Virginia to endure survivor series as players go missing
Since the end of the 2007 season, several Virginia football players at key positions have left or have been removed from the team.
By Doug Doughty

When injuries threatened to derail Virginia’s 2007 football team, the Cavaliers adopted a next-man-up philosophy that lifted them to the brink of a 10-win season. That approach will be put to an even bigger test this year.

The Cavaliers knew they would lose All-America defensive end Chris Long. He was a senior. They might have guessed they would lose All-ACC offensive tackle Branden Albert, a junior who passed up his final season of eligibility and was selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. Can’t argue with that.

There were other seniors — prominent players like Tom Santi, Nate Lyles, Jonathan Stupar — whose worth to the Cavaliers was reflected by their invitations to NFL camps.

That’s normal attrition and hardly a reason for UVa fans to feel sorry for themselves.

But, what the Cavaliers have experienced since the end of the 2007 season is abnormal, with more than a half-dozen underclassmen lost to academic suspension, an honor offense and criminal misconduct.

Among the projected returnees who will not be available are starting quarterback Jameel Sewell, starting defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald and starting cornerback Chris Cook.

Sewell and Cook, who were among a group of four players declared academically ineligible in January, are working toward a return in 2009.

Fitzgerald has transferred to Kansas State, where he will join another former Cavalier, Olu Hall, who was declared academically ineligible prior to the 2007 season.

Hall was rated the No. 1 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times in 2003. Obviously, he was the Cavaliers’ top-rated in-state signee that year, as was linebacker J’Courtney Williams in 2007.

Williams is gone now, too, having been dismissed from the team last winter after he was arrested on charges of credit-card theft and credit-card fault.

Virginia has been plagued by attrition on other occasions, but seldom from such a wide array of causes.

“Whatever it is, whatever the attrition is, we’ve moved on to the future,” UVa head coach Al Groh said in an Aug. 14 teleconference. “Who’s here is here; who’s gone is gone. That’s a different time frame. I’m finished talking about all of that.”

In his defense, Groh did comment on the arrests of Williams and former defensive back Mike Brown at the time of Williams’ removal from the roster.

“It’s unsettling,” Groh said. “Everybody within the organization is disturbed by one misstep, so it just causes everybody to be that much more watchful [after] two unfortunate incidents.

“Any miscue that we have, whether it’s community issues or internal issues, we always address and reinforce immediately. We would hope the players have a pretty clear understanding of what the value system is and what we expect here.”

So, what happened?

Three Virginia players were charged with alcohol-related violations this summer, including quarterback contender Peter Lalich and starting offensive tackle Will Barker.

Groh said those matters have been addressed internally, but it begs the questions, at what point and to what degree is a coach responsible for his players’ indiscretions.

There were academic concerns even before the Cavaliers played in the Gator Bowl. Cook was not allowed to board the bus that took the team to the Charlottesville airport, and he did not play in the game. Tailback Mikell Simpson returned home to Harrisburg, Pa., and flew to the bowl site by himself only after receiving academic clearance.

While conceding that coaches should be held accountable, Groh, a Roman Catholic, likened the situation to a man who went to Mass each week and asked the Lord’s help in winning the lottery. For two weeks, he prayed and nothing happened. The third week, a voice came from above and told him, “Buy a ticket.”

“In the area of academics, I think our advisors have done a thorough and diligent job,” Groh told reporters at the ACC Football Kickoff in Greensboro, Ga. “It’s as strong a staff as we’ve had at any point. Ultimately, the players have got to buy a ticket.”

Insiders said that Groh repeatedly stressed academics during team meetings this spring. So did strength-and-conditioning coach Matt Balis, and the team responded with its highest cumulative grade-point average in nine years.

Generally, players don’t get in trouble during August. At Virginia, as with many programs, the players stay in a hotel until school is in session. They have curfews. Two-a-days leave them too tired to do much except practice, eat and watch TV.

The rest of the year, players are frequently on their own, and the team is left to police itself. Virginia has a core of senior leaders, including three of the four co-captains, but Groh said the coaches keep their eyes out for underclassmen who might serve in the next wave of team leaders.

Rashawn Jackson, a fourth-year junior fullback, hopes he meets that description. Jackson comes from St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, N.J., the same school that produced Brown, suspended following his arrest on a felony larceny charge.

