covington this school year. "I know it will help, because I'm sure it would be tough going to an environment like Pittsburgh" without having played in a college game."

Covington said: "I'm actually glad for it, because it's experience, and any experience is good."

A nephew of former San Francisco 49ers tight end Tom Covington, who played at Georgia Tech, Covington is a graduate of Durham's Southern High. His teammates there included Brandon Woods, now a redshirt freshman safety at U.Va.

Groh said yesterday that Covington is "responding like a young player who's really starting to get the scent. . . . He's getting the picture as to what he can really become, which is an excellent player," and understands how to make that happen.

As a senior at Holy Cross High, Ogletree caught 61 passes for 1,170 yards and 19 touchdowns. He also was one of New York City's better prep basketball players, and his athleticism is one reason his coaches are so high on Ogletree.

"Kevin's got very good ability," Groh said.

Williams' injury will create opportunities for U.Va.'s other wideouts, too, including sophomore Andrew Pearman and juniors Bud Davis and Emmanuel Byers. Williams, a team captain, has spoken to the receivers as a group this week. He's also spoken individually to his probable replacement.

"He's been in my corner the whole time, saying it's my job, to hold it," Ogletree said. "He trusts me and knows what I'm capable of doing. He knows the job is in good hands."

 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Aug 10, 2006

TREND CONTINUES: The news Tuesday that Virginia had lost a key football player to a serious injury - senior wideout Deyon Williams will have surgery tomorrow on a stress fracture in his foot - didn't shock those who follow the program.

In Al Groh's first game as Virginia's coach, against Wisconsin on Aug. 25, 2001, his best player, Antwoine Womack, sustained a serious injury that sidelined the senior tailback for most of the season. Also in that game, backup running back Brandon Isaiah suffered a season-ending injury.

Groh's luck with injuries hasn't improved. During his tenure, front-line Cavaliers who have missed significant amounts of playing time include Kevin Bailey, Alvin Pearman, Marcus Hamilton, Chris Canty, Michael McGrew, Willie Davis, Ahmad Brooks, Ian-Yates Cunningham, Fontel Mines, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Matt Schaub, Chris Cook and Nate Lyles. Davis, a starting safety, suffered a career-ending neck injury in the second game of the 2003 season.

Details of Williams' injury haven't been disclosed, and it's unclear when - or if - he'll return this season.

While Williams is out, look for sophomore Kevin Ogletree's role to grow dramatically. Ogletree played sparingly as a true freshman last year, but the 6-2 186-pounder is one of the team's most talented wideouts.

"He's a natural pass-catcher," Groh said. "He's got some elusiveness, he's got real good acceleration."

ANOTHER CONCERN: When Ferguson, Marques Hagans, Brennan Schmidt, Kai Parham, Brian Barthelmes, Wali Lundy, Brad Butler and Connor Hughes left the program after last season, Groh not only lost talented players, he lost outstanding leaders.

Virginia has two seniors on defense and only a handful more on offense. Will leadership be an issue this season?

"We'll find out," Groh said last month.

"It's not just about your captains. You need leaders at every level. You need leaders by class, you need leaders by position. That's going to be an interesting dynamic on this team, because there are so many positions that don't have any veteran players."

ON THE CORNER: In senior Marcus Hamilton, U.Va. has one of the ACC's premier cornerbacks. At the other corner spot, Mike Brown or Chris Cook may eventually win the job, but for now the orange jersey belongs to Chris Gorham.

"Chris is off to a nice start," Groh said Tuesday. "We chatted [Monday] about how he's played with a much higher level of confidence, which is certainly his right to do."

A 6-0, 189-pound junior from Pottstown, Pa., Gorham started the Cavaliers' first four games in 2005. Cook beat him out before the fifth game but suffered a season-ending injury in that game at Boston College. Brown started the next three games before losing the job to Gorham, who started the final four. Gorham finished the season with 42 tackles and two interceptions.

