Franklin, Hagans look to make impact against WMU
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
September 3, 2005

Tony Franklin and Marques Hagans will always hold a special place in their heart for Western Michigan University.

It was two years ago in a road game against Western Michigan that both Virginia football players made a lasting impression, helping to spark a 59-16 rout over the Broncos.

Hagans threw three touchdowns passes. Franklin scored the final TD of the game and the only one in his career as he returned an interception to the endzone.

Now two years later, the duo, who are both team captains for No. 25 Virginia, will look to make the same kind of impact as WMU rolls into Charlottesville for the season opening game for both teams. The game, which is not televised, starts at 6 p.m.

In the 2003 against WMU, Hagans provided a stopgap for Virginia coach Al Groh at quarterback.

Hagans was thrown into duty after former starting QB Matt Schaub went down with a shoulder injury in the season opener against Duke. The buck was passed off to Hagans, who was previously playing wideout, because Anthony Martinez, another former signal-caller, struggled the week before in a road loss to South Carolina.

With less than a full week to getting ready, the coaching staff tried to make the playbook as simple as possible for Hagans.

"I figured the game part would take care of itself with my natural ability to make plays," Hagans said. "The main thing is that I wanted to know all the plays that were being called that week."

He spent hours on hours with quarterback coach Mike Groh and offensive coordinator Ron Prince trying to learn just that.

"They really helped prepare me for that week," Hagans admitted. "Some plays I was able to make with my play-making ability, but for the most part with all the plays that we ran the coaches did a good job of preparing me for what was going into the gameplan that week."

With the simplified gameplan, Hagans picked the Western Michigan defense apart with his arm (12 of 20, 162 yards, no interceptions) and his feet (nine carries for 68 yards).

"They made the gameplan quite simple," Hagans said. "We only had a week and they made it simple and we went out there and got the ‘W.’"

Hagans spent his first full season last year at quarterback and helped lead Virginia to an 8-4 record.

For Franklin, who was a freshman in ’03, the game was an audition of sorts for a high school tailback-turned-cornerback.

In addition to making two solo tackles in reserve duty, Franklin picked off a fourth quarter pass from Western Michigan quarterback Chad Munson and returned it 45 yards for a score - the final one of the contest.

Three games later, Franklin emerged as one of Virginia’s starting cornerbacks as former corner Jamaine Winborne was moved to safety, in an attempt to shore up the Cavaliers’ secondary.

Now, after Franklin has made 18 consecutive starts at corner, he is following in Winborne’s footsteps - making his debut today at a safety.

Franklin said he had heard this summer that the move might be forthcoming, but not in the circles that one would expect.

"I didn’t hear nothing from the coaching staff, I just heard things from [websites] and people telling me that they heard about it," Franklin said. "I always thought it would be a good idea considering I was going to be the old guy in the secondary this year. [I thought] it would be a lot easier for the young guys we had coming in to play corner, compared to playing safety."

Franklin will also try to jumpstart Virginia’s special teams units as he joins Michael Johnson as one of the teams’ two kickoff returners.

"I hope I get [the ball on kickoffs], but I faith in him that he can take something back to the house too."

 

Cupcake the main course of Virginia's in-game meal
By Andy Bitter / Lynchburg News & Advance
September 3, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Nervous stomachs and knocking knees will be a common symptom when 25th-ranked Virginia takes on Western Michigan in both teams’ season opener tonight, and it won’t just be prevalent on the sidelines of the team that’s a 34-point underdog.

Thirty-two of the 52 players listed on the Cavaliers’ depth chart are underclassmen, and most of them will see their first bit of playing time at the college level this evening.

It’s a good thing the contest doesn’t figure to be close (Western Michigan went 1-10 last year with its only win coming against Division I-AA Tennessee-Martin). That should allow some of the younger Cavaliers to get used to the speed of the college game.

“When you first start off, (the game’s speed) is the main thing, because you’re used to being faster than everyone else,” said senior wide receiver Ottowa Anderson, himself returning to the field after a yearlong academic suspension.

“Everybody on this level probably was the star on their high school team. They can just use their physical talents to run around people. But here, you have linemen who are as fast as receivers and linebackers who can run 4.4 in the 40 and things like that.”

UVa has eight players who are slated to make their first collegiate start. Two of them, freshman left guard Branden Albert and redshirt freshman Clint Sintim, have never seen the field.

“Whenever you get a chance to play, that’s a great thing,” said Sintim, whose came closest to replicating a game situation in last year’s spring festival.

