8/26/07 - Waxing Poetic

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U.VA. NOTES
Sunday, Aug 26, 2007 - 12:07 AM

Groh: Mum's the word on altitude adjustment
At Alabama, football coach Nick Saban has ordered his players not to publicly discuss the oppressive heat in which they've been practicing. Saban doesn't want them blaming the weather if they perform poorly.

Al Groh has a similar attitude when the topic is the altitude in Laramie, Wyo., where Virginia plays its opener Saturday.

"With the team, we've put an altitude ban on things," the Cavaliers' seventh-year coach said Friday.

Laramie is 7,165 feet above sea level - more than 6,500 feet higher than Charlottesville - and the lack of oxygen at such altitudes can affect athletes. The University of Wyoming's War Memorial Stadium is at the highest altitude of any Division I-A football facility.

"It is what it is," Groh said. "They're playing in the same altitude, right?"

Groh and his wife, Anne, spent six days on vacation in Wyoming last month. Groh worked out while he was there, he said, and "I didn't really notice a significant effect."

The Cavaliers will fly to Wyoming after classes end in Charlottesville on Thursday. Typically, the team travels the day before a road game.

"This kind of lets of us settle in," Groh said.

Wyoming's Goodman gone, but not forgotten
Aric Goodman, who forever will be beloved by U.Va. fans, is no longer at Wyoming. Goodman, who led the Cowboys in scoring as a true freshman last season, unexpectedly quit the team in May.

In its 2006 home opener, Virginia escaped with a 13-12 victory when Goodman missed an extra point in overtime. Goodman was 2 for 2 on field goals against U.Va., connecting from 23 and 39 yards.

For the season, Goodman made 10 of 16 field-goal attempts and was 18 for 20 on extra points. He has transferred to Colorado.

Rookie Lalich climbing Cavs' depth chart at QB
At Virginia Tech, true freshman Tyrod Taylor recently was named the No.2 quarterback. At U.Va., junior Scott Deke is No.2 on the depth chart, but true freshman Peter Lalich is pressing him.

"He's done a very good job relative to where he started and what he's had to deal with," Groh said of Lalich. "Everyone's been impressed with his diligence and his study. He's come in and really worked to get on top of things and made improvement on a daily basis."

However, Groh added, how "many true freshman quarterbacks do you see around the country that are playing? That's just a challenge. He seems for us to be ahead of the curve, but it's a big curve to be on."

The 6-5 Lalich is a graduate of West Springfield High, where he passed for 3,134 yards and 33 touchdowns in 2006. If U.Va. starter Jameel Sewell stays healthy and plays well, Lalich is likely to be redshirted this season.

Deke acquires a new weapon: self-esteem
When Sean Glennon was at Westfield High, U.Va.'s coaches evaluated him and decided they liked the quarterback from Loyola High in Los Angeles - Scott Deke - better in that class.

Glennon, of course, is now the Hokies' starting quarterback. Deke has yet to appear in a game for U.Va. Since the end of spring practice, though, he improved markedly.

"Scott's got a lot more confidence in himself, that's probably the key thing," Groh said. "That confidence is very apparent to other players on the field. Confidence can't be faked, and it's so important at that position that the other players see the confidence the quarterback has not only in himself but in the other players."

Appleby: no complaints about quick immersion
Antonio Appleby started two games at inside linebacker in 2005 and all 12 in '06. Unlike John Bivens and Darnell Carter, who are expected to one day take over as the starters inside, Appleby played as a freshman at U.Va.

"I don't regret not redshirting," said Appleby, a 6-4, 255-pound junior from Virginia Beach.

"Everything happens for a reason. [Bivens and Carter] had the benefit of redshirting. I had the benefit of playing early and getting out there and having a chance to see more plays early." - Jeff White

Can a walk-on be helpful to UVa's receivers?
Doug Doughty

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- In some college football programs, the idea of starting a walk-on wide receiver might be a cause for alarm.

At Virginia, it's part of the Cavaliers' heritage.

Some of the best teams in UVa history relied heavily on walk-on wide receivers such as Patrick Jeffers, Keith Mattioli and Tim Finkelston.

"I think that Patrick Jeffers actually lives in Austin," said Staton Jobe, who is a native of Texas' state capital.

Jobe could do worse than emulate Jeffers, whose 108 career receptions rank eighth in UVa history. Jeffers later spent five seasons in the NFL and, in 1999, had 63 receptions for 1,082 yards and 12 touchdowns for the Carolina Panthers.

Jobe was not endowed with Jeffers' size (6-foot-3, 218 pounds) but they share a track background. Jobe (6-0, 181) was a three-time district champion in the 100 meters but was a bona fide football player, catching 44 passes for 1,003 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior in high school.