FILLING OUT: Strength coach Evan Marcus told long, lean defensive end Jason Fuller to eat and eat and then eat some more. Fuller's increased intake of food is finally paying off.

A 6-5 redshirt freshman from Virginia Beach, Fuller weighed about 240 pounds during spring practice. He's now around 260, and he needs that bulk at his new position.

"He kind of fell under the Chris Long eating plan this summer," Groh said of Fuller, who was moved from outside linebacker to end on the eve of spring practice. "Chris took it upon himself to make sure he accompanied [Fuller] for many meals."

At Kempsville High, Fuller wrestled at 215 pounds as a junior.

GO, GO, GO: Want to get Groh fired up? Ask him about the oldest of Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long's three sons. Chris Long is a 6-4, 282-pound junior defensive end and one of U.Va.'s captains.

"One of the most valuable commodities Chris brings is tremendous passion for football, and that helps infuse everybody around him with that," Groh said.

"He's a very high-energy, high-motor player, and he's able to maintain that all afternoon long. We don't see many circumstances when Chris Long looks like he's tired."

MAKING THE GRADE: Redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell finished the 2005-06 academic year knowing he'd have to do well in summer school to be eligible this fall.

So far, so good. The former Hermitage High star took one class in the first session and another in the second, receiving a B in each one, Sewell said. His third class ends this week, he said, and "I'm working on another B - at least."

Sewell is likely to enter the season as Virginia's No. 2 quarterback, behind senior Christian Olsen, but he continues to battle for the starting job. His goal in training camp?

"Plain and simple," Sewell said. "Just compete." - Jeff White
 

Cavaliers have issues on offensive line
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
August 10, 2006
Some numbers to ponder:

Virginia lost five offensive starters heading into this season.

Those starters, including quarterback Marques Hagans and running back Wali Lundy, combined for 186 starts.

Three offensive linemen - left tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, center Brian Barthelmes and right tackle Brad Butler - combined for 124 of those starts.

That's the analytical way of saying that heading into this season, the Cavaliers' offensive line looked like a hockey player's front teeth - one here, another there, with gaps in between.

Of the 51 games Virginia played over the past four years, Ferguson started 49, Barthelmes 38 and Butler 37.

An update on their replacements through the first week of preseason practices:

True sophomore Eugene Monroe is now the left tackle. He has taken most of the practice reps so far. But he's working his way back from left-knee surgery he had during spring practices after he dislocated the knee. "He's obviously showing that he looks like a player who had surgery on his knee in April," Virginia coach Al Groh said.

Junior Ian-Yates Cunningham has an advantage over junior Jordy Lipsey at center, Groh said. Cunningham was slotted as the center going into last season. But Barthelmes won the job. Cunningham, recovering from back surgery that sidelined him in 2004, played seven games as a backup guard.

Junior Eddie Pinigis was listed as the starting right tackle before preseason practices. But redshirt freshman Will Barker has impressed Groh. "We see him very much in the competition to play," Groh said. "He might be the guy."

BARKER WEIGHED ABOUT 265 POUNDS COMING OUT OF THE HAVERFORD (PA.) SCHOOL. WHEN VIRGINIA STARTED RECRUITING HIM, HE WAS IN THE HIGH 240S. NOW, THE 6-FOOT-7 BARKER WEIGHS ABOUT 306. PINIGIS IS 6-FEET-7, 293 POUNDS. TRANSFERS

There are three transfers on Virginia's roster: tight end Arthur Singleton (Marist), wide receiver Cary Koch (Tulane) and defensive end Pete Bladel (Christopher Newport). Singleton and Bladel must sit out this year under NCAA transfer rules.

