Barbers: To mother with love
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Oct 3, 2006

I can remember the apartment in Roanoke from that visit of 11 years ago and the woman who lived in it. The apartment was unremarkable. The woman was just this side of extraordinary.

Her name is Geraldine Barber, and the two sons she raised as a single mom did something pretty special over the weekend. Ronde and Tiki Barber announced they were pledging to the University of Virginia the tidy sum of $1 million -- only a portion of which will be allotted for helmets and coaches' bonuses.

You know Ronde and Tiki Barber as football players. U.Va. knows them as Class of '97 graduates and benefactors. Lots of athletes talk about giving back to the communities and institutions that nurtured them. Few have done it quite so generously.

The dean of the Commerce School, one of the divisions that'll share in the Barbers' gift (other recipients include U.Va.'s Children's Hospital, its scholarship fund for African-American students and its athletic booster club) called Ronde and Tiki "all-pros as people." Carl Zeithaml wasn't blowing smoke. Ronde plays defense (cornerback) and Tiki plays offense (tailback), but they're united on the depth chart when it comes to championship-level virtues.

Their mom wouldn't have had it any other way.

"She's taught me everything I've known -- she's the major influence on my life," Tiki once said. Chimed in Ronde, "She's someone to look up to, someone to model my life after."

Oh, and lest wearers of the orange and blue get a tad smug here, be advised Geraldine Barber is a Virginia Tech grad.

U.Va. is a becoming a different place from the U.Va. of the mid-'90s. Smart kids from low-income households can get free tuition from Mr. Jefferson's endowment fund. It's easier now to transfer to Virginia from one of the state's community colleges. Early admission has been scrapped on the grounds it tilted the process in favor of Richie Rich applicants.

The playing field, in other words, is becoming more level for families like . . .

Well, like the Barbers.

The boys were 4 when their father walked out on them. He'd been a hot-shot football player at Tech. That's where Geraldine met him. They married. She finished her degree. They started a family. He split. She took a breath and assumed responsibility. She was a natural.

It wasn't easy. If it were, a lot of sociologists would be out of work. Compounding the hardship of single motherhood for Geraldine Barber was the fact her boys arrived in this world at less than 4.6-in-the-40 health. They were born prematurely, had severe respiratory problems, were given a 50-50 chance of survival, let alone of making all-NFL one day.

They pulled through. Then she pulled them along. She established guidelines. They honored them. She set an example. They followed it. She held two jobs for years, fed the boys supper and read with them between gigs, plugged away at a masters degree, persevered, grew, achieved.

There were times the three of them sat at the kitchen table and prioritized the bills that were waiting to be paid. Money was tight. But there was never a lack of do-right and common decency.

Now the two sons are rich and have priorities of their own. Lucky for U.Va. Lucky for Tiki and Ronde they had Geraldine as a guide.

"If you want to find out who Tiki and I are, we are a 100-percent reflection of our mother and what she's done and the values that she's placed on our lives," Ronde said in Charlottesville two days ago. "She would be as proud of us for doing this as she is when she watches us play on Sunday or when she watches us play with our kids."

Even if she is a Hokie.

 

Sewell brings calming presence to UVa huddle
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
October 4, 2006

Nervous, he was not. And Jameel Sewell admitted that he was not scared either.

Deaf? Perhaps.

When Sewell walked into his first huddle as the starting quarterback of Virginia’s football team at Georgia Tech, he could hardly hear himself think.

“It was loud,” Sewell said on Tuesday. “We had to bring the huddle in extremely close. Everybody was bent in … and you really couldn’t hear the call.

“We had a lot of checks that we had to do and some of us weren’t hearing the checks and I was screaming about as loud as I could.”

That’s life on the road as a starting signal-caller. Well, that’s life most of the time.

Football games at Duke, where Sewell made his second start last Saturday, are more comparable to playing in a library.

Just ask Sewell.

With less than 20,000 fans in the stands at Wallace Wade Stadium, Sewell could have had a conversation with coach Al Groh from the middle of the field.

OK, that might be stretching it a little, but it was far from the experience in Atlanta or the one that Sewell expects to encounter at East Carolina (1-3) when UVa (2-3) travels to Greenville, N.C. on Saturday (6 p.m., College Sports TV).

While at Duke, Sewell said his progression took a big step forward.

“I feel more comfortable back there,” the redshirt

freshman said. “I feel like things are slowing down, it’s slowing down slowly and gradually, but things are slowing down.”

After completing 8 of 10 passes in the opening half, Sewell finished 14 of 20 for just 105 yards and was sacked five times. What mattered most to the youngster was only that Virginia won 37-0 and snapped a two-game losing skid.

His teammates said it helped that Sewell had a calming presence in the huddle.

“I have seen each day that he has been progressing as leader, just really pressing guys to step up and make plays for him,” tailback Jason Snelling said. “He is still the same kid. He likes to have a lot of fun out there when he is playing the game. He still does that, but he is becoming more of a leader.”

Virginia coach Al Groh said it is desirable to have a quarterback in the huddle that possesses leadership skills.

