Untimely departures decimate U.Va. football depth
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- On his radio show Monday night, University of Virginia Al Groh was asked what he would add to his team if in-season personnel moves were possible in college football.

"Probably what we'd go first for is a dynamic pass-rusher," Groh said.

At this time last year, Groh had every reason to believe his 2008 defense would include at least one player who fit that description: end Jeffrey Fitzgerald. There also was Sean Gottschalk, an athletic end from Deep Run High whom U.Va. was grooming to replace All-American Chris Long.

Twelve months later, neither is on the active roster. Fitzgerald withdrew from U.Va. in February because of an academic issue and later transferred to Kansas State. Gottschalk, a redshirt sophomore, has yet to play for Virginia this season and is on a leave of absence from the team for personal reasons.

If those were the only unexpected personnel losses Virginia had suffered in the past 10 months, Groh's program would be on firmer footing. But the dismissal of quarterback Peter Lalich from the team Thursday added yet another name to the list of U.Va. players who might have been available for the Sept. 27 game at Duke but, for various reasons, will not.

The Cavaliers are 1-2 and have been outscored 97-33 this season. Imagine where they might be, however, if their offense included Branden Albert at left guard and Jameel Sewell at quarterback, and if their defense included Fitzgerald and Gottschalk, linebackers John Bivens, Darnell Carter and J'Courtney Williams and cornerbacks Chris Cook and Mike Brown.

Nobody can blame Albert, of course, for passing up his senior year at U.Va. The Kansas City Chiefs selected him in the first round of this year's NFL draft. Bivens gave up football last week because of persistent knee problems and switched to baseball at U.Va.

Academic ineligibility sidelined other players, including Sewell and Cook, and behavioral and legal problems led to the departures of Brown, Williams and Lalich.

Seniors on the 2007 roster included Long, Tom Santi, Jordy Lipsey, Ian-Yates Cunningham, Chris Gould, Jonathan Stupar, Allen Billyk, Jermaine Dias and Nate Lyles, so Groh would have faced some rebuilding this year even if he'd lost no one with eligibility remaining. But the loss of so many would-be contributors is a major reason why U.Va., which won nine games last year, might finish in the Coastal Division cellar this season.

U.Va. fans can take some consolation from the fact that Sewell, who started all 13 games last season and nine in 2006, will be re-admitted to the university in January.

The former Hermitage High star is living in Charlottesville and tutoring students at Buford Middle School. He's also an assistant coach on the Charlottesville High football team.

Sewell has one season of eligibility remaining, and his father, Harry, reiterated yesterday that his son plans to return to U.Va.

"It's been a learning experience for him, and I think he's grown from it," Harry Sewell said. "He knows he wants to do it and how he has to do it. It's a sign of maturity. It's about getting back up."

 

Lalich sorts options after learning fate
The QB's attorney says he learned of his client's team dismissal after the judge continued the case.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Peter Lalich did not enter Charlottesville General District Court on Thursday with the idea that his University of Virginia football career was hanging in the balance.

Otherwise, there would have been no sense in asking for his probation hearing to be moved up from Sept. 26 to Sept. 18.

"I asked for that," Lalich's attorney, Tim Heaphy, said. "I wanted it to be resolved sooner rather than later."

Virginia was scheduled to visit Duke for a football game Sept. 27, and Lalich had been practicing as if he might regain his spot as the Cavaliers' starting quarterback.

"My goal was to get it past him," Heaphy said. "Hopefully, he would return to the field and the whole thing would be over with, with a full week's time before the next game."

Lalich, originally charged with underage alcohol possession, told judge Robert Downer Jr. that he had consumed alcohol during a probationary period starting July 21. Downer expressed his disapproval and then continued the case until July 21, 2009.

Hours later, Lalich learned in a meeting with athletic director Craig Littlepage that he would be dismissed from the team.

"I spoke to Littlepage in the morning in the interest of coordination," said Heaphy, a lawyer with McGuireWoods. "He said that there would potentially be consequences for participation.

"I didn't know what that meant. I don't represent [Lalich] at UVa. I represent him with the court. I had no idea it would be a dismissal from the team. I learned when the rest of the world did, well, maybe a little earlier through Peter."

As it turns out, they could have held the hearing Sept. 26.