Moreover, he played for an established program. His alma mater, Westlake, produced the likes of All-Pro quarterback Drew Brees. Jobe's father, Jeff, played wide receiver at Texas Tech in the early 1970s and an older brother, Taylor, lettered for the Red Raiders in 2003.

Despite those credentials, Jobe had limited options to play football in college.

"I was talking to the service academies and to some smaller schools," said Jobe, whose full name is Henry Staton Jobe. "I could have gone to Texas and run track, but Virginia gave me an opportunity to play football at a higher level."

UVa has a surprisingly strong Texas alumni base and a good reputation with academically oriented students.

Jobe was one of 12 UVa football players recently named to the ACC honor roll and his father was an Academic All-American at Texas Tech. Dr. Jeffery Jobe is a vascular surgeon and his wife, Connie, is a child-protection attorney.

Moreover, two of Jobe's fellow Westlake alumni, Lauren Dickson and Shannon Davis, are on the Cavaliers' volleyball team.

Following his junior year in high school, Jobe attended football camp at Virginia.

"I watched him every day for four days," UVa coach Al Groh said. "[He was] a very athletic kid, very competitive, very focused."

But not scholarship material.

"I can't say that was the case," Groh said, "but he's playing as well as anybody right now and that's all that matters. Obviously, you'd like the prototypical player at his position to be bigger rather than smaller, but there's a lot of players at his size (6 feet, 181 pounds) who are very competent players.

"He's got speed and he's got quickness that sometimes the bigger players don't have. I think it's a good tradeoff for him."

Jobe also was in the right place when Kevin Ogletree, the Cavaliers' leading receiver in 2006, suffered a knee injury that is likely to keep him sidelined for the fall.

Jobe and Cary Koch, a transfer from Tulane, were listed as co-No. 1s at Ogletree's spot until Koch sprained a knee.

"I came in here with kind of a chip on my shoulder," Jobe said. "A lot of schools didn't really give me a look out of high school. In my mind, I thought I was a I-A recruit but so do thousands of other kids.

" I knew I would most likely redshirt [in 2006], but I wanted to compete for playing time as soon as possible. I try to concentrate on my routes, utilizing my speed on my routes and making sure I catch everything."

While Jeffers had the most impressive numbers among UVa's walk-on wide receivers, there was no shortage of them in the 1980s and '90s. Mattioli had a team-high 44 receptions in 1986, Finkelston had 74 career receptions and was UVa's leading punt returner from 1987-1989, Derek Dooley had 27 receptions for the 1990 team that was ranked No. 1 in the country and Bryan Owen was the leading receiver in UVa's landmark upset of Florida State in 1995.

The Cavaliers haven't had a walk-on wide receiver start during Groh's six seasons as head coach, but walk-ons Jon Copper and Byron Glaspy started at inside linebacker and safety, respectively, on a UVa defense that was ranked 17th in Division I-A last year.

"Our approach hasn't changed but the response to our approach has picked up and the success level has picked up," Groh said. "We also anticipate getting significant contributions from [fullback] Josh Zidenberg."

Copper, Glaspy and Zidenberg all were placed on scholarship by the start of their third year. UVa is close to the 85-scholarship limit, but two scholarship players have left the program since the start of preseason camp. If there is a list of would-be recipients, Jobe would be close to the top.

"What it says is, there's equal opportunity once a player gets here," Groh said. "It doesn't matter to us what path he took. In fairness to the players, too, there are players who were undervalued by everybody who had the opportunity to recruit them and that includes us."

Casting his own shadow
There's little doubt about Virginia senior defensive end Chris Long's abilities now.
By Doug Doughty

One of the nicer compliments that Chris Long could have received, unintended though it might have been, came when his younger brother was rated the No. 1 junior football prospect in Virginia.

Even when he entered college as the oldest of Howie Long’s three sons, Chris was only No. 3 on The Roanoke Times list.

Never mind that middle son Kyle Long has committed to Florida State for baseball and probably will not play football in college. If you’re Howie Long’s son and Chris Long’s brother, that must be special.

For that, Chris Long is to be commended because there were plenty of doubters in September 2002, when Virginia offered him a scholarship early in his junior year while at St. Anne’s-Belfield in Charlottesville.

Even then, Long had good size and athletic ability that also had been manifested on the baseball diamond, but St. Anne’s-Belfield was a private school, so what kind of competition would he be facing? And, what if his last name hadn’t been Long?

“For every one person who believed in me, there were seven or eight who [didn’t],” said Long at the ACC Football Kickoff in Pinehurst, N.C. “Everybody has a question. Till you step on campus and you see what college football is like, you don’t know. You might think you know, but you don’t.”

John Blake, the head coach at St. Anne’s-Belfield, thought he knew.

Blake had coached at Western Albemarle, a respectable Group AA program, before going to STAB. He had coached Division I-A prospects, most notably Billy Baber, a tight end who caught more than 50 passes for UVa from 1997-2000 and later played for the Kansas City Chiefs.