“How you present what you are going to do sometimes is as important as what the play is,” Groh said. “In many circumstances there’s more than one play that could work, so how the quarterback presents what you’re doing and his confidence in it and his agreement with the coach’s call, ‘Hey, I got a good one for you here this time.’

“Plus, there is giving the impression to the players, ‘I really think you guys can do this one.’ That is a positive part of it.”

Groh has seen it firsthand at Virginia with former quarterbacks Matt Schaub and Marques Hagans.

“Those guys are like a jockey,” Groh said referring to confident signal-callers. “The quarterback in any huddle is the player who has got his reigns on the operation, and he can up the tempo, he can slow the tempo down. The pace and the rhythm that you want in your overall operation often comes in terms of how fast the quarterback or how slow the quarterback is either directed to or chooses to drive the engine.”

While Sewell’s confidence grows, don’t expect his desire to win to change.

“I live for this,” Sewell said. “I live to play the game … I just want to play and try to help contribute to the wins and help my team.”

Injury update

Virginia sophomore Andrew Pearman was scheduled to undergo surgery on Tuesday on his knee to “clean out fragments,” Groh said.

Pearman, who has been used at wideout and as a punt returner, injured the knee at Georgia Tech and did not travel to the Duke game.

Groh hopes the injury does not sideline Pearman for the season, and for two reasons. His wife, Anne, is slated to have the same procedure later this month.

Pearman returned 10 punts for 60 yards and caught seven passes for 34 yards. Mike Brown is expected to continue returning punts, as he did at Duke.

Also, wide receiver Deyon Williams experienced no pain in his surgically-repaired foot following his season debut at Duke.

Sizzling Simpson

One thing was apparent around the program on Monday. Mikell Simpson, a redshirt freshman, was walking with a newfound swagger.

The running back scored the first touchdown of his career with just 27 seconds left against Duke.

“I was real excited about him getting into the game and getting carries, and I was even more excited about him getting into the end zone,” said Snelling. “I was real happy to see him progressing. He is a good running back.

“I think he has great vision and I see a lot of potential in him; I have always felt that way.”

When asked about adding the late score, Groh said it was not to run the score up against the Blue Devils.

“We’re not interested in piling up the score or embarrassing anyone, but I’m also interested in the morale of my team,” Groh said. “The [reserves] deserved the opportunity to feel good about finishing off the drive.”

Just for kicks

Chris Gould has been a jack-of-all-trades for the Cavaliers thus far.

The junior has handled 32 of the Cavaliers 33 punts and nine of 10 field goal attempts.

With all that work, one must ask, is his leg about to fall off?

“I feel pretty good,” Gould said with a smile. “I don’t show any signs of fatigue. My kickoffs have been going well. Field goal-wise, I would like to be a little more consistent.”

Despite making just 6 of his 9 attempts on field goals, Gould still ranks among the best in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The league leader, Wake Forest’s Sam Swank, has converted only 70 percent of his attempts (7 for 10).

Still, Gould wants more and knows that he can be replaced at the drop of a hat. Former walk-on Noah Greenbaum was used against Georgia Tech - he missed a 47-yarder - before Gould reclaimed his spot.

“They gave the job to Noah and it gave me a wake-up call to know that I need to make all my field goals, when necessary,” Gould said. “I just have to concentrate more on every kick.”

Gould made his only field goal at Duke, a 31-yarder. For the season, Gould has a team-high 25 points, a number that would be higher had long-snapper Tyrus Gardner not left bounced a snap to holder John Phillips against Duke.

Purple Pirates

At this point, East Carolina and Virginia have only two games on the books.

In addition to Saturday’s game at ECU, the Pirates are scheduled to visit Scott Stadium in 2008.

Groh said the home-and-home series was a no-brainer.

“It’s a [NCAA Division] I-A team, which we wanted to do. It’s kind of a local game, and our fans can get to it,” Groh added. “When they play up here, they’ll have fans, which will help give us a big crowd.

“It just seemed to make sense.”

It didn’t hurt that East Carolina Athletic Director Terry Holland, has obvious ties to UVa.

 

Leitao lays it out
Cavalier coach readies for second season with program
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
October 4, 2006

With less than two weeks until the official start of college hoops season - schools can begin practicing Oct. 13 - University of Virginia men’s basketball beat writer Whitelaw Reid caught up with coach Dave Leitao, who is entering his second year guiding the Cavaliers.

Q: What are your biggest questions and what are you most excited for as you head into your second season as coach?

Dave Leitao: The biggest question is, can we as a group take the next step after what we established last year? Obviously that means getting better and more wins, but it [also] means getting better individually and collectively on the court, especially in the locker room - getting better chemistry and more understanding of how we’re going to play. That’s my biggest concern - that we didn’t play last year for naught. We raised the framework. Now that we did that, we can improve on it. The thing that I’m excited about, obviously, is that you have the potential to have a better unit because you have good guards and you have everybody back that played a lot of minutes, and [they] were in a lot of situations that helped them learn and showed them what winning and losing is all about. And, you’ve added enough [recruits] to give you the versatility that every team needs. You can make more moves and have more options that can create that better team that we’re looking for.

