Tough start has not hurt recruiting
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
September 7, 2006

Scattershooting around the ACC, thinking how nice it will be walking into Scott Stadium to cover my 25th year as sports editor of The Daily Progress ...

While Wahoo fans are still fretting over last weekend’s miserable start to the season at Pittsburgh, the lopsided loss hasn’t seemed to hurt Virginia’s recruiting efforts.

After picking up a new commitment for the recruiting class of 2007 earlier in the week, UVa received a commitment for the class of ’08.

Matt Mihalik, a 6-foot-7, 265-pound offensive tackle from Cleveland, committed to the Cavaliers. He is just starting his junior year at Gilmour Academy, so he has two more years of high school ball before he makes it to Charlottesville.

Division I-A schools couldn’t officially make offers to juniors until Sept. 1, so when Mihalik, who attended UVa’s football camp in June, got his, he jumped on it that very day.

While juniors haven’t yet been rated by the national recruiting services, Mihalik will likely be ranked high. He was getting interest from Ohio State (his childhood favorite), Notre Dame and Michigan. He attended the Buckeyes’ home opener last weekend but claimed he is a firm commitment to Virginia.

He lives near former UVa starting offensive lineman Brian Barthelmes, who gave high marks to his alma mater when approached by Mihalik.

Hoops recruiting

Meanwhile, Coach Dave Leitao’s program is one of three finalists for big man Solomon Alabi, a 7-foot-1, 230-pound center from Nigeria.

Alabi attends Montverde Academy in Florida, where he is a senior and ranked among the top 25 prospects in the country for 2007 by Rivals.com. The other two finalists are Florida State and Arizona.

If everything goes as planned, the big center will be at Virginia’s football game Saturday as he makes his official visit to Wahoo Country.

It probably won’t hurt Leitao’s chances that he already has two other Nigerians on the Cavaliers roster in Tunji Soroye and Solomon Tat.

Ragtime Cowboys

Virginia’s opponent this weekend, Wyoming, boasts one of the most enjoyable fight songs in college football: Ragtime Cowboy Joe.

Here are the lyrics:

“He always sings Raggy music to the cattle as he swings back and forward in the saddle on a horse - a pretty good horse! - he’s got a syncopated gaiter, and you ought to hear the meter to the forar of his repeater; how they run - YES RUN! - when they hear him a coming cause the western folks all know, he’s a high-falooting, rooting tooting son of a gun from ol’ Wyoming, Ragtime Cowboy, Talk about you Cowboy, Ragtime Cowboy Joe!”

Man, I hope they bring their band and some fans who sing along. Just another reason college football is so much fun.

Fridge gets a ‘C’

No, the ‘C’ doesn’t stand for cake. It’s about how Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen rated his performance as the Terps’ new offensive coordinator.

He took on the job in the spring and has kept the title.

Asked to rate his debut, Fridge said, “So-so. Good enough to win.”

But the new clock rules caused him a few issues as he shuffled from his head coaching duties to offensive coordinator duties and rotated offensive and defensive frequencies on his headset.

“With this new rule where you have to get the play called and get on the field before the official winds the clock, sometimes I was calling the play and still on the defensive [frequency] line,” said the Fridge. “I was wondering why no one was paying attention. The defensive guys would say, ‘You’re on our line,’ and I’d say, ‘Oh shoot.’ That’s something I have to get right myself.”

Injury report

Last weekend’s opener wasn’t kind to a few ACC programs.

Clemson lost starting middle linebacker Anthony Waters, a sure-fire early NFL pick, with a knee injury. It was the second starting linebacker the Tigers have lost for the season (Tramaine Billie went down in training camp), which doesn’t help, considering two of their biggest games are coming up quick - Boston College and Florida State on the road the next two weekends.

Wake Forest lost starting quarterback Benjamin Mauk with a broken right arm. He’ll be replaced by redshirt freshman Riley Skinner, who finished the Syracuse game.

Boston College starting quarterback Matt Ryan suffered a sprained left ankle, which has made him questionable for this weekend’s big home showdown against visiting Clemson.

