White: Playing Time Awaits Rookies
By Jeff White
jwhite@virginia.edu

CHARLOTTESVILLE – Some college football coaches, most notably Wake Forest’s Jim Grobe, are famously averse to playing true freshmen.
UVa’s Al Groh never has been in that camp. During his first eight seasons as coach at his alma mater, Groh played an average of about 7 true freshmen per year.
Some years he’s played more – 14 in 2002, for example, and 11 in ’05 – and some years fewer. Defensive lineman Nate Collins was the only true freshman to play for the ‘Hoos in 2006, and the total was five in ’07 and again in ’08.
In this, Groh’s ninth season at UVa, he’s likely to hit his average this year when it comes to playing newcomers. Don’t be shocked if he exceeds it.
At the recent ACC Football Kickoff in Greensboro, N.C., Groh confirmed that he plans to use Will Hill this season, and the freshman defensive end from Williamsburg won’t be alone from his class.
Hill enrolled at UVa in January after graduating early from Lafayette High, and he went through spring practice, so he’s more integrated into the program than his fellow true freshmen. But Groh considers several of them too talented to keep on the sideline this fall.
Training camp starts Friday for the Cavaliers. The season opener is Sept. 5 against William and Mary at Scott Stadium. Here are some of the candidates to play as true freshmen (in alphabetical order, with heights and weights from the media guide):
*OT Oday Aboushi (6-6, 305) – Played for the United States this summer in the International Federation of American Football’s first junior world championship ... Has the size and skill to compete for a spot on the second-team line.
*DE Will Hill (6-4, 250) – Has impressed Virginia’s coaches with his work ethic and sense of purpose ... Light for a 3-4 end but figures to provide depth at a position where UVa has little.
*WR Quintin Hunter (6-1, 185) – Played wideout as a sophomore at Orange County High before switching to quarterback later in his career ... Tremendous athlete who also starred at defensive back and in basketball.
*PK Drew Jarrett (6-0, 185) – Finished his career at Virginia Beach’s Cox High with 29 field goals, the most in South Hampton Roads history … Booted 12 field goals as a senior, including a 54-yarder.
*DB Perry Jones (5-8, 185) – Pound for pound and inch for inch, might have been the state’s top player at Chesapeake’s Oscar Smith High last year … Whether the secondary will be his permanent home isn’t clear, but he may earn playing time on special teams this fall.
*DE Justin Renfrow (6-6, 270) – From the Philadelphia high school, Penn Charter, that produced UVa basketball players Sean Singletary and Sammy Zeglinski … Has the size to work into the mix in the 3-4 this season.
*WR Tim Smith (6-0, 175) – Put up incredible numbers last season for Group AAA, Division 6 state champion Oscar Smith, catching 73 passes for 1,681 yards and 24 touchdowns … Also returned five kicks for TDs and is likely to play on special teams as well as at wideout this season.
*DE Brent Urban (6-7, 280) – Has the size to get on the field as a freshman, but comes to UVa from Ontario and will need time to adjust to the speed of the U.S. game … Superior athlete who also played hockey and basketball in Canada.

INTO THE FIRE
True freshmen who have played for U.Va. during Al Groh’s tenure as football coach:
2001: 6

2002: 14

2003: 7

2004: 10

2005: 11

2006: 1

2007: 5

2008: 5

2009: TBD

 

White: Slebonick Takes the Fifth
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Release: 08/04/2009
By Jeff White
jwhite@virginia.edu

CHARLOTTESVILLE – If all goes as planned, Patrick Slebonick will start law school next summer. His future does not include the NFL, and he's fine with that.

That doesn’t mean Slebonick, who graduated from UVa in December with a bachelor’s in government, has lost his passion for football. The offensive guard from Stafford County received an unexpected extension on his college career this year, and he feels blessed.

“This is actually the most excited I’ve been for a training camp,” Slebonick said today at University Hall. “After you’ve been away from the team for two or three months, like I was, you really appreciate being part of a team and being a Division I athlete.”

In 2008, Slebonick was a vital part of UVa’s blocking schemes on punts and field-goal attempts. The Cavaliers switched to a spread protection package on punts after the 2007 regular season, with Slebonick lining up in front of punter Jimmy Howell, and they had none blocked last year.

After the season, however, Virginia coach Al Groh, citing a lack of scholarships, said Slebonick would not be invited back for a fifth year.

“That was a little bit of a blow, I’m not going to lie,” said Slebonick, who’d redshirted in 2005.