Q: What was your recent coaching experience in Japan like (In August, Leitao participated in “Operation Hardwood III,” a weeklong tour in which he coached members of the U.S. military)?

DL: The troops wanted to be coached. They wanted to be instructed. They wanted to be yelled at. They wanted to really be coached by a Division I head coach. Even more than that was the opportunity to sit down with them and talk to them about their lives and what they go through and the position they’re in. These are young men from America who end up in Japan. How did that happen? And how does it relate to the protection of our country, particularly in Japan with North Korea right next door and there’s always a
threat of something going on there? We were on a naval ship and many of the officers and enlisted men had spent time in Norfolk, so they had identification with Virginia and the university. I met three officers who had graduated from [UVa]. It was good to make that kind of connection. I had a great time learning and sharing with everyone that was there.
Q: Since you’ve come aboard, you’ve had some player turnover. Gary Forbes, Sam Warren, Donte Minter and T.J. Bannister are all players who have left. This obviously affects your graduation rate. Is this type of turnover typical when you take over a program?
DL: I think that every coach that takes over now has to concern himself with the APR (Academic Progress Rates) and the way it’s structured. It lends itself to hopefully not having a lot of turnover, but it’s inevitable that there is turnover. You don’t want to lose a scholarship (the penalty for falling beneath the threshold), so you are concerned about that. I think we have done a very good job over the years of graduating our athletes and it has not affected us as of yet, but we’re also consciously paying close attention to it. But I think if you look at any coach that has taken over a new program, there is turnover because the situation has changed either from the viewpoint of the student-athlete or the viewpoint of the coach and has nothing to do with what may be perceived to be negative turnover. It’s just something that happens.
Q: Did T.J. leaving come as a surprise to you, and are you concerned about the lack of depth at the point guard position?
DL: It didn’t come as a surprise. We had known for a long time. It just happened at the time that it did. [The lack of depth] has me very concerned. We’re going to lean on both Sean and J.R. a lot. Not having that kind of depth there is concerning because they’re the only experienced guards that we have. Something as simple as foul trouble or turned ankles or anything that could happen during the course of the season is worrisome to me. We’ll just have to work our way through that as best we can and make sure that we work them hard, but also limit them to keep them fresh and healthy, both physically and mentally.
Q: You do have a lot more depth at just about every other position. Do you think that will result in being able to play a different style - maybe playing a bit more up-tempo and getting up and down the court?
DL: Yeah. I don’t know that we’re exactly there - where we can play the tempo that I want to play and the tempo that I’m accustomed to, but we’ll get closer to it. We walked the ball up a whole lot [last year] and put a whole lot of pressure on each possession. As a result, we didn’t score a lot of points and were last in the ACC in offense. We’ve got to improve on that. One way to do is to be a team that gets up and down a little more - getting easy baskets for yourself. We’ve tried to address that throughout the summer, and we hope at the same point in time to use the extra people that we have now to be better on the defensive end and combine the two.
Q: What’s the coolest thing about your new digs at the John Paul Jones Arena?
DL: The coolest thing is that essentially you have the highest quality and most well-thought-out arena that anybody could ever have. It’s really cool to walk in there everyday and know that you’re in the best place that [you’ve] ever been around.
Q: Did you have a chance to watch Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski coach the U.S. National Team and what was your take on their performance?
DL: We, like everyone else, were rooting for them. I think they met a team (Greece) and it was a little bit of an aberration. They weren’t as good as the Americans, but on that day they won. I’m confident that the group is a good group that will go on and win the gold medal.
Q: Now that you’ve been here for a little while and have gotten to know Charlottesville better, do you have any favorite spots around town?
DL: I’ve gotten around a little bit with my family and tried to get to know people better. Like everybody else, we like to spend early evenings on the downtown mall, walking around and getting a feel for everything. Often times, we choose different restaurants down there. I like to frequent the Downtown Grille a lot because it’s a great restaurant and has terrific people, but we’re trying to get to different places.
Q: You were spotted on the golf course in Charlottesville this summer. How’s your game coming along?
DL: I’ve only been out a couple of times, so I’m an easy buck for a guy who plays against me. I can’t wait for the time I can play more. I haven’t played too many courses around town.
Q: So what’s your handicap?
DL: Golf.

 

Hard work paying off for Copper
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
October 4, 2006

When Virginia’s assistant coaches reported back to their offices at the McCue Center, hours after the Cavaliers’ gut-wrenching home loss to Western Michigan, they were a little surprised to find one of the players reviewing game tape.

Well, surprised until they saw who it was. “Oh, it’s just Jon Copper,” they must have thought. That’s just the way Copper is.

It’s 10 o’clock on Saturday night, the game has been over for hours, his girlfriend is in town, and where is the sophomore linebacker from Roanoke? Watching game film, picking out his flaws from the afternoon’s action, figuring out how to correct them and moving on.

