Golden's Rules
Young coordinator has Cavaliers' defense on the rise
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
September 16, 2005

Al Golden likes to tell the story about his first year as defensive coordinator at Virginia, when at age 32 he was most likely the youngest coordinator in the country and assigned to install the 3-4 defense, something pretty unique to college football.

The Cavaliers finished 108th in the nation that year in total defense and the negative e-mails from Wahoo fans flowed steadily into Golden’s office.

That was in 2001. Last year, Virginia’s defense finished 18th nationally, one notch behind Texas. Over that same span of time, UVa’s defense has improved from 74th nationally in scoring defense (27.6 points per game) to 17th last season (17.7).

But Golden’s work isn’t done. It’s only beginning.

It was no wonder then, that when Notre Dame hired Charlie Weiss to turn around its famed program, that the Irish came calling and tried to steal Golden away from Virginia. Respectfully, he declined Notre Dame’s offer.

“I was flattered to be approached, but I’m happy in Charlottesville,” Golden said. “We have work to do here. We were one game short last year.”

That’s when the Cavaliers could have shared or won the ACC title, but late season losses to Miami and Virginia Tech shattered the dream. If Virginia is to make that leap this year or next, then it is going to require a championship effort from Golden’s defense.

“We’ve made progress the last four years, but we haven’t proved anything,” he said. “We have a lot to prove to ourselves.”

What he likes about this year’s defense is that there are no prima donnas. It’s blue collar, all the way baby. Golden’s tenet is that defenses united are not only tough to divide, but also tough to beat.

Heading into this weekend’s game at Syracuse, UVa’s defense will be tested for the first time. Western Michigan, which didn’t score an offensive touchdown against the Wahoos, threw

50 times, almost exclusively to the short receivers. Syracuse will line up and try to pound away with a dedicated running attack and will mix in the long ball.

Golden believes his 3-4, a defense that has rapidly gained popularity in the NFL (11 teams run it including the Patriots and Steelers), but hasn’t spread through the college ranks yet, is ready for the Syracuse challenge.

His biggest challenge though has been convincing high school recruits unaccustomed to the defense and critical UVa fans about the merits of the unique alignment, which opponents have to take extra time to prepare for because they don’t see it on a regular basis.

After working as a grad assistant under George Welsh and defensive coordinator Rick Lantz’s 4-3 defense, then moving on to Boston College with Tom O’Brien as a full-time assistant, then back to his alma mater, Penn State, before returning to Virginia, Golden knew it would be difficult fitting a square peg into a round hole. The 3-4 required different personnel than the 4-3 and the coaching staff realized it was going to take some time.

Fans didn’t.

“The only way to remedy the problem was through the recruiting process,” Golden said. “We’re getting in a rhythm now because we can replace players with the prototype we’re looking for at the position.”

Fifth-year senior defensive end Brennan Schmidt, one of the team’s co-captains, would be the first to admit he doesn’t fit that mold.

“I don’t know if I was necessarily recruited to fit this defense,” Schmidt said. “I think I was recruited more for my toughness and work ethic. I’ve been called the ‘non-prototypical’ defensive end for this defense. But the person who can really hone in on the techniques of this defense can play.”

The 3-4 is a linebacker’s defense, designed to allow great linebackers make plays, while the three defensive linemen shed blockers.

“Two gap is not an easy thing and it’s not a sexy thing either,” Schmidt said. “But for the hard-nosed guy, it’s perfect. For the tougher defensive linemen, this is the defense they want to play in and that’s why we’ve recruited guys like Chris Long.”

Schmidt said defensive linemen in the 3-4 have to ‘man up’ an opposing offensive lineman that may have a 50-pound advantage, stand him up and throw him, not an easy thing to do.

But Groh and Golden believe in the strong lineage of legitimate success at the highest levels of the 3-4 and the multiplicity that accompanies it.

“We were standing on an island, us and the Steelers,” Golden said of installing the defense five years ago. “I don’t think the Patriots were even running it at the time in Belichick’s first year there. Now, there are a lot of people who feel strongly that the 3-4 is the best way to defend the modern day offenses.”

In a time when the Urban Meyer’s of the football world are running all sorts of spread offenses with four wide receiver packages, empty backfields, with elements of option football and strong running games, Golden believes it was time for a balanced defense to negate the wide-open attacks.

“If we were a 4-3, they would know who the four rushers are,” he said. “We would have to go to the nickel to match things. But we can stay in the regular 3-4 and have the ability to remove an outside linebacker when teams go to a four wide receiver package, or we can go to a nickel or dime if we choose. We have an option that a lot of teams don’t have.”

The scheme has worked well against Clemson and West Virginia spreads as well as Pitt, where the Cavs could rush from anywhere out of the 3-4. Still, it has the flexibility to use a four- or even five-man front when necessary.

Such is the challenge of a defensive coordinator in these times. Golden has borrowed a principle from basketball mastermind John Wooden in that he tries to make sure that his players are ready to play and that they fully understand the game plan and adjustments. They focus on themselves rather than worry about the complexity of weekly shifts in game plans that may feature 50 passes one week, 50 runs the next.

Now that he and the defensive staff have coached the 3-4 for several years, they are also getting a little help from veteran UVa players in practices.

“When we got here, we had to teach 50 guys the system,” Golden said. “Now, they’ve played for us for a few years and they hand it down. They teach the freshmen coming in. Seniors have been instrumental in accelerating that learning curve.”

Fifth-year senior linebacker Bryan White will attest to that fact.

“I’ve been in this defense for five years, so I feel like I know it pretty well,” White said. “Other guys have done the same, so it’s easier for us during practice, if we see a younger player do something wrong, we can pull them aside and tell them what to do. In our freshman year we were all new to the system, so there wasn’t a lot of player coaching going on. Now, there is.”

Long, who started for the first time against Western Michigan, said he has benefited from the veteran teammates.

“You come in as a young player with insecurities and no knowledge of this defense, so it helps tremendously when guys like Brennan assist you in the technical aspects and other areas of the game,” Long said.

