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Official 1st visitor is Brown
By Mike Farrell  / Special to The Daily Progress
September 20, 2003
 

The Virginia football program will be hosting their first official visitor when they take on Wake Forest on Sept. 27 in Charlottesville.
Greenville (N.C.) Rose running back Andre Brown, a 6-foot-1, 210-pounder, will be taking an official visit that weekend and is very interested in UVa. Brown, ranked as the No. 12 tailback in the country by Rivals.com, already has 914 yards and 15 touchdowns through his first six games this season. He also caught two touchdown passes and his great hands have a few schools, including Miami, recruiting him as a wideout.
Brown also has an official visit set with Nebraska for Dec. 5 and is also interested in LSU, N.C. State and Tennessee. The Cavaliers already have two running back commitments in Virginia native Cedric Peerman and North Carolina speedster Andrew Pearman, but Pearman is expected to be a wideout/special teams player for Virginia.
Brown is one of many top running backs the Cavaliers are looking at. Others are Lakewood, N.J. tailback Dwayne Jones (6-1, 233 pounds), Hackensack, N.J. running back Jean Beljour (6-0, 200 pounds), Fayetteville, N.C. back George Bell (5-11, 225 pounds) and others. The Cavs would like to bring in one more running back, preferably a good-sized one.

Gorham visit. Another possible visitor for the Wake Forest game is Pottstown, Pa. cornerback Chris Gorham, a 6-f0, 175-pounder who has narrowed his list down to UVa, Georgia Tech and Notre Dame. Gorham will take official visits to Atlanta (Oct. 3) and South Bend (Oct. 17) and is deciding between the Wake Forest and FSU game for his official visit to Virginia. He doesn’t claim a leader at this point.

Culpeper’s Hicks. Culpeper County safety Kent Hicks was supposed to make an official visit to Boston College this weekend. However, the 6-2, 190-pounder has yet to receive his SAT score so it looks like he won’t be able to make it. The Eagles are taking on the Miami Hurricanes today and another hurricane, Isabel, might have made the trip impossible anyhow.
UVa touched base with Hicks last week and he is very much interested in the Cavaliers despite reports to the contrary. Hicks will most likely set up an official visit with the Hoos for after his senior season.

Devonta’s time? The next time Charlottesville linebacker Devonta Brown visits UVa, likely for the Wake Forest game, he could be a commitment. The Cavaliers have too many good linebacker prospects interested to wait on Brown. If someone like Clint Sintim (Gar-Field in Virginia), Matt Stoltz (Arkansas), Jerod Mayo (Kecoughtan), Lawrence Timmons (South Carolina) or Andrew Bowman (Hermitage) wanted to commit, Brown’s slot might be gone. Most likely, the 6-2, 230-pounder will commit to UVa by the end of the month or risk heading into October with very few other options.
Speaking of Bowman, the 6-1, 220-pounder has an official visit set with Virginia Tech for the first or second weekend of December. Bowman also wants to visit UVa, Tennessee and Purdue and likely won’t make a decision until after Christmas.

Lewis-Mayo matchup. The big matchup this weekend was supposed to be all-everything junior running back Elan Lewis (6-1, 190) of Phoebus versus four-star senior linebacker Jerod Mayo (6-2, 210). Rain washed out the game, but on Monday the two teams met with Phoebus dominating the action as expected.
What wasn’t expected, at least by some, was the dominating performance of Lewis against Mayo. Lewis ran for 162 yard and two scores in a 40-7 victory and proved, once again, that he’s easily the top player in the state of Virginia for 2005. He’ll also be a top 10 running back nationally, if not top 5.