The most interesting story is Koch, whom the NCAA deemed eligible this year because Tulane eliminated his major in its post-Hurricane Katrina downsizing. A 6-foot, 185-pounder from Baton Rouge, La., Koch made 23 catches last season as a freshman and had 308 receiving yards, third most on the team. At Virginia, he found himself stuck behind senior starters Deyon Williams and Fontel Mines. But Williams has a stress fracture in his foot and will have surgery.

Bladel, from Stone Bridge High in Ashburn, played in just three games during two years at Christopher Newport. He had no statistics. He wanted to attend Virginia after high school, but his grades weren't good enough.

CNU coach Matt Kelchner said Bladel - whom CNU listed as 6-feet-3, 247 pounds - would have been on the depth chart this fall. But Bladel told Kelchner in the spring that he was transferring. "I kinda realized CNU wasn't the school for me to go all four years," Bladel said.

Bladel had kept in touch with Virginia defensive coordinator Mike London, whom he met as a freshman at a CNU banquet. London called Bladel this summer and told him there was a walk-on spot on Virginia's roster. Now the former Division III backup finds himself practicing with an ACC team.

"There's really no time to kinda stand around and look in awe at all these guys," Bladel said.

THIS AND THAT

Running back Michael Johnson (Heritage High) isn't the only Peninsula District player on Virginia's roster. He's joined by true freshman lineman Isaac Cain, a walk-on from Hampton High. ... Wide receiver Emmanuel Byers, who sat out the spring with academic problems, is back but is battling a tendon injury in his foot. ... Fifth-year senior D.J. Bell missed last year with academic issues but is back on the roster as an offensive guard. ... True freshman John Bivens, originally listed as a linebacker, will start at safety, where he played at Prince George High. But the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder could move to linebacker. ... Three former walk-ons are now on scholarship: safety Byron Glaspy, safety Ryan Best and inside linebacker Jon Copper.

Next 2 weeks key for LB Jackson
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
August 11, 2006

Al Groh loves watching film.

That shouldn’t come as a shock since Virginia’s coach has been on the sidelines since his days as an assistant at Albemarle High School in 1967.

Groh also loves watching film with his players. Just ask former linebacker Darryl Blackstock, a regular fixture in the McCue Center during his career.

Groh might have a new understudy.

During a teleconference on Thursday with reporters, Groh said he was meeting with inside linebacker Rashawn Jackson.

The redshirt freshman has been making up for lost time - a shoulder injury sidelined him during spring practice.

“I’m very excited about the really concentrated start of coaching him and his development,” Groh said. “We worked with him at linebacker during the December practices leading up to the bowl game, knowing he was going to have the shoulder surgery in January.

“We wanted to try to get some things done with him from the foundation basis knowing that he was going to miss it in the spring.”

Jackson’s shot at starting in the season opener ahead of either Jon Copper or Antonio Appleby at inside linebacker likely depends on his development during the next 14 days.

“Now we’re going into two weeks of really concentrated time to really work with him,” Groh said. “He can be in here as much as he wants to be or needs to be. He has a very high upside at multiple jobs on the defensive and special teams areas.

“He’s a size and speed player with instincts and a lot of ambition, so we have high expectations for what he can be.”

Hitting the books

A number of players took final exams on Thursday for the final summer school session.

While a handful of players could need certain marks to remain eligible, Groh said it is “probably the smallest number there has ever been, but as always there are a couple we are looking at or waiting on with anticipation.”

Open practice

Fans will have four chances during the next three days to watch the Cavaliers practice in full pads. The squad will practice today at 2:30 p.m., on Saturday at 8:45 a.m. and 6:45 p.m. and on Sunday afternoon at 2:30.

Fans in attendance will not see wide receiver Deyon Williams in action. The senior co-captain will have surgery today on the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot.

Onlookers might also miss out on a chance to see redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell in full speed at quarterback. According to sources close to the team, the rookie received stitches in his leg Tuesday after a bicycle accident during a trip to the Cavalier Inn, the team hotel during training camp.