The girlfriend? Well, he got back together with her after he got his football work done.

Complete dedication

It’s that kind of hard work and dedication that has made Copper who he is. It made the undersized linebacker from coach Jim Hickam’s Northside High School program get noticed in the first place, caught the eye of former UVa recruiter Danny Rocco, earned the youngster a trip to Fork Union Military Academy, a walk-on invitation to Virginia and now a spot in the Cavaliers’ starting lineup ... now with a scholarship, we might add.

“He really brings it every day, every drill, every play and every lift in the weight room,” said Virginia coach Al Groh. “Commitment, work ethic and toughness are the things that gain the respect of most players. These things are very prominent in terms of Jon’s makeup.”

If they weren’t, then Copper wouldn’t enter this weekend’s UVa game at East Carolina as the Cavaliers’ leading tackler (fifth in the ACC). If he had character flaws he probably wouldn’t have made it through the gauntlet of challenges to be here.

Honest appreciation

And, if anyone truly appreciates the blessings and support they have been given, it’s Copper.

“I’ve been through a lot of adversity, starting back at Fork Union and even in high school, to get to this point,” said the 6-foot-2, 232-pound inside linebacker. “I think a lot of guys might not have stuck with it and for whatever reason I did. I know I’ve had times when I’ve second-guessed why I’m still playing football. But it worked out.”

Like when he was pretty much overlooked coming out of high school and through some tough times in coach John Shuman’s program at FUMA, where he admittedly grew a thicker skin and became more of a man. When he finally got to UVa as a walk-on, it wasn’t exactly what he had hoped for either.

“Not being recruited was a big thing,” said Copper. “I’ve had several injuries that I’ve had to play through. Fork Union, from a physical standpoint, I thought was a down year for me as far as my performance on the field. Getting [to UVa] I didn’t feel like I was contributing very much.”

Certainly he took an unusual path from Roanoke to Charlottesville. Rocco, now the head coach at Liberty University in Lynchburg, never closed the door on Copper’s dreams of playing for Virginia. The youngster, though fully qualified academically and having committed to UVa while at Northside, instead agreed to go to Fork Union for a year to work on football. When he finally arrived at UVa a year later, he was a walk-on and redshirted.

At that point, it would have been easy to think that Copper’s career as a Cavalier might not ever fly. But he never gave up hope and, meanwhile, the encouragement and prayers from family and supporters pulled him through.

“I’ve had prayers from a lot of people,” he said.

Among those were ministers he had met in Charlottesville from his traveling around from one church to another on Sundays regardless of denomination.

“My church community isn’t necessarily inside of one church,” he said.

He believes his faith and the faith of others played a major role in allowing him to succeed. Don’t discount his hard work and dedication, either.

Copper began to come on strong late last season as the Wahoos prepared for a Music City Bowl date with Minnesota. He played well in that game and set the stage for some eye-opening practices in the spring.

Virginia was looking for inside linebackers as All-American Ahmad Brooks was booted from the team and Kai Parham made a dreadful decision to turn pro a year early and wasn’t even drafted. Copper had worked hard in the offseason and when spring rolled around, he was awarded one of the Rock Weir Awards for most improved players.

Suddenly, the one-time walk-on was favored to start and had earned a scholarship.

Now, Copper hardly comes off the field. He missed a couple of series in the season-opener at Pitt, but since then has basically played every down the past four games with the exception of the very last play at Duke.

On the defensive play participation chart, you will find Copper right at the top along with fellow inside linebacker Antonio Appleby. Both have been in on 326 defensive and special teams plays, a good 28 more than their closest teammate and exactly 100 more plays than starting safety Byron Glaspy.

But when you take a closer look, Copper has 14 more tackles than Appleby, six more tackles-for-loss and one more quarterback sack in just as many plays. Not bad for a walk-on, eh?

His statistical flare doesn’t end there either. His 39 tackles are the most on the team and so are his 22 solos. He has led UVa tackles in three of five games thus far and his average of 7.8 stops per game is tied for fifth in the conference.

Last week at Duke, Copper started the game with a bang and helped set the tone for a very aggressive defensive day. For his efforts, the coaching staff nominated him for ACC defensive lineman of the week honors and no wonder as he led the team in tackles (seven), had two quarterback sacks (13 yards in losses), tipped a pass that went incomplete, had a QB pressure and graded out higher than any other UVa linebacker at 95 percent.

He’s sure glad that he managed to fight off temptation to give up the game he loved. But he knows a little bit about beating temptation.

A man of faith, Copper is a religious studies major who has been known to put Bible verses over his car’s speedometer, to have a Bible beside his toilet, to read the Old Testament the night before a game, and to spend much of his free time memorizing scripture and praying.

“It is just kind of a habit,” said Copper. “The apostle Paul wrote, ‘Pray without ceasing.’ I take that fairly literally when I am playing.”

And, yes, he prays while he’s playing. Well, not all the time.

“You can’t really pray between the whistles,” he said. “You don’t really have time even to think between the whistles.”