One of the weakness of UVa’s defense in the past few seasons has been its secondary, and so Golden switched from coaching the inside linebackers to the defensive backfield.

“When Coach Groh decided he was going to make some moves on the staff, I decided to step forward and asked to coach the secondary,” Golden said. “I felt I knew a lot about the secondary and it would be a new challenge.”

He had to incorporate his philosophy with Groh’s ideology. Golden submerged himself into studying pass defense and spent a lot of time during the winter with several NFL secondary coaches, working six months on trying to fix in his mind how he wanted to approach the whole matter.

Grad assistant Chad Wilkes has been a blessing in working alongside Golden with the secondary, earning high praise from the coordinator on the work he has contributed to that area of the team.

Obviously the goal of most young coaches, particularly coordinators, is to become a head coach some day. Golden is no different.

“I always remember George Welsh saying that high tide lifts all boats,” Golden said. “If we stay on the right path and win here, win a title game, I truly believe what Coach Welsh said is true. But my main focus is on this organization, being unselfish and giving what I have to make this team best.”

From 108 to 18 was one giant step. Now, 18 to 8 is the next.

 

Orange readying for Cavs
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
September 16, 2005

Perry Patterson felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

When Syracuse lost its season opener against Big East rival West Virginia on Sept. 4, Patterson took full blame, something not uncommon for a quarterback.

A glance at the signal caller’s stats - 15-for-31 passing,

85 yards, two interceptions and two fumbles - told why.

Syracuse, who will host

No. 25 Virginia on Saturday at noon, struggled mightily in the first contest in the newly installed West Coast offense, losing at home to the Mountaineers 15-7.

Patterson accounted directly for nine of West Virginia’s points, being sacked in the end zone for a safety and throwing an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

The Orange’s offense failed to convert a third down (0 for 15) with Patterson under center and mustered just 103 yards, the lowest total since the program gained 93 in 1976 against Iowa.

“It was definitely a humbling experience for me,” Patterson recounted. “I let a lot of people down. I felt I let the whole team down. I let the whole town down.”

Sensing the urgency of the situation with 10 games left in the season, Syracuse coach Greg Robinson, in his first season at the helm, sat his quarterback down for a pep talk.

“He just wanted me to keep my head up,” Patterson said. “That was the first true test of the offense. There’s a lot of things we have to work on, but we saw some good things on the film. He wants the same intensity. He don’t care how good you played or how bad you played.”

The perfect cure for what ailed Patterson was a full dose of Buffalo in his 11th career start.

Patterson helped guide the Orange to a 31-0 shutout win over Buffalo, who lost their 16th straight road game and failed to score for the third straight time.

Syracuse’s quarterback did not reach the end zone passing but finished

10 for 20 and converted a third down early in the game with an 11-yard rush.

“That third-down run was the first time I ran the ball, and it gave me my confidence back,” Patterson told reporters. “I said to myself, ‘OK, now I am in the game again.’

“It felt like we were moving in the right track. Obviously there’s still a lot of work, but it was good enough to beat Buffalo. We just wanted to get into some sort of groove to gain momentum for [Virginia].”

Robinson gave his quarterback a passing grade, even though his team currently ranks 109th in the country in throwing the ball (112 yards per game).

“I thought that Perry managed the game very well,” Robinson said. “On the offensive side we need to get better on third down situations, but overall I felt we improved in a lot areas. Protection was good, [and Patterson] threw the ball accurately.”

While Patterson regained his confidence, it’s safe to say his most important job against Buffalo involved handing the ball off to tailback Damien Rhodes.

Syracuse controlled the line of scrimmage, allowing Rhodes, who is listed at 6-foot and 211 pounds, to gallop for

236 yards and four touchdowns.

“Damien would be first to tell you there were a couple of holes I could have run through,” joked Robinson earlier this week about his tailback that was named Big East Offensive Player of the Week.

Robinson knows that Virginia is not Buffalo, not even close, but he said he was excited to see how Patterson, Rhodes and the rest of his new team will handle playing a ranked opponent in the Carrier Dome.

“[Against] West Virginia, early in the game we got out of sorts and it affected [Patterson] some, but I do think he has ability to be a field general. He’s going to be tested this week and I’d like to say he’s developed to where he can take a tougher test,” Robinson added.

“[This game] is going to give us another opportunity to get a barometer, to get a feel for where we are because Virginia is strong in all areas.”

While Robinson avoided making a prediction on Saturday’s outcome, he did issue one promise.

“The opponents are different so I don’t know the end result,” the coach said, “but I’ve said it all along, we are going to be better this Saturday, than we were last Saturday.”

JUST FOR KICKS: The differences between Virginia’s Connor Hughes and Syracuse’s John Barker are about as close as the average temperatures in Alaska and Florida.
When Saturday’s game arrives, both kickers will, however, handle the field-goal duties for their respective teams.
Hughes, a senior, is a candidate for the Lou Groza award, given annually to the top kicker in the country, and has 46 field goals under his belt.
Barker is a walk-on freshman and did not see the field in either of the first two games this season.
The move to insert Barker into the starting lineup was made by the Orange’s coaching staff after two scholarship kickers - Ricky Krautman and Patrick Shadle - failed to convert field goals attempts last week.
Krautman, who will remain the kicker for extra points, made a 21-yard attempt in the second quarter but that came after his previous try - a 40-yarder - was blocked. Shadle failed to steal the job as he missed a 39-yarder seconds into the fourth quarter.

EXTRA POINTS: Defensively, Syracuse ranks among the nation’s leaders in a number of categories. The team is fifth in turnover margin, sixth in passing efficiency defense and ninth in scoring defense and total defense. … During a teleconference on Thursday, Groh said it unlikely that linebacker Ahmad Brooks (right knee) will make his season debut on Saturday. Groh did say that tailback Wali Lundy (sprained foot) practiced on Wednesday and he expected his workload to increase on Thursday, which would determine how much or if the senior plays against Syracuse.