 

'Hoos Who: Matt Leemhuis.
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
August 10, 2006

When Virginia welcomes Wyoming to Scott Stadium on Sept. 9, Matt Leemhuis expects to see a lot of fans wearing his jersey in the seats.

No, he’s not cocky. No, he doesn’t expect to single-handedly win the season opener at Pittsburgh, sending fans out in droves to the UVa Bookstore in search of the true freshman’s jersey. Leemhuis just knows who wore the number before he was assigned to it.

Former linebacker Ahmad Brooks, now with the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL, won over the hearts and wallets of Virginia fans as he made tackles and sacks in No. 34.

Leemhuis, who is from Bethesda, Md., was assigned to Brooks’ old number.

“I thought about that the other night,” Leemhuis said after a recent practice. “That could be fun at games.”

The number has also forced Leemhuis to hear his share of ribbing from his new teammates.

“They always say ‘Ahmad Brooks, what’s happening?’ They all comment on it,” the safety said.

Leemhuis gets his fair share of comments about golf. That only natural since his dad, Mike, is the general manager of the Congressional Country Club in Washington, D.C. The course hosted the U.S. Open in 1997.

Leemhuis, who said he is a 10 handicap, has already shared his connection. Teammate Andrew Dewey accompanied Leemhuis for a round just before training camp started last weekend.

Golf, however, is the last thing on Leemhuis’ mind now.

“The pace of college football is fast and you just keep moving,” Leemhuis said. “The plays have been really hard to get used to. There’s so much to learn. In high school you only have cover-two or cover-three, but here it is all these difficult things.”

Leemhuis picked Virginia over California after a stellar senior season that included over 100 tackles and three interceptions.

Virginia coach Al Groh raved about Leemhuis on signing day.

“Matt Leemhuis is a high contact player,” Groh said. “This is a guy who’s got a great passion for football. He’s thinking football all the time. He trains all year long. He’s a very aggressive player. He made an awful lot of plays coming forward as a tackler or as an interceptor.

“One of the things that’s going to change for him in college is the fact that obviously, as a safety, there’s a lot more deep ball action, but he’s got good skills for that, good toughness, is from a real athletic-minded family and he’s one of the top students in the class.”

Leemhuis got a head start on his academic career by taking summer school classes in world interpretation and environmental science and he might get even longer to get adjust to life on the gridiron. With Virginia loaded at safety, Leemhuis could be headed for a redshirt season.

“We should be pretty deep for quite some time,” Leemhuis said. “We had a great recruiting class bringing in Mike Parker, Rico Bell and myself. We just have to compete for positions and I think it will be pretty competitive.”

 

'Hoos Who: Will Barker
Redshirt freshman, tackle
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
August 11, 2006

Saying Will Barker stands out is an understatement.

If his 6-foot-7 frame is not enough to draw attention, the bright red hair shining on the top of head should suffice.

Just days into training camp, Barker is turning heads in another way - for his performance at right tackle.

Virginia coach Al Groh, in fact, has said he expects the redshirt rookie to push for playing time this season.

“We see him very much in the competition to play,” Groh said. “He might be the guy.”

Barker fits the mold for what Groh and new offensive line coach Dave Borbely are looking for.

“[Barker] is a good example of what we’re trying to find - that is, tall, rangy, athletic guys,” Groh said.

Barker would likely not have drawn the high praise from Groh had he not grown in the last year. After entering the program around 260 pounds, Barker has ballooned into a healthy 300-pounder.

His secret?

“I am eating three to four big meals a day,” said the Bryn Mawr, Penn., native. “I put a lot of weight on in the weight room. When I came here I was like 260-something, but playing at this level of football, I thought it would be a lot easier and a lot better for me if I put on some weight. I put a lot of good weight on and now I feel good running.”

Barker could have gotten bigger sooner, but he kept his weight down playing lacrosse at The Haverford School.

“I was pretty good back then and we won the state championship,” Barker said. “That was my life for a while and then football started picking up. Lacrosse was a pretty big part before this.”