Ever wonder why Virginia coach Al Groh doesn’t want to talk a lot about injuries? One of the reasons is because he doesn’t want to give an “Oh, no, what are we going to do now?” mentality to his team if a player goes down.

Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said before the season that there were three players he could not afford to lose to injury this season, and now two of them, Waters and Billie are gone.

“We’ve got other good players, but you lose some things you can’t replace,” Bowden said.

Bunting rant

North Carolina coach John Bunting, not known as a guy to hold back his emotions, went ballistic on his team after its poor defensive performance in last weekend’s home loss to Rutgers.

Furious after the game, Bunting said one of Rutgers’ conversions of a third-and-10 was disgraceful and blamed 95 percent of his team’s problems on missed defensive assignments, particularly Tar Heel linebackers.

Now, UNC must rally to avoid going 0-2 this weekend when Virginia Tech comes to town. Should the Heels lose, it would mark a second consecutive 0-2 start and four times overall for Carolina under Bunting.

Bowden goes ballistic

Bunting wasn’t the only ACC coach to lose it last weekend.

Clemson’s Tommy Bowden went on his own rant in the Tigers’ lopsided win over Florida Atlantic when an ACC official wouldn’t allow Bowden to challenge a fumble by receiver Rendrick Taylor.

The coach tried to challenge the call because he believed the receiver’s knee was on the ground when the ball came out. But officials didn’t allow the challenge, although coaches are now allowed one per game this season.

Bowden slammed his headset into the waist of official Gorham Wood before the coach made contact with head referee Brad Allen as he chased the official down the sidelines. Bowden had to be restrained by team personnel as he screamed at officials for nearly three minutes.

Clemson defensive coordinator Vic Koenning said he told Wood that he was “choking.”

Afterward, Bowden laughed off the incident and said he didn’t touch the referees.

“A headset, what are they, like three ounces?” Bowden said. “I threw them on the ground. I wanted to call a challenge and he wouldn’t give me one. I could have sworn this is a new rule this year. So you’ll have to call Tommy Hunt and figure out why he didn’t give it to me.”

Hunt is supervisor of ACC football officials.

Tick, tock

Miami coach Larry Coker said he isn’t real crazy about the new clock rules in college football.

“I really don’t like the change,” Coker said. “We had three timeouts left and with the change of possession we had to use one of them before the ball’s ever snapped because the clock’s going to run and they’re going to stand for 24 seconds before they snap the football if we don’t call the timeout. Now we are down to two timeouts and in our case it worked as a disadvantage. If it’s an advantage, you like it. For us, trying to come from behind, obviously it was a disadvantage.”

Short yardage ...

... Virginia hall of famer George Welsh will begin his series of Friday night “Chalk Talks” at Alumni Hall Friday evening (reception 7 p.m., football talk 7:30) and it is open to the public. ... Duke changed up its football practice this year with players reporting at 7 a.m. so that they can miss less class time in the afternoons. Having not enjoyed a winning season since 1994, what do they have to lose? ... Remember speedy Jacoby Ford from Fork Union Military? UVa tried to recruit him but he ended up at Clemson and look what he’s already done for the Tigers. Ford returned a punt 92 yards for a touchdown last Saturday, the longest in Clemson history. ... Because North Carolina assistant coach Danny Pearman spent the previous eight years on Frank Beamer’s staff at Virginia Tech, the Hokies have changed their signals in anticipation of this week’s game in Chapel Hill, leaving Beamer to say: “After you keep ’em for a few years, you need to change up anyhow. Yeah, it has everything to do with Danny being there.”

... How about Wake Forest drawing 34,121 fans to its home opener against visiting Syracuse, well above Groves Stadium’s seating capacity of 31,500. ... N.C. State’s stadium expansion has both end zones enclosed and last week’s game drew a crowd of 57,583, also exceeding Carter-Finley’s capacity by about 500. ... Duke’s loss to Richmond last weekend was the school’s first ever to a Division

I-AA foe. ... BC will be without starting defensive tackle B.J. Raji, for the first half against Clemson because of a suspension stemming from Raji throwing a punch at a Central Michigan player last weekend.

