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Hard to forget
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DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES
CHARLOTTESVILLE - When he says it takes a short memory to be a good cornerback, Virginia senior Jamaine Winborne speaks from experience.
At South Carolina, where he was one of the UVa defenders victimized on a 99-yard touchdown pass, Winborne might have taken memory loss to an extreme.
"I couldn't remember anything," said Winborne, who took a knee to the helmet shortly before halftime. "I didn't even know what day it was."
Winborne sat out the second half of the South Carolina game, won by the Gamecocks 31-7, then skipped contact work for two days as UVa was preparing for a trip to Western Michigan. Given his performance against the Broncos, he might have wondered if he were still dreaming.
Winborne recovered a fumble, caused a fumble, intercepted a pass, had a quarterback sack and blocked a punt in the 59-16 win.
"I never had so many statistics in one game," said Winborne, for whom the caused fumble, sack and blocked punt were career firsts. "The only way it could have been better was if the receiver had been blocked [on the fumble return]. I think then I could have scored."
Winborne's 23 starts trail only injured wide receiver Michael McGrew, who has 24, on the team, but Winborne felt his career was at a crossroads entering the 2002 season.
"I felt like, 'You can't wait till your senior year,'" said Winborne, from Indian River High School in Chesapeake by way of Fork Union Military Academy. "My freshman year, I played safety. The next year, we were in a new system. It was my first year at corner and I had trouble recognizing stuff. My reaction time was slow because I was thinking too much."
If the jury were out on Winborne prior to his junior year, he was not alone.
"I think the jury was out on a lot of that crew," said coach Al Groh, whose first UVa team went 5-7 in 2001. "At corner, though, you're out there in front of everybody. Everybody knows what you should do, even though nobody's ever done it. Everybody's a cornerback coach. Everybody's a commentator. It can break some guys."
Winborne and former Fork Union teammate Muffin Curry have helped turn a potential trouble spot into a strength.
"He had it kind of tough his first year," said Groh, referring to Winborne's first year with the Groh staff. "I've been very impressed and very respectful of his diligence and tenacity. It's turned him into a really good player."
NOT THINKING AHEAD: Although he is aware of rumors suggesting he will turn pro after this season, junior offensive guard Elton Brown said he has not told the coaching staff anything of that nature.
"I talked it over with my mom," said Brown, who won't turn 21 until May. "Now is not the time to decide anything. I'm trying to graduate and win an ACC title right now. The reason I came here was to get my degree."
Brown knows that his mother will stay after him until he gets his degree.
"That's why I think I want to get it now," he said. "I would never hear the end of it."
GROH INVESTIGATES: Groh said he is still gathering information on reports that Virginia Tech supporters have been purchasing tickets to the Tech-UVa game Nov.29 from UVa students who have been trading on eBay.
"I was listening to the radio this morning," Groh said Monday, "and the question comes at an opportune time because it comes on the anniversary of the hanging of Nathan Hale for being a traitor."
Cavalier Daily sports editor Matt Trogdon said his Internet search found that most of the sellers of the Tech-UVa tickets were from Charlottesville and that most came in twos, the limit on general-admissions tickets available to students. There was no public sale of single-game Tech-UVa tickets.
ODDS 'N' ENDS: Groh hadn't seen injured quarterback Matt Schaub since the previous Wednesday and seemed prepared to go with sophomore Marques Hagans against visiting Wake Forest on Saturday. "Right now, he's our only option," Groh said. ... Groh said he doesn't think injured safety Willie Davis will practice in the near future and held open the possibility Davis will be redshirted. ... UVa officials say 2,000 tickets remain for the Wake Forest game, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ... Virginia's game at North Carolina on Oct. 4 will start at 1:30 p.m. and will not be televised.
FSU's Rix fined for bogus sticker
Published September 23, 2003
Just when Chris Rix began playing well, he again is running into trouble.
The Florida State quarterback paid a $100 fine for using a bogus handicap
sticker last Wednesday to park in a space on campus near one of his classes.
Students recognized Rix as he parked his SUV and chastised him as he walked
away. They left a note on his windshield and called police, who locked a tire so
the vehicle couldn't be moved, school officials said.
Administration officials said Rix paid the fine immediately to recover the
vehicle. Coach Bobby Bowden said Rix, who passed for 394 yards in Saturday's
47-7 win over Colorado, would be disciplined. The discipline, however, was not
specified.
Rix, who was suspended for the Sugar Bowl for sleeping through a final exam, was
benched last season after a loss to Notre Dame, in part for his tardiness for
team meetings and poor class attendance as well as his sporadic play.