“I think there’s a perception that public-school people have about private-school football,” Blake said. “Having coached in both, there are more kids in the public schools who are talented, but you’ve also got to remember that there are more kids.

“I tell people all the time, What Chris Long has done for private-school football or even just high school football in Central Virginia, is something that we’re going to be seeing for some time.”

Retired North Cross coach Jim Muscaro, whose teams faced STAB on an annual basis, said Long had the quickest first step he had ever seen.

“And still does,” Muscaro said. “I was constantly trying to convince the refs that he was offsides.”

Long, a 6-foot-4, 279-pound defensive end, enters his fourth year with 24 tackles for loss and an astounding 47 quarterback hurries, but he has recorded only seven sacks.

He has never been a first-team All-ACC selection, although he has made the All-ACC second team and was a preseason all-conference choice this year. There seems to be little doubt that he will be selected in the first round of the NFL Draft.

“Long is college football’s premier defensive talent and everything NFL scouts look for while searching for the next perennial Pro Bowl defensive end,” draft analyst Todd McShay wrote for ESPN.com.

“His combination of size, power, quickness and tenacity should land him a spot on every All-America team in existence and make him a top-five pick in the 2008 draft.”

An entire generation of football fans has come of age since Howie Long retired in 1993 and he may be better known to younger audiences as a Fox Sports commentator since 1994.

Howie Long, listed at 6-5 and 275 pounds during his playing days, spent 13 years with the Raiders organization in Oakland and Los Angeles and was credited with 93 sacks, not counting 8 1/2 in his first year, when sacks were not an official statistic. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

If Chris Long were to be drafted in the first round, he would surpass his “Pops,” as he calls Howie. The older Long was a second-round pick out of Villanova, now a Division I-AA program.

Howie Long, referred to as Howard at least once in Villanova’s media guide, grew up in Massachusetts, but he and his wife, Diane Long, were looking for the ideal place to raise their family following his retirement in 1994 and settled on Charlottesville. It was years before the effect of that decision was felt on UVa football.

At 8, Chris was old enough to understand football when his father wrapped up his career with the Raiders, “but I wasn’t really into it,” he said. “I remember I was at a friend’s house one time, playing NHL Hockey or Sega Genesis, and somebody said, 'Hey, you want to watch your dad in the AFC championship game?’ I was like, 'Uh, yeah, that would be all right.’ It wasn’t a priority.”

Chris also played lacrosse at STAB, as does his youngest brother, 6-2, 195-pound Howie Jr., who was the quarterback on STAB’s state championship team last year as a sophomore but has been projected as a Division I lacrosse recruit.

“It’s crazy, but I might be the worst athlete in my family,” said Chris, noting that his mother plays a mean game of tennis.

Howie Sr. helps with the STAB football team when he can, but he’s neither overbearing nor overindulgent. His travel plans prevented him from being interviewed for this story.

“He’s fabulous,” Blake said. “He doesn’t shy away from people who ask for an autograph. He helps out with our program as much as he can. He’s hands-on, but he’s a parent, too. He wants to watch his sons play. That’s a great joy for him and it’s sad when he can’t be there. I’m more privy to his plans than most people and I know he does everything possible to be there for his kids.”

It would be a monumental feat for Chris to match his father’s accomplishments, but he didn’t get where he is today because of his last name.

“That’s the other stigma,” Blake said. “Let’s face it, there are a lot of private-school kids who have [famous] parents and everybody thinks, because of that, they’re getting something more than they should. I’m glad he’s proven that theory wrong.”

When Kyle Long committed to Florida State for baseball, it raised questions about the Long family’s relationship with the Virginia football program and whether there might be some underlying disenchantment with the team’s performance or its 3-4 defensive scheme.

Chris Long scoffs at that, saying, “That’s [the 3-4] made me the best player I can be.”

As for his happiness, Long is the ex-officio “mayor of Charlottesville,” as teammate Clint Sintim puts it.

“I’m the happiest kid in the world at Virginia,” Long said. “I love the college, I’ve loved my experience, I love my teammates. I have nothing to complain about.”

But if there are rumors making the rounds, rest assured he knows about them.

“A lot of people say, 'Don’t read, stay off the message boards,’ but I’m on that stuff non-stop,” Long said. “I read newspapers. I read magazines. I’ve always got my eyes open. I check everything. I want to be — what’s the word — omniscient?’

“If somebody wants to say, 'You’re only worth something because of your dad,’ I’m going to use that as motivation.”

He needn’t hold his breath till he hears that.

Experience brings excitement
After a rough 2006, Al Groh says this UVa team has reason to be confident.
By Doug Doughty

CHARLOTTESVILLE — One year after the fact, Al Groh confesses that he had a feeling Virginia’s 2006 football team might struggle.