The Cavaliers have seven positions - left guard, right guard, tight end, right defensive end, both outside linebacker positions and one of the cornerback spots - in which there is no upperclassman in the top two on the depth chart.

“In a lot of ways, it’s the most inexperienced team that we’ve had,” Virginia head coach Al Groh said. “We have certain positions that are rich in experience, but, across the board, it’s the most inexperienced team that we’ve had, not just on the front line, but at some spots all the way through.”

Fortunately for those green on experience, UVa has plenty of players on the other end of the spectrum - way on the other end of the spectrum.

Offensive tackle D’Brickashaw Ferguson and defensive end Brennan Schmidt have started 39 games in their careers and, if they stay healthy, are on pace to be the only players in Virginia history to start over 50 games in a career. Brad Butler is in his third year starting at right tackle. Center Brian Barthelmes, who has played every offensive line position, has 28 career starts.

Tailback Wali Lundy has played since he was a freshman, as have junior linebackers Ahmad Brooks and Kai Parham and safety Tony Franklin, who are all two-year starters.

“I’ll give (the younger players) advice leading up to the game on what to expect, like what the game day will be like so they’re comfortable with the situation,” said Franklin, who will adjust to a new position, shifting from corner to safety. “The main thing is to be comfortable with the situation.”

It will help that they won’t be overrun with information about Western Michigan. The Broncos have a new head coach in Bill Cubit, most recently the offensive coordinator at Stanford, and a new system.

Last year’s game film is of little use, as is any kind of information from UVa’s 59-16 drubbing of Western Michigan in Kalamazoo two years ago.

“You just have to trust the coaches,” senior linebacker Bryan White said. “(The Broncos) have a new coaching staff, everything. It’s really you just trusting the coaches and them saying this is what you’re going to do.”

Regardless of whether the coaching staff has the youngsters fully prepared with their game plans, there is a vast difference between playing in front of a handful of practice onlookers and 65,000 rabid fans, even if the vast majority of them are in your corner.

“You’re going to be nervous your first series, but after that you’re not even going to hear the crowd,” Anderson said.

“At game time it’s just going to be playing football. I’m not really worried about having a whole bunch of newcomers because everybody has to start their first game sometime.”

 

Virginia has mix of talent
Cavaliers have experience, but many new faces also will be making presence felt
BY JEFF WHITE / TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
September 3, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE - They've been fixtures in the University of Virginia's starting lineup for years, players such as Brennan Schmidt, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Wali Lundy, Kai Parham and Tony Franklin, and they'll be on the field at Scott Stadium again tonight.

But fans who come out to cheer the start of another football season won't be as familiar with many of the other players whom fifth-year coach Al Groh has cast in leading roles.

"From an experience spectrum, we're on both ends of the spectrum, and we have little in-between," Groh said.

Virginia, coming off an 8-4 season, entertains Western Michigan at 6 p.m. in a game expected to attract more than 60,000 fans. Among the Cavaliers scheduled to start for the first time are true freshman Branden Albert (offensive guard), redshirt freshman Clint Sintim and sophomores Chris Long (defensive end), Jermaine Dias (outside linebacker), Chris Gorham (cornerback) and Nate Lyles (safety).

Also on the two-deep are true freshmen Eugene Monroe (offensive guard), Kevin Ogletree (wideout), Aaron Clark (outside linebacker), Mike Brown (cornerback) and Chris Cook (cornerback).

"Now, we have certain positions that are rich in experience, but across the board it's the most inexperienced team that we've had," Groh said. "Not just on the front line, but at some spots all the way through.

"It'll be very interesting for us to see the game reaction of some of these players, not just to the competition . . . but how they're able to adjust to things during the course of the game."

Asked about making his college debut, Sintim said, "I'm pretty sure I'm going to be nervous." He won't be the only underclassman who feels that way, but U.Va. figures to be able to survive even the worst cases of jitters.

When these teams met two seasons ago in Kalamazoo, Mich., the Cavaliers won 59-16. Another blowout is likely tonight. The Broncos went 1-10 last season, after which Gary Darnell's coaching tenure at the Mid-American Conference school ended and Bill Cubit's began.

Cubit's son, Ryan, is the team's best quarterback, but the 6-2 senior is battling shin splints, and his participation tonight may be limited. The Broncos struggled to run the ball last season, but their passing attack was more effective. Back are wideout Greg Jennings (74 catches for 1,092 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2004) and tight end Tony Scheffler (53 receptions).

"We know a little something about tight ends around here, and we're very impressed with him," Groh said. "And we're certainly very impressed with Jennings and his vertical speed."