 

Olsen still leads despite demotion
By B y Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE-- Despite a four-game football record that was Virginia's worst in 20 years, nobody on the team seemed to be pointing any fingers.

The Cavaliers may have taken their cue from co-captain and ousted starter Christian Olsen.

"I admire the way that he's handled it," junior tight end Tom Santi said. "He's not complained. Neither has Kevin [McCabe].

"They come to work every day and try to get better and make the team better. We don't really have any prima donnas and we appreciate that out of those guys."

Olsen, who started the first two games, has returned to his previous role as Virginia's No. 2 quarterback.

In a Sept. 21 game at Georgia Tech, he never got on the field. Last week, he directed a 46-yard touchdown drive in the waning moments of a 37-0 victory at Duke.

"You've got to go out and handle it the right way," said Olsen, a 23-year-old graduate student. "If you go out and handle it the wrong way, it becomes a real distraction for a team. It could sink this team pretty fast.

"That's not something I want to do. This is the way I was going to handle it. I knew, if something happened, I was still going to go out there and have fun with my teammates and spend as much time with them as I can."

Olsen wants to follow his father into the coaching profession and has served as something of a tutor to redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell, handed the reins after the third game.

"I'm trying to help him however I can," Olsen said. "I want people to see, 'He didn't play that much but he overcame a lot of adversity.'

"I'm trying to get a graduate-assistant job for this next semester. I just did a resume for the first time [Monday] and I'm going to start sending out e-mails and making phone calls this afternoon."

Olsen endeared himself to coaches and teammates when he asked if the week's top scout-team performer could take his place for the coin flip.

"It's something Marques [Hagans] started last year," said Olsen, referring to the Cavs' starting quarterback from 2004-05. "Why not give the kid who works his butt off all week and doesn't get any attention a chance to let his family see him in the middle of the field?"

Olsen actually was replaced by McCabe for one game before coach Al Groh made the move to Sewell.

"Obviously, we weren't performing well as an offense," McCabe said. "I wasn't doing my job. A lot of guys weren't doing their jobs, but the first guy who's going to get the blame for that is the quarterback.

"It's his job to get the team in the offense and get the wins and that wasn't happening, so we knew a change was going to happen. It's always difficult, but I didn't have to sit down and convince myself to be the guy that I should be. That was a no-brainer."

Judgment call

Groh said he might have let the clock run out if the Cavaliers had not scored their final touchdown on a 2-yard run by redshirt freshman Mikell Simpson with 28 seconds left.

"We're not interested in piling up the score or embarrassing anybody," Groh said. "While we take that into consideration in terms of sportsmanship, I'm also interested in the morale of my team.

"We had a lot of young players in there, not just Mikell, who had not been on the goal line much in their careers. They moved the ball down the field; they deserved the opportunity to feel good about the drive.

"If it made the other players feel a little bit more beaten, that wasn't our intent. But, if it made our players feel a little more upbeat, that certainly was our intent. They had a chance to perform in front of their peers more than they usually do."

By the numbers

The victory at Duke gave Virginia a 10-20 road record under Groh, including 9-3 as a favorite and 1-17 as an underdog. The Cavaliers have lost 16 straight road games as an underdog and Saturday visit an East Carolina team that is favored by 6 12 points.

Scoped

Groh said that redshirt freshman Andrew Pearman underwent a procedure Tuesday morning to have fragments removed from the knee that he injured at Georgia Tech. Pearman, who missed the Duke trip, should be back by November.
 

U.Va. Report: For Groh, the answer to the question of ECU is a simple Y-E-S
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© October 4, 2006

Why East Carolina?

Why not, Virginia coach Al Groh said.

The Cavaliers and Pirates, not exactly natural rivals, have played just once, and that was 31 years ago. They'll meet Saturday in Greenville, N.C., the start of a two-game series. ECU, from Conference USA, will come to Charlottesville in 2008.

"It's a I-A team, which we wanted to do," Groh said. "It's kind of a local game; our fans can get to it. When they play up here, they'll have fans, which will help give us a big crowd.

"It just seemed to make sense."

The two-game series was hatched after former Virginia athletic director Terry Holland went to East Carolina in 2004. Holland has upgraded the Pirates' nonconference schedule by adding teams from the ACC and Big East, including Virginia Tech, West Virginia, N.C. State and North Carolina.

Though the Pirates are off to a 1-3 start, Groh pointed to ECU's success under former coaches Pat Dye and Steve Logan and said the program is on the rise again under second-year coach Skip Holtz.

"They take their football very seriously and they've got a good following, so we anticipated that type of opponent when we scheduled the game," Groh said. "In other words, our intent was to schedule a good competitive game and not a cupcake, and so that's what we did."

Knee knocks Pearman out, but Williams returns

Just when it appeared Virginia might finally be at full strength at receiver, the Cavaliers lost sophomore Andrew Pearman to a knee injury. Pearman had surgery Tuesday, but is expected to return this season, Groh said.

Even with Pearman out, the Cavaliers made a net gain at the position last Saturday with the return of Deyon Williams and the debut of Cary Koch, a transfer from Tulane.