“Long before I got to camp, I had a foreboding of it,” he said. “For me to come out and say, 'OK, here’s what I think,’ all that does is paint a low level of expectations for the players, [but] the worst thing a coach can do is fool himself.”

Presumably, if Groh had the same feeling about his 2007 football team, he also would keep that to himself.

“I think we have a club that’s further down the road than last year’s,” Groh said earlier this month.

“We have four offensive linemen getting ready to start — again — who had never started before. We have a quarterback getting ready to start some more games who had never started before. We have four or five defensive players who had never played before.

“That’s a little more positive than anything we had on record to go on last year. That’s not to say I’m expressing any unbridled optimism or any deep foreboding.”

On paper, it’s a different team.

In some respects, it’s a wonder that the Cavaliers finished 5-7, given that their redshirt freshman quarterback started nine games with a wrist injury that required surgery after the season.

Their tailback was a converted fullback who admitted late in the season that he was an epileptic, and their top returning receiver suffered a broken foot in the first week of preseason practice.

An injury to the team’s top receiver in August hasn’t changed. In the first week of spring practice, wide receiver Kevin Ogletree suffered a torn ACL and he later underwent reconstructive surgery.

Deyon Williams, who had 58 receptions in 2005, could have taken a redshirt year. Instead, he elected to come back and finished with 10 receptions in 10 games.

No wonder Groh expects — and probably wants — Ogletree to take the redshirt year that he has at his disposal.

However, Ogletree had 52 receptions last year and no other returning UVa wide receiver had more than six (Maurice Covington). Andrew Pearman had seven in four games, but Pearman recently moved to running back.

He will back up Cedric Peerman, who has averaged only 3.4 yards on 116 career carries.

There was a feeling that Peerman’s weight training had left him too muscular and the Cavaliers tried a different approach last winter, when he competed for the track team. Peerman was the Group A 100-meter champion as a junior and senior at William Campbell High School outside Lynchburg.

“He had 15 straight good performances in the spring and he’s had six so far this fall,” Groh said Aug. 12 at UVa’s Meet the Team Day.

“He’s running instinctively and he’s running in his own way. He’s not trying to be anyone else. We’ve tried to assure him that a good Cedric Peerman is all we need.”

If it comes down to controlling the line of scrimmage, the Cavaliers are way ahead of last year. All five starters return on the offensive line, as does a trio of tight ends.

The defensive line includes a pair of ends, senior Chris Long and sophomore Jeffrey Fitzgerald, who stack up with the best of Groh’s six-year tenure.

Long and Fitzgerald are backed by a quartet of linebackers who all started 12 games in 2006.

For the first four years of the Groh tenure, the inside linebackers and outside linebackers had separate coaches and separate meetings.

Following the 2005 season, Groh elected to hire just one linebackers coach, Bobby Diaco, while taking a more hands-on approach himself. Inside and outside linebackers meet at the same time, usually with Groh in attendance.

Virginia loses only one starter, Marcus Hamilton, off a defense that yielded 289.5 yards per game last year. That was the low by a Virginia defense since 1979.

Conversely, Virginia’s 257.2 yards in total offense was the lowest since 1977.

Some of those statistics can be attributed to NCAA speed-up rules that resulted in a reduction of more than 15 percent in the amount of time that UVa’s defense was on the field.

“If there are less plays run against your defense or for your offense, it certainly would take away some of the production,” Groh said, “but we certainly would hope that it would reflect the fact that our defense played better than it has around here for quite some time.”

A stout defense is a year older and the offense should be able to protect Jameel Sewell, who might need extra time to look for his targets. The X-factor might be a kicking game once considered automatic when Connor Hughes was 21-of-24 on field goals in 2005.

Successor Chris Gould, brother of Chicago Bears place-kicker Robbie Gould, certainly has the pedigree.

It’s not as if winning football is foreign to the Cavaliers. Groh had taken Virginia to four straight bowls before 2005 and the Cavaliers have had only two losing seasons in the last 20.

“We have a saying and we tell the players, 'The worst thing a coach can do is fool yourself.’

“There were some issues that we knew we were going to have to go through. We didn’t think they had to remain that way. We hoped to accelerate the progress. In some cases it happened; in some cases it didn’t.

“I try very hard not to put myself in a case where I’m kidding myself, but [the players] seem to be conducting themselves with a much higher level of confidence, as opposed to optimism. Confidence comes from being optimistic about things but also from being realistic.”

Sewell's vision for Cavs is clear
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
August 26, 2007

Practically the entire 2006 season and even into the winter months, Jameel Sewell cringed every time Virginia football coach Al Groh whipped out a sheet of wax paper.
"Coach carried it around with him and every time I talked to him, he had [the sheet] with him," said UVa's starting quarterback. "He had it on his desk every time he called me into his office and he would always remind me. He'd say, 'I'm going to call you Wax Paper.'"

