Cavs solid up the middle
Training camp update
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
August 13, 2006

Christian Olsen has no idea who will snap him the ball in the season opener.

And he’s not really concerned about it.

While it would appear that junior Ian-Yates Cunningham has the early advantage over junior Jordy Lipsey, Olsen said he is confident going into battle with either.

“Both of them are doing an exceptional job and it’s going to be a good battle to see who the eventual starter is for the Pittsburgh game,” Olsen said. “It’s going to be real interesting, but I think it is making both of them better.”

What’s one of the easiest ways for the signal-caller to tell if progress has been made? Miscues in the operation come to mind.

“We have had fumbled snaps in the past, but this year I can’t remember a fumbled snap with myself and Ian or myself and Jordy,” Olsen said. “I don’t think we have had one on the ground all year and that’s a good sign.”

Whether it is Cunningham, a converted guard, or Lipsey at center, Virginia’s offense should be able to add in a new wrinkle - former center Brian Barthelmes, who himself was a converted lineman, struggled at times with snapping the ball in shotgun sets.

“Both of those guys handle the shotgun [snaps] really well,” Olsen said. “It is going to be a part of our gameplan, but we are still going to go under center and do a lot of that stuff but it should be a good mixture.

“It will be something that, if we need it, we can go to it.”

The other AP

The admiration that Virginia fans had for Alvin Pearman is well-documented and well-deserved. The former tailback ranks ninth all-time in rushing yards and still holds the ACC record for receptions in a game (16 vs. Florida State in ’03).

Although Pearman has long since left Charlottesville - he currently plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars - the legacy of No. 21 has been passed down.

Andrew Pearman, Alvin’s younger brother who transferred in from Hawaii, is eligible to play this year for Virginia after having sat out last year per NCAA transfer rules.

Virginia coach Al Groh was asked this week about Andrew Pearman’s development and the possibility of moving the youngster into the wide receiver spot that injured senior Deyon Williams mans.

“[Pearman’s] playing the flanker position and he’s going to stay at that spot,” Groh said. “When we have young players early in their career like this we’re reticent to bounce them around and give them multiple positions, particularly when they’re players who are going to have some significant special teams learning.

“That’s another phase of the game and that carries with it a lot of assignments, too. We don’t want to take those players and just bog them down with the weight of too many assignments, which would impede them from really showing their athletic ability.”

The 5-foot-10, 168-pounder was listed on the pre-fall depth chart as the third punt returner behind senior Michael Johnson and junior Emmanuel Byers.

Extra points …

… Today’s practice is open to the public. The session starts at 2:30 p.m. ... B.J. Cabbell, a rookie offensive lineman from Nelson County High, has been slowed during training camp. It has been a common site to see Cabbell walking around the practice fields. Groh said Cabbell had cartilage removed in his knee just weeks before practice started. ... Freshman John-Kevin Dolce is practicing at outside linebacker. He joins Aaron Clark, Marvin Richardson and Olu Hall as reserves pushing starters Jermaine Dias and Clint Sintim for playing time.

 

'Hoos Who: Emmanuel Byers
Junior, Wide Receiver
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
August 13, 2006

Late in Friday’s open practice, Emmanuel Byers looked like a comedian.

The junior was bouncing around and telling jokes like Bernie Mac, while giving a make-shift crew of referees a hard time on nearly every call that went the way of his teammates who play defense.

“We are just trying to make practice fun,” Byers chuckled referring to himself and fellow veteran wideout Fontel Mines. “Training camp is a grind, so you just try to make it fun every day.”

If football was not fun, Byers would likely have went under the knife in the offseason. The High Point, N.C., native is playing through an Achilles’ tendon injury that could have been repaired with surgery, but Byers longed to be on the field.

“It was a tough decision,” said Byers, who redshirted in 2003. “I didn’t want the injury to affect my play during the season, but then again I really wanted to play.”

Byers said he talked with coach Al Groh about the options throughout the summer.

“I talked with Coach Groh about it every day to let him know my status day-by-day,” Byers said. “You just have to tough it off - that’s what football is all about.

“Coach Groh’s helping me out. He’s letting me take limited reps yet get the reps that I need and not waste a lot of running and cutting on my heels.”

Groh said the training staff will monitor Byers thoughout training camp.

“He is ready to go, but we have also spoken with him about that we have to be sensible,” Groh said, “and there may be some days here when we are going at a constant pace that we have to accommodate him a little bit.”

Byers played sparingly in 2004 - he caught four passes for 31 yards - before becoming a viable option for former quarterback Marques Hagans late in the season. In Virginia’s final four games, Byers caught 14 passes for 148 yards and etched his name in the program’s record book when he tossed a 90-yard touchdown pass to Deyon Williams against Miami.

With Williams sidelined by surgery for a stress fracture, Byers knows that he will be asked to help boost Virginia’s offense early in the season.

Groh has said in the past that his coaching staff is counting on a good performance from Emmanuel” this year.

That’s fine and dandy with Byers. He just wants to play.

“I love this game,” Byers said, “and I am not trying to sit out.”