 

Reporters, Groh go another round on Brooks situation
Groh pleased with Philip Brown's conduct
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Al Groh is tired of talking about it, reporters are tired of writing about it, readers are tired of reading about it.

So, guess what direction the conversation took during Groh’s regular Thursday teleconference?

It took 20 minutes or so and a couply of thinly veiled references before talk turned to incapacitated linebacker Ahmad Brooks.

“You know what, this is getting to be like a Senate hearing,” Groh said. “They just keep asking the guy the same question so they can catch him in a different answer.”

Groh could have it worse. John Roberts, nominated for chief justice of the Supreme Court, reportedly spent 19 hours testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Media gadfly Jeff White was the first to mention Brooks by name Thursday.

“Now, Al, I think, leading up to the Western Michigan game – it might have been at the Tuesday press conference – you were asked about probably Ahmad and you said, at that point, you had ruled him out, that he was probably unavailable,” White said. “Is it the same deal this time?”

(l’ll remember this the next time White says that Groh is wordy.).

“It’s probably getting pretty close to that, yeah,” Groh said Thursday. “You guys are going to get your information one way or another, aren’t you?”

White let out a nervous chuckle and started to ask about Philip Brown when Groh continued.

“Doesn’t that [Brooks] situation wear you guys out? Groh asked. “Well, why do we keep talking about it?”

Uh, isn’t this a Butkus Award finalist we’re talking about, a first-team All-ACC linebacker in 2004 and a likely first-round NFL Draft pick if he had come out last year – or in the future?

Nobody knows yet exactly what to term the procedure under which an orthopedic surgeon was able to regenerate bone growth in one of Brooks’ knees last January, but Brooks did not participate in spring drills and was not in uniform for UVa’s opening game.

More than six weeks after the start of preseason practice, what else is there to talk about? There’s only so many ways to look at the Cavaliers’ 31-19 victory over Western Michigan.

Even Groh said, after an open date, that it feels as if the Cavaliers are starting the season again.

“Doesn’t anybody want to believe the factualness of what we say?” Groh said, again referring to the repeated Brooks questions.

That begs the question, ‘What have they said?”

“When he’s ready to play, we’re going to tell everybody,” Groh said. “I’m going to tell the team, I’m going to tell the coaches. If he’s ready to play, I’ll tell you guys [in the media], ‘He’s ready to play. No doubt about it.’ “

Groh said earlier this week that he wasn’t discussing the Brooks situation with anybody, but he later added that he and the Brooks family were “in accord” on the approach that is being taken.

Groh has talked to the Brooks family “on occasion,” he said Thursday, but “look, we don’t talk about this. We don’t go into the staff meeting and talk about it. I don’t go down to one of the coaches’ meeting and talk about it. I don’t talk about it with the players. My wife doesn’t say, ‘Is Ahmad going to play this week?’

“We just don’t talk about it. There’s nothing new to talk about. When there’s something new, it’s when we say, ‘He’s going to play in the game.’ “

ON TAPE, the discussion with Groh sounds more confrontational than it was. At the end of the session, he even asked if any of the reporters had covered a game at the Carrier Dome, site of Saturday’s date with Syracuse, and asked for their impressions.

Of tailback Wali Lundy, who suffered a sprained foot on the second series of the opening game, Groh said, “Wali took some more work [Wednesday] than he did the day before, and we’ll see if he can stand more work today than he did yesterday.”

Groh also reported that Brown, who started four games at cornerback last fall before being declared academically ineligible, had been in his office Wednesday and has responded constructively to a suspension from which he can return next fall.

Brown, who was a true freshman last year and has three years of remaining eligibility, has been living and working in Charlottesville.

“He’s not on the team; he’s not in school,” said Groh, who indicated that Brown is not using UVa training facilities, “but he’s allowed to come in here and say ‘hello’ to me.

“We still consider him part of the football family and we’re glad to see him. Just because he’s in a little bit of difficulty, we haven’t separated ourselves from him.”

 

Coal Miners' Sons
From Small Town to the NFL, the Jones Brothers Stick Together
By Leonard Shapiro
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 16, 2005; E01

BIG STONE GAP, Va. There were times when Julius Jones and his big brother, Thomas, had difficulty falling asleep in the small bedroom they shared as young boys. They often lay wondering if their mother, Betty, would make it out into the sunshine from the dark and dangerous coal mine where she worked for so many years, whether she would be there when they came home from school and football practice. They worried about cave-ins, fires, all the accidents they had heard about growing up in this tiny southwestern Virginia town nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains.

"It was tough knowing that your mom could be down there miles under the ground and something bad could happen," Julius Jones said. "She'd go down there wearing that light on her helmet, pads on her knees and her elbows. She did what everyone else did in the mine. It was hard work. We knew what she did. We knew what sacrifices both our parents made for all of us."

Now, at 24, it's payback time for Julius Jones, the running back on whom the Dallas Cowboys are pinning their hopes for the future. And for Thomas, 27, who is the starting running back for the Chicago Bears. The two huddled earlier in the week to scout the Washington Redskins, Julius's opponent Monday night and Thomas's last weekend. That's nothing new, though. Thomas has been there for Julius virtually at every step since leaving Big Stone Gap (population 5,900).

"It's pretty crazy that both of us made it all the way here when you think about it," said Thomas, who was a running back at the University of Virginia. "That feeling never wears off. I'm still kind of amazed that we both made it to the NFL, because this is what we always dreamed about. I don't think it's so much a coincidence that we both got there, because we helped each other make it here. We run pretty much the same way. We've trained together. We talk after games. It's like having two people go through the same thing, and that's always stronger than just one."

But more than just two people are behind their success. Both acknowledge the sacrifices their father, Thomas A. Jones -- known as Big Thomas -- and Betty, his wife of 33 years, have made over the years. The brothers also have five sisters, including Julius's twin, Knetris, as well as an extended family of friends, teachers and coaches who helped nurture them.