Hagans figures to start Saturday
Groh compares Hampton native to Doug Flutie
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published September 23, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- About four inches shorter than your average quarterback but
often able to turn nothing into something, Marques Hagans reminds Virginia coach
Al Groh of somebody he crossed paths with in the NFL.
"I think the obvious look-alike is Doug Flutie," Groh said. "They're kind of the
same height with the same energy, and they appear to have the same ability to
energize those around them."
Groh remembers Flutie all too well. His three years in Buffalo coincided with
the last three seasons Groh spent with the New York Jets - the first two as
linebackers coach, the third as head coach. Flutie was a twice-a-year pain for
Groh, who can now empathize with what Wake Forest's defensive coaches are going
through this week in preparing for Hagans.
Of course, the Demon Deacons don't know who to expect. Hagans is listed No. 1 on
the depth chart and Groh indicated he'll start by saying, "Right now, he's our
only option." Freshman Anthony Martinez is listed as Hagans' backup. Matt Schaub,
who separated his shoulder in the season opener and hasn't played since, is not
on the two-deep.
All of which means little. In the Cavaliers' last game, on Sept. 13 at Western
Michigan, Martinez was listed as the starter and Hagans as a backup wide
receiver. Instead, Hagans started at quarterback - a decision Groh had made five
days before kickoff - and led U.Va. to a 59-16 victory with 230 yards and three
touchdowns.
Reading between the lines, Groh hasn't ruled Schaub out for Saturday. Asked
about his availability, Groh answered, "I don't know. I haven't seen him throw.
I haven't spoken to him since Wednesday."
That was Monday morning. On his weekly radio show that evening, Groh said Schaub
did some light throwing in practice.
WAKE. Virginia's defensive coaches are busy this week, too. Wake Forest runs one
of the more deceptive offenses around.
"They give you everything," Groh said. "They give you a ton of formations. They
run inside, they run outside, they run counters, they run reverses. And now
they've got a deep passing threat in (Jason) Anderson, who has the highest
yards-per-catch average of any receiver in the conference. Which includes some
guys who every time I put on the television Saturday night are wearing garnet
and gold (Florida State).
"He's now added a vertical threat to their offense that makes stopping the run
all that more challenging. They're all over the place with the ball and they do
it very well."
TICKETGATE. There is growing suspicion that many of the Virginia-Virginia Tech
tickets already listed on e-Bay got there courtesy of U.Va. students, who with
their ID are allowed to purchase guest seats - two is the limit for Tech - for
every home game. Groh said he's looking into that.
"That question comes at an opportune time since I heard on the radio this
morning that this is the anniversary of the hanging of Nathan Hale for being a
traitor," he said. "We don't still hang people in Virginia, do we?"
SHORTS. Groh began his weekly press conference by paying respects to Frank
Kessler, a former Cavalier player in the late 1950s who died over the weekend.
...
Safety Willie Davis, who missed the Western Michigan game after being injured
the previous week, isn't expected to play this week. ...
According to athletic ticket manager Dick Mathias, there were 2,000 seats left
for Saturday's 3:30 p.m. game against Wake Forest as of Monday afternoon.
It was also announced Monday that the Oct. 5 game at North Carolina has a 1:30
p.m. kickoff. The game will not be televised.
Like the Pied Piper, William E. Pease has lured at least 70 University
of Virginia students to become prospective members of its new marching band.
The group’s director, who is visiting Charlottesville this week, expressed
confidence Monday that he will be able to assemble a 50- to 75-member band for
January’s ACC basketball games — enough to give the Cavaliers a home-court
advantage.
“I don’t want it to be rude,” Pease said, “but I want it to be tough.”
The director of Western Michigan University’s marching band, Pease plans to
meet Wednesday with students interested in the UVa band, which will make its
full-force debut at next fall’s first home football game. He said more than 70
have expressed interest in auditioning, and he hopes to field a band of 180 to
200 student musicians.
Although Pease is a Virginia native, UVa’s recent 59-16 drubbing of Western
Michigan on the football field was “heartbreaking,” he said. “I wanted to get
out there and hit somebody myself. We live and die by that football team.”
Some WMU band members have said they would like to transfer to Virginia to be
part of the new band, but Pease called that impulse “a knee-jerk reaction. I
told them how hard it is to get here academically.”
Still, Pease is looking forward to the start of his tenure at UVa, which
begins in November.
The marching band will replace the controversial UVa Pep Band, the
student-driven scramble group that has repeatedly run afoul of university
officials, fans and even West Virginia’s governor with its mocking skits. The
group was not invited to play at this fall’s football games.