“Part of being a team member is you have to be liable on and off the field,” Jackson said. “If you’re out and you see your brother making a mistake, it would probably be in your best interests to encourage him not to do so. I’ve done that. I’m not really a partyer or a guy who goes out a lot, but if I see one of our guys in a bad situation, I’m going to give him a hand or a shoulder to lean on and get him out of there.”

“Mike Brown is a good friend of mine. I’ve known him since we were in the seventh grade. We’ve got a lot of happy memories.

“Of course, I was worried for him, but you’ve got to learn to separate friends, family and business. So when it comes to us performing, I only worry about the guys on the field. It’s not about the other guys right now. It’s about us.”

 

Winning 2007 season seems like ancient history for Virginia football
After 2007’s surprising 9-4 record, Al Groh’s Cavaliers are picked to finish 5th in the ACC Coastal Division this year.
By Doug Doughty

No discussion of this year’s “sleeper” teams in college football is complete without mention of Texas Tech and its high-powered passing offense.

Nobody is talking about the team that had Texas Tech beaten for 57 minutes last year in the Gator Bowl.

Maybe that’s because the 2007 Virginia football team no longer exists.

The Cavaliers fought their way into title contention by winning eight of nine games after a 23-3 season-opening loss at Wyoming, but this year they are a preseason choice for fifth out of six in the ACC’s Coastal Division.

“Our team continues to labor to get much respect in this conference,” eighth-year Cavalier coach Al Groh said. “All we deal in is reality and reality only becomes apparent the first of December.”

Maybe so, but there is no mistaking the personnel losses the Cavaliers (9-4 overall, 6-2 ACC) have absorbed since the end of the season, including first-round NFL Draft picks Chris Long at defensive end and Branden Albert at offensive tackle.

“There’s a lot of young players on the team that the coaches are really looking forward to coaching,” Groh said. “You know, when Chris Long and Branden Albert were getting ready to start, I don’t recall that there were too many people saying, 'Oh, wow, this is incredible!’

“Now, everybody is wanting to know, 'What are you going to do without these guys?"

Long was named ACC defensive player of the year last season, when the Cavaliers were ranked 16th in Division I-A in scoring defense and 23rd in total defense.

On the other hand, Virginia finished 101st out of 119 Division I-A in total offense. The Cavaliers were 113th in total offense in 2006, their first season with Mike Groh as coordinator.

That was also the first of two seasons with Jameel Sewell as quarterback, and the Cavaliers might have thought Sewell would begin to pay dividends as a junior starter. But he was declared academically ineligible in January.

Added to that was the departure of Albert and two other starters on the offensive line, as well as the loss of tight ends Tom Santi and Jonathan Stupar.

Still, there is guarded optimism regarding the offense. Tailbacks Cedric Peerman and Mikell Simpson combined to rush for 1,155 yards in roughly one half-season apiece, and the Cavaliers welcome back 2006 leading receiver Kevin Ogletree.

Ogletree, who had 52 receptions as a sophomore, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the spring of 2007 but was fortunate enough to have a redshirt year at his disposal.

“Really, the Kevin Ogletree rehab story is over,” Groh said in mid-August.

Virginia has plenty of weapons offensively, including 6-foot-6, 250-pound tight end John Phillips from Bath County.

The Cavaliers also have a potential first-round draft pick in 6-6, 315-pound offensive tackle Eugene Monroe, but there is one gaping hole to be filled — at quarterback.

Peter Lalich played in eight games as a true freshman and attempted 61 passes as Sewell’s backup. After the Wyoming debacle, there were even calls for Lalich to replace Sewell, but then the Cavaliers won six games in a row.

Virginia has recruited few quarterbacks in its history with credentials to match Lalich’s, but there have been questions surrounding his commitment and focus. He was charged with underage possession of alcohol this summer and has a string of traffic citations on his record.

His rivals for the starting job are even more inexperienced. Sophomore Marc Verica has no game experience.

Senior Scott Deke took two snaps during mop-up duty against Pittsburgh. Deke was not planning to return for a fifth year until Sewell was lost.

The big question on defense surrounds the defensive line and not only because of Long’s departure. Fellow defensive end Jeff Fitzgerald, who had shown the potential to become a marquee player, was dismissed from school with two years of eligibility remaining.