His football career was over, Slebonik thought, but his scholarship was good through the end of the 2008-09 academic year, so he enrolled in UVa’s Curry School of Education for the second semester and began work on a master’s degree.

Then, on the eve of spring practice, Slebonick got a call from special-teams coordinator Ron Prince. Stop by the McCue Center and let’s talk, Prince told Slebonick.

A former offensive coordinator and offensive-line coach at UVa, Prince had spent the previous three seasons as head man at Kansas State. But he was back at Virginia in a new role and liked what he’d seen of Slebonick on tape.

“He asked me if I wanted to come back as a special-teams guy,” recalled Slebonick.

Prince, who’d recruited and coached Slebonick before leaving for K-State, proved persuasive. “We already had that connection,” said Slebonick, who accepted Prince’s invitation and rejoined the team in the spring.

UVa’s coaching staff couldn’t promise Slebonick a scholarship for the 2009 season, and he’s still not sure how that will play out. Either way, Slebonick said, it “would be hard to get out of it at this point. I might be scrambling to come up with money to pay my tuition check, but I think it’s safe to say I’ll be around [this season].”

Howell said: “It’s great to have another experienced person coming back, especially with him probably being the most important person on the punt team, along with the snapper.”

Slebonick, who turns 22 on Thursday, hopes to earn his master’s from UVa next spring before embarking on another academic journey. He did well on the LSAT and is in the process of applying to law schools, including those at William and Mary, Washington and Lee, Richmond, George Mason and, not surprisingly, Virginia.

“I could definitely do three more years here,” Slebonick said. “I love Charlottesville. It’s enough of the city, with a little country atmosphere.”

As a schoolboy at North Stafford High, Slebonick chose UVa over Virginia Tech, West Virginia and N.C. State. He’s distinguished himself academically in college but never has cracked the rotation on the O-line. That’s one reason he so appreciates his role on special teams.

Even when he wasn’t playing, Slebonick said, he felt like a full-fledged member of the team, “but you definitely feel completely different when you’re out there basically running the punt team, which can make or break a game. I just took the job: that was my job and my contribution.”

Slebonick, who stands 6-5, enters training camp in superb condition. He’s down to 280 pounds, “the lightest I’ve been since I was a freshman in high school.” In addition to his blocking duties, he’ll provide depth at long-snapper, where Danny Aiken returns as the starter.

One last training camp awaits big No. 74. Friday can’t arrive too soon for Slebonick.

“Now it’s not really a burden,” he said. “It’s what I’m doing to experience one of the greatest things I could do at this stage.”

 

Coaches’ salaries say it all
By Paul Woody
Published: August 5, 2009

My first thought after hearing about Urban Meyer's new contract was, "Whew. Now he can give up that part-time job at the convenience store."

My second thought was that $4 million per year must be the top salary in the country for a college football coach.

My first thought was a weak attempt at humor. Been watching too many Seinfeld DVDs.

Sadly, my second thought was wrong.

Pete Carroll at Southern California, with one bowl championship title, earns $4.4 million per year.

Charlie Weis at Notre Dame earns $4.2 million per year. He's 29-21, including 10-15 the past two seasons.

Coaching college football has its challenges. Recruiting is a pain. Alumni are hard to please. Some faculty members even think the majority of the athletes should graduate.

Imagine that!

So, Meyer, with his two BCS crowns and a reasonable chance to win a third this season, deserves all that money.

OK, that was another weak attempt at humor.

Colleges must pay what the market demands. But still . . .

Meyer's new contract is the latest example of how college athletic departments overwhelm their universities. Florida is not alone.

Nick Saban earns $3.9 million per season as Alabama's football coach.

Les Miles makes $3.75 million per season at LSU. He will be paid at least $1,000 more than the highest paid football coach in the SEC if he wins a national title.

Frank Beamer, $2.1 million per year at Virginia Tech, and Al Groh, $1.875 million at Virginia, are relative bargains.

Mike London, earning the comparative modest pay of a Football Championship Subdivision coach, is a steal with a national title in his first year at the University of Richmond.

Coaches are not paid from public funds. And the Florida athletic department has contributed $17.3 million to the school since 2005. Meyer also is giving $1 million to the Florida Opportunity Scholars Program.

All that is wonderful.

However, the football program could contribute $3 million more annually to the university if Meyer made "only" $1 million a year.

That still would put him in the top 1 percent of earners in the country.