Williams, the team's leading receiver with 58 catches a year ago, returned from a stress fracture in his right foot last week and is expected to ease back into the rotation. Koch, out with two pulled hamstrings, made his first appearance. He caught 23 passes for Tulane last year.

Pearman has seven catches for 34 yards and has returned 10 punts for 60 yards. Mike Brown replaced him as a punt returner last week, and returned three kicks for 39 yards.

Also available is Emmanuel Byers, back at full strength after a nagging Achilles' injury. He led the team with four catches for 37 yards last week.

Sewell must watch for ECU's defensive appetite

East Carolina has intercepted eight passes this year. Virginia quarterback Jameel Sewell is making just his third career start.

Cause for concern?

"It's certainly something for us to be very alert to address.... We do have a young quarterback, and (we need to) make sure that he understands that people on the other side want to catch his passes as much as his guys do," Groh said.

"Those kind of things usually whet a secondary's appetite and they kind of get the fever, and when they get the fever, they want a few more."

Quick kicks...

Start time for the Maryland game Oct. 14 has been set for 3:30 p.m. The game will not be televised.... Virginia ranks 20th nationally in total defense, allowing just 263 yards per game. Nearly 30 percent of the yardage has come on just seven plays.

 

Groh stingy when it comes to trickery
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
October 4, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia wide receiver Emmanuel Byers received the nickname Big Play last year from running backs coach Anthony Poindexter.

Byers' biggest plays have been trick plays. Byers, a junior, has no receiving touchdowns in his career. But he has two touchdown passes on trick plays - the most recent coming in Saturday's 37-0 win at Duke.

Don't expect to see the play again this season, though Virginia does practice several trick plays every week.

"If you overwork 'em, there's no element of surprise," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "Usually, each one's got a one-play per season shelf life."

On his trick passing play, Byers lines up in a different spot than he normally does - which could give away the play.

Byers battled an Achilles tendon problem earlier this season, but Groh said that has subsided.

SURGERY FOR PEARMAN

Sophomore wide receiver Andrew Pearman underwent arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday morning. Groh expects him back at some point this season. Pearman injured his knee - Groh said he wasn't sure which knee - on Sept. 21 at Georgia Tech.

Though he has just seven catches, Pearman returned 10 punts for 60 yards before cornerback Mike Brown took over that role at Duke.

AILING PIRATES

Virginia dealt with more than its share of injuries last season. East Carolina, the Cavaliers opponent Saturday, is experiencing those woes this fall.

Leading wide receiver Aundre Allison is nursing an ankle injury. Starting running back Chris Johnson is probable with a toe injury. Starting linebacker Quentin Cotton is questionable with an ankle injury.

Worse yet, a stomach bug has hit about 11 Pirates. The bug surfaced late last week, when East Carolina had a bye.

THIS AND THAT

Virginia and East Carolina have played twice - most recently in 1975, when the Pirates won 61-10. Virginia didn't schedule the current series with the Pirates until former Virginia athletic director Terry Holland took over as East Carolina's athletic director in 2004. ... Groh, deadpanning, on his getting in an official's ear late in Saturday's blowout: "I try to be an all-purpose general nuisance."

A foot of fate
Virginia receiver Deyon Williams returned last week from a stress fracture, but he could be done for the year if his recovery stalls.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
October 4, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Even in the hours after a surgeon stuck a screw into Deyon Williams' foot, Williams dreamed of returning to the football field. He talked football with teammates. He watched football, attended practices and studied videotape. He traveled with Virginia, getting as close as possible to games without actually playing.

At some point during his recovery from a stress fracture in his right foot, Williams briefly diverted his dreams: What happens if I can't come back?

So Williams, a senior wide receiver, sat down with Virginia coach Al Groh in the days before the Cavaliers' Sept. 21 game at Georgia Tech. He told Groh that if he couldn't return by the Oct. 14 game against Maryland, he would consider redshirting and return next season.

"I wouldn't put that in your mind just yet," Williams remembered Groh saying. "If you feel like you've been away for three years, then you shouldn't (come back this season). If you feel like you've been away for a day, then we can go ahead and we can start playing."

Williams began running practice routes last week. Last Saturday at Duke, he played for the first time since the Aug. 11 surgery on his fifth metatarsal bone. He played one drive, catching one pass for 4 yards.

He said he's close to 100 percent, but Groh has him on a limited practice and playing schedule. Williams said if his bone doesn't continue to heal, he still could redshirt if he shut down his season after Saturday's 6 p.m. game at East Carolina. (Williams never has redshirted before.)

Williams said an X-ray Oct. 12 - he gets X-rayed every Thursday morning - will determine whether he keeps playing. He said doctors told him that any setbacks in his foot could occur around the Duke and East Carolina games, and his bone should finish healing after that.

"There's a real good chance I'll finish the season," he said. "If I feel like my playing ability is not where it should be ... I could still shut it down."