Groh, who loves the old school's simple learning tools and analogies, would hold that wax paper in front of his then-redshirt freshman quarterback and ask him what he saw. Nothing was the obvious answer, but it clearly made Groh's point.

The rookie hadn't advanced enough to see the coverages, to know the defensive adjustments, couldn't sometimes find his own receivers. That's part of the maturation process of any quarterback and Sewell was a great example.

Combine those challenges with the fact that Sewell played the entire season with two broken bones in the wrist of his throwing hand, and it was almost miraculous that he enjoyed any success at all. Instead, he broke every Cavalier freshman passing record (143 completions, 1,342 passing yards, five TDs, and threw only six interceptions in 247 attempts). He also completed 50 percent or better of his passes in eight of his last 11 games.

He suffered the broken bones in his wrist early in training camp after throwing a pass and landing on his throwing hand. It hurt like the dickens, but he didn't realize how badly he was injured.

Sewell hoped, nearly convinced himself that it was a sprain and the pain would go away. Deep down, he knew better and as the pain worsened, he began to tape his own wrist instead of telling his coaches or trainers about his condition.

He was fighting for the starting job and had already lost a bit of the coach's confidence after he injured his leg in what he called a "stupid" accident with his bicycle. Another screw-up would probably bury him so deep on the depth chart that he'd never see the light of day.

But he got caught taping his wrists, which produced questions. Then, UVa offensive coordinator Mike Groh walked Sewell into the training room to personally assure that the wrist would get proper medical attention.

Once the injury was discovered, it was Charlottesville's best-kept secret of 2006 that Sewell was playing the entire season with the two brokens bones in his throwing hand.

Both Grohs look back on that now with a bit of amazement.

"As it turned out, until the season was over and really extensive research was done on his wrist, I don't think anybody fully understood what the extent of the injury was," Al Groh said. "Finding out after the fact, we didn't really have any idea it was as extreme as it was. It was truly surprising that he was able to do some of the things that he did."

Sewell thanks goodness that he was able to fight through the injury and the tribulations of surviving his rookie campaign. He also is thankful that Mike Groh made him go to the trainers and kept tabs on his progress throughout the entire process, something he appreciates deeply to this day.

With his second training camp behind him, the sophomore Sewell has started preparation to enter this week's season-opener at Wyoming with the confidence of a quarterback that has started the last nine games.

"The wax paper is gone," Sewell said, breaking into a wide grin. "I don't want to give Coach Groh the opportunity to bring it back out again."

He didn't progress as much in the spring drills as he would have liked because he was recuperating from wrist surgery to repair those problems and some degenerative bone stuff and his August training camp hasn't been all he had hoped for either.

"My wrist motion is limited right now because of my surgery and the injury," Sewell said. "I thought it was going to affect my accuracy, but it hasn't affected it as much."

Mike Groh, who watches closely over his group of quarterbacks, realized the wrist would be sore some throughout camp and has attempted to give Sewell the necessary rest. He has spotted some inconsistency, but believes progress has been made.

"I think that the game has slowed down for him," Coach Mike said. "He sees a variety of looks from our defense, so he can't be in a comfort zone every day. The defense gives us a new blitz of the day. In terms of his decision-making and not holding the ball and getting it out on time, he's much better."

Sewell acknowledges his mistakes from a year ago and accepted that some of it was purely a product of the learning process. He knows he was inconsistent, throwing low balls, not getting the passes to his open receivers, throwing interceptions, especially ones returned for scores by the opponent.

"I really couldn't have the team rely on me and I really want that to happen," Sewell said. "I couldn't do it last year and that hurt me. But I always took full responsibility for everything because it was me. I'm trying to put that in the past and get better."

That's one of the first steps to getting better - admitting previous faults and moving onward. Every game last season was a learning experience, even the setback against Florida State, which came after one of his better games in a win over Miami (he was ACC Rookie of the Week in that one, showing off his running ability with two rushing TDs).

He'd rather make news throwing but isn't opposed to running and using his quickness. Groh would rather leave his QB less exposed to hits this time around and becoming a more effective passer is a key factor in that option.

"I feel I'm a smarter passer now," Sewell said. "Last year I didn't use any of my checkdowns. Instead I'd force it down the field. Now, Coach Mike is in my ear every day to make sure I see my checkdowns because that can give me 20 yards any time off a 2-yard pass. That's helping the offense move forward and that's what we want."

Especially after last season when Virginia's offense coughed and sputtered to one of the lowest productions of any offense in major college football.

With a better running game, a more experienced offensive line and a quarterback that is no longer trying to peer through wax paper, there's hope that this offense may be able to light up the scoreboard for a change.

Can the Cavaliers compete?
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
August 26, 2007

Mac McDonald walked out of Scott Stadium earlier this week with a smile on his face.