U.Va. opens the season with a revamped secondary. Franklin has been moved to safety, with Gorham taking his place at cornerback. Defensive coordinator Al Golden, formerly in charge of the inside linebackers, now oversees the defensive backs.

In each of its four losses last season, Virginia suffered costly breakdowns in the secondary, and Western Michigan undoubtedly will probe to see if those weaknesses still exist. But it's not all about the defensive backs, Groh stressed. Even the best secondary will give up yards if it doesn't have the benefit of a strong pass rush.

"Really it's not the secondary that's being tested," Groh said. "it's the pass defense."

 

UVa begins healing process vs. Broncos
Eight months later, the overtime loss in the MPC Computers Bowl to Fresno State stings.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

In a coaching career that has spanned 35 years at the college and professional levels, Al Groh rarely comes across a veteran coach with whom he hasn't had some previous connection.

Tonight will mark his first meeting of any description with Bill Cubit.

Cubit, most recently the offensive coordinator at Stanford, will bring his first Western Michigan football team to Virginia for a 6 p.m. kickoff in the season opener for both teams.

In an odd twist, the Cavaliers open the season against the Western Michigan Broncos after ending the 2004 season at Bronco Stadium in Boise, Idaho.

It has been a long eight months since the Cavaliers squandered a two-touchdown lead and lost to Fresno State 37-34 in overtime, at the MPC Computers Bowl. It was the first season-ending loss for the Cavs in Groh's four seasons.

Quarterback Marques Hagans was so distraught that he left the locker room without showering and without changing clothes, as he revealed to reporters several months later. He said he would have walked home if he could have.

"I didn't read it or hear it," Groh said. "I left with him."

Groh was terse in his post-game meeting with the media in Boise.

"I don't think that losing a game gives you an excuse to be a jerk under any circumstances," Groh said, "but, internally, I'm an angry loser."

The game continues to gnaw at him.

"Frankly, a lot of them gnaw at me," he said. "Don't think those previous two seasons didn't have some games that gnawed at me.

"In this particular case, there was no antidote for the last one. There hasn't been one. I don't know about the rest of the traveling party but, from personal experience, I know there were two people who arrived back at the hotel in need of a shower.

"That you don't forget doesn't mean that you don't move on."

This will be the second meeting in three years between the Broncos and Virginia, which visited Kalamazoo, Mich., in 2003 as the featured guest for the celebration of Western Michigan's 100th anniversary.

Virginia agreed to go to Western Michigan at least partly because of Groh's relationship with Gary Darnell, a former coaching colleague at North Carolina.

When the Broncos come to Charlottesville tonight for the first of two games at Scott Stadium, Darnell will not be with them. He was dismissed after Western Michigan lost the last 10 games of the 2004 season and finished 1-10.

Many signs pointed toward Cubit, a 51-year-old University of Delaware graduate, as Darnell's successor.

For one, Cubit, served as Western Michigan's offensive coordinator from 1997-1999. For another, his son Ryan was the Broncos' starting quarterback for the last seven games of the 2004 season.

Ryan Cubit previously had played quarterback for Rutgers in 2001-2002 when his father was the Scarlet Knights' offensive coordinator. After Ryan Cubit was benched in 2002, he transferred to Western Michigan and his father resigned to take a position at Stanford.

So, if you're Virginia, do you look at Stanford film or do you look at film from Western Michigan, where the younger Cubit passed for 1,886 yards and 14 touchdowns last season?

"Plenty of both," Groh said.

Virginia enters the game as a 33-point favorite, so maybe X's and O's won't have a lot to do with the outcome. The Cavaliers may not feel a need to unveil their whole arsenal.

Preseason All-America linebacker Ahmad Brooks is being held out of tonight's game and "our game planning was done with the idea of utilizing whatever we have in our system that we need to win," Groh said.
 

A time-consuming exercise
Do you know where Cory Bird is?
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

In an age when there is little information not obtainable at the click of a computer mouse, I fear that I have spent the past 3-4 hours in a futile activity.

In an effort to update the list of NFL players from Virginia that I have kept in a computer file but rarely published, I have gone through every NFL roster to make sure there is nobody I am omitting.

With that said, I’m sure I have omitted somebody.

The first name that caught my attention was former Virginia Tech linebacker Cornell Brown, no longer listed on the Baltimore Ravens’ roster.

When I called Jimmy Robertson of the Hokie Huddler, there was a snicker at the other end of the line.

“I know exactly where he is,” Robertson said. “He’s down the hall, in the [Tech] weight room.”