Barrett interested in UVa. West Virginia wide receiver Brandon Barrett lists the Cavaliers in his top four along with Ohio State, West Virginia and Pitt. The 6-1, 190-pounder is considered to be the best prep player in West Virginia this year and possibly the best since R.J. Coleman, a tight end who committed to Ohio State back in 2002. The Cavs need speed at wide receiver and Barrett is a game-breaker.
London’s recruiting trail. Mike London is doing his usual strong job out of state when it comes to recruiting for the Cavaliers. London, who recruits the Hampton area in state and Georgia out-of-state, has many prospects from the Peach State interested. Athlete Tristan Davis, a 5-11, 188-pounder who could be a wideout or safety, lists Virginia in his top four with Florida, Tennessee and Georgia Tech. Davis is the cousin of Tennessee running back Jabari Davis.

Georgia extras. Others in Georgia showing the Cavs some love include Westlake H.S. teammates Mike Brown (6-5, 270) and Courtney Abbott (6-9, 335), two of the state’s top offensive linemen, as well as Lovejoy offensive/defensive lineman Anthony Parker (6-4, 290). Jonesboro defensive lineman Darrell Robertson (6-5, 215) is also very interested, although the four-star stud favors Florida State right now. He is being recruited by UVa as a linebacker.
A couple new names to keep an eye on from Lilburn (Ga.) Parkview are linebacker Demetrice Alexander and safety Greg Sudderth. Neither player has a UVa offer yet, but both are expected to visit Charlottesville soon. Alexander is a sawed-off ‘backer at 6-0, 215 pounds, but very quick and strong. Sudderth is a 6-3, 195-pounder who excels in coverage.

 

 

 

Coach K’s not OK with the way ACC expanded
By TOM ROBINSON, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 17, 2003

If Mike Krzyzewski knows anything, it’s that he doesn’t know everything. It’s why he loves his public-speaking appearances so.

A couple dozen times between college basketball seasons, Duke’s famous coach comes when a company, a charity or a lecture series calls.

Krzyzewski brings plenty of ammo with him — a suitcase of Polish jokes and travel tales from taking the Blue Devils to three national championships, nine Final Four appearances and seven ACC titles.

But he always leaves with more. “This makes me better,’’ Krzyzewski said Tuesday before an evening of self-improvement with the Norfolk Forum at Chrysler Hall. “There’s not an engagement where I don’t learn something, either in the preparation or in meeting people. “Sure, there are Xs and Os in our sport, but our sport is primarily about people. To me, it makes sense to spend time not just with people who dribble the ball or set up the zone defense.’’

And to be honest, the speech-making is better on Krzyzewski’s stomach.

“I’m not nervous about speaking,’’ he said, “because no one is going to stop me from speaking. If I’m in a game, my team might be prepared, but the other team can stop you. That makes me a lot more nervous.’’

He is the better, we all are, for confronting our own sniping Tar Heels and snarling Terrapins. That is the message Krzyzewski, 56, wears on his tuxedo’s sleeve — to challenge, to change, to learn. He once wrote a book called “Leading With the Heart,” the perfect title for such an earnest guy. One who organized the playground games in his Chicago youth, he once said, to make sure they were formed right.

The expanded ACC? Not formed right. To Krzyzewski, a teamwork fanatic, the league’s tumultuous, football-driven growth to 11 schools by adding Miami and Virginia Tech was a divisive, every-man-for-himself misadventure.

“You have to take care of your brethren,” Krzyzewski said. “I don’t think we handled that well.”

His big regret, the thing that wrinkles his nose, is the demise of the ACC’s utopian basketball schedule, in which everyone played everyone else twice, may the best team emerge on top.

“What was ruined was the integrity of having the double round-robin,’’ Krzyzewski said, dismissing the unwieldy notion of 20 conference games. “We were the envy of everybody in basketball, because of the purity of our league. Now, we have to have partners, and play one team once and another team twice.

“It was as equitable as it could possibly be. Whatever solution we come up with will not be equitable to everybody.’’

Oh, the ACC is still great, Krzyzewski said. But is it better? That’s the question always on his lips, the measure by which he judges himself and his impact on college basketball.

“If you’re a leader in any profession, if you’re one of the people with some influence in shaping the course of the game, that’s a huge responsibility,’’ he said. “When I retire from coaching, I want to be able to say I not only won some games, but I treated the game well.’’