Diane Bruner, their seventh-grade civics and American history teacher, described them as being "a lot more focused than many seventh-grade boys I've ever been around. It's a success story small towns like ours rarely see, and give all the credit to their parents. They monitored everything those children did. They have a family closeness that is unreal."

Barry Jones, no relation to the family, taught Thomas and Julius as kindergartners in gym class, then coached them at Powell Valley High School as an assistant in football and track. Thomas, he recalled, was always more talkative than Julius, but he could tell almost from the first time he saw them play simple children's games that both had a chance to be special.

"I can remember Thomas in the fourth or fifth grade saying, 'I'm going to play in the NFL some day,' " Barry Jones said. "They were both straight-A students. They were focused, worked hard in school and worked hard to get where they are today. It's just a great story."

It's also a story with deep roots in the once-thriving coal business that first put this town on the map during an early boom in the 1870s, when, according to the Southwest Virginia Museum, some northern businessmen thought Big Stone Gap might even become the Pittsburgh of the South.

"It's embedded in the people of this area," Big Thomas said. "For a long time, it was the heartbeat of the community."

Both Big Thomas's and Betty's parents came north from Alabama in the 1940s looking for a better way of life. They found it in the mines, settling in a tiny coal camp known as Stonega. Big Thomas's father spent 47 years in the mines, Betty's dad 35 years.

Big Thomas and Betty's late brother, Edd Clark, played in the same backfield at Appalachia High. Edd held the Virginia Class A state record for rushing yards in a game until his nephew Thomas gained 462 yards one night in 1994. Edd was known as the "Stonega Stallion" in the late 1960s, and went to Purdue on a football scholarship. He lasted only a year and eventually came back home to drive a coal truck. In 1986, on vacation in South Florida, he drowned in an ocean undertow while trying to rescue two children. He got one of them out of the water, but died trying to save the second.

Big Thomas and Betty say they also learned a valuable lesson from Edd's decision to attend Purdue. Because Betty's parents knew little about the recruiting process, they allowed Edd's football coaches to steer him toward West Lafayette.

"Even before Thomas was born, we said to each other that if we ever had a boy and he wanted to pursue football, we'd make sure he would do it the right way, and not be influenced by anyone but us," Big Thomas said. "When it came down to our two boys, we wanted them to make sure that academics was the first priority. It was never about the ball for these two. It was always about the books."

Big Thomas had gone from high school to a six-year stretch in the Air Force. When he got out, he went to a broadcasting school in Ohio and eventually landed a job as a disc jockey and news director for a local radio station here. He and Betty married in 1972 and six years later, they had three children. Betty held down an office job, but they were having a hard time making ends meet. When a nearby coal company announced in 1978 that it was hiring miners, both Big Thomas and Betty applied, thinking they'd only work for a few years while building up a nest egg.

But Betty stayed on the job for 19 years, working the third shift from midnight to 8 a.m. so she'd have time during the day and evening to be a part of her children's lives. She finally stopped in 1998. Big Thomas was one of 200 men laid off by the coal company after a year, but he found work as a TV reporter and anchor, followed by stretches as a minority recruiter for the University of Tennessee and a corrections officer in a nearby state prison.

Both are now retired and live in a handsome, modern house Thomas helped build for them with some of his signing bonus as a first-round pick of the Arizona Cardinals in 2000. They live two miles from town, with a stunning view of the mountains, and run their own business selling mail-order music CDs to inmates through a catalogue distributed in all 47 Virginia state prisons.

They've been in this area all their lives, but they are also delighted their adult children, all college graduates, have moved away. Only 17-year-old Katrice is still around, in her junior year and a star volleyball player for Powell Valley.

Big Thomas and Betty do not expect their kids to come back to a town that still seems straight out of the 1950s, despite the Wal-Mart and McDonald's just off Highway 23. Most of the mines have closed in recent years, though several nearby prisons have taken up some of the employment slack. Churches, mostly Baptist, seem to be on every corner. The four-block downtown includes a Chinese restaurant, a Christian teen center and businesses such as Sue's Hallmark and Judy's Hodge Podge. And at the back of the Mutual drugstore on Wood Avenue, the main street, breakfast and lunch are served cafeteria-style, with an order of spaghetti and meat sauce, apple cobbler and a large Coke still bringing change from a $5 bill.

Powell Valley High, the "Home of the Vikings," is a sturdy red-brick building located on the outskirts of town. Hall lockers of all the current football players are easily discernable because cutouts of their jersey numbers are taped on the front, along with messages of good luck. Color pictures of Thomas and Julius are prominently displayed in packed trophy cases down by the gym, along with much of the hardware the two helped collect, including state championships in 1994-95 during Thomas's last two years, and two more in Julius's final two seasons (1997-98) before he went off to Notre Dame. Both played on teams that went 28-0 in their last two years.

Still, there is no mention of their exploits down at Bullitt Park, Powell Valley's home field at the base of Stone Mountain, where standing-room crowds of 7,500 were not unusual when the Jones brothers played. The Jones family lived in a rented house a few blocks away when the boys were growing up. They wore out the swings and seesaws in a park named after a long-gone coal magnate, Joshua Taggart Bullitt. They also played pee wee football in the park under the tutelage of Bob Herron, who has coached many of the town's 8-12-year-olds for 38 years.

"I think Thomas was 7 when I got him, and he was like a gazelle out there, floating all over the field," Herron said. "Julius was more of a slasher, maybe had a little more speed. It's easy to say now, but I always had it in my mind they had a chance to be special. They both worked hard at it from the first day I got them, and the parents were always there, always supporting them, doing whatever they could. They've got a bunch of great kids, and you have to give the parents all the credit you can."

Never was the importance of family more obvious than during one of the rare hiccups in Julius's career at Notre Dame. In what should have been his senior season, he was ruled academically ineligible. Julius and the family decided it would be best if he joined Thomas, then playing for the Arizona Cardinals, and enrolled at Arizona State.

"It was devastating to him and to us as a family," Big Thomas said. "Betty and I went to South Bend, and at least they left a window open for him to get it fixed. This was the first time we as a family had faced this kind of adversity, and we rallied behind him. All of us."