Brown, who turned 30 in March, played in seven games last year for the Baltimore Ravens but was on and off the physically-unable-to-perform list before he was released.

“It’s been in the paper,” Randy King barked at me Friday over the phone, although I couldn’t find it in our computerized archives

(This King guy, does he ever miss a thing?)

After tracking down Cornell Brown, I next went in search of Cory Bird, a former Tech defensive back no longer listed with the Indianapolis Colts, with whom he spent five seasons.

The perpetualluy irritable King couldn’t tell me, my phone line to Robertson went dead in mid-conversation, I was unable to find John Ballein or Bill Roth, a google search provided no recent information, there was no mention of Bird in the archives on the Indianapolis website, there was no phone number on the website and there were no Colts media guides in our sports department library (and I’m using that term loosely).

I would have called Roanoke talk show host Greg Roberts, a voracious reader of beamerball.com (it’s almost like he writes it) but, of course, this was the day Roberts would be increasing his work load from six to eight hours a week and you just know he had to be overwhelmed. It’s been a virtual radio marathon.

Finally, I made one last trip to the “library” and was able to locate a Colts media guide from 2000, when the head coach was Jim Mora Sr. and ex-Hokies’ quarterback Bruce Arians was offensive coordinator. Believe it or not, the switchboard number had not changed and they put me right through to media relations.

“His contract was not renewed,” a secretary told me.

I WOULDN’T SAY there were any other surprises, certainly no big surprises, although I did not remember that former Tech defensive lineman Chad Beasley, who had begun his NFL career as an offensive lineman for the Cleveland Browns, was now with the Houston Texans.

And, I could not recall that ex-UVa tight end Chris Luzar, let go by the Jacksonville Jaguars, had surfaced as a New York Giants teammate of ex-Cavaliers Tiki Barber and Ryan Kuehl, the latter a nine-year NFL deep snapper.

The stat that jumped out at me is, with less than one week to go before the final cutdown, that 10 members of UVa’s 2004 team are still on NFL rosters.

Seven UVa players were drafted and four signed as free agents, one of whom, walk-on special-teams player Isaiah “Ike” Ekejuiba was waived this week by Arizona.

The other free agents still in camps are defensive back Jermaine Hardy in Arizona, linebacker Dennis Haley with the New York Jets and running back Marquis Weeks in Seattle. Weeks returned to running back this summer after playing safety at UVa last season, his only year as a starter.

Hardy and Haley, were they to survive another week, would join Lee Suggs and John St. Clair as NFL players from the Roanoke Valley. Haley is from Salem and the other three from William Fleming.

AS TIME GROWS SCARCE, here are the former Tech and UVa players that I’m seeing on NFL rosters at this point.

Arizona Cardinals: Darryl Blackstock, lb, Virginia; Elton Brown, og, Virginia; Bill Conaty, ol, Tech (injured reserve); Eric Green, db, Tech; Jermaine Hardy, db, Virginia.

Atlanta Falcons: Keion Carpenter, db, Tech; DeAngelo Hall, db, Tech; lb; Patrick Kerney, de, Virginia; Kevin McCadam, db, Tech; Matt Lehr, ol, Tech; Matt Schaub, qb, Virginia; Michael Vick, qb, Tech.

Baltimore Ravens: Jamaine Winborne, db, Virginia.

Buffalo Bills: Angelo Crowell, lb, Virginia.

Carolina Panthers: Dave Kadela,ol, Tech.

Chicago Bears: Thomas Jones, rb, Virginia.

Cincinnati Bengals: Shayne Graham, pk, Tech; Carter Warley, pk, Tech.

Cleveland Browns: Jon Dunn, ol, Tech; Antwan Harris, db, Virginia; Andrew Hoffman, dl, Virginia; Lee Suggs, rb, Tech; Ben Taylor, lb, Tech.

Dallas Cowboys: Chris Canty, dl, Virginia.

Denver Broncos: John Engelberger, dl, Tech; Monsanto Pope, dl, Virginia.

Detroit Lions: Kevin Jones, rb, Tech; Wali Rainer, lb, Virginia.

Houston Texans: Chad Beasley, ol, Tech; Todd Washington, ol, Tech.

Indianapolis Colts: Nathaniel Adibi, de, Tech (IR).

Jacksonville Jaguars: Jim Davis, dl, Tech; Alvin Pearman, rb, Virginia; Nick Sorensen, db, Tech; Ernest Wilford, wr, Tech.

Miami Dolphins: John St. Clair, ol, Virginia.