To that end, Krzyzewski was a key, behind-the-scenes player in getting the National Association of Basketball Coaches to call its October summit meeting to discuss the game’s ills. Likewise, Krzyzewski said he would love to see the college game adopt its own “commissioner” who would work with the NCAA to chart a clear path into the future.

“We don’t have a five-year plan or a three-year plan or a 10-year plan,’’ Krzyzewski said. “We don’t have a plan. We’re always reactive and not proactive, because there’s nobody on a day-to-day basis who watches our sport.’’

Not that Krzyzewski, for his embrace of growth, is hinting at a title change from coach to commissioner.

“I still think I’m going to be coaching in 10 years,’’ Krzyzewski said. “But I would love to help. I would always want to help the game.’’

 

 

 

Tech on verge of coup with Cooke?

Singletary joins other UVa targets

By DOUG DOUGHTY
 Exclusive to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Fridays
Everything seems to be falling in place for Virginia Tech in its pursuit of Marquie Cooke, whose successful recruiting would make a huge statement for first-year Tech men's basketball coach Seth Greenberg. Greenberg and his staff had to be concerned that Cooke was scheduled to arrive in Blacksburg at approximately the same time as Hurricane Isabel, and Greenberg later warned Cooke that he might miss some of the atmosphere that usually accompanies a Tech football game. That just shows what Greenberg knows. When Cooke emerged from the same tunnel that the Tech football team uses, Cooke faced a crowd of between 55,000 and 60,000 that had little concern for the elements. Cooke, a 6-foot-3 guard from Nansemond River High School in Suffolk, is scheduled for a trip to Clemson on Oct. 11 but the Hokies would like to make enough of an impression for him to commit before then. Cooke has been rated the No. 24 prospect in the country by Bob Gibbons and No. 56 by Prep Stars.

BY SIGNING DAY in November, Greenberg hopes to get some resolution to an appeal he has made for a fourth scholarship. As things stand, Tech can sign only three players under the NCAA's five-eight rule (no more than five players in one class; no more than eight players in back-to-back classes). Tech would like to add Cooke or another guard of his stature, a wing player and a post player. On the latter, the Hokies would have to be considered the favorite for former Blacksburg High School standout Jarhon Giddings, a skilled 6-9 frontcourt player who transferred to Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, N.C., for his senior year. Giddings recently returned to Blacksburg to visit friends and will take an official visit to Tech next week, coinciding with the Hokies’ home football game with Connecticut. It is also possible that Tasheed Carr, a 6-3 combination guard from Mount Zion Academy in Durham, N.C., might make an official visit to Tech next weekend.

GREENBERG, ONCE the head coach at Long Beach State, has used his West Coast contacts to get involved with Justin Holt, a 6-6, 210-pound small forward from Tacoma, Wash., who averaged 22.5 points and 9.2 rebounds last year at Tacoma Community College. Holt likes to take the ball to the basket, as evidenced by 206 free-throws attempts in 26 games, but has enough range to have made 21 of 60 3-pointers. There are indications he will not play this year for Tacoma while preserving his final three seasons of Division I eligibility.

VISITORS TO UVa for a weekend that includes the Cavaliers’ Sept. 27 game with Wake Forest will include Sean Singletary, a 6-foot point guard from Philadelphia who committed to the Cavaliers in early June and is ranked 23rd by SuperPrep and 63rd by Prep Stars after an injury-plagued summer. Uncommitted players scheduled to visit Virginia next weekend include 6-7 Adrian Joseph from Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., and 6-9 Davis Nwankwo from Georgetown Prep in Rockville, Md. There is a possibility that 6-10 Yoakim Noah, son of ex-tennis star Yannik Noah, might join them.