The picks

Last week: 8-3. This week: Wake Forest 24, Duke 13; Florida State 42, Troy 14; Georgia Tech 55, Samford 6; Maryland 26, Middle Tennessee 10; Miami 52, Florida A&M 0; N.C. State 30, Akron 17; Clemson 24, Boston College 21; Virginia Tech 40, North Carolina 13; Virginia 21, Wyoming 17.

 

ACC NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Sep 7, 2006

NOWHERE TO RUN: In its season-opening victory over ACC foe Miami on Monday night at the Orange Bowl, Florida State rushed 25 times for 1 yard.

The Hurricanes were twice as productive, netting 2 yards on 26 carries.

"That really surprised me," Seminoles coach Bobby Bowden said yesterday. "We could not knock those guys out of there, man. But they didn't knock us out too good, either. . . . We both got a lot of good athletes."

Miami coach Larry Coker said of his team's rushing total: "That's an amazing stat, and not very flattering to us."

The victory was FSU's second in a row over Miami. A year ago, the'Noles won despite a shaky performance from quarterback Drew Weatherford, who was 7 of 24 passing for 67 yards with an interception.

This time, Weatherford completed 16 of 32 passes for 175 yards, with one interception.

"He's progressed," Bowden said. "I could see all the difference in the world of his demeanor, his poise in this ballgame, compared to a year ago. A year ago, he had no idea what he was doing. He'll tell you that. He'll say, 'I couldn't read a coverage. I didn't know what they were doing.'

"This year he did understand better, even though he's only a sophomore."

INTEREST RISING: Wake Forest isn't known for having rabid football fans, but last weekend's opener against Syracuse drew an overflow crowd of 34,121 to Groves Stadium, where the official capacity is 31,500.

Those fans, a good number of whom sat on the grass-covered hill behind one end zone, saw the Demon Deacons beat the Orange 20-10.

Wake plays host to Duke (0-1) at noon Saturday in the ACC opener for both teams. With junior Ben Mauk out for the season after breaking his right arm and dislocating his right shoulder against the'Cuse, redshirt freshman Riley Skinner will make his first start at quarterback for the Deacons.

"Riley's very similar to Ben," Wake coach Jim Grobe said. "I would say that we're not going to change the offense at all. We're probably going to pare it down every week. . . . We've got to certainly give him things he can be successful at doing and not overload him."

ONLY STAT THAT COUNTS: N.C. State junior quarterback Marcus Stone didn't put up impressive numbers in 2005, and that may be the case again this season. However, Wolfpack coach Chuck Amato pointed out to reporters, Stone "is 6-1 as a starter. That's a good thing."

PEAKING: North Carolina's starting tight end, senior Jon Hamlett, is a graduate of Jefferson Forest High near Lynchburg. He started two games for UNC as a true freshman in 2003, three in 2004 and all 11 last season.

"Like a couple other players, I wish I'd had an opportunity to redshirt him," Tar Heels coach John Bunting said. "He has come so far, so fast in these last two years, and I think he's got a future ahead of him. . . . I wish we could have another year with him."

Hamlett, who didn't catch a pass against Rutgers last weekend, has 46 career receptions for 511 yards and three touchdowns. UNC (0-1) plays host to No. 16 Virginia Tech (1-0) in the conference opener for both teams Saturday afternoon.

ELITE GROUP: Only two ACC running backs rushed for 100 yards or more in their openers.

Wake junior Micah Andrews, who has taken over for the conference's 2005 player of the year, Chris Barclay, carried 20 times for 142 yards against Syracuse.

N.C. State sophomore Andre Brown rushed 15 times for 125 yards and one touchdown against Appalachian State, the NCAA's reigning champion in Division I-AA.

TOP PRIORITY: To Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey, there's no question which position is the most important on a football team.