New England Patriots: Andre Davis, wr, Tech.

New Orleans Saints: Aaron Brooks, qb, Virginia.

New York Giants: Tiki Barber, rb, Virginia; Ryan Kuehl, ls, Virginia; Chris Luzar, te, Virginia.

New York Jets: Dennis Haley, lb, Virginia.

Oakland Raiders: Jake Grove, ol, Tech.

Philadelphia Eagles: Billy McMullen, wr, Virginia.

Pittsburgh Steelers: James Farrior, lb, Virginia; Heath Miller, te, Virginia.

St. Louis Cardinals: Arlen Harris, rb, Virginia.

San Francisco 49ers: Patrick Estes, ol, Virginia.

Seattle Seahawks: Jamie Sharper, lb, Virginia; Marquis Weeks, rb, Virginia.

Tennessee Titans: Vincent Fuller, db, Tech.

Washington Redskins: Pierson Prioleau, db, Tech; Garnell Wilds, db, Tech.

THERE’S NO WAY this would have taken a whole afternoon 20 years ago.
 

Goal to go
Hokies, Cavs begin quests for postseason
BOB LIPPER
POINT OF VIEW Sep 3, 2005

W hat has one Marcus, one Marques, two Top 25 addresses, a couple of rear-view mirrors and a large piece of speculative real estate known as the postseason?
If you answered "2005 campaign for our commonwealth's two semi-pro entries," you are now eligible for the drawing for our deluxe Bullet Bill Dudley action figure (batteries and nutritional supplements not included). You also are ready for some football.

Virginia Tech and Virginia launch their seasons this weekend shadowed by promise (Hokies) and uncertainty (Cavaliers). Tech is being sized up as a national contender. U.Va. hovers as a bubble team as it approaches the crossroads of Al Groh's run.

The Hokies and Cavs might switch roles by the time they meet Nov. 19 for all we know. For the moment, they're as different as American Idol and American idling.

What they have in common is each will start a quarterback who caught passes as well as threw them in 2003 (except U.Va.'s Marques Hagans aired it out for 2,024 yards last fall, while Tech's Marcus Vick chilled out back home in Newport News). Too, each is prodded by memories of slip-ups past.

Virginia, for instance, was thought to have ACC possibilities last season, but it lost every league game that mattered, not to mention a bowl outing against Fresno State. "When you end up on a bad note, it motivates you," said defensive end Brennan Schmidt. Minus seven NFL draftees from that squad, the Cavs need all the emotional lifting they can get.

Tech, meanwhile, was a sexy pick to play for the national championship in 2003, won its first six starts by an average score of 45.5 to 15 - and then dropped five of seven. The guys who remember that pratfall aim for a snappier ending.

"Two years ago, we had a lot of talent, we had a lot of preseason hype - and it didn't turn out too well for us," said tight end Jeff King. "We've seen the good, and we've seen the bad."

Tomorrow, the Hokies see N.C. State in Raleigh. Tonight, U.Va. sees Western Michigan in Charlottesville. It doesn't take an Oxford grad to see Tech has the dicier opener. Its Rose Bowl ambitions, in fact, could crumble by 11 p.m.

State had the nation's stingiest defense last season and boasts a couple of defensive ends named Mario Williams and Manny Lawson, who are to quarterbacks what jackhammers are to concrete. They'll be a test for Vick, who hasn't started since his senior year at Warwick High and hasn't faced live ammo since the 2003 Insight Bowl. Off-field misbehavior shelved him for 2004.

"It's not like he's never played in a game before," said King. "We're not worried about Marcus. He's a big-time player. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. We don't have any questions about that guy."

But they should. Maybe Vick is sensational, replicates big brother and leads Tech on a merry ride. He's that gifted. But he also threw five interceptions vs. two touchdowns in'03. Ergo, he still has some proving to do.

Ditto Hagans. He struggled in U.Va.'s losses last season. Now he's without all-galaxy tight end Heath Miller and doesn't have a wideout who gives rival cornerbacks cold sweats. A steady stream of bragged-on recruits hasn't prevented the Cavs from losing 14 times over the past three years. Lowered expectations could benefit this bunch.

"There's not as much hype," said Hagans. "We might be better as underdogs."

They'll be overdogs tonight and likely into October. If they're still acting like overdogs a month after that, the 19th could be a doozy.

 

Nats waste no time on Zimmerman
JOHN MARKON
POINT OF VIEW Sep 3, 2005

WASHINGTON Frank Robinson insisted he was going to preach and practice patience in his handling of Ryan Zimmerman, the 20-year-old former University of Virginia Cavalier who's become the most valuable young property in the Washington Nationals' organization.