While nothing is certain in college football, the radio play-by-play voice of the University of Virginia’s football team gained a better appreciation during a private scrimmage at Scott Stadium of the product he would be describing over the airwaves.

“From a straight X’s and O’s standpoint, I think this will be one of the faster Virginia teams that we have ever fielded,” said McDonald, who is also the director of broadcasting for Virginia Sports Properties. “I just think this a quicker, more athletic team than we have seen in some time.”

The Atlantic Coast Conference’s preseason poll, as voted upon by the media, does not look as favorably on Virginia.

The Cavaliers are picked to finish fourth in the Coastal Division behind Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Miami.

But McDonald remains encouraged.

“When I watched them go through the two-minute drill, I just really liked what I saw, both from the running backs getting to the edge to the offensive line being that much better,” he said. “I just think there are a lot of positives.”

McDonald praised the team’s leadership, citing captains Branden Albert, Chris Long and Tom Santi, and the squad’s newfound sense of focus, both of which were lacking at times in 2006.

“I just think those three bring a lot of energy to the locker room and a lot of focus and a mentality that, ‘You know guys, we are not going 5-7,’” McDonald said. “So because of the on-the-field X’s and O’s, the speed and the athleticism, the off-the-field leadership, I really, really think this is a special team.”

After losing five of its first seven games last year, UVa finished 5-7 overall, missing the postseason for the first time since 2001.

With the final mark in mind, Athletic Director Craig Littlepage chose not to exercise the school’s option on coach Al Groh’s contract for the 2011 season, leaving Groh with a four-year contract.

“The expectations for our program are higher than a 5-7 season,” Littlepage said on the final day of November. “I understand many young players gained their first significant experience during the 2006 season. I believe coach Groh and his staff have positioned the team for success on the field in 2007 and beyond.”

With 21 starters and 34 lettermen returning, expectations have risen for a campaign that kicks off on Saturday at Wyoming.

“It’s a season that the staff and the players have looked forward to with significant anticipation,” said Groh, who owns a 37-26 record at UVa in five years. “I think everybody feels very positive, but I’d say it’s more of a little attitude toward performing the way that we think this team can perform.”

But questions linger.

Is the surgically repaired left wrist of southpaw quarterback Jameel Sewell healthy enough to handle the grind of a 12-plus game season? Who will emerge as a playmaker on offense?

Last year, Virginia had one of the nation’s best defensive teams, but it finished ranked 113th out of 119 teams in the country in total offense.

“There’s no reason that our offense should lag behind our defense that much,” said Santi, a senior tight end. “We had a lot of challenges last year with young guys playing and trying to figure out what our identity was. When you have a year like that, it’s time to get back on track quick.”

Time will tell, but a schedule that boasts only one opponent currently ranked - Virginia Tech - should play into Virginia’s favor.

Without immediate results, a dark cloud is looming – the Virginia Athletic Foundation plans to implement a new policy in 2008 that rewards generous donations with the best season-ticket and parking packages available at Scott Stadium.

Some fans, however, remain focused on comparisons to Virginia Tech.

“Coach Groh basically has to win one game a season for me to be happy, and you know what game that is,” Charlottesville resident Todd Divers said. “That’s pretty much the way I look at it. There is no reason why we can’t do what they do down the road in Blacksburg.

“I have heard all the arguments about academics, but it doesn’t really wash. We used to beat them.”

In fact, UVa lost only four meetings against the Hokies from 1987 to 1998. Since that time, Virginia Tech has won seven of eight in the rivalry.

By the time the two play Nov. 24, a lot will be determined.

Groh’s job security tops the list.

That is not of concern to the players.

“As far as coaches go, we are the ones who have to make the plays,” Virginia defensive end Chris Long said. “I’ve never seen an assistant coach make a tackle, fumble, throw an interception. We have to execute.

“We’re a family, and we’re going to stand by each other and have the success this year that we all want to have very badly.”

Season-ticket sales slow for home games
By Brian McNeill / bmcneill@dailyprogress.com | 978-7266
August 26, 2007

Sales of University of Virginia football season tickets are lagging slightly behind previous years.

Though nearly 39,000 season tickets have already been purchased, an estimated 400 remain unsold with the Cavaliers’ first home game less than a week away.

UVa football season tickets - which cost $230 - have sold out quickly the past three years. Last year, they were all snatched up by June.

“We do anticipate selling more, but we’re behind where we

were in recent years,” said Dirk Katstra, executive director of the Virginia Athletics Foundation. “We always want to be sold out, no question. I don’t think we’re reading too much into it, other than we’re out there trying to sell the remaining tickets.”

While it is not known what is causing the slowdown, news of the lagging sales comes on the heels of UVa’s announcement in May that it was amending a policy governing priority seating and parking for UVa football games.