After an afternoon news conference, Pease said he would like to be a
“champion” of the Pep Band, which exists now as a student organization. He is
all for the Pep Band playing at smaller-scale sporting events, as the band
members have requested, but said the decision is not up to him.
Pease plans to meet with Pep Band members this week, and although none has
expressed interest in joining the marching band, they would be welcome to
belong to both groups, he said. “It would be, to me, like being a two-sport
athlete.”
Practice-time commitments would be heavy, Pease noted. On game weeks, the
students would play for eight to 12 hours, and on non-game weeks, practices
would take six to eight hours.
“I’m going to have to allow for class conflicts,” he said, although no minimum
GPA has been set for band members. Rules likely will be set when Pease has
hired student staffers, as he has at Western Michigan.
“This is not the Bill Pease band,” he said. “This is the Cavalier band.”
Al Groh had looked forward to spending some time out of his office late
last week. He planned on hitting the recruiting trail for a few days, then
spending some rare time at home during Virginia’s football bye week.
Hurricane Isabel scuttled those plans, however, preventing travel and knocking
power out at his house. So Groh returned to his office at the McCue Center,
which had hot showers and working televisions. He ended up doing a lot of one
of his favorite activities: watching football.
All in all, it wasn’t so bad. “A lot of people had it much worse,” Groh said.
The weather also didn’t keep the Cavaliers from accomplishing their main
objectives — getting better and getting healthier — during the break, Groh
said. The players practiced Monday through Wednesday and already had Thursday
and Friday as scheduled off days.
Many of the players were able to leave Charlottesville over the weekend.
“I went back home and watched my old high school team play,” said junior
linebacker Dennis Haley, who is from Salem. “It was definitely good to get a
little break and relax. Now we can come back fresh and get ready for Wake
Forest.”
Virginia (2-1, 1-0 ACC) plays the surprising Demon Deacons (3-1, 1-0) on
Saturday at Scott Stadium. It will be UVa’s first game since its 59-16 rout of
Western Michigan on Sept. 13 and its first home game since an opening 27-0
victory over Duke on Aug. 30.
The Cavalier coaching staff got a headstart on preparations by studying film
of the Demon Deacons last week. Groh said that could be significant because
Wake Forest’s “offense and defense are unique in the design and volume that
they have.”
The Demon Deacons employ a misdirection running game and an unusual 3-3-5
defense that bear little resemblance to other opponents on Virginia’s
schedule.
“They take a little more sorting out and a little more planning in the
presentation of that to the players,” Groh said.
Whether quarterback Matt Schaub will be available to play Saturday remains to
be seen. The 2002 ACC player of the year separated his right shoulder in the
opening game and sat out the next two. Sources close to Schaub say he was
aiming toward making his return this week, but Groh said he did not know if
that would be possible.
During his Monday afternoon press conference, Groh said he had not spoken to
Schaub or seen him throw since last Wednesday. Asked if sophomore Marques
Hagans, who threw for three touchdowns against Western Michigan, would start,
Groh said, “Right now, he’s our only option.”
Schaub did not show up in the locker room while reporters were present Monday.
Groh did indicate that Schaub will be the starter once he is cleared to play.
“I would think right now, when the reigning conference player of the year
comes back, he’ll come back to do what he does best,” Groh said.
One player who will definitely not return this week is sophomore safety Willie
Davis, who injured his left shoulder against South Carolina on Sept. 6. “He
won’t practice for a while here,” Groh said.
Notes. About 2,000 tickets remain for Saturday’s game. They can be ordered by calling 800-542-UVA1. … Kickoff for Virginia’s game at North Carolina on Oct. 4 has been set for 1:30 p.m. The game will not be televised. … Groh came to his news conference after attending the funeral of Frank Kessler, a 1958 UVa football letterman and longtime supporter who died last Saturday. … After Saturday, the Cavaliers don’t play at home again until Oct. 18 against Florida State.
Cavs' Hagans Is Set to Start
Tuesday, September 23, 2003; Page D07
With senior Matt Schaub's injury status still uncertain, Virginia is proceeding
under the assumption that redshirt sophomore Marques Hagans will make his second
straight start when the Cavaliers host resurgent Wake Forest on Saturday.
"Right now he's our only option," Coach Al Groh said before practice yesterday
afternoon.
"I don't know [about Schaub]. I haven't seen him throw. I haven't spoken to him
since Wednesday."