With two weeks to go before the Cavaliers’ Aug. 30 opener at home against No. 3 Southern Cal, UVa was considering redshirt freshman Matt Conrath to start at one tackle spot. The other starter, 6-7, 270-pound senior Alex Field, has played 228 plays in his career.

That’s a month’s worth for UVa’s three senior linebackers — Jon Copper, Antonio Appleby and preseason All-ACC choice Clint Sintim.

Sintim, whose pass-rushing ability becomes even more critical in Long’s absence, enters his final season with 16 career sacks and 30 tackles for loss.

He was one of Virginia’s two preseason All-ACC picks, along with Monroe.

“Obviously, I have to do my part,” Sintim said, “but I don’t necessarily think he’s [Long] replaceable.”

There are some other story lines this year, including the debut of new defensive coordinator Bob Pruett, a former Marshall head coach who succeeds Mike London, now the head coach at Richmond.

Also, Virginia must replace place-kicker Chris Gould, whose best season came in 2007, when UVa won five games by one or two points.

There was a fine line between winning and losing last year, and maybe that’s why the forecasters have been less than bullish on UVa this year.

UVa was picked behind three teams it defeated last season, including a Miami team it drubbed 48-0 in the Hurricanes’ final game at the Orange Bowl
“I’m not bitter,” Sintim said.

“I understand we’ve lost some guys. We’re in the business of 'what have you done lately?’”

 

Cavaliers punter 'not just a specialist'
Virginia freshman Jimmy Howell is more athletic than your average punter.
By NORM WOOD | 247-4642
August 22, 2008

In the first few days after Jimmy Howell arrived in Charlottesville this summer, he made a habit of walking a few hundred yards out of his Gooch Dorm room and past Scott Stadium.

He'd stand there in front of the stadium, trying to visualize what it would be like to stand about 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage Aug. 30 with Southern California's line barreling down on him as he tried to punt. That's what punters do — put in the mental reps.

The only problem with this particular mind's eye exercise was a lack of a practical comparison. Howell couldn't imagine it. He'd envisioned himself doing a lot of things in sports — kicking, passing, booting a soccer ball, shooting a 3-pointer — and he'd succeeded in the real-life applications of all those visualization drills.

Seeing himself on the field against USC was unfathomable.

"You really can't," said Howell, a 6-foot-6, 238-pound freshman from Florence, S.C. "I mean, coming out of high school, I tried to visualize just coming (to UVa) and working with this team. I couldn't even think about USC. You just can't do it until you're right there in the spot."

He won't have to think about it much longer. He'll actually get to do it. Howell will be UVa's starting punter against USC, according to UVa coach Al Groh. Howell will almost certainly be the Cavaliers' only true freshman starter in the game, and Groh believes he's ready.

"Jimmy doesn't have the consistency we hope that the future brings, but when he hits his best ball ... it is high and it is far and he's got a pretty decent sense of direction based on the coverage and the rush where the ball should best be kicked," Groh said. "For a young fella coming in under these circumstances, he's shown a good sense of calm and presence. He seems and indicates that he's comfortable with his opportunity, so all of that combined to make us feel good about going ahead with that."

Groh, who said Howell may be the most athletic punter he's coached, has been a fan of Howell's since seeing him at UVa's football camp in the summer of 2007. Howell, who committed to Northwestern before de-committing and heading to UVa, played an entire day at tight end in UVa's camp.

That's right ... tight end.

Howell also played quarterback at West Florence High, and went to a few camps as a quarterback.

He was even selected the "Outstanding Quarterback" at an SCVarsity.com camp when he was in high school.

He played varsity soccer as early as his freshman year, and lettered twice in both soccer and basketball in high school. All of that while graduating from high school with a 4.25 grade-point average. He plans to pursue something in either the law or medicine fields.

"This guy is an athlete," UVa special-teams coordinator and linebackers coach Bob Diaco said. "He's not just a specialist. He could embarrass you on the basketball court. He can throw and hit a baseball. He's got some tools that make him unique. You could probably put him on a ski slope and he'd be great at that, too."