Patience was, indeed, the word last night.

For at least an hour and a half.

Since there were no evident reasons for a delay, Robinson chose to begin the Nats' Zimmerman Era in the fifth inning of what would become a 7-1 loss to visiting Philadelphia, the National League wild-card leader. In Zimmerman's first game with Washington - Thursday night in Atlanta - he'd been limited to one late-inning strikeout as a pinch hitter.

"I don't have any idea of intentionally going slow with Ryan," explained Robinson, "but I'm not going to throw him right in there in the middle of a pennant race against [Braves rotation ace] John Smoltz."

Through four innings last night, Robinson was already trailing, 6-1, and his 37-year-old third baseman, Vinny Castilla, had popped up and struck out with runners on base. The Nats manager responded by inviting Castilla to take the rest of the night off.

In Zimmerman's first inning on defense, he started a very classy 5-6-3 double play. In his first time at bat at RFK Stadium, Zimmerman looked at one pitch from Vicente Padilla and smoked the next into the gap in left-center for a double.

He was later retired on a line-drive out to right and a hard grounder to short. On this offensively bereft club, three straight spanks probably make Zimmerman the "hottest" Nat.

"They say your first hit is the hardest to get," Zimmerman said. "I'm glad I didn't have to wait too long for mine."

If Zimmerman, the No. 4 selection in this summer's amateur draft, doesn't establish himself in the majors after less than three months of apprenticeship in the minor leagues, it won't be because he was under-hyped.

After a slow first three weeks, Zimmerman began overmatching pitchers in the Double-A Eastern League, hitting .326 with nine home runs, 20 doubles and 32 RBI in 63 games at Harrisburg. In 67 total minor-league games, he hit 11 homers, four more than he'd managed during his three-year college career swinging an aluminum bat.

"I'm not really a home run hitter," Zimmerman said. "If I'm going good, you'll see me shoot a lot of line drives into the gaps. Particularly in this park, if you try for home runs, all you do is fly out. This should actually be a good home field for me."

Washington General Manager Jim Bowden, who'll often precede a bombastic statement by insisting he doesn't make a lot of bombastic statements, was quoted as comparing Zimmerman to both Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken.

"Those kind of comments, you take them in and let them go right out," Zimmerman said. "It's certainly an honor to be compared to great players, but I can't be thinking about that when I'm on the field. I just want to relax and play."

"As a GM, you don't make those comments unless you're sure they'll be backed up," countered Bowden. "I will not be wrong about this player."

Washington fans can only hope he's half right. If nothing else, Zimmerman can always be recalled as the first true Nat, the first player who never spent a day as property of the Montreal Expos or any other major league organization.

"I'm not going to get carried away over one double and one double play," said Robinson. "Ryan's going to be all right. He'll have his day."

Last night was either just the first, or the first of many.

 

Cavs Have New Faces on Both Sides of the Ball
By Mark Schlabach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, September 3, 2005; Page E11

A lot of the familiar names and faces that have marked the Al Groh era at Virginia won't be on the sideline when the Cavaliers open the season today against Western Michigan at Scott Stadium. Seven Cavaliers were drafted in April's NFL draft, and three other starters graduated.

All-American tight end Heath Miller, all-American guard Elton Brown, linebacker Darryl Blackstock and star running back Alvin Pearman all were chosen in the NFL draft. So with a roster that includes six first-time starters on defense and a freshman starting at left guard on offense, Groh isn't sure how his team will react against the Broncos, a team that lost its last 10 games in 2004 and whose coach was fired before the season ended.

"In a lot of ways, it's the most inexperienced team that we've had," Groh said. "We have certain positions that are rich in experience, but, across the board, it's the most inexperienced team that we've had. Not just on the front line, but at some spots all the way through."

The No. 25 Cavaliers essentially will have three new starters on the offensive line, with tackles D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Brad Butler the only players back at the positions they played last season. Senior Brian Barthelmes moved from left guard to center during training camp, and sophomore Ian Yates-Cunningham moved from center to backup left guard. Freshman Branden Albert, from Glen Burnie High School, will become only the second Virginia freshman since 1972 to start the opener on the offensive line (Ferguson did it in 2002).