Schaub, the reigning ACC player of the year, has made considerable progress
since separating his throwing shoulder in the season opener on Aug. 30, but he
has yet to throw full-strength passes. Once he gets to that point, Groh said,
the Cavaliers also will have to make sure he can withstand defenders' hits.
Schaub was not available to speak with reporters yesterday and Groh was not
available after practice, Virginia's first workout since a four-day break over
the weekend.
Virginia's other injured starter, sophomore safety Willie Davis (shoulder),
likely will be sidelined "for a while," Groh said. . . .
Junior guard-center Mark Farrington ratcheted up his workload in practice last
week and is close to making his season debut after injuring his knee while
skiing this offseason. He will be the third reserve to work his way into
Virginia's offensive line rotation, joining freshman left guard Ian-Yates
Cunningham and fifth-year center-tackle Kevin Bailey. . . .
Virginia's Oct. 4 game at North Carolina will kick off at 1:30 p.m. It will not
be televised. . . . Two thousand tickets remain for Saturday's game against Wake
Forest.
U.VA. NOTES
Sep 23, 2003
MYSTERY MAN: For the 45 minutes that the McCue Center locker room was open to
the news media yesterday, Virginia's Matt Schaub was elsewhere.
Schaub is usually available for interviews on Mondays, but the senior
quarterback may not have wanted to field questions about his status for this
weekend. Virginia (1-0, 2-1) entertains ACC foe Wake Forest (1-0, 3-1) on
Saturday at Scott Stadium, and Schaub could play for the first time since Aug.
30, when he separated his throwing shoulder against Duke.
Before reporters hit the locker room, they met with Al Groh. As expected, the
Cavaliers' coach revealed little about Schaub's availability for Saturday's
game.
"I don't know," Groh said. "I haven't seen him throw. I haven't spoken to him
since Wednesday."
Asked if sophomore Marques Hagans would make his second straight start at
quarterback, Groh said, "Right now, he's our only option."
Hagans, of course, isn't a bad option. He's only 5-10, but he's an accurate
passer and an elusive runner.
"I think the obvious look-a-like is Doug Flutie," Groh said.
Groh said on his radio show last night that Schaub "threw lightly" in practice
yesterday.
Once Schaub is cleared to play again, he'll probably start, Groh said. Whether
Hagans would then return to wideout, the position at which he began the season,
is unclear. "We'll have to see," Groh said. "That'll be tricky."
Virginia's Oct. 4 game at North Carolina will start at 1:30 p.m., the ACC
announced yesterday. It won't be televised.
GOOD TIMING: Heading into an open weekend, the Cavaliers didn't practice
Thursday or Friday, which meant Hurricane Isabel "didn't affect us at all," Groh
said.
Actually, U.Va.'s coaches had to cancel plans to spend those days recruiting.
Groh had to alter his schedule, too, after losing power at his Albemarle County
home.
He'd been looking forward to getting away from the McCue Center, Groh said, but
"all of the sudden I welcomed the opportunity to come over here. At least I had
an escape. . . . My office has showers and television, and so I spent the better
part of Friday evening and Saturday over here with hot water and a refrigerator
and television and a remote control - a small inconvenience compared to what
many people had."
DEATH IN THE FAMILY: Groh wore a dark suit to his news conference yesterday.
He'd attended the funeral of Frank A. Kessler, who died Saturday at the age of
66. Mr. Kessler, a former U.Va. football player, was a prominent developer in
the Charlottesville area.
"On behalf of Virginia football, we'd like to publicly pay our respects to a man
who really loved Virginia football," Groh said.
MEDICAL REPORT: Sophomore safety Willie Davis, who started Virginia's first two
games, isn't likely to return soon, Groh said. Davis was injured in a violent
collision Sept. 6 against South Carolina, and he left Williams-Brice Stadium
with his left arm in a sling.
Davis started five games as a true freshman in 2002. He could take a medical
redshirt this season, and Groh said he'll consider that option.
THE MUSIC MAN: Bill Pease, who'll start work at U.Va. in late November, is in
Charlottesville this week. The Virginia Beach native spoke to reporters
yesterday about his plans for the marching band he'll form at U.Va.
At Western Michigan, Pease's marching band is an integral part of the game-day
experience during football season.
"I have to talk to coach Groh to see if he's interested in doing the postgame
tradition we started there," Pease said, "with the football team coming over and
doing the alma mater with the marching band and the student section."
Groh said later: "We wouldn't be averse to doing it, but we'd have to get all
the particulars on it. Since we have NCAA rules that limit how many hours we
have [with the players], we might have to decide between their taking the time
to do that or talking to you guys afterwards."