Howell's eighth-grade soccer coach actually was the first person to encourage him to give punting a try. He was a varsity punter as a freshman and sophomore at Wilson High in Florence before he transferred to West Florence before his junior year. He averaged more than 43 yards per punt as a senior and was considered by most recruiting analysts to be one of the nation's top 25 punters.

Now, he'll join UVa place-kicker Yannick Reyering as first-year college football players with starting roles. Groh named Reyering, a 24-year-old senior from Mettingen, Germany, who led the Cavaliers' men's soccer team in scoring for three seasons, a starter Wednesday.

"I think it's pretty sweet," said Howell regarding Reyering's success on the soccer field. "We call ourselves the international team."
 

30 things to know about USC
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: August 23, 2008

Here we are, less than a week from perhaps the biggest home opener in Scott Stadium history.
With Southern Cal coming to town, we thought it appropriate to introduce fans with 30 things you should know about the Trojans:
No. 1: From the start, let’s make sure we get it right. It’s not Southern Cal, even though people often use that name. The school prefers to be called Southern California or USC and for its teams to be referred to as the Trojans or Troy. They feel it’s inappropriate to be called Southern Cal, noting that it’s the same as calling North Carolina, “North Car.”
No. 2: Under coach Pete Carroll, the Trojans have become the first ever to boast three Heisman Trophy winners within a four-year span. In all, USC has seven Heisman winners, including one it can’t be very proud of in O.J. Simpson.
No. 3: USC and UVa began football programs in the same year, 1888. However, USC fielded rugby teams and not football squads in 1911, 1912, and 1913, the same three-year span that Cavalier football teams went posted a collective 21-6 record.
No. 4: Southern Cal owns a 10-6 record against members of the ACC.
No. 5: The school’s athletic director Mike Garrett, who has held the post since 1993), is somewhat familiar with this part of Virginia. We were told that he used to own a place at Wintergreen and would vacation there each summer and play golf.
No. 6: Garrett, by the way, won the Heisman in 1965 when he became the first in a long line of great USC
I-formation tailbacks, followed by Simpson, Anthony Davis, Ricky Bell, Charles White and Marcus Allen. Reggie Bush was the most recent star Trojan tailback.
No. 7: Two former Washington Redskins head coaches were once assistant coaches at USC — Joe Gibbs and Norv Turner.
No. 8: One of the greatest alumni of USC was known more for his acting skills than his football: John Wayne, “the Duke,” was a tackle for the Trojans in 1925 and 1926, although he played under his real name of Marion Morrison, a name that wouldn’t fly on the silver screen. Beginning in 1980, the Wayne family started a scholarship for a USC player in John Wayne’s name.
No. 9: Just for kicks, some other famous alumni of USC: actors Will Ferrell, John Ritter, Cybil Shepherd, Forest Whitaker, Marlo Thomas and Fess Parker. Others of note: Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf; astronaut Neil Armstrong; columnist Art Buchwald; opera star Marilyn Horne; Hollywood directors Ron Howard (yes, Opie), George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah; and former NFL great and football play-by-play man Frank Gifford.
No. 10: USC will bring its full band to Scott Stadium. It’s called “The Spirit of Troy.” If you watch
much college football, you will be familiar with two of the songs: “Fight On,” usually played after first downs and scores, and “Tribute to Troy,” which seems to be played over and over and over, but is supposed to be played after every defensive stop.
No. 11: By the way, one USC alum we didn’t mention previously was a former member of the Trojans’ marching band, famed trumpeter Herb Alpert.
No. 12: And, for heaven’s sake, yes, USC’s Song Girls will be in attendance. We’ve been asked that question more than any other since the game was announced. They’re famous for their white sweaters and have been proclaimed one of the best things about college football by veteran ESPN gridiron connoisseur Beano Cook.
No. 13: No, the USC horse, “Traveler,” is not scheduled to make the trip. We don’t think that Traveler actually travels.
No. 14: Virginia will become the 34th state (plus Japan) where the Trojans have played football.
No. 15: Carroll owns a
76-14 record (84.4 percent), making him the winningest active coach in major college football.
No. 16: He has coached 30 first-team All-Americans in his previous seven seasons at USC.
No. 17: During that same span, 42 of his players have been NFL draft picks, including 11 taken in the first round.
No. 18: Southern Cal is the all-time leader in first round NFL draft choices with 71, followed by Ohio State with 66. No ACC team ranks in the top 15 in this category.
No. 19: USC is 5-2 all-time in games played in August.
No. 20: This will not be Carroll’s first visit to Scott Stadium. He was N.C. State’s defensive coordinator under Monte Kiffin from 1980-82, and the Wolfpack won both appearances in Charlottesville against teams coached by Dick Bestwick and George Welsh (Welsh’s first year).
No. 21: USC has 33,500 students, of which 16,500 are undergraduates.
No. 22: The Trojans’ depth chart goes nine deep at split end, nine deep at flanker, and seven deep at tailback.
No.23: Carroll and UVa coach Al Groh have criss-crossed a bit in their careers, but never really gone head-to-head in scheming against one another because they were both defensive coaches for most of their careers. They both were head coach of the New York Jets for one year only, with Carroll resigning after a 6-10 record to become defensive coordinator of the 49ers and Groh resigning after a 9-7 record to become UVa’s head coach.
No. 24: USC has a record of 84-23-8 in season openers (.765) and is 26-7-1 in road openers.
No. 25: If you’re expecting the Trojans to score a jillion points on the Cavaliers, you might want to look at last season’s USC results. In six of their games, the Trojans didn’t exactly blow away the opposition: won 27-24 at Washington; lost 24-23 vs. Stanford; won 20-13 vs. Arizona; lost 24-17 at Oregon; won 24-7 at Cal; and won 24-7 vs. UCLA.
No. 26: USC senior linebacker Clay Matthews may have met Groh before, but may not remember. Groh coached Matthews’ father, also named Clay, in 1992 while serving as linebacker coach for the Cleveland Browns. Matthews, who was in his next-to-last season, played in 278 games, third-most in NFL history. The elder Matthews also played at USC.
No. 27: Virginia thought it had a good chance to land linebacker Brian Cushing of Park Ridge, N.J., a few years ago until USC came into the picture. Cushing is now a senior All-American candidate for the Trojans.
No. 28: There are 82 Californians on the USC roster and no one from Virginia.
No. 29: USC’s team will be leaving Los Angeles at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday on a U.S. Airways flight and will arrive in Charlottesville at 9:30 p.m. Like most visiting teams, the Trojans will stay at the Doubletree hotel. They will depart C’Ville at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night and arrive back in L.A. at 11:30 p.m.
No. 30: Virginia will return the visit to USC on Sept. 11, 2010. It will be USC’s second game of the season after opening Sept. 4 at Hawaii.