Julius and Thomas lived and trained together for the year, and Notre Dame eventually accepted Julius's ASU work and reinstated him to full eligibility for 2003. Julius made the most of it, gaining more than 1,200 yards, scoring 10 touchdowns and setting a school record by running for more than 200 yards in three games. In April 2004, the Cowboys took him in the second round (43rd overall) of the draft. And he graduated from Notre Dame.

Julius's first year with the Cowboys was another test of his character. Coach Bill Parcells lit into him in preseason when he felt Jones stayed down too long after being hit -- and suffering a bruised rib -- in a game against Tennessee. When Jones fractured the scapula in his shoulder in the second game of the regular season, the team decided not to put him on injured reserve. When he got healthy, Jones started the final seven games, gained 819 rushing yards and scored seven touchdowns, all on the ground, providing great hope for a re-built Dallas offense.

Restoring the Cowboys' glory is a lofty dream, but dreaming is something Julius learned to do in Big Stone Gap.

"My parents worked hard and I know the sacrifices they made for all of us," he said. "I think growing up there was a good thing, too. There was never a whole lot of trouble you could really ever get into. Other than my dad, Thomas and I were the only boys in the house, so we had to stick together, us against the five girls. We did everything together. Even though Thomas was older, he let me hang around with him and his friends. And we always dreamed about playing in the NFL, both of us. We talked about it all the time. Now, we're just living the dream."

 

Shades of Silver and Black
U-Va.'s C. Long Trying to Make A Name for Himself
By Mark Schlabach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 16, 2005; E03

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Most Virginia football fans would probably recognize Howie Long at Cavaliers games. But finding Long in Scott Stadium could prove to be much more difficult. Long begins most games sitting in the Virginia parents' seating area, but then moves around the stadium like he is still chasing NFL quarterbacks.

Long, an NFL Hall of Fame defensive end for the Oakland-Los Angeles Raiders and current studio analyst for Fox, tries to stay out of sight and mind during Virginia games. Long said he had enough of the spotlight during his pro football career, from 1981 to 1993, and now wants the attention on his oldest son, Chris, a starting defensive end for the No. 25 Cavaliers.

"I try to be as anonymous as I can," Howie Long said during a telephone interview Thursday. "If you can find me in Scott Stadium, then you're pretty good. We're just trying to be like everybody else. Plus, I'm a bundle of nerves. Watching your son play is tough. You're taking every step with him."

When a photographer approached Long and his wife, Diane, before the Cavaliers' Sept. 3 opener against Western Michigan, and asked them to pose for a photograph for this story, Long politely declined and said, "Go take some pictures of Chris."

Long, 45, has gone to great lengths to ensure that Chris, 20, and his younger brothers, Kyle, 16, and Howie, 15, live normal lives. Long moved his family to Charlottesville shortly after he retired from the NFL in 1994. Long said he and his wife searched from "Oregon to Cape Cod" for the right place to raise their sons and build their retirement home, and eventually settled in Charlottesville.

"It just felt right here," Long said. "We thought it was a good place to raise our three sons. We didn't want to raise our kids in Los Angeles for a number of reasons. They'd just had the earthquakes, floods, fires and riots and we knew we didn't want to stay there."

Their sons enrolled at St. Anne's-Belfield School in Charlottesville, and Long has been a volunteer football coach there during the past several seasons. But Long doesn't coach during games because he fears his involvement would be a distraction.

"I try to be as inconspicuous as possible on game days," Long said. "I think it's their time. This is Chris's time. I think Chris respects who his dad is, but he's the one playing college football, not me. He's already accomplished so much more than I did in college football."

Howie Long said comparing his son to him is unfair because they played in two different eras. Howie Long was an all-American at Villanova, but didn't face the level of competition his son faces every week in the ACC.

"I think the comparisons are inevitable when your son plays defensive end and you played defensive end," Howie Long said. "But I think that's unrealistic because we're two different people and we played in two different eras. I played against 255-pound offensive lineman in college. He's playing against 320-pounders. The world is bigger, faster and stronger than when I played college football. It's a completely different level now."

Chris Long, a sophomore who missed most of last season because of mononucleosis, seems comfortable having a famous father. If being Howie Long's son was too much pressure, Chris said, he would have chosen another sport (he also played baseball, basketball and lacrosse at St. Anne's-Belfield School) or certainly a different position in football than the one his father played.

"I think there's pressure, but it's good pressure and it is pressure I'm appreciative of," Chris Long said. "It's nothing new. It's something I've dealt with for a long time."

But being the son of a Hall of Famer also has its benefits. During Howie Long's first eight seasons with the Raiders, after he was drafted in the second round out of Villanova in 1981, Long played in a 3-4 defense. The Cavaliers are one of the few teams left in NCAA Division I-A football that still play a 3-4, instead of a 4-3 alignment.

When Virginia Coach Al Groh left the New York Jets in December 2000 to coach his alma mater, it didn't take long for Howie Long to show up at his office. They were friends of late sportswriter Will McDonough of the Boston Globe; Long knew McDonough while growing up in Charlestown, Mass., and Groh befriended the longtime NFL beat writer while working as an assistant for the New England Patriots. McDonough died of a heart attack in 2003.

After Groh settled into his job at Virginia, Long's visits became more frequent. The men would move furniture in Groh's office to simulate a 3-4 defense and often discussed technique and strategy.

"It was just amazing to be in the office and watch Howie move around," Groh said. "Every time he'd do it, I'd be like, 'Whoa, what an amazing athlete!' You could certainly see all of the Hall of Fame skills."

So imagine Groh's delight when he learned Long had a son at a nearby school who had the athletic potential to play Division I-A football. By his senior season at St. Anne's-Belfield, Chris was ranked among the country's top defensive line prospects and the school retired his jersey number.

"Let's just say we were very glad Howie and Diane didn't decide to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, or somewhere else like that," Groh said.