"Quarterback play determines the outcome of the game in most cases," Gailey said.

"That's just the way the game has evolved. Used to be, when teams were running it more and it was 3 yards and a cloud of dust, the quarterback was the field general. Now he's the lightning rod. Everything good that happens, he gets the credit. Everything bad, he gets the blame."

STAYING POSITIVE: His team's opening-night loss to Division I-AA Richmond, Duke coach Ted Roof said, was "a missed opportunity for us, but there's a lot of football left, and we've got to regroup. . . . We can't let the disappointment and the hurt from that loss linger around."

In last weekend's 13-0 loss to UR, the Blue Devils' top two tailbacks Ronnie Drummer and Justin Boyle -- left with injuries. Neither is expected to play against Wake, Roof said. -- Jeff White
 

Gould does it all for Cavs
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Four kickoffs, two field goals, an extra point and seven punts. Chris Gould even had a tackle in Virginia's 38-13 loss at Pittsburgh on Saturday night.

Was it too much?

"It was an active night and I like it that way," said Gould, a junior from Lock Haven, Pa. "It helps keep me in the game. Any time I can get on the field, I want to be on the field. That's just my competitive spirit."

Gould was exclusively a punter for his first two seasons at Virginia, starting with the 10th game of the 2004 season. Gould, slated for a redshirt year until that point, took over for an ineffective Sean Johnson and had seven punts for a 43.7-yard average in a 30-10 victory at Georgia Tech.

Although he continued to punt for the Cavaliers last year, Gould (pronounced Gold) had been recruited as a place-kicker and was viewed as the heir apparent to all-time UVa scoring leader Connor Hughes, which he has been.

It was also anticipated that Gould would assume the kickoff duties handled by San Diego Chargers draft pick Kurt Smith, which he has.

What coach Al Groh would have preferred was for somebody else to handle the punting.

"That's why we tried to work in a different direction to start with," Groh said.

In practice, Groh didn't see the kind of consistency that he wanted from Ryan Weigand, a junior-college transfer who entered UVa's program in the summer of 2005, so he went with Gould.

Gould had a 39.1-yard average on seven punts at Pittsburgh, but his low liners were a contrast to the high-arcing punts of Pittsburgh's Adam Graessle.

"Chris' punting was not altogether different from what it was when that's all he was doing," said Groh, whose Cavs will host Wyoming on Saturday. "What it was different from was what he was doing in the 10 days previous to the game.

"Again, the only grade that counts is the one you get in the game, which is why we've taken hard notice of that situation."

Weigand, who was redshirted last season, entered the game for Virginia's final punt Saturday night and got off a 37-yarder.

"It's either an ongoing competition or an ongoing, unsolved issue," Groh said at his Tuesday news conference.

On the flip side, Groh had to be delighted with Gould's place-kicking. He was good from 48 and 42 yards on his first two game attempts since 2003 at Central Mountain High School, a cradle of place-kickers that has included Travis Forney and Gould's older brother, Robbie.

Forney and Robbie Gould both kicked for Penn State, and the older Gould now serves as place-kicker for the Chicago Bears. He was in the stands for the UVa-Pittsburgh game.

"I talk to him every other night," Chris said. "It's hard, with our schedules, to sit down and have a real conversation. Before the Pittsburgh game, he called me and told me some of the things that the wind was going to do inside the stadium and at the open end."

Both of Gould's field goals were into the open end, looking toward "The Point," where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers meet to form the Ohio.

"When I got out there, I didn't realize how fast it went by," Gould said. "It's one second from the time the ball is snapped till you kick it. You really don't have time to think about it.

"The positives, obviously, were the two field goals and the two kickoffs [that were not returned]. I just have to be more consistent this week. As the season goes on, you only get more consistent because you're working on what you've done wrong."

Gould's older brother wasn't a punter, but he can consult Bears punter Brad Maynard, a 10-year NFL veteran.