 

Conference inadequacy
The ACC had grandiose visions of football supremacy when it added Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College. But those hopes have not materialized, and the league remains in the shadow of the SEC.
Mark Berman


File photo | The Roanoke Times



Associated Press

The ACC had high hopes that expansion would turn the league into a football superpower admired across the land.

It hasn't happened. If anything, the league's reputation has been slipping.

The ACC is not considered one of the nation's top football leagues a la the Southeastern Conference or Big 12. It has never landed two teams in the Bowl Championship Series in the same year, unlike the aforementioned leagues or the Pacific 10 or Big Ten.

The ACC is in a "down cycle," said ABC analyst Bob Griese. He considers the SEC the nation's best league.

"The SEC, ... it just seems like with the amount of players and recruits that they get, and the teams [it has], and the coaching jobs all these guys are doing, they're the dominant [league]," Griese said.

The ACC was ranked sixth among the 11 Division I-A conferences in The Sporting News' preview magazine, the lowest ranking among the BCS leagues. Lindy's ranked the ACC fifth in its preview magazine.

There are only three ACC teams in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll, compared to six SEC teams, five Big 12 teams and four Big Ten teams. The five other BCS leagues each have at least one team ranked ahead of the ACC's top-ranked member, No. 9 Clemson.

That wasn't what the ACC expected when Virginia Tech and five-time national champ Miami came aboard in 2004, followed by fellow Big East import Boston College a year later.

"I think we're the best [league]," Hokies coach Frank Beamer said in the summer of 2004.

"I think we're looked upon as being on equal footing [with the SEC]," ACC commissioner John Swofford said in the summer of 2005.

No one is saying that anymore.