Before Chris orally committed to play for the Cavaliers, his father told him about the rigors of playing the 3-4 and how demanding Groh can be.

"Obviously, we talk a lot, but I don't think you can really understand the 3-4 until you play the 3-4," Howie Long said. "It's probably the most difficult system a defensive lineman can play. It's very physically demanding. You will not shine statistically. If you have a great game, the linebacker will have 14 tackles. It's very difficult to get pressure on the quarterback. I told him playing the 3-4 is a bear."

While Chris Long has only played seven games for the Cavaliers -- he had seven tackles and 2 1/2 tackles for loss in the 31-19 victory over Western Michigan -- Groh said he sees his father's best attribute in his son.

"He's got a great passion and energy for football," Groh said. "He had pretty good training before he got here."

Long said he was grateful that Groh recruited Chris like any other prospect. "Al didn't try to recruit me," Howie Long said.

Long's younger sons also play football. Kyle, a sophomore at St Anne's-Belfield, is a 6-6, 264-pound lineman. Howie, a ninth-grader, is a 6-foot, 170-pound quarterback.

"I think anything that my three sons do gives me far greater joy than anything I've ever accomplished," Howie Long said. "I can't tell you how proud I am of Chris, whether he becomes a great football player or not. I'm more proud of the person he has become."

 

Small ball
Although he's from a little school, Peerman making big impact in Cavaliers' backfield
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Sep 16, 2005
ON THE AIR: TV - ESPN2. Radio - WRVA (1140), 11:30 a.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE From Powell Valley High in Big Stone Gap, Thomas Jones went to the University of Virginia and became the greatest rusher in school history. His brother, Julius, starred at Notre Dame and now, like Thomas, plays in the NFL.

If those small-town products could successfully jump from a Group A high school to a Division I-A program, tailback Cedric Peerman thought, why couldn't he?

"I took that into account, and that gave me some confidence," Peerman recalled Tuesday.

There are public high schools in this state with fewer students than William Campbell, south of Lynchburg in rural Campbell County, but not many. The Generals' football team competes in Group A, Division I, which comprises the smallest members of the Virginia High School League. Even so, Peerman said, he never doubted his ability to play major-college football.

"Football is football, wherever you go. . . . Anything's possible if you've got the talent and the grades," he said.

Peerman, a resident of Gladys, had both, and he enrolled at U.Va. last summer. After redshirting in 2004, the chiseled 5-10 185-pounder entered Virginia's Sept. 3 opener against Western Michigan buried on the depth chart at tailback. Ahead of him were senior Wali Lundy and junior Michael Johnson, and junior Jason Snelling, the starting fullback, also plays tailback.

But Lundy limped off in the first quarter with a sprained foot, and Johnson and Snelling later each fumbled twice, much to the displeasure of U.Va. coach Al Groh. Suddenly, in the fourth quarter, Peerman found himself U.Va.'s featured running back in an unexpectedly close game.

He responded with a performance that stamped his college debut as one to remember. On each of the final seven plays of Virginia's final touchdown drive, quarterback Marques Hagans handed the ball to his weighlifting partner. Peerman covered 44 yards on those seven carries, finally bulling over from the 1 with 5:38 remaining. He finished with 69 yards on 16 carries in a hard-earned 31-19 victory.

"It was kind of delightful to see him come and play . . . as much hard work as he put in," Hagans said.

Hard work is nothing new to Peerman. As a boy, he helped his grandfather and father grow tobacco on the family farm in Gladys. Some of his teammates at U.Va. may have spent their childhood summers kicking back, but that wasn't an option for Peerman.

"Growing up, my parents didn't have a lot of money, so you just went out and worked hard," he said. "To put food on the table, you had to go out and work and just do your job. I never really had a summer vacation."

Instead, he attended a summer school of sorts on the farm.

"You just learn that you have to work hard," said Peerman, whose father is now a mechanic. "When you raise tobacco, if you don't take care of it and do the things you need to do with it, it's not going to grow right, and you're not going to get your money. So you have to go out and work hard. You reap what you sow, really."

In four seasons on the William Campbell varsity, Peerman rushed for 5,078 yards and scored a VHSL-record 708 points. The competition Peerman faced wasn't nearly as rugged as that found, say, in the Group AAA Peninsula District, but Groh didn't hesitate to recruit him. Peerman had posted impressive times in track and, as a two-way starter, showed the toughness that Groh wants in U.Va. players.

"I can't say we've had a lot of running backs from the lower evaluations that we've evaluated like Cedric, but his case wasn't too challenging," Groh said.

As a 12th-grader, Peerman led the Generals to the state Group A track title, winning the 100-meter dash in 10.67 seconds and placing fourth in the long jump and triple jump. He finished eighth in the shot put - how many tailbacks have that on their résumés? - and is pound for pound one of the strongest Cavaliers.

No. 25 Virginia (1-0) plays at Syracuse (1-1) tomorrow afternoon. How much the ESPN2 audience, and fans at the Carrier Dome, will see of Peerman is uncertain. Lundy might play, and Johnson and Snelling remain viable options at tailback.

"I'm just going out and trying to give 100 percent in practice and in the game and just trying to contribute to the team in any way possible," Peerman said. "If I'm in the game, I'm in the game."

 

Brown's suspension doesn't separate him from the team
Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
September 16, 2005

Philip Brown might be out for the year on an academic suspension, but that doesn’t mean he’s an exile from the Virginia football team.

UVa head coach Al Groh said the cornerback stopped by his office on Wednesday to say hi. While Brown, who would have been a sophomore, is not allowed to participate in anything official with the team or work out in the McCue Center, that doesn’t mean he can’t communicate with coaches on an informal basis.

“I guess we could say that we still consider him a part of the football family and we’re glad to see him,” Groh said. “Just because he’s in a little bit of difficulty, we haven’t separated ourselves from him.”

Brown, who played in 11 games last year and started in three of them, is living in Charlottesville this year. Groh said he is pleased with Brown’s progress and has spoken to him about staying in shape in the offseason.