True sophomore Kevin Ogletree has filled in admirably for Williams. He is tied for the ACC lead with 25 catches and has 236 yards and two touchdowns. With Williams' return, Ogletree will play more as a slot receiver.

Though redshirt freshman quarterback Jameel Sewell said the offense won't change much with Williams back, he knows Williams is better at reading defensive coverage than the less-experienced Ogletree.

"Words can't really express how the receivers and our teammates feel about getting him back," senior receiver Fontel Mines said.

But numbers show Williams could add a big-play element to Virginia's offense. The Cavaliers this season average 8.3 yards per completion. For his college career, Williams averages 13.5. He has 1,150 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. At his best, he clearly is Virginia's most dangerous offensive player.

Williams might not be the same player now, because he participated in just three preseason practices, all without pads, before the injury sidelined him.

"Yeah, my game was a little rusty (at Duke)," he said. "But that's how it is if you've been off for about six, seven weeks. ... I don't feel like I've been away at all. From a physical standpoint, maybe a little bit. Mentally? Nah."

He stayed sharp by studying videotape and watching receivers and cornerbacks practice. Before he started light jogging the week of the Sept. 16 game against Western Michigan, Williams caught balls from a Jugs machine. He now wears a shell inside his cleat to brace his foot.

He also rehabbed by working out in a pool and using a stimulation device that he wrapped around his foot for 20 minutes at a time to help his bone heal. He popped dozens of mint Tums, because they're loaded with calcium and he's lactose intolerant. "I was eating them like candy," he said.

Williams' return at Duke came on the early end of his rehab schedule, Groh said. Williams traveled the week before to Georgia Tech, where he dressed and sprinted during warm-ups. But Groh said Tuesday there was no chance he could've played.

Doctors told Williams he probably injured his foot last season. He aggravated the injury by running on it during the spring and summer. He said he felt minimal soreness in the summer. Then it got worse during the first week of preseason practices.

He needed to have surgery, or else he couldn't come back this season. Team orthopedist Dr. David Diduch performed the operation and inserted a screw, a few inches long, into Williams' foot.

Doctors and coaches urged Williams not to rush back during his recovery, lest he re-injure himself. "But they said once it heals, you probably won't have more problems with it, unless somebody steps and crushes on your foot," Williams said.

Williams spoke with Groh, defensive coordinator Mike London and wide-receivers coach John Garrett - all of whom have NFL coaching experience - about the injury's potential impact on his career. The 6-foot-3 Williams has a potential NFL frame.

"Coach Garrett told me, 'Don't rush back, because if you do rush back and you re-injure your foot, that could mess up your chances of going to the next level,' " Williams said. "I told him, 'Coach, I'm not worried about that.'

"If I don't do what I've gotta do now, if I don't stay healthy, then that doesn't even apply to me."

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Oct 4, 2006

SIDELINED: Andrew Pearman, who didn't play in Virginia's 37-0 win over Duke last weekend, was to have arthroscopic surgery yesterday morning to "clean fragments out of his knee," coach Al Groh told reporters at his weekly press conference.

The 5-10, 165-pound sophomore, who has started two games at wide receiver, hurt his knee Sept. 21 in U.Va.'s loss at Georgia Tech. Groh said he expects Pearman to play again this season.

Pearman, whose brother, Alvin, is a former U.Va. star, sat out last season after transferring from the University of Hawaii. He has seven catches for 34 yards this season. He also has returned 10 punts for 60 yards this season, with a long of 18 yards.

Virginia (2-3) plays at East Carolina (1-3) at 6 p.m. Saturday. The Pirates lead the series 1-0. They romped 61-10 at Scott Stadium in 1975.

TWO-WAY PLAYER: Rashawn Jackson's primary position is inside linebacker, but he plays fullback in Virginia's goal-line offense, as another linebacker, now-departed Kai Parham, did in 2005.

Against Duke, Jackson was the lead blocker on Jason Snelling's 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter and on Mikell Simpson's 2-yard touchdown run in the fourth.

"Had fun doing it," Jackson said after the game. "Had fun seeing my teammates score. It made me proud."

A 6-1, 254-pound redshirt freshman, Jackson ran for 913 yards on 91 carries in 2004 as a senior at St. Peter's Prep in Jersey City, N.J. He has played little from scrimmage at linebacker this season, in part because sophomore Jon Copper has been so productive. Copper leads the Cavaliers in tackles by a wide margin.

"The last couple weeks, he's done very well in practice," Copper said of Jackson, who had shoulder surgery in the offseason. "I'm looking forward to him being able to get in the game and contribute more. . . . Once he gets to know the defense and understands that better, he should be a real good player for us."

JUDGMENT CALL: On its final drive Saturday, U.Va. took possession at the Duke 46-yard line leading 30-0 with 4:09 remaining. Second-team quarterback Christian Olsen and other Virginia reserves put together a seven-play TD drive that ended with 28 seconds remaining. The final four plays were off-tackle runs by Simpson, a redshirt freshman who began the season as the Cavs' fourth-string tailback.