Expansion has certainly fattened ACC members' wallets. But the ACC has lost eight straight BCS bowls since Florida State beat then-Big East member Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl in January 2000, which greatly tarnishes the league's reputation. The Hokies were responsible for the latest loss, falling to Kansas in the Orange Bowl last January.

"You've got to start winning those BCS games," ABC and ESPN commentator Doug Flutie said. "The SEC has been stronger. ... Would a team from the ACC or Big Ten with two losses be put in the national title game [like LSU last season]? I don't think so."

"We have not done well in the BCS and ...that shows ... whether or not your conference is good, is winning on the highest stage," Georgia Tech offensive tackle Andrew Gardner said.

The ACC hasn't produced a national champion since that FSU win over the Hokies. The league hasn't even had a team in the BCS title game since FSU lost to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl in January 2001.

"You've got to have a national champion come out of your conference, which they used to [have]," said Rick "Doc" Walker, the analyst for the ACC's syndicated game of the week. "Without the flash team -- no LSU, no USC, no Florida State in the old days or Miami in the old days, you're not going to get the [media] behind you."

The biggest reason for the ACC's decline?

"We've been down," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said of his Seminoles. "Miami's been down."

FSU and Miami have won a combined seven national titles. The Seminoles finished among the top five in the final AP poll for 14 straight years, ending with the 2000 season. But FSU has lost at least four games in five of the past seven seasons, and is coming off its second straight 7-6 campaign.

Miami went unbeaten in 2001, capping the season with its fifth national crown. The Hurricanes, though, went 7-6 in 2006 and 5-7 last fall.

"Miami [was] not going to stay up there and do what they were doing," Griese said. "Florida State finishing in the top [five] ... that just doesn't go on and on. You have to have some down years.

"I'm not surprised the [ACC] thing has hit a down cycle, and I won't be surprised when it comes back."

At the end of the 2005 season, the ACC's first year with 12 teams, the league went 5-3 in bowl games. But last season, the ACC went just 2-6 in bowls -- its fewest wins since going 1-4 in the bowls that followed the 2000 season.

Last season's losses included the Hokies' defeat in the Orange Bowl; Clemson's overtime loss to Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta; and Virginia's loss to Texas Tech in the Gator Bowl.

"If we come out this year and win the Gator Bowl, the Orange Bowl and the ... Chick-fil-A Bowl, people are going to be like, 'Wow, the ACC is back big-time,'" Gardner said. "That'll do a lot to change the perception nationally."

The ACC was just 11-15 against the other BCS conferences last year, including both regular-season and bowl games. That included a 3-6 mark against the SEC and a 2-4 mark against the Big 12. That does not include losses to the likes of Wyoming, Central Florida and East Carolina.

The regular season featured LSU's 48-7 thrashing of the Hokies, Oklahoma's 51-13 rout of Miami, and West Virginia's 31-14 win over Maryland.

And then there was Florida's 45-12 undressing of FSU, and Georgia's 31-17 victory over Georgia Tech. The two SEC teams have owned those series in recent years.

"The SEC and the ACC, we're kind of like rivals," Georgia Tech defensive tackle Vance Walker said. "We need to beat them. That's the bottom line.

"It all goes back to just winning nonconference games against them; bowl games, too. We can win the national championship, but if we lose to somebody from the SEC, that just makes it even worse, to let the nation know the SEC's better than the ACC."

The ACC will have plenty of chances to test itself against the SEC this year. Clemson opens against Alabama at the Georgia Dome. Clemson and North Carolina State both face South Carolina. Florida State and Miami will both take on Florida. Wake Forest will meet Mississippi and Vanderbilt. Georgia Tech will face Mississippi State and Georgia.

"If all this [Clemson] hype is for real, we'll go out there [against Alabama] and play good and we'll get out of there with a win," Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper said. "ACC vs. SEC, ACC's got to step up and start winning these games. ... We've got to show up ..."

At least there is one area where the ACC has bragging rights -- the NFL Draft. The ACC has had 115 players picked in the last three drafts combined, more than any other league. The SEC is second with 112.

If only all those picks translated into a greater number of prestigious wins.

"Look at the NFL Draft," Hokies quarterback Sean Glennon said. "I don't think it's a lack of talent [in the ACC, but] I will say the SEC seems to be the strongest conference."