That shouldn’t be a problem for a skill player of Brown’s size as opposed to a lineman who is bigger. Wideout Ottowa Anderson managed to stay in shape last season while on academic suspension and hasn’t missed a beat since coming back.

“For obvious reasons, (skill players are) more apt to go out and play basketball and throw passes,” Groh said.

“For the big guys, for whom running and playing games like that is more of a labor, they kind of get in a cycle. They don’t enjoy running around as much as the little guys do, therefore they do less of it, therefore it becomes more difficult, therefore they do less of it. So that’s the most challenging thing with the big guys.”

Provided he gets his academic situation resolved, Brown is expected to be back with the team next summer.

More of the same

Groh wouldn’t officially rule linebacker Ahmad Brooks out of Saturday’s game, but said, “It’s probably getting pretty close to that.”

The daily questions about Brooks’ status seem to be annoying Groh, who half-jokingly said, “You know what, this is getting to be is like a Senate hearing. You keep asking the guy the same question to see if you can catch him in a different answer.”

Brooks has been limited in practice while recovering from offseason knee surgery.

“When he’s ready to play we’re going to tell everybody,” Groh said.

Small town, big talent

Tailback Cedric Peerman showed glimpses of what he could do as a primary ball carrier against Western Michigan, running for 69 second-half yards and a touchdown. That talent was evident to the UVa coaching staff when they evaluated him at William Campbell, even though he was playing against Group A competition.

“In Cedric’s case, (evaluating him) was not a difficult task because, one, he’s got speed, and that’s verifiable speed,” Groh said. “He had track times. So it wasn’t just that he looked faster than the players he was playing against. You knew he was fast.

“And he had such toughness about him. He played both ways and … his production was significant. So he was a pretty easy one. … His case wasn’t too challenging.”

Extra points

UVa’s travel roster will be bigger than normal when it travels to Syracuse this weekend. The Cavaliers plan to bring an extra punter (backup Ryan Weigand) and an extra long snapper (backup Jackson Andrews). … Former UVa safety Jermaine Hardy was released from the Arizona Cardinals’ practice squad on Thursday.

 

New coach in town: Orange you glad?
After 14 seasons in NFL, one season as Texas' co-defensive coordinator, Greg Robinson takes over as Syracuse head coach
Walker Freer, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

For a team with an offensive sickness in 2004, Syracuse chose an odd doctor to administer the cure. Following the conclusion of Orange coach Paul Pasqualoni's 14-year tenure in the Carrier Dome at the end of last season, Syracuse went out and hired defensive mastermind Greg Robinson.

While the Orange got a quality coach in Robinson, who spent 14 years as an assistant in the NFL, the hiring seemingly did nothing to help an ailing offensive system. Robinson was the co-defensive coordinator at the University of Texas last season, the architect behind a defense that led the Longhorns to an 11-1 record. In more ways than one, Robinson has already made his impact at Syracuse.

The defense, which had problems last season, has been stellar this season, allowing only 15 points through two games. An asterisk to that statistic is that last week's 31-0 shutout victory came against lowly Buffalo, which through two games has yet to penetrate an opponent's 20-yard line, let alone score.

Robinson also abandoned the Orange's old jersey scheme in favor of a retro numbers-on-the-helmets, stripes-on-the-shoulders look.

While Syracuse's defense has looked formidable, its offense has been another story entirely, struggling mightily against West Virginia in the season opener two weeks ago. In that 15-7 home loss, the Orange amassed just 103 yards in total offense.

Under the direction of junior quarterback Perry Patterson, who last week surpassed the 2,000 yard passing mark of his career, the airborne attack has been minimal at best. The Orange rank 109th out of 116 Division I teams, averaging only 112 passing yards per game.

Despite Patterson's numbers in 2005, Virginia coach Al Groh is basing his opinions of Patterson on the visit the Orange made to Charlottesville last season. It left with a 31-10 loss in a game Patterson started and threw for 141 yards.

"He had a very good performance out here last year," Groh said. "I think he was 15 for 22 or something like that -- that's pretty good. He was very accurate with a lot of throws. He handled the pressure well when he was under it."

The man in charge of improving Syracuse's passing game is offensive coordinator Brian Pariani, who spent the last 10 years as the tight end coach for the Denver Broncos, adding an NFL yin to Robinson's college football yang.

With the air attack grounded, Syracuse's lifeblood has been the rushing game, led by senior running back Damien Rhodes. Rhodes, who rushed for 40 yards against Virginia last season in a back-up role, had a career day against Buffalo, gaining 236 yards and four touchdowns. For his efforts, Rhodes was named the Big East Player of the Week.

For Virginia senior defensive end Brennan Schmidt, the prospect of going against a back such as Rhodes only heightens the game's excitement.

Syracuse is "a physical team -- they don't run a lot of jazz and all that stuff," Schmidt said. "They run the ball right at you and they sort of say, 'Come and get us.' We like that because that's our style of football. I'm looking forward to this game because it gives us a chance to see where some guys are mentally and physically as far as toughness and see if we can hold up to these guys."

Come Saturday, Virginia can only hope the doctor isn't in.

 

Virginia's Ferguson could be a handful
The Univ. of Virginia tackle went to Freeport High School with recent Orange alums.
Friday, September 16, 2005
By Donnie Webb
Staff writer

D'Brickashaw Ferguson does not see his trip to New York and the Carrier Dome this weekend as any homecoming.

The starting offensive tackle for the University of Virginia is a product of Freeport High School on Long Island. It's the same school that sent linebackers Morlon Greenwood, Clifton Smith and Jerry Mackey to Syracuse.

Ferguson said he once attended a junior recruiting day at Syracuse University. But his heart was at Virginia, where his brother, Edwin went to school.

"I knew everybody else had an opportunity to go to Syracuse," Ferguson said. "I'm very happy for them. I wanted a different avenue."

Ferguson has grown into one of the best offensive tackles in college football. Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson said the 6-foot-5, 295-pound Ferguson will be playing football for many Sundays to come. Ferguson is a legitimate Outland Trophy candidate and a potential All-American.