Sure, it's tough to get by on $1 million these days. It's a lot tougher for the nine UF faculty members and 49 other university employees who were recently laid off to get by with no income.

It's also tougher for students, and their parents, to find the extra 8 to 15 percent that tuition increased this year.

Florida, like most universities, runs its athletic department as a separate entity. It's part of the university, except when it comes to money, then it is apart from the university.

This markedly increases the potential for abuse and absurd contract decisions.

BCS schools can have outstanding football programs without paying the coaches as if they were investment bankers or Wall Street titans.

Investment bankers and Wall Street titans probably wish they could be paid like BCS coaches.

Apologists can say all they wish to justify what college coaches are paid. It still is inexcusable for any university to permit such excesses while firing people and raising tuition.

It's tempting to say college presidents and university trustees must decide whether they want their schools to be known as educational institutions or athletic departments that happen to have colleges attached.

Unfortunately, as these coaches' contracts show, that decision already has been made.

Coaches cash in
David Teel
August 5, 2009

Unlike the Obama administration, the NCAA has neither the leverage nor moxie to limit executive compensation.

So while the government dictates to firms feeding at the bailout trough, college sports' governing body does nothing as wages for high-profile coaches soar into Harry Potter's tax bracket.

Prudent? Pitiful? The beauty of capitalism?

The latest salvo came Monday from Gator Country, where the University of Florida has agreed to pay football coach Urban Meyer at least $4 million annually — about the combined salaries of Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer and Virginia's Al Groh — for the next six years.

Meyer is worth every nickel, and then some. The Gators have won two national titles in his four seasons and figure to contend again in 2009 and beyond.

Revenue from tickets, merchandise and media rights. There's no calculating the value of Meyer's juggernaut, to the athletic department and university.

Moreover, the 45-year-old Meyer is young and marketable. Had Florida not ponied up, who knows how many suitors would have tempted him? Some still may.

But that reality cannot and should not obscure this: The recession has bludgeoned higher education, and the University of Florida recently announced 49 layoffs and $42 million in spending cuts.

Yes, similar to Virginia and Virginia Tech, Florida funds its sports programs through donations to a foundation separate from the university. And Meyer has pledged $1 million over the duration of his contract to the school's scholarship fund for impoverished, first-generation students.

Still, the mixed messages are undeniable, at Florida and elsewhere.

Oklahoma recently bumped football coach Bob Stoops' annual package to approximately $3.7 million. His peers at Alabama and Louisiana State, Nick Saban and Les Miles, earn $3.9 million and $3.75 million, respectively.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Southern California pays Pete Carroll a national-high $4.4 million, while salary rankings compiled by the Orlando Sentinel list 23 college football coaches — Notre Dame's Charlie Weis is No. 2 at $4.2 million — set to make at least $2 million this season.

And don't forget basketball. According to Internal Revenue Service documents filed by private institutions and obtained by the Associated Press, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski made $3.6 million last year.

Florida, the only Division I school to employ national-championship coaches in both marquee sports, pays Billy Donovan $3.5 million. Last winter, Kentucky lured John Calipari — he's won three fewer national titles than Krzyzewski — from Memphis with an eight-year contract worth at least $31 million and change.

These sums, by the way, don't include perks such as cars, country-club memberships and private jet use, or potential bonuses for on-the-field performance.

The lone exception these days is the University of California system, reeling from the state's tattered budget — thank you, Gov. Terminator and friends. UCLA is reducing the salaries of football coach Rick Neuheisel and men's basketball coach Ben Howland by 10 percent, with Cal-Berkeley poised to follow suit.

Bet Carroll is glad USC is a private school.

But even with their salaries cut, Neuheisel and Howland make far more than their academic counterparts.

"You have to ask some very hard questions," NCAA president Myles Brand said at the Final Four this spring, "whether this is really in tune with the academic values, whether we've reached a point already that these high salary and packages for coaches have really extended beyond what's expected within the academic community.

"Those questions really have to be asked. Now, we can't answer them. It's anti-trust if we were to try to regulate any salaries. But I would hope our university presidents and our conferences would ask those questions themselves."

Brand is correct about the anti-trust angle. In 1999, the NCAA paid $54 million to settle a lawsuit that challenged the "restricted-earnings" assistant coaching position in men's basketball — former Virginia assistant Pete Herrmann was among the plaintiffs.

But Brand, who as Indiana University's president too long tolerated the shenanigans of head basketball coach Bob Knight, is delusional if he believes most presidents and/or conferences will unilaterally disarm.