 

U.Va., Tech stockpile state recruits
With more players staying in Virginia, was 2006 a fluke ?
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Aug 13, 2006

Six months after a signing day unlike any other in recent memory, normalcy has returned to football recruiting in Virginia. Most of the state's top college prospects are headed to Virginia Tech or the University of Virginia.

That's customarily been the case in Virginia. In 2004 and again in '05, for example, only three members of Rivals.com's top 15 for Virginia left the state to play football.

The Class of 2006, however, broke from tradition. Of the state's top 15 prospects as ranked by Rivals, only Deep Run High's Sean Gottschalk (U.Va.) and Meadowbrook High's John Graves (Virginia Tech) stayed home. The others chose such schools as Florida, Southern California, Florida State, Penn State, Miami (Fla.), Michigan and Alabama.

Of the 16 scholarship freshmen at U.Va. this summer, four are Virginians. (Four other players from the state signed with the Cavaliers in February but failed to meet NCAA eligibility standards.)

At Tech, coach Frank Beamer has 20 freshmen on scholarship. Seven are Virginians.

"It totally caught me by surprise that this many players would go out of state," Tech's recruiting coordinator, assistant coach Jim Cavanaugh, said in February.

Looking back now, Cavanaugh believes the 2006 exodus was an aberration. So does his boss. Neither Beamer nor U.Va. coach Al Groh says his program has made a conscious effort to step up its recruiting in the state this year.

"It's always of a priority to us," Groh said. "We want to base our team with Virginia players, and we want to get the best players in Virginia who fit the model we're looking for."

Beamer said: "I just think last year was one of those years. For the last four, five years we've really done well in the state, and I think that's going to be the case this year. Last year, we had some guys their loyalty wasn't to Virginia and Virginia Tech."

The next signing day comes in February, and the recruiting classes for the state's Division I-A programs figure to be well- stocked with Virginians.

Tech has 23 commitments for 2007, and 11 are from this state. U.Va. has commitments from 13 players, seven of whom live in Virginia.

Rivals' latest top 15 for the state includes 10 players who have picked their colleges. Eight of those 10 are future Hokies or 'Hoos, including four of the state's top five prospects - No. 1 Tyrod Taylor (Tech), No. 3 Peter Lalich (U.Va.), No. 4 Terence Fells-Danzer (U.Va.) and No. 5 Davon Morgan (Tech), a senior at Varina High.

In all, 20 members of Rivals' top 30 for Virginia have committed. Sixteen are headed to Tech or U.Va., and several of the uncommitted prospects are expected to matriculate at one of those schools, too.

In an attempt to understand what happened last year, Groh said, the Cavaliers' coaches reviewed the decisions of the Class of 2006 members who headed out of state.

"When we added them all up and took each guy's individual thinking and reasoning on it, we could see why it was probably a one-year deal," Groh said.

That many of the elite players in the state's Class of 2006 were wide receivers, Tech's Cavanaugh believes, worked against both schools.

"This was the problem last year a lot of people didn't realize," Cavanaugh said. "We're loaded at wideout. I don't think a lot of them wanted to face the competition, and they bailed on that.

"Last year was an aberration because of the nature of the position of those kids. They were wideouts. Both universities had a lot of wideouts returning.

"I think that points out what we've been saying. . . . Last year had to do with the positions and temperament of those kids."

In Blacksburg, Beamer said, "It's always going to be our intent to get the best players from the state of Virginia to Virginia Tech."

Groh has a similar goal in Charlottesville.

"We want those players," he said. "We had a good result from them the year before, and we're getting good results this year. It was just that year in between."

 

Secondary no longer a primary concern for U.Va.
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© August 13, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Four Virginia safeties were wearing starters' orange jerseys at practice Friday and Saturday, two more than can be in the starting lineup on opening day.

As problems go, it's one coach Al Groh doesn't mind having.

"The real problem for the coach is when you don't have enough talent to work with," he said.

That's a problem Virginia knows something about, particularly in the secondary, an area where in recent seasons the Cavaliers have seemed to be perpetually short-handed.

Last year, Virginia finished the season with just three safeties, two of whom were walk-ons, one a former soccer goalkeeper, the other an engineering student who came out for the team and found himself in the starting lineup.

The situation at cornerback was not much better. Virginia finished the Boston College game with just two cornerbacks, after losing two to injury.

Now, with everyone back and, for the time being, anyway, healthy - and with a couple of new faces in the mix - the secondary might be the deepest unit on the team.

"We've got a lot of talent back there, a lot of competition going," safety Nate Lyles said.

"There's probably eight of them back there that can start," added quarterback Christian Olsen.

The return of Lyles, who started nine games last year, and Tony Franklin, who started 10, have provided the biggest boost to the unit. Neither player was with the team at season's end last year and their status was uncertain through the spring. Lyles suffered a season-ending - and career-threatening - neck injury against Georgia Tech. Franklin was suspended, and later dismissed, from the team for a violation of team rules.

Byron Glaspy, a walk-on, replaced Lyles. Franklin was replaced by Jamaal Jackson. The third safety was Ryan Best, who came to Virginia on a soccer scholarship.