In the past, a longtime donor who gave $500 per year could sit alongside a more recent contributor, who gave substantially more, in the best seats at the 61,500-seat Scott Stadium. Under the new policy - which goes into effect for the 2008 season - both donors would have to give an equitable amount to sit in those seats.

“There have been some complaints,” Katstra said. “Those who will now be in better seats are pleased. Those who have had better seats and will have to move are less pleased.”

The majority of season ticket holders are UVa contributors, though 14,000 season ticket holders are not donors. For priority seating, donors must give a minimum of $350 in 2007.

More than just season tickets remain unsold. Single game tickets are still available for every game except the Nov. 4 matchup against rival Virginia Tech. Nearly 700 tickets are still for sale for each of the games against Pittsburgh, Connecticut and Wake Forest. Even more tickets are still available for the Duke and Georgia Tech games.

The ticket sales slowdown also comes as 40 to 50 UVa first-time top-dollar donors were denied game-day parking passes.

When a donor gives at least $1,250, he is eligible to receive a designated parking spot near Scott Stadium. However, construction of UVa’s South Lawn Project removed 200 parking spaces. Though the university found many replacement spots elsewhere, several dozen donors were denied parking spots after giving a sizable amount of money.

On an Internet message board, one UVa alum who goes by the name EC Hoo, said he was denied a parking spot after making his first significant financial contribution. “I went a ways above the minimum contribution level just to be sure,” he wrote. “Today I got a letter telling me: Oops, lost some spaces to construction, had an increase in applications, so sorry … I’m very unhappy.”

The next person to reply on the message board wrote simply: “Ditto.”

After being denied a parking spot, one contributor rescinded their entire financial donation, Katstra said.

As of Aug. 13, the athletics foundation had raised more than $13.8 million, just shy of it is $14.3 million annual fundraising goal.

The loss of parking for big-money donors is not the only game-day parking situation to arise. Last fall, two UVa football games coincided with large-scale events - Disney on Ice and Martha’s Market - at UVa’s John Paul Jones Arena.

Larry Wilson, general manager of JPJ, said they are trying to avoid similar scheduling overlaps this year.

“As of right now, we don’t have any conflicts and I don’t foresee any conflicts occurring,” he said.

Hokies are class of ACC this year
Caulton Tudor, Staff Writer
In Year 3 of a 12-team Atlantic Coast Conference in football, familiar powerhouses are expected again to rule -- with a few surprises possible. Florida State won the championship in 2005. Last year, Wake Forest took it. Columnist Caulton Tudor predicts a new champion in 2007: Virginia Tech. Here's Tudor's Take.
Coastal Division

1. VIRGINIA TECH

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: FIRST (77 FIRST-PLACE VOTES)

The Hokies have the schedule and most of the personnel supplies needed to go 8-0 in the conference and 11-1 overall, 12-0 if they pull off a minor miracle at LSU on Sept. 8. The biggest question is quarterback Sean Glennon, who has to prove that he's a top-10 offensive leader.

2. VIRGINIA

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: FOURTH

This is an obvious long-shot -- maybe off-the-wall -- pick, but the Cavaliers should be a good deal better than billed. For one thing, the Coastal still looks considerably weaker than the Atlantic. For another, this will be Al Groh's most experienced team in years. Then there's quarterback Jameel Sewell, who should be more comfortable.

3. MIAMI

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: THIRD (2)

Can the Hurricanes ever get back to where they were? It's not likely. Randy Shannon takes over a program with above-average -- not great -- talent, and the days of quick-fix recruiting hauls are gone. The good news is that Shannon has seven home games and a road date at Duke.

4. GEORGIA TECH

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: SECOND (4)

Assuming he can stay out of confrontations with defensive teammates, Taylor Bennett should be an improvement over Reggie Ball at quarterback. If so, the offense will be better even without Calvin Johnson around to turn busted plays into touchdowns.

5. NORTH CAROLINA

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: FIFTH

If they can win at East Carolina on Sept. 8, the Tar Heels should get off to a 2-0 start and take some confidence into the conference schedule. But no matter how you look at it, a relatively long program reconstruction process lies ahead.

6. DUKE

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: SIXTH

Expectations never have been lower, and the early four-game road swing could be devastating. But with almost the whole offense back, there should be no excuse for failing to improve on last year's 14.9 points-per-game scoring average.

Atlantic Division

1. WAKE FOREST

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: FOURTH (13 FIRST-PLACE VOTES)

Jim Grobe is understandably apprehensive about his defense and those opening two games against Boston College and Nebraska that could put the team in a hole. But there's still no reason to think the Demon Deacons were a fluke in '06. The kicking game and the offensive line should be the league's best.

2. BOSTON COLLEGE

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: SECOND (25)

There almost certainly will be some transition problems, but the Eagles should be good again on defense, at quarterback and in the running game. The two opening home games against Wake Forest and N.C. State will be the keys to everything.