Consider the Southeastern Conference's new television deals with CBS and ESPN, worth $3 billion over 15 years, or about $16 million annually per school. With that unrivaled revenue — the ACC's TV contracts net each school about $6.5 million — the SEC isn't about to find religion.

Nor should it. Sports is business, business needs money, and basketball beats biochemistry every time.


 

Ronde Barber: proving his worth
The Tampa Bay Bucs' Ronde Barber wants to show he's still a top NFL cornerback.
Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. -- Playing mostly zone in the Tampa 2 system for the past 12 seasons, cornerback Ronde Barber was able to torment quarterbacks in obvious passing situations, trusting his instincts to anticipate plays and move on the football.

More often than not, he guessed right. It showed with 37 interceptions, 23 sacks and 13 touchdowns in his career, including 11 on fumble and interception returns -- tied for third-most in NFL history.

A new scheme will require the Roanoke, Va., native and former University of Virginia standout to play more bump-and-run coverage than in Monte Kiffin's defense, and at age 34 and coming off a sub-par season, Barber is determined to prove he's still a top-flight NFL corner.

"It's completely out of my control what people say about me," Barber said. "I just go out and do my job. Hopefully that speaks for itself."

The five-time Pro Bowl selection concedes he owes a lot to playing in the same system his entire career, allowing him to become the only cornerback in league history with at least 20 interceptions and 20 sacks. He's also forced 10 fumbles and has nine fumble recoveries.

Like Barber, first-year Bucs coach Raheem Morris rejects the notion that the corner owes his success to the Bucs' version of Cover 2.

"He's out to prove you guys wrong," said Morris, who's worked with Tampa Bay's secondary for six of the past seven years, including 2008 as defensive backs coach.

"He's not a system corner. If he's a system corner, then I don't know any other Cover 2 corners out there that have those kinds of numbers," the coach added. "Keep producing those system corners and maybe you can call him that."

Kiffin is now at the University of Tennessee and Morris has taken over after briefly holding the title of defensive coordinator. The Bucs are learning a system installed by defensive coordinator Jim Bates, which calls for more man-to-man coverage and blitzing.

"It's a deny defense. You take away part of the offense's game plan and hope to succeed. A lot of it is deny and run. It's not so much I'm playing man-to-man every snap," Barber said. "But it's different. It's something I'm certainly getting used to, but I think it's something we can handle. I think it's something that's good."

Under Kiffin, Tampa Bay ranked in the top 10 in total defense 11 of the past 12 seasons. Neverthless, Morris was not willing to stand on that.

Starting linebackers Derrick Brooks and Cato June were among five veterans released in February, when the coach and new general manager Mark Dominik wanted to go younger.

Barber, who struggled at times last season, survived the purge and is now one of three players -- along with kicker Matt Bryant and punter Josh Bidwell -- in training camp who are older than the 32-year-old Morris, the youngest coach in the NFL.

Barber said he embraces the challenge of learning Bates' system.

"Coming to training camp the past eight or nine years, it was almost second nature. I was going through the motions. I knew exactly what I needed to do. Come game time, I could start gearing it up," Barber said. "But this training camp for me is a lot different, trying to figure out where I can make plays."

The 13th-year pro expects this edition of the Bucs defense to be faster and more physical.

"I can already feel that. ... We just have a youthful exuberance in the locker room. It's different. We were definitely a team run by our veterans in the past, and that's all well and good when you drive from the top down," Barber said.
 

Harrell finds his fit
By Jerry Meyer, Rivals.com Basketball Recruiting Analyst
8 hours, 1 minute ago

Four-star prospect K.T. Harrell has opened the eyes of coaches and scouts who weren’t aware of him in July, but one ACC school was on him early and has now sealed the deal.

Tony Bennett made Harrell, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound shooting guard from Montgomery (Ala.) Brewbaker Tech Magnet School, his top recruiting priority shortly after taking the job at Virginia. His early and prolonged effort paid off.

“K.T. has a great relationship with Coach Bennett,” Harrell’s dad Rodney Harrell said. “He calls Coach Bennett all the time. It’s going to be a great fit for K.T. We’re really excited about playing for Virginia.”

Harrell had to sit out his junior season after transferring to Brewbaker Tech Magnet, but he quickly became the go-to guy for the Alabama Challenge. He will play a role at Virginia similar to the one Derrick Lowe played at Washington State under Bennett.

Harrell, who is the No. 67 ranked prospect in the Rivals150, chose Virginia over Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia and Mississippi State.