Among Virginia's six new starters on defense are two linebackers and two defensive backs. Redshirt freshman Clint Sintim (Gar-Field) replaces Blackstock at outside linebacker, and seniors Mark Miller and Bryan White will play in second-team all-American Ahmad Brooks's inside spot. Brooks, from Hylton High, won't play against Western Michigan as he continues to recover from surgery he underwent in March to regenerate bone growth in his right knee. Groh said Brooks did some light work in practice this week, so there's a chance he could play in the Cavaliers' next game, at Syracuse on Sept. 17.

Virginia has two new starters in the secondary, and junior Tony Franklin moved from cornerback to safety. Sophomore Nate Lyles will make his first start at safety, and sophomore Chris Gorham replaces Franklin at cornerback.

Groh said the younger players' ability to remember what they learned during spring practice and training camp will determine how well they play early in the season. He estimated the Cavaliers will have 12 to 14 players appear in today's game who have never played in a college football game before.

"You spend five days giving them the script and the plan, and then, all of a sudden, in the middle of the first quarter, you see the picture of the coach on TV with the grease board, and he's redrawing the coverages that you've got to play or the pass protections that you've got to run during the game," Groh said. "A player's ability to process that has a lot to do with his success in the game."

Western Michigan Coach Bill Cubit, a former offensive coordinator at Stanford who replaced the fired Gary Darnell, said he expects Virginia's young players to perform well.

"They're really good and they're getting themselves geared up to go and win the ACC," Cubit said. "We've been here before, playing the Floridas and teams like that, and I don't think it's anything different. We just have to go out and play hard and if we do, I think the kids will feel good about themselves after the game."

 

The Cavaliers' Money Player
Ferguson Walked Away From Potentially Rich NFL Contract to Anchor Line
By Mark Schlabach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 31, 2005; Page H04

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Most NFL general managers and scouts believed D'Brickashaw Ferguson was ready to play in the pros this year, but the Virginia tackle didn't think he was prepared physically or mentally. So Ferguson did what many thought was unimaginable: He walked away from a potential $30 million contract to play one more season of college football.

Ferguson, a senior from Freeport, N.Y., was widely regarded as the best tackle in the country by most NFL scouts and general managers after the 2004 season. If Ferguson had entered the draft, he might have been selected among the first five picks. Former Auburn running back Carnell Williams, the No. 5 selection by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, signed a five-year, $31 million contract that included a $13 million signing bonus.

Quite simply, Ferguson said he just wasn't ready to leave Virginia.

"Honestly, I love playing for this team, and there are a lot of things I want our team to accomplish, including winning a championship," Ferguson said. "Anything I can do to contribute to that would be great, and I want to do that. That's why I'm here. Coach recruited me to win championships, and I want to do my role."

Cavaliers Coach Al Groh, who worked 12 seasons as an NFL assistant and one season as head coach of the New York Jets, said he believes Ferguson made the right decision. Groh had numerous discussions with Ferguson before April's NFL draft and admits he didn't know what the player was going to do.

"There's so much talk about players coming out of school that the assumption is made that that's what they're supposed to do," Groh said. "That's an option for them if that's what they'd like to do. I know this is a kid who values his education, wanted to get his degree, likes this school, likes college football and knew he could get better."

Ferguson, who has started all 39 games in his college career, didn't turn 21 until Dec. 10 and is just now growing into his body, Groh said. Ferguson, 6 feet 5 and 295 pounds, gained 30 pounds before the 2004 season and didn't become an overpowering pass blocker until last year.

"From having been on the other side of it, the most critical factor in a player getting to a team is not just his draftability, but his ability to play well when he gets there," Groh said. "All the evaluators of guys going in the draft, they're always saying, 'Well, he's the fifth-rated cornerback in the country.' Well, that's relative to who's going to get picked in the draft. That's not always relative to, 'Is the guy going to be a really good player?'

"When a player really makes their money is on the second contract. That's when they're truly a free agent. That second contract is based on how well a player plays early. If a player goes in and he's just not ready to perform early, that's going to hurt his résumé toward his marketability in the future."

If Ferguson stays healthy this season, he could break two significant marks in Virginia football history. His 39-game starting streak is the second-longest by a Cavaliers left tackle -- all-American Jim Dombrowski started 45 games in a row from 1982 to 1985. No Cavaliers offensive lineman has ever started 50 games or more and none has started four bowl games.

Ferguson has certainly come a long way since he reported to Virginia in 2002 as one of the country's best offensive line prospects. He was immediately installed as the starting left tackle in training camp, became the first Cavaliers freshman to start an opener on the offensive line, and stayed in the lineup the rest of the season. Ferguson more than held his own against older and stronger players despite weighing only 252 pounds.