"Exactly," Heaphy said. "I can tell you, I was surprised. Again, my goal and Peter's goal was to clear this up and get back to normal. That 'normal' includes being the starting quarterback at UVa.

"Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as if that is possible. I think Peter did a courageous thing, which is admit his mistake, which is difficult for anybody to do, particularly in the glare of public scrutiny."

Heaphy gave no indication that there is a legal recourse for getting Lalich back on the football team.

"All he's doing right now is sorting out his options, and I don't think he's very far along in that process," Heaphy said. "Those options are to stay here as a student and return to the field or take it elsewhere. We haven't specifically talked about what his legal rights are. He has not been kicked out of school."

In a five-sentence statement Thursday, Littlepage did not use the word "dismissal." He said that Lalich "is no longer a member of the University of Virginia football team," and added that there would be no further comment.

"I didn't have a conversation with Craig Littlepage," Heaphy said, "so I don't know if this was for now or forever. And, again, I don't know if Peter wants to find that out. He may decide he just wants to pack up and go, transfer somewhere else."

In a brief e-mail exchange with The Roanoke Times, Lalich wrote, "I was innocent in court, guilty in the eyes of administration."

Even Heaphy admitted that wasn't completely true.

"The judge did find that he violated probation," Heaphy said. "He just didn't impose a sanction. When Peter says 'innocent,' he means that things remained the same. The judge basically gave him a second chance.

"[Lalich] was adamant that the violation was alcohol and not drugs. I think we established that at the hearing. My focus is what happened while he was on probation. He hasn't really commented on what's happened beyond that.

"All I know is that the kid that I met with and the kid I got ready for that hearing was a kid who had realized he needed to live a little differently. In my brief time with him, I saw evolution."
 

Hokies overcame roadblock for Wilson
Do Cavs pursue another QB for 2009?
By Doug Doughty

The football commitment that Virginia Tech received Thursday from Tyrell Wilson represented the final step in the Hokies’ reconciliation with Hampton High School.

“I told [Tech assistant] Curt Newsome when it started, ‘You’re climbing Mount Everest, boss,’ “ Hampton coach Mike Smith said Friday.

“That was a heck of an obstacle to overcome, persuading [Wilson’s] daddy.”

Wilson’s father, James, played for Hampton High School in the late 1980s and signed with the Hokies, only to be turned down for admission. He enrolled at Tennessee, where he was a four-year letterman and captained the Vols’ 1993 team.

Smith remembers James Wilson at Hampton in the spring of 1989, “planning to go up [to Tech] on a Sunday and Tom Fletcher called me and told me, he couldn’t get in because of a bad algebra grade.

“That was the longest story you ever heard, man. I said, ‘Don’t tell me that. I know what he got.’ He said, ‘Well, the conference said …,’ and I told him, ‘You ain’t in a conference, Tom.’ “

In 1989, the Hokies were in the Metro Conference, a basketball-only league. They didn’t join the Big East as a football-only member in 1991.

It would be more than 15 years before relations between Tech and Hampton improved.

For one thing, Smith was a close friend of longtime UVa team physician Dr. Frank McCue, an orthopedist who operated on kids from around the state. Smith had good relations with then-UVa head coach George Welsh and two assistants who recruited the Hampton-Newport News area, Tom O’Brien and then Danny Wilmer.

What little relationship that Tech had with Hampton turned sour in the winter of 1995-1996, when the Hokies attempted to recruit wide receiver Ahmad Hawkins and running back Darryl Smith, two players who eventually signed with Virginia.

Hawkins and Smith were scheduled to fly to Blacksburg one weekend but never showed up, leaving Hokies’ assistant Jim Cavanaugh steaming.

“They never got on the plane,” Mike Smith said. “ ‘Cav’ called me up and got mad at me but I knew nothing about it. I didn’t make the arrangements.”

In an interview several years after the Hawkins-Smith snafu, Mike Smith added fuel to the fire by saying Cavanaugh had forgotten where Hampton High School was located.

“He started landing over at Phoebus,” Smith said. “He and [Phoebus coach] Bill Dee started hanging out together. Cav shut us off, shut us down completely.”

There was a Cavanaugh sighting at Hampton during the spring of 2006, Tyrod Taylor’s junior year in high school. Cavanaugh continued to work the Hampton-Newport News area, where he has enjoyed success for more than a decade, but Hampton High School was turned over to Newsome, a close Smith friend since Newsome’s days as the head coach at Kecoughtan.