His is the third commitment in Virginia’s 2009 recruiting class joining Joe Harris and Will Regan.


 

What's Going On? Guards Flying off The Board
K.T. Harrell Wants To Visit By Dave Telep
National Recruiting Director
Posted Aug 4, 2009

Monday brought a rash of verbal commitments from shooting guards, both in 2010 and 2011, the likes we haven't seen days after the close of a period. Taking a proactive approach, we caught up with K.T. Harrell and Trae Golden to find out if they were next.

What in the world is going on with the shooting guards in 2010? For starters, we lost one of the best ones in the middle of the month when Andre Dawkins decided he was going to fill a need at Duke and graduate early. He’s not even part of the class anymore.
Now, three short days after the conclusion of the evaluation period, a trio of up and coming senior wings (plus a stud sophomore) pull the trigger? Rion Brown, we hardly got to know you. Joe Harris, we were just building our file. Ditto for Charles Hankerson. Each of them gone, off the board as of Monday evening.

The gut reaction is that dominoes are falling. Is that what really happened? To find out, we started calling a few of the remaining shooting guards who haven’t committed.

We began the search for information with K.T. Harrell, arguably the top senior in Alabama this year and a guy who turned the corner in July and made himself a prime target. The Montgomery (Ala.) Brewbaker Tech wing is a future Scout.com Top 100 prospect.

For the record, Harrell only partially saw this coming. “I was looking at (those commitments),” he said. “I knew Virginia was going to get (Joe Harris). Coach Grant gave me a hint that I had to get it when it comes. I wasn’t surprised that (Charles Hankerson) did it, I just didn’t know when he was going to do it.” Harrell said that Alabama’s commitment did affect him and the Tide would no longer be under consideration.

We called Harrell following the barrage of commitments because he made the most sense. A target of both the Crimson Tide and the Cavaliers, maybe he was the next domino?

Wrong. Harrell isn’t ready to commit but he does have a leader. Tony Bennett and Virginia are out in front on this one. “I do want to go to (visit) Virginia,” Harrell said. “They’re at the top of my list. I’m probably going to visit Georgia and I’ve already visited Auburn.”

Arkansas and Mississippi State are in the mix as well. “Mississippi State and Arkansas up there. Right now I haven’t taken any visits so I don’t know what these schools are about. I can’t commit to any one of them now because I don’t know what they’re about.”

Harrell does, however, know about Virginia and its coach.” I really like Coach Bennett, he’s a great guy. I feel like more than basketball, I feel like in life he’ll help me out a lot. I feel comfortable around him.”

Do all these commitments create a sense of urgency for a guy like K.T.? “In a way but I believe that I pray a lot and I ask God to help me make my decision. As far as guys committing early, if I have to wait … coaches don’t want to wait maybe I’m not the one for their team. I feel like God is going to show me the right school to go to. If they leave because I’m not committing early that makes it easy on my part.”

OK, so Harrell’s on ice at least for the time being. As of 11 p.m. Monday night, the commitment spree has slowed down. Still, we wanted to check in with another Top 100 recruit. We hadn’t heard any rumblings (yet) about Doron Lamb, Trey Zeigler, Anthony Brown, Vander Blue, Mardracus Wade, Ralston Turner, Jerian Grant or Victor Oladipo. We blew a call into Trae Golden to take his pulse before he leaves for adidas Nations on Tuesday.

Golden, a Top 100 shooting guard out of McEachern, Ga., had been working the phones a little himself or at least reading the internet. “I heard Virginia got a commitment. I was talking to Coach Bennett today.”

Did the rash of commitments affect him at all? “Not really,” Golden said. “I feel like if a school wants me, they’ll respect the time that you have to take a visit there and make sure it’s the right fit for you.”

Cross Golden off the list, he’s not going to commit this week but he is formulating his plan for visits.

“Right now I can say Virginia, Marquette and Tennessee are probably the first schools that I’ll visit,” Golden said. “Those schools have really been recruiting me long and I’ve got good relationships with the coaches. It’s been a longevity type thing.”

Mix in some Georgia, Georgia Tech, South Florida, Arizona State, Arizona, Connecticut and Pittsburgh and you’ve got his complete list or at least the ones he could name off the top of his head on Monday.

They say the NFL is the ultimate copycat league. It didn’t take the “Wildcat Formation” long to circulate through the teams. We’re thinking this commitment spree may ripple through college basketball offices with light speed.