HOOPS: Three basketball players are scheduled to officially visit U.Va. this
weekend, including 5-11 point guard Sean Singletary from Philadelphia. Joining
Singletary, who committed to Virginia in June, will be 6-7, 200-pound Adrian
Joseph of Brewster Academy (N.H.) and 6-9 Davis Nwankwo from Georgetown Prep
(Md.).
Joseph, a native of Trinidad, was supposed to take his first official visit, to
Penn State, last weekend, but Isabel intervened. He'll probably reschedule his
trip to PSU, but U.Va. was considered the leader for Joseph, and he could commit
on his visit, Brewster coach Jason Smith said.
"I think that is a possibility, but Adrian is a very bright kid," Smith said
yesterday. "He'll probably want to take at least one other visit to have
something to compare [Virginia] with." - Jeff White
U.VA. NOTES
Sep 22, 2003
COMEBACK KID? Virginia (1-0, 2-1) plays host to Wake Forest (1-0, 3-1) on
Saturday afternoon, and this key ACC game could mark the return of quarterback
Matt Schaub.
The ACC player of the year in 2002, Schaub has been sidelined since separating
his throwing shoulder in the Aug. 30 opener against Duke.
Cavaliers coach Al Groh was noncommittal Wednesday when asked about the 6-5
senior's status. Schaub's rehabilitation has gone well, Groh said, but "the
tricky part of this, when he's back to throwing in the same manner that he did
before the injury, is to try to figure out his ability to take contact.
"That is, we know that probably he's going to be able throw competently at a
point before he probably would be strong enough to take a hit. To some degree,
we're just going to have to place our bet and go with it."
Virginia has been careful not to rush Schaub's rehab. Significant time "has been
invested in getting him healed," Groh said. "If we would play him prematurely in
any circumstance and then got him injured in that game because he couldn't take
a hit, then we'd be right back where we started."
In the Cavaliers' most recent game, a Sept. 13 rout of Western Michigan,
sophomore Marques Hagans played brilliantly at quarterback. He threw three
touchdown passes and rushed for 68 yards.
SHIFTING PRIORITIES: After three games last season, tight end Patrick Estes had
five catches for 41 yards and two TDs. At the same point this year, Estes has
one reception for 6 yards, and he didn't get that until the fourth quarter of
game No. 3.
Groh said that "what you say about Patrick is certainly true for all of our guys
who are out there to catch the ball. The nature of how we're moving the ball
right now, for a number of different reasons, has changed from the way it was
last year."
In the Cavaliers' first three games in 2002, they threw 91 passes and ran the
ball 122 times. Through three games this season, U.Va. has attempted only 64
passes, with 127 rushes.
Even before Schaub got hurt, the Cavaliers and their new offensive coordinator,
line coach Ron Prince, had stressed the importance of running the ball with
authority.
"We've got Matt, but we can't just be a passing team," senior fullback Kase
Luzar said last month. "And Coach Prince, he takes pride in grinding the ball
down people's throats, and that's something we definitely need to do."
ADDED DEPTH: Senior center Kevin Bailey played against Western Michigan, his
first appearance since suffering a serious knee injury in August 2002. Another
veteran offensive lineman, junior Mark Farrington, could make his 2003 debut
this weekend.
Farrington, who started three games at guard last year, hurt his right leg in an
offseason skiing mishap. Like Bailey, who can also play tackle, Farrington is
versatile. He's also played center and might be able to fill in at tackle in an
emergency.
"To get Mark and Kevin back in this 10-day time span will add up to more than
getting two players back for us," Groh said.
TIME WELL-SPENT: Under Groh, U.Va. is 4-1 when it's had at least two weeks to
prepare for a game. Virginia's only loss in such a circumstance came against
Penn State last season. Three of its most memorable victories under Groh came
after long layoffs - wins over Clemson and Penn State in 2001 and a rout of West
Virginia in last season's Continental Tire Bowl.
ON THE MARK: Sophomore Connor Hughes has made all three of his field goal
attempts this season, connecting from 26, 44 and 48 yards. The 48-yarder,
against Western Michigan, was the longest of his U.Va. career. As a freshman,
Hughes was 5 for 6 on field goals, with a 47-yarder his longest.
"He's off to a fine start with his career," Groh said on his radio show. "His
confidence is growing as well as his range."
Told that U.Va. play-by-play announcer Mac McDonald had suggested Hughes' field
goal against WMU would have been good from 10 yards farther away, Groh said, "I
wouldn't want to predict any 58-yarders, but it didn't just fall over the bar,
either." - Jeff White