Franklin, Lyles, Jackson and Glaspy have been sporting orange jerseys at practice. No matter who wins the starting jobs, all four should play. Best and redshirt freshman Brandon Woods should provide depth.

At cornerback, Marcus Hamilton, a second-team All-ACC pick, has a lock on one spot. Hamilton started every game last year, the only sure thing in a unit that had to be cobbled together from week to week.

The position opposite Hamilton was a revolving door. Chris Gorham started the year but was beaten out by Chris Cook. Cook broke his leg and was replaced by Mike Brown. Brown was later beaten out by Gorham.

All three players are back.

Gorham's wearing the orange jersey at the moment but could be challenged by Brown and Cook. Also pushing for playing time is redshirt freshman Vic Hall, a former quarterback who moved to corner in practice last year as a precaution against more injuries.

Brown, Cook and Hall bring more speed to the position than Virginia has had recently. Overall, the unit has more speed than at any time in Groh's tenure, he said.

"And," Groh added. "we've got more of them."

 

Catching his big break
Sophomore wide receiver Kevin Ogletree will step in to replace injured Deyon Williams at Virginia.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
August 13, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Kevin Ogletree walked into the McCue Center on Monday and spotted Emmanuel Byers, his fellow wide receiver on Virginia's football team.

"You hear what happened to Deyon?" Byers asked, referring to Virginia's best receiver, senior Deyon Williams.

"No," Ogletree said.

"He might be out for like eight weeks," Byers said.

Ogletree thought Byers was kidding. Then Ogletree ate lunch with Williams later that day and saw proof: a boot on Williams' right foot. Williams suffered a stress fracture and underwent surgery Friday on his fifth metatarsal bone.

"Then it came in my head: Man, this is a chance," Ogletree said Saturday.

Seems that way.

Virginia coaches haven't given a timetable for Williams' recovery. Williams' mother, Debra Williams, said Saturday that the surgery was successful, but she said she was uncertain about when Williams might return to the field.

In the meantime, coaches are pushing Ogletree, a true sophomore, into Williams' role as the "X" receiver. Bud Davis also is a candidate to replace Williams, but coaches seem to have chosen Ogletree to start the Sept. 2 season opener at Pittsburgh.

"He's taking a lot more of the reps in Deyon's normal position obviously because he's been the guy we're targeting to win the competition over there," wide receivers coach John Garrett said.

Ogletree - who is from St. Albans, N.Y., which is in Queens - burned the chance to redshirt last season by playing in seven games. He had seven catches, including five in a 51-3 blowout of doormat Temple.

Some might wonder whether Virginia coaches should've redshirted Ogletree instead of giving him limited action. Don't count Ogletree among those second-guessers.

"I think it would be a little rough if I didn't have that experience, trying to go out there and start the first game this year," he said. Listed at 6-feet-2 and 184 pounds, Ogletree is an inch shorter and a pound lighter than Williams.

But there's no comparing their levels of experience. Williams started every game last year and led the Cavaliers with 58 catches, 767 yards and seven touchdowns. He ranked fourth in the ACC in receiving yards and second in touchdown catches.

"(Ogletree) just has to gain the valuable experience to handle all the things that would come up in a game," Garrett said. "What he has to adapt ... is the right way to practice, meaning: I go full speed all the time."

Like many young receivers, he also must master his blocking skills. "If you don't block, you don't play at the college level," said senior Fontel Mines, the starting "Z" receiver.

Coaches last season hammered that into the heads of Ogletree and fellow true freshman receiver Maurice Covington. "They emphasize blocking more than they do catching the ball," Covington said.

Covington - who caught five passes last year, four against Temple - isn't a candidate to replace Williams because he backs up Mines at the "Z" spot. So do Andrew Pearman and Byers. Virginia can't turn to Cary Koch, a transfer from Tulane, because he has two pulled hamstrings.

So the Cavaliers will rely on Ogletree, who caught 101 passes for 2,197 yards and 29 touchdowns in his final two years at Holy Cross High in Flushing, N.Y.

"I guess he was kinda nervous a little bit because he has to fill Deyon's shoes," said Covington, who will be Ogletree's roommate this year.

(Covington could play at the same time as Mines when Virginia uses more than two receivers.)

Ogletree's nervousness is understandable. Virginia was counting on Williams to be one of its best players, and news of his injury "came as a shock to the team and the team's overall spirit and overall attitude," Mines said.

If Williams is out for eight weeks, as Ogletree heard Byers say, he would return for the season's seventh game, Oct. 14 against Maryland. North Carolina strong safety Trimane Goddard also fractured his fifth metatarsal recently. He's out for the season.

While Williams hobbles around on crutches, Ogletree will remember the lunch with Williams last week and the reassuring advice he offered: "It's you now, K.O."

NOTE

It was a bad week in the podiatric department for the Cavaliers. Backup quarterback Jameel Sewell, a redshirt freshman, cut his right foot on his mountain-bike sprocket while riding - in sandals - from the practice fields to a nearby hotel where the Cavaliers stay during preseason practices. The gash required 18 stitches, but Sewell expected to return to practice Saturday.