During the next 7-10 days exists a theoretical window of opportunity. The thinking is if schools apply the pressure, maybe they can “get it done” before the player realizes campus visits can be fun on football Saturdays in the fall. Come the middle of August, in our mind, guys will be committed to visits. Until then, feel the rush, hit refresh and ride wave just like we are!



 

Devvarman knocks off Cilic
By Whitey Reid
Published: August 5, 2009

WASHINGTON — With occasional chants of “Let’s go Hoos,” Virginia alum Somdev Devvarman must have thought he was in some kind of crazy time warp. There he was, surrounded by a number of supporters who were clad in blue and orange. And, there he was, soundly beating an opponent.

But Devvarman, the two-time NCAA singles champion, wasn’t in Charlottesville.

On Tuesday evening, the 153rd-ranked professional was shocking 15th-ranked Marin Cilic on center court at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic. Devvarman frustrated the powerful Croat with his consistent play from the back, defeating him 7-5, 6-4 to notch the biggest victory of his young career.

Devvarman said he was very aware of the pro-Virginia crowd.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I love hearing it. I love the support. It’s great.”

The win was revenge for Devvarman. In January, Cilic had beaten Devvarman, a Chennai, India native, in the finals of the Chennai Open.

“This wasn’t the final of a tour event, so I wasn’t as nervous coming out, and it was the first match for him this week and I already had three under my belt,” Devvarman said. “That’s always a good feeling going into a match.

“Today, my gameplan was to just go out there and compete as hard as possible and just let the chips fall where they may. I just wanted to stay calm and focused and play as hard as I could.”

The victory moved Devvarman into a round-of-16 match with the winner of today’s second-rounder between 25th-ranked Ivo Karlovic and Rainer Schuettler. If Devvarman could win that match — he beat Karlovic in the quarters of the Chenai Open — he would likely face fifth-ranked Andy Roddick, the tournament’s top seed, in a quarterfinal showdown on Friday that could bring Wahoo Nation out in droves.

Devvarman is friendly with Roddick. He recently trained with him at his home in Austin, Texas.

However, Devvarman isn’t looking that far ahead.

“Andy who? Who’s Andy?” Devvarman joked. “I’m obviously aware of where I stand in the draw, but the way I’m looking at it now it’s just one at a time.”

Against Cilic, Devvarman looked confident from the get-go. On the very first point of the match, he whistled a forehand passing shot by the 6-foot-5 Croat. Later in the set, he broke Cilic to take a 5-4 lead only to see Cilic break right back after he was just two points from taking the set.

However, Devvarman broke Cilic again — thanks to a beautifully-timed topspin lob — then held at love to win the set.

In the second set, Devvarman broke Cilic twice to take a 5-2 lead. Just one game from defeat, that’s when the Croat seemed to awake. Cilic won the next two games to pull to 5-4 but Devvarman, who had a 62 percent first-serve percentage on the night, calmly closed out the match on his own service. He culminated the win with a screaming forehand winner up the line, to the delight of the partisan crowd, which included Virginia coach Brian Boland and former Cavalier Treat Huey.

The win represents another impressive bullet point on Devvarman’s resume. Since turning pro in the summer of 2008, he has climbed 647 spots in the rankings.

Before Tuesday, he had wins over the likes of Karlovic, Carlos Moya and Sam Querrey.

Fitness has been one of Devvarman’s biggest keys.

“It’s pretty safe say that he’s one of the fittest guys on tour,” said Milos Galecic, Devvarman’s strength and conditioning coach. “A lot of it is genetic — I can’t take that much credit. He’s always been known for his fitness.

“It’s a large part of his game and a reason why he is as good as he is.”

Galecic, who also works with female tour player Aleksandra Wozniak, says he has worked mainly on improving Devvarman’s strength.

“In college, they play maybe a match or two per week,” Galecic said. “Here, it’s day in and day out at a higher level — without taking anything away from college tennis. Here, every match is a tough one. We’ve gotten him to realize that here he has to be on top of his game day in and day out.”

The best thing about Devvarman — as many Virginia fans have known for some time — is that he possesses something you can’t teach.

“He definitely has the drive and wants to get better on a daily basis,” Galecic said. “He’s one of the hardest-working athletes that I’ve had the pleasure of working with him. He is very motivated by his losses and is always ready to come in and get better.

“Just how he left a mark on the game of college tennis, I think he wants to leave a mark on the tour and prove that college players can make it, which is a big motivating factor for him, too.”