NEWSOME SUBSEQUENTLY had joined the staff at James Madison and was interviewed by Tech and Virginia in the winter of 2005-2006. Newsome met in December with UVa head coach Al Groh, who had lost offensive coordinator Ron Prince to Kansas State, where Prince was named head coach.

“[Newsome] would have taken that job,” Smith said Friday.

Newsome has never said he would have taken the job. Not to me, at least. However, he doesn’t rebut another Smith assertion, that he left Groh’s office that day thinking that he would be offered the job. Would Frank Beamer have moved up his timetable for adding Newsome to his staff? Probably so.

In bypassing Newsome in favor of Dave Borbely, Virginia basically took itself out of the Taylor sweepstakes. Only Newsome could have smoothed over a rift that had developed between Smith and UVa, but the Cavaliers may not have thought they needed Taylor. They already had put themselves in good shape with West Springfield quarterback Peter Lalich, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound pro-style quarterback who was in the Matt Schaub mold.

Nobody was going to get both Lalich and Taylor and, with or without Newsome, the Cavaliers had to feel their chances were better with Lalich.

“But, you know what, they were going to quarterback camps after [Lalich] had committed,” Smith said. “Tyrod was still going to those camps and they tried to get involved with Tyrod then.”

It is true that Virginia continued to show up on lists of schools that were recruiting Taylor or that Taylor was considering, but Tech always was considered the leader. There was no reason to second guess the Cavs on Lalich; after all, he was the highest-rated quarterback they’d ever signed.

(The basis for that is the SuperPrep quarterback rankings dating back to 1985, the first year SuperPrep All-America issue. That was Shawn Moore’s senior year at Martinsville High School but a call to SuperPrep publisher Allen Wallace confirmed that Moore was not mentioned in that publication).

Where the Cavaliers go now, without Lalich, is anybody’s guess. If he remains in school, do they even get his scholarship? Linebacker John Bivens has given up football due to chronic knee problems but he intends to play baseball, which means he must count against the football scholarship limit for as long as he plays. Don’t blame the rulesmakers; if you could add football or men’s basketball players by giving them non-revenue sports scholarships, it would happen all the time.

UVa already has taken 19 commitments for 2009 and will be stretched to take 3-4 more to be in compliance with the NCAA’s 85-scholarship limit. The return of two-year starting quarterback Jameel Sewell in 2009 would give the Cavaliers a total of three returning scholarship quarterbacks (Sewell, Marc Verica and Riko Smalls).

Recruit Ross Metheny from Sherando High School would make four, but then Sewell would be out of eligibility after the 2009 season. Whether Virginia re-enters the quarterback market at this point could hinge on Orange County quarterback Quintin Hunter, originally recruited as an “athlete” but now maybe worth a second look at QB.

 

Bivens solid in debut as Cavs win
By Jay Jenkins
Published: September 20, 2008

With his family watching from the bleachers, John Bivens strolled up to the batter’s box with his adrenaline racing.
As his name was announced over the public address system, the former Virginia football player drew a healthy chorus of cheers.
Two years after his last plate appearance, Bivens finally made his return to the baseball diamond as the Cavaliers mounted a late rally to beat the Ontario Blue Jays, 6-3, in an exhibition game designed to last 14 innings.
“It’s been a long time, but I had a great time out there. It’s always good to be back on the baseball field,” Bivens said. “I was just waiting to be called and supporting my teammates, hoping to get a win.”
Bivens had a pair of plate appearances, grounding out to shortstop and working the count to get a walk.
More importantly, Bivens showcased his athleticism, stealing second base with ease. In November, Bivens had season-ending knee surgery, which eventually led to his decision to walk away from football.
“My knee was feeling pretty good so I just stole the base,” Bivens said. “I got a good read on the pitcher.
“The brace doesn’t weigh me down too much. I can still move.”
Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said it was a good starting point for Bivens.
“John’s a work in progress and he knows that,” the skipper said. “Obviously, he is a big, strong athlete and we’ll continue to work with him, and I know he’s committed to it.”
Virginia, which registered 16 hits in the game, tied the contest up with a pair of runs in the eighth inning.
Dan Grovatt, a sophomore, hit a ground-rule double and scored with ease after rookie third baseman Steven Proscia slapped a triple into the gap in right-center field. Proscia scored on a two-out single by catcher John Hicks.
After back-to-back singles from Kyle Werman and Corey Hunt in the 12th inning, Grovatt hit another double, driving in two runs and giving Virginia a 4-2 lead.
In the 13th inning, sophomore Phil Gosselin connected on a two-run homer, planting a fastball in the bleachers in left field.
“Maybe we were pressing early a little bit early, trying to make something happen a little too much,” Gosselin said. “We hit some balls really well and they just didn’t drop.
“We definitely were trying to win and Dan and Steve came up with the big hits we needed.”
With two spots in his weekend rotation open, O’Connor elected to use the exhibition as a time to evaluate a handful of his freshman and sophomore pitchers.
Rookie right-hander Justin Thompson, who pitched the 12th inning, received the win and sophomore Kevin Arico was perfect in the 14th for the save.
“I thought most of the guys pitched pretty well and will progress throughout the fall,” O’Connor said of his staff, which limited Ontario to seven hits.
Virginia will open its annual Orange & Blue World Series on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at Davenport Field. The seven-game series is open to the public.