Groh said Barker’s talent as a defender in lacrosse got the coaching staff’s attention.

“Just to be a lacrosse player, at 6-7, is a notable thing,” Groh said. “When we first saw him, he was certainly less than the mid-260s that he reported at. He was maybe in the high 240s.

“It would have been overly ambitious for us to set his present weight as his goal. He got there a little faster than he, with his input, or I would have anticipated.”

For Barker to join the starting lineup he will need to surpass junior Eddie Pinigis, a starter in three games last year. That’s a sore subject since Barker has picked Pinigis’ brain about playing in the trenches.

“Eddie’s a great player and last year he taught me a lot,” Barker admitted. “In the spring he taught me a lot too and I’m just trying to learn from him since he has been around here for a while.

“I am just trying to get out there and compete.”
 

UVa's offensive line untested
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
August 10, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Dave Borbely likes to relate a story when asked about Virginia's inexperienced offensive line. The Cavaliers' first-year line coach goes back a few years to an opponent with which he was familiar, having coached at Notre Dame.
"I told them Michigan in 1997 won the national championship ? with five underclass linemen," he said, a nice little nugget young offensive lines can take solace in, if only it were true (center Zach Adami was, in fact, a fifth-year senior).

"If it's not (true)," Borbely added, "that's what I told them anyway, so they believe it."

Call it one of the perks of being in charge of an impressionable young group.

Once flush with its most tenured players, UVa's line had its first major overhaul in years this offseason.

Of the three departed linemen from last year - D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Brad Butler and Brian Barthelmes - none had fewer than 37 starts. The group currently vying for playing time has 33 starts among them.

"We're kind of starting all over again," Virginia coach Al Groh said.

Almost. There is some experience on the line returning, albeit limited.

Branden Albert, who was UVa's only lineman to start all 12 games last year, returns at left guard following a stellar freshman campaign, as does right guard Marshal Ausberry, an unheralded junior who battled leg injuries all of last season but still made 11 starts.

Sophomore Eugene Monroe, widely considered the top offensive line recruit in the nation in 2004, will attempt to fill the giant shoes left by Ferguson at left tackle, though he is still recovering from surgery in the spring to repair a dislocated left knee cap.

Junior Eddie Pinigis (Jefferson Forest) has the inside track at right tackle, having started three games there last season due to injuries and suspensions.

He's being pushed by redshirt freshman Will Barker, who has transformed his body in the last year. As a freshman he weighed 265 pounds. Now he's at 306.

"He got there a little faster than he or I would have anticipated," Groh said.

The most intriguing matchup is at center, where juniors Ian-Yates Cunningham and Jordy Lipsey are battling it out.

"That is from an ability standpoint about as tight a race as I have," Borbely said.

Cunningham, sidelined by a back injury at the start of last year, switched between the two guard spots before settling in at center in the spring.

Lipsey, the top center prospect in the nation coming out of Longwood, Fla., in 2003, hopes to finally live up to the hype. Expected to be Zac Yarbrough's successor at center last year, he instead watched Barthelmes slide over from guard and snatch the starting job.

Borbely would like to have a staring five for the first game of the season figured out within a week, if, for nothing else, chemistry.

Of the five linemen projected to start, three missed most of the spring. Monroe dislocated his knee cap, Pinigis tweaked his ankle and Albert sat out drills to focus on academics. Last Friday was the first day all five were on the field at the same time.

"(Chemistry is) very important," Pinigis said.

"You've got to know the guys next to you. You've got to know their tendencies, what they're going to do, so you can communicate well with each other, make the calls and get things straightened out on the field before the play starts."

For the last four years, that was second nature for UVa's veteran line. For this group, it will be a learning process.

"Ultimately it comes down to all five guys needing to communicate and to work as one," Borbely said. "The right hand has to know what the left hand is doing."