Ferguson said he's looking forward to seeing Mackey Saturday when the Cavaliers play the Orange at the Carrier Dome. He's also looking forward to seeing Freeport High School's Russ Cellan, who plans to attend this weekend's game.

"That means a lot," Ferguson said.

Syracuse defensive end Ryan LaCasse said he and teammate James Wyche, another Long Island product, will have their hands full with Ferguson.

"He's real good," LaCasse said. "He's a real long guy. Has a real long reach and it's tough to get into him. He's really good at finishing off blocks, too."

One game at a time

Calling Dr. Phil. The Syracuse Internet message boards have been in full panic mode this week over Orange quarterback Perry Patterson. Two games into the season, many fans are expressing a lack of faith and hope that Patterson can mesh with the new West Coast offense.

Robinson has been careful to project public confidence in Patterson, who bounced back from a poor first game against West Virginia with a better performance against Buffalo.

"It would be easy for me to say," Robinson said. "I like to say that I saw those things in him previous to that game. I just think in West Virginia, early in the game, we got out of sorts and it affected him some. I've seen him function, as I like to say, I think he shows the ability to be a field general. I thought he did a good job the other day. He's going to be tested this week and I'd like to see he's developed to where he can withstand a tougher test."

 

Turning Corner
Gregory, Jackson anchor suddenly stingy pass 'D'
Friday, September 16, 2005
By Dave Rahme
Staff writer

Part of the reason is an improved pass rush, which has forced opposing quarterbacks to throw before they are ready. Part is due to Smith, a talented senior free safety who has been superb so far. And part is surely due to two foes who were breaking in new quarterbacks in the unfriendly confines of the Dome.

Yet, perhaps the biggest contribution has come from Gregory, back at corner for his senior season, and Jackson, his former understudy.

"I like their skills," Robinson said. "They're learning what we're trying to get done. They're both intelligent players."

That intelligence, combined with confidence and experience, has set the stage for a remarkable turnaround, although everyone cautions it's too early to draw conclusions.

"Actually, I was not aware of that statistic," cornerbacks coach Jim Salgado said when informed of SU's No. 7 national ranking. "I'm not worried about that now. We've got to keep getting better every week. There is still room for improvement."

"Our confidence is real high," Gregory said, "but at the same time we understand the schedule we have left. We definitely have our hands full."

"We know we have a long season ahead of us," Jackson said, "and we're definitely going to be tested by Virginia's offense."

So far, they have passed the test. Here are some of the reasons why:

Ö A new definition: Last season, Jackson was SU's "cover corner," the player assigned to follow an opposing team's best receiver all over the field. In Robinson's defensive scheme there is no such job description.

"They all have to do everything," Salgado said of his corners. "What we're doing schematically and those things, each one is asked to do it all."

Doing it all requires the ability to mix tight man-to-man coverages with zone coverages, disguising each sufficiently enough to confuse opposing quarterbacks, and then stopping the run.

"We ask a lot of our corners," Robinson said. "It starts with good man-to-man. Then they have to be able to play in zones, and that takes discipline. And they have to be good tacklers."

It is a full plate, Salgado admits, but there is no skipping one of the ingredients.

"That's our job," he said. "They know that, and that's what we have to do. These guys have been great from a standpoint of being open and understanding of what we are trying to teach and then implementing it on the field."

Ö A new disguise: Salgado and Robinson are reluctant to discuss the specifics of the scheme, but Gregory said a key component is deception, something past SU secondaries lacked.

"We mix it up a lot, you know," he said. "We play some tight zone coverages and a lot of tight man-to-man type of coverages. We just try to keep it mixed up and try to keep the offense off-balanced and not let them really know what we're doing out there."

Gregory said that is where the experience factor plays a pivotal role. He said all four members of the secondary need to act in harmony if they are going to successfully sell a disguise. Of SU's four starters, only strong safety Dowayne Davis is a newcomer, and Gregory said Davis has been a quick study.

The disguise worked perfectly last week when Gregory funneled his receiver into the deep middle of the field, where the Buffalo quarterback believed he had the potential to make a big play. Instead, Smith was waiting to make an interception.

Ö A new attitude: Burned repeatedly by past failures, SU's secondary had become a passive, play-it-safe unit by last season. Robinson put an end to that approach.

"We have a whole high-intensity type of philosophy on defense (now) where we're running to the ball and getting guys around the ball to free things up out there," Gregory said. "We've got a lot going on like that."

Gregory said that attitude has been instilled in the other members of the defense, as well, which has resulted in an improved pass rush that has made the conerbacks' job easier.

"The line is putting on a lot of pressure," Gregory said, "and we've got a lot of different types of blitzes and things like that to put pressure on a quarterback. He just can't sit back there for seven, eight seconds and fling it around anymore."

Ö A new confidence: The above-noted elements have combined to give SU's corners a confidence bordering on cockiness, a trait essential for players of whom so much is asked.

"We love it," Gregory said of his duties. "We believe we can stop anybody that's on our schedule, anybody that they put in front of us. We feel we have the ability and talent. Whatever they ask us to do we're going to do it, and we're going to do it 100 mph. As long as you are out there playing as hard as you can play, the sky's the limit."

"You've got to love playing that position," Jackson said. "You've got to love being able to cover guys, with the speed and size of receivers today. You've just got to love to do that."

SU's corners have had a lot to love so far. Each understands that the biggest test will come Saturday when Hagans, a gifted passer and runner who accounted for nearly 300 yards of offense vs. SU last season, comes to town with a corps of gifted receivers.

Gregory said the memory of that very kind of performance, absorbed by past SU secondaries all too often, makes this year's corners even more motivated to make amends.

"We're going out there to punish people," he said, "to do whatever we've got to do to be a good, physical, tough team and make people worry about coming in here and having to play against the Syracuse defense."

"Going back to last year, my first year starting, I had a lot of rough times back there," Jackson said. "I think I'm playing with a chip on my shoulder."

As their coach said, it's all about respect.