 

Cavs’ freshmen light it up against Pack
By Whitey Reid
Published: September 20, 2008

George Gelnovatch wasn’t the least bit discouraged by his team’s 2-3 record — the program’s worst start since the 1983 season.
Heading into Friday night’s ACC opener against N.C. State, the Virginia coach continually expressed confidence that his squad — featuring a plethora of freshmen — would eventually find its stride. It was only a matter of time, Gelnovatch said, before his talented newcomers started to click.
Against the Wolfpack, Virginia’s fledglings did just that.
Paced by four first-half goals from three freshmen, the Cavaliers steamrolled their way to a 5-0 win in front of a crowd of 3,040 at Klockner Stadium.
The last time Virginia had scored four goals in a half came during a win over Temple in 2002.
“I would like to say that we were due this kind of game,” said Gelnovatch, whose team hosts Central Connecticut State on Tuesday before traveling to Blacksburg for its first ACC road clash with Virginia Tech next Friday night. “But when you start five freshmen and you count on them for a lot of minutes and goals, you kind of hold your breath from time to time — but tonight they stepped up.”
Virginia (3-3, 1-0) got on the board first in the 16th minute when freshmen Tony Tchani and Chris Agorsor connected beautifully.
Tchani caught N.C. State’s defense unsettled and knifed a pass around two defenders to Agorsor. Racing into the box from the left-hand side, Agorsor delicately placed a shot toward the far right post that beat Wolfpack goalie Christopher Widman for his fourth goal.
“It was me timing the run,” Agorsor explained. “Tony saw me making it and he put it right where I needed it so I could put it in the net.”
N.C. State (1-4-1, 0-2) struggled to get anything going offensively. The Wolfpack’s best chance to score came in the 23rd minute when Chris Zuerner made a cross that teammate Alan Sanchez nearly headed into the net. UVa goalie Michael Giallombardo, making his first start of the season in place of Dan Louisignau, lunged to his right to make the stop.
“Mike has a little more experience in terms of settling things down and organizing and talking,” said Gelnovatch, when asked about the switch, “but by no means have we decided our goalkeeping situation — but he did a good job tonight.”
In the 37th minute, Agorsor and Tchani hooked up again. Agorsor was fouled in the box which led to a penalty lick that Tchani converted.
Agorsor says he has started to develop some nice chemistry with Tchani, who is also his roommate.
“We go out to eat together and do lots of stuff together,” Agorsor said, “so I think it comes naturally in terms of understanding each other on the field.”
Just 57 seconds later, defender Hunter Jumper, another freshmen, scored his first career goal when he pushed the ball upfield and blasted a shot from just outside the box that hooked around Widman.
A little over two minutes later, Tchani headed in a crossing pass by Ross LaBauex to give Virginia a commanding 4-0 lead. It was Tchani’s team-leading fifth goal of the season.
In the second half, UVa widened its cushion when sophomore Jimmy Simpson maneuvered around Wolfpack defender Romulo Manzano and beat Widman.
For the game, Virginia outshot N.C. State 14-5 and held an 8-1 edge in corner kicks. All in all, Gelnovatch couldn’t have been more pleased.
“To be at home and pound five goals in and keep a clean sheet, to be 1-0 in the conference for this young team — it’s just a good shot in the arm,” he said.