"I was a little nervous, obviously, with it being the first time I was going to kick field goals and kick off and punt, which is a big task for anybody at this level of competition," Gould said. "I think my arm was in a little bit on the punts and if I can just extend my arm, then I can extend my leg up and through the ball better."

It's been a while since somebody from Virginia has kicked a ball 14 times in one night. The Cavaliers haven't had a player double as place-kicker and punter for an entire season since Joe "The Toe" Jenkins in 1974.

"I don't think that's a lot," Gould said. "When I go out and train, I'm kicking 125 or 150 balls a day during the summer. We train our legs just for situations like this and I didn't feel any ill effects Sunday or any fatigue.

"Sometimes, numbers can be skewed. But when you watch the game, I really didn't punt well at all. It was probably one of my worst punting performances. I need to be at the top of my game for the team to win this weekend."
 

Pitt took advantage of young Virginia offensive lineman
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
September 6, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Will Barker's first game did not exactly go to plan. Like most of Virginia's offensive line, the right tackle had a rough night last Saturday, overmatched by Pittsburgh's speedy defensive ends and looking very much like the redshirt freshman that he is.
At the very least, he can take solace in the fact that greater tackles than he struggled at some point early in their careers.

For instance, D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the fourth overall pick in last year's NFL draft.

The game was at Penn State near the end of 2002. Future first-round pick Michael Haynes had his way with the Virginia freshman, who had acquitted himself well for most of the season.

Three sacks later, coach Al Groh had to give his prodigy at left tackle a little pep talk.

"I remember telling him at that time, 'Hey look, this guy's been in that weight room four or five years longer than you have, he's seen a lot of pass blockers before, just give yourself a little bit of time and you'll be teaching somebody else the same lessons,'" Groh said.

The words ring true for Barker, whose first taste of college action was a difficult, albeit necessary step in the growth process.

"I was anxious and excited to get out there for the first time," Barker said. "I made a couple mistakes, but I'm definitely looking at that game as a learning experience and something to build off of."

Don't read in to the fact that Zak Stair replaced Barker for significant periods of

time. That was part of the plan. Barker said that would have been the case had Eddie Pinigis not transferred to Liberty after losing the starting job at the end of preseason camp.

Saturday's struggles were a combination of over thinking and problems with his footwork, Barker said. Physically, he doesn't think he was overmatched.

That's not likely to be the case any time soon. Since arriving at UVa a lanky 6-foot-7, 265-pound freshman, Barker has put on 41 pounds through a combination of lifting, eating and eating some more.

"It's usually more than three meals a day with some snacks in between," Barker said.

Barker fits Virginia's mold at tackle - tall, athletic and rangy. Like his predecessor, Brad Butler, who was a high school swimmer, Barker was a standout prep athlete in lacrosse at The Haverford School outside of Philadelphia. Football provided him the opportunity to get a full scholarship at a big school, however.

Now he's part of an offensive line that's most tenured member is sophomore left guard Branden Albert with 13 career starts. The other four linemen have made 12 combined starts, including one apiece by both tackles - Barker and sophomore Eugene Monroe. It's a problem UVa hasn't faced in a while.

"We were very fortunate the last two years that with those two tackles we could just call the play as it was intended to be called," Groh said. "We never had to say we didn't want to leave either one on an island. We'd slide left, we'd slide right and each guy, when he was left by himself, could handle his business very well.

"Now we're in a circumstance where we'd like to slide both ways each time to give both of them some help."

The group expects to take some lumps and, with an equally inexperienced quarterback, to see opponents throw everything they have at them.

"These guys are going to be coming every Saturday," Groh said, "and some Saturdays there's going to be more coming than what you just saw. So there's no place to hide."

Barker, who is slated to start again this week, is up to the challenge.

"Since the spring, I've been competing for this spot," he said. "It means a lot to me. At the same time, I wasn't just given that spot. I earned it and I've got to keep that spot by playing well and playing hard.

"Every day our coaches are saying move on. If something bad happens on a play, move to the next play. Don't sit on it. ? You've got to go and move on, just like we're going to move on from this past Saturday."