"He's a much more powerful player now," Groh said. "His anticipation and reaction to pass rush games is better. He's become much more knowledgeable of it, where he doesn't always have to react to it but can kind of see it coming from pre-snap looks. Without having played a game yet, he can do things with his game right now that he couldn't do last December."

Most NFL general managers and scouts believe Ferguson will remain in the top five picks in next April's NFL draft. Last year, Oklahoma's Jammal Brown was the first tackle selected, No. 13 overall by the New Orleans Saints. In April, Ferguson could be one of at least four tackles selected in the first round, along with Auburn's Marcus McNeill, Miami's Eric Winston and Texas's Jonathan Scott.

Even if he slips in the draft, Ferguson said he won't second-guess his decision to stay in school. After Virginia finished with a disappointing 8-4 record in 2004 and lost to Fresno State, 37-34 in overtime, in the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho, Ferguson hopes to lead his team to better things this season.

"Whenever you don't finish or complete your goals, it always makes you want to do more," Ferguson said. "Until we reach the goal of winning a championship, I'll never be satisfied. There's a lot to be done."

 

For some U.Va. vets, ''it’s time to put up or shut up''
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© September 3, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Ron Darden has been around. No kid anymore, he’ll be 21 in December. He recently endured his fourth hot and sweaty preseason training camp as a member of the University of Virginia football team.

“My teammates have a lot of respect for me,” he said. “I go out there, and some guys think of me along the lines of a team leader and all that.”

But on fall Saturday afternoons and evenings the past two years, Darden has been little heard from. Like many players, he came to Virginia with high expectations. They’ve yet to be realized.

“I’ve been here,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been through a whole lot, and, in my eyes, I haven’t really done anything.”

Now entering his junior year, Darden, a nose tackle, is feeling a sense of urgency to perform.

He’s not alone. If a typical football career lasts four or five years, year three is when potential is supposed to turn into production, when, ideally, promise and practice combine to yield results.

“When you get to this point in your career, it’s usually time to make a move or else someone else is coming along to make a move on you,” Virginia coach Al Groh said.

Virginia, which opens the season today against Western Michigan, has a number of players who have reason to glance in the rear-view mirror, to see who’s gaining on them. Some are redshirt sophomores, others juniors. Some have been held back by injuries. Others were stuck behind all-conference players or future NFL draft picks.

Now, it’s their turn.

“It’s either time to put up or shut up,” Darden said.

In Darden’s case, he’s been doubly cursed, plagued by debilitating headaches and slotted behind All-American guard Elton Brown, who rarely left the field.

Brown graduated last spring. With younger linemen coming along and a void at nose tackle, Darden has moved to the other side of the ball. He’s second on the depth chart but is expected to play a lot.

So are receivers Fontel Mines and Deyon Williams. Tall and rangy, Mines and Williams have tantalized fans with glimpses of their ability the past two seasons. Suddenly, they are two of three “veterans” of a young receiving corps.

“It kind of sneaks up on you,” Mines said. “Before you know it, you’re an upperclassman.”

Said Williams: “I feel like I just got out of high school.”

But now, they’re the ones showing the freshmen the ropes during practice. With four first-year receivers on the roster, they could be hearing footsteps.

Mines, 20, has been slowed by injuries. Williams, still just 19, has had his share of bumps and bruises,

too. But it was lack of production, not injury, that caused him to lose his starting job to Theirrien Davis in last year’s MPC Computers Bowl in Boise.

“I think it was a wake-up call for him,” Mines said. “It shows that nothing is given.”

Jeramine Dias knows that. Dias was rated the nation’s No. 8 linebacker, and No. 74 player overall, at Hackensack High in New Jersey three years ago. But with Darryl Blackstock ahead of him at outside linebacker, Dias didn’t get on the field in 2003. Last year, he played mostly in the team’s “nickel” package and on special teams.

Dias, 21, earned an orange starter’s jersey in preseason. His reaction?

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said.

Dias was one of a trio of highly touted linebackers scooped up by the Cavaliers three years ago. Classmate Marvin Richardson is just working his way onto the depth chart. Vince Redd has moved to defensive end.

The team is also stacked with linemen reaching that ripening stage, players such as Marshal Ausberry, Ian-Yates Cunningham, Jordy Lipsey and Eddie Pinigis and Gordie Sammis on offense, and Allen Billyk and Keenan Carter on defense.

Everyone develops at their own rate, said Sammis, a junior. But for players entering their third year, the clock begins ticking a little louder.

“You definitely realize you’re not the young guy anymore,” Sammis said.