3. CLEMSON

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: THIRD (8)

If the Tigers get past visiting Florida State in the opener, watch out. They could start 4-0 with remaining home games against Virginia Tech, Wake and Boston College. It's not a stretch to think they then could win the division.

4. FLORIDA STATE

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: FIRST (37)

The widely held assumption that everything has suddenly been fixed just doesn't mesh with the facts. The early schedule is the league's toughest, and three late-season games are at Boston College, Virginia Tech and Florida.

5. N.C. STATE

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: SIXTH

In the Coastal Division, the Wolfpack probably would be good enough to make a run at second or third place. But State's ACC road schedule -- Boston College, Florida State, Miami and Wake -- is so tough that it makes 4-4 a long shot.

6. MARYLAND

PRESEASON ACC MEDIA PICK: FIFTH

The Terrapins are basically carbon copies of the Wolfpack. They won't be a bad team by any means, but finding a win in November will be a challenge. Plus, it's difficult to believe coach Ralph Friedgen will catch all the breaks in two straight seasons.

ACC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Virginia Tech 28, Wake Forest 21

Life bares its teeth; can Vick recover?
By David Teel
August 26, 2007

Michael Vick's plea bargain — autographed and everything! — landed in Richmond federal court Friday, hours after his estranged father buried him in an Atlanta newspaper story and hours before the NFL suspended him indefinitely without pay.

Not what you'd call a banner day for the planet's most infamous quarterback and dogfighter.

Well, Mike, better get used to it. Life's about to bare its teeth like you can't imagine. The feds are recommending 12-18 months in prison, and last we checked, they don't offer home cooking, down pillows or afternoon tee times.

With that in mind, here's a 12-step program that could inch you toward rehabilitation.

1. Send the following four-word message to anyone defending and/or rationalizing your behavior: "Shut your pie hole."

2. Don't be delusional. Your lawyers' painful parsing of this deal — particularly as it regards gambling and the execution of dogs — doesn't make you any less culpable. No one will be fooled — not the public, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson or NFL sheriff Roger Goodell.

As Goodell said in his suspension letter: "Your admitted conduct was not only illegal, but also cruel and reprehensible. ...

"Even if you personally did not place bets, as you contend, your actions in funding the betting and your association with illegal gambling both violate the terms of your NFL player contract and expose you to corrupting influences in derogation of one of the most fundamental responsibilities of an NFL player."

3. Write to Virginia Tech. While suggestions that the university remove all mentions of you from its football facilities are over the top, you need to recognize the rift you've caused. Say something like this:

"Through my criminal behavior, I have become a divisive force at the school I love. Therefore, I respectfully request that you remove my name from Michael Vick Hall and the banner with my jersey number from Lane Stadium. I can only hope that one day my future actions will cause you to restore these honors."

4. Write to the Atlanta Falcons. Tell owner Arthur Blank, the man who showered you with a $130 million contract, that if he doesn't seek to recoup bonus money he paid you, you will donate those millions to animal shelters in Atlanta and your hometown of Newport News.

5. Be sincere. If some twisted side of you considers dogfighting a legitimate activity, do not offend us with public-service announcements condemning it. Your phoniness would be obvious.

6. Turn down all offers to star in "The Longest Yard III."

7. Be ever so careful with the media. Your public remarks since this case broke have been laughable, starting with the claim that you "never" went to your Surry County property and continuing with these gems:

"Everywhere I go all around the world people still support Mike Vick. So, regardless of what I go through, people still gonna love me, man."

"I take these charges seriously and look forward to clearing my good name."

Word has it that you'll appear on Tom Joyner's radio show Tuesday morning. Just remember: Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion. Moreover, the judge will be listening.

8. Don't attempt to con the feds. Tell them everything you know. Everything! Summon the stones to testify against others if necessary, no matter how dangerous they might be.

9. Urge the federal government to turn your compound at 1915 Moonlight Road in Surry County into an animal sanctuary.

10. Anonymously endow a scholarship at Virginia Tech. Not for the athletic department. For the College of Veterinary Medicine.

11. Don't be bitter. Yes, if not for your cousin's drug bust in Hampton and the subsequent search in Surry, this might not have happened. And yes, the public rebukes, particularly your father's, have been harsh.

But you know the score. You know who's to blame. So resist the temptation to curse the fates.

12. Forget football for a moment. Given your past — you won 20 of 21 games as a starter at Tech and earned three Pro Bowl appearances in six NFL seasons — this may be hardest of all.

But your next game could well be two or three years away, and given your richly deserved suspension and the unknown duration of your sentence, you may never play again in the NFL.

Regardless, life is not over. You are 27 and a father, and the good Lord willing, you have many years ahead. Make the most of them — as a citizen and dad.

Godspeed.