WHERE THEY WENT: Former Huguenot High School fullback Ervin Battle, rated the No. 48 prospect in Virginia last year by The Roanoke Times, has surfaced on the postgraduate roster at Fork Union Military Academy. Fork Union undergraduate coach Mickey Sullivan feels that a number of college recruiters "missed out" on David Carter, a 6-4, 235-pound quarterback who played for Sullivan last year and, this year, is with the postgraduate program headed by John Shuman. Carter, from Waynesburg, Pa., has a 4.1 grade-point average and 1,300 on the SAT. Shuman says that 6-3, 208-pound outside linebacker Maurice Reevey has been sidelined by stress fractures in both legs and may spend an extra year in the Fork Union postgraduate program. Reevey, who was not an academic qualifier out of Highland Springs High School, reportedly has 20 Division I-A scholarship offers.

MORE QBs: Add 6-2 senior Joseph Sanford from Monticello High School in Charlottesville to a long list of impressive in-state state quarterback prospects (read Thursday’s UVa insider for more). Sanford, who threw four touchdown passes against Buckingham, is the son of one-time UVa fullback Mark Sanford, the head football coach at the Covenant School in Charlottesville. One-time Virginia quarterback Chip Mark, a guest of the UVa delegation at the Cavaliers' game with South Carolina, reports that his son, Caylor, has shown promise as a senior quarterback at Woodberry Forest in Orange County. Penn State is among the schools that have shown interest in quarterback Bobby Rome, a 6-1, 200-pound junior at Granby High School in Norfolk, where three of his predecessors were future college defensive backs Pete Allen, Anthony King and Dexter Reid. Rome showed he could throw the ball 70 yards at Penn State's camp.

Chris Beatty, the coach at Landstown High School in Virginia Beach, said Syracuse and West Virginia are "close to offering" 6-3, 190-pound quarterback Terry Mitchell, who has completed 74 of 117 passes for 1,077 yards and 10 touchdowns IN THREE GAMES. Academics could be an issue for Mitchell.

 

 

 

Pearman discovers many ways to win
Providence star runs for 2 TDs, scores on punt return, blocks FG
CLIFF MEHRTENS
Staff Writer

Early in the fourth quarter Providence didn't have the lead, its starting quarterback or reliable punting.

It did, however, have Andrew Pearman, who will join his brother at the University of Virginia next fall.

Providence rallied to beat rival Butler 20-17 Friday in the Southwestern 4A opener on a stream of Pearman key plays and a stingy defense. Providence and Butler had tied with Waddell for the conference championship in 2002.

Pearman rushed for 162 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries, returned a punt 69 yards for a score, and blocked the potential tying field goal with five minutes left.

Providence (3-2, 1-0) was wobbly in the third quarter. Quarterback Cory Dunning was icing an injured ankle.

Butler went ahead 17-14 on Xavier Wallace's 2-yard, fourth-down touchdown run.

The black-and-gold crowd was getting antsy. Pearman, a senior who committed to Virginia, took over.

He scored on a 31-yard run early in the fourth quarter, and on the drive had runs of 17, 11 and 11 yards.

Butler (2-2, 0-1) used five minutes on the next possession, which Pearman ended by bolting from the outside to block Shawn Lawson's 27-yard field-goal attempt.

"I dove and got it," said Pearman, who didn't play defense or special teams in the first four games.

"I'm trying to make a difference any way I can."

Pearman also tackled Butler's holder after a botched snap on a first-quarter extra point.

Of Providence's 230 yards, Pearman gained 162.

Butler had two late possessions. Providence stuffed the first on sacks by Craig McCarter and Andy Kelly.

The last possession, which began with 40 seconds left, was three hurried passes by Butler's Jeremy Glover.

"Our defense sucked it up and made it tough," Providence coach Bruce Hardin said. "They made Butler earn things. We didn't break down and give them easy plays.

"That blocked field goal, you could just feel the momentum."
 

 

 

Prince gets a read on Cavs' foes
Offensive coordinator calls it a group effort
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Sep 20, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE It's 4:30 a.m. Do you know where your football team's offensive coordinator is?

If your team is Virginia, you can usually find Ron Prince engrossed in a book at that hour.

After his wife, Zoe, had their first son, Deuce, Prince began getting up to help with the pre-dawn feedings. "When I had him up at whatever the feeding was - 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock - I just started getting a book in one hand while he was holding the bottle," Prince recalled.

Deuce is now 4 years old and sleeps through the night, but Prince still follows his morning routine. He rises most days at 4:30 a.m. and reads for an hour before heading to work. He finished the acclaimed biography of John Adams this summer. Wall Street winners are another interest.

Prince, who once planned to be an attorney, may never make it to law school. His education continues, though, and he's determined to become well-versed in all aspects of football.

"I've always been a very humble kid, just because I'm from the Midwest and I always feel like I need to learn a lot more," said Prince, a native of Omaha, Neb., who grew up in Junction City, Kan. "I ask a lot of questions and try to take a lot of notes."

Prince, who turned 34 on Thursday, coached the Cavaliers' offensive linemen in 2001 and'02, Al Groh's first two seasons back in Charlottesville. Prince added another title - offensive coordinator - after Bill Musgrave left in January to fill that position with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.

At Division I-AA Cornell in 1999 and 2000, Prince had coached the offensive line and coordinated the running game. His work didn't end there. "Unofficially," Prince said, "I was the guy who did the organizational stuff [for the offense], and I was in the role I am now."

Still, this is his first official stint as an offensive coordinator, and Prince has the unenviable task of succeeding Musgrave, a renowned playcaller. His predecessor has faith in Prince.

"He loves football, so the fact that he has a passion for it allows him to immerse himself in all facets of the game," Musgrave said recently. "He has a good grasp of the passing game, which is unique for an offensive line coach. Usually offensive line coaches just know the running game."

As U.Va.'s offensive coordinator, Musgrave said, he relied heavily on input from head man Al Groh and assistants Prince, Mike Groh, Kevin Ross and Andy Heck. Musgrave called it a "collaborative effort," and Prince used the same phrase.

"In our organization, I don't really think it matters who calls the plays, based on how we're set up," Prince said. "I believe that there are some calls obviously in the game that may change the tide, but they're so few and far between. I think you win a lot of games during the week with how you prepare and how you organize, and I think those are strengths of mine."

Prince's mentors include Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Pete Mangurian, for whom he worked at Cornell, and Bill Arnsparger, the legendary former NFL coach. While serving NFL minority fellowships, Prince also learned from such coaches as Art Shell and Dan Reeves.

As an African-American coordinator, Prince is a rarity in Division I-A football, but he said he's never been hung up on race. His father served in the Army, and Prince attended high school near Fort Riley.

"I tell people I'm from Kansas, and they have one perception of what that is," Prince said, "but my neighbor behind us was an African-American gentleman who married a woman from Germany. My neighbor on the other side was an African-American gentleman who married a woman from Korea. We had people from Puerto Rico, our high school quarterback was Korean, so I just grew up in a very diverse environment. I didn't really understand all this prejudice and stuff that goes on."

Game days in 2001 and'02 found Prince on the U.Va. sideline, where he could address his charges face to face. He now must communicate by phone from the press box, where he works alongside Mike Groh, who coaches Virginia's quarterbacks and receivers. The Cavaliers (2-1), idle this weekend, are averaging 31 points in a season that's been anything but uneventful for their new offensive coordinator.

Prince lost projected starters Michael McGrew and Jason Snelling before the season. Then, barely six minutes into Virginia's Aug. 30 opener, all-ACC quarterback Matt Schaub separated his throwing shoulder. Schaub hasn't played since, and his replacement, redshirt freshman Anthony Martinez, struggled a week later in a 31-7 loss at South Carolina. The Cavaliers started yet another QB, sophomore Marques Hagans, against Western Michigan last weekend.

Asked to rate Prince's performance as coordinator thus far, Al Groh said, "I probably wouldn't assess it to the public, because probably everyone out there is already doing it. Such is the nature of our profession. We wouldn't want to disrupt their fun and give them all the right answers."

Then Groh turned serious. "I think things have gone nicely," he said. "The guys in the press box are working well together. They're communicating well, and it's not just in calling plays. It's recognizing what's going on with opponents' schemes."