"We're not interested in piling up the score or embarrassing anybody," Groh said. "But while we take that into consideration in the areas of sportsmanship, I'm also interested in the morale of my team. I have to take that into consideration, too."

His inexperienced reserves "moved the ball down the field -- and not just Mikell Simpson -- and they deserved the opportunity to feel good about finishing off a drive," Groh said. "If it made [the Blue Devils] feel a little bit more beaten, that wasn't our intent. But if it made our players feel a little bit more upbeat, that certainly was our intent. And I think a lot of them did."

TOUGH TIMES: During their recent visit to Charlottesville to announce their $1 million pledge to U.Va.'s capital campaign, twins Tiki and Ronde Barber were asked about the Cavaliers' slow start this season.

"They've struggled," said Tiki, a tailback for the New York Giants. "I wish I could sit here and cast stones, but I live in a glass house, and we've struggled as well. But it's just football. I know that Al Groh is a great coach. I know that his staff is great, and the tradition of this university will pull them through."

Tiki plays tailback for the New York Giants, who are 1-2. Ronde plays cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are winless.

"If he lives in a glass house," Ronde said with a smile, nodding at his brother, "my glass is already broken. We're 0-3."

For all three teams, however, it's "way too early to panic," Ronde added.

HOMEGROWN: The caliber of lacrosse played at state high schools has steadily improved in recent years, and Cavaliers men's coach Dom Starsia has eight Virginians on his 2007 roster. That may be an all-time high for Starsia, who's entering his 15th season at U.Va.

The eight, none of whom arrived as a walk-on, are: freshmen Mark Wade (Fairfax Station) and Mike Thompson (Richmond), sophomores Mike Timms (Virginia Beach), Michael Britt (Fairfax) and Kevin Coale (Lexington), juniors James King (Crozet) and Bud Petit (Midlothian), and senior Adam Fassnacht (Burke).

Thompson and Petit are Collegiate School graduates. Petit backs up starting goalie Kip Turner. Starsia expects Thompson to be in the rotation as a defensive midfielder.

"Mike Thompson is a player," Starsia said. "He's probably a [former U.Va. standout] J.J. Morrissey type as a freshman."

Defending NCAA champion Virginia concludes fall practice with a 4 p.m. scrimmage Friday against Navy. The scrimmage, to be held on the lower practice field behind the McCue Center, is free and open to the public. Spectators are encouraged to bring folding chairs.

In its first scrimmage, U.Va. led Georgetown after three quarters but lost 11-10 on Saturday afternoon. -- Jeff White
 

Cavs' QB leads from the bench
Olsen's hopes as starter may have faded, but not his ambition to succeed
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Oct 4, 2006
U.VA. AT ECU
SATURDAY: 6 p.m. ON THE AIR: TV CSTV; radio -- WRVA (1140), 5

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- As Christian Olsen's first start as a college quarterback approached, his excitement was palpable.

"I've been waiting 23 years for this," Olsen, a graduate student at the University of Virginia, told reporters in late July at the ACC Football Kickoff in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

His stay in the spotlight was fleeting. Olsen started the Cavaliers' first two games this season, struggling in each one. Junior Kevin McCabe started the third game. Displeased with the play of Olsen and McCabe, sixth-year coach Al Groh turned to redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell, who is expected to make his third start Saturday night when U.Va. (2-3) visits East Carolina (1-3).

"It was difficult," Olsen said yesterday of his demotion, "but it's something you can't really dwell on."

His unselfishness hasn't gone unnoticed.

"I admire the way that he's handled it," junior tight end Tom Santi said yesterday. "He has not complained. Neither has Kevin. They come to work every day, try to get better, try to make the team better. We don't really have any prima donnas on the team, and that's for good for us."

Senior cornerback Marcus Hamilton, who like Olsen is a team captain, echoed Santi's comments.

Olsen "doesn't sulk about it," Hamilton said. "He helps out Jameel in any way, and he always has a smile on his face. He doesn't let anybody know whether he's down about it or not. He's a good leader."

A transfer from Notre Dame, the 6-3, 222-pound Olsen was starter Marques Hagans' understudy at U.Va. in 2004 and'05. As he served his apprenticeship, Olsen dreamed of leading the Cavs to a bowl game in his final season. That dream may not become reality, but the New Jersey native is determined to stay positive.

"You definitely got to handle it the right way," Olsen said, "because if you go out and handle it the wrong way, it becomes a real distraction for a team, and it really could sink this team pretty fast. That's not something I want to do."

McCabe is "handling it much the same way I am," Olsen said. "He's going to practice as hard as he can every day. He's obviously not getting as many reps as he has in the past, but he's still very into it, and he's still very excited about how this season could go for us."

Early last month, Olsen voluntarily surrendered his spot among the four-man group that walks to midfield for the coin toss before each game. He asked Groh to give his place to the scout team player of the week.

The son of a high school coach, Olsen hopes to follow his father's career path. He has his résumé together and would like to start work as a graduate assistant next semester. Until then, he'll help coach Sewell in practice and in meetings.

"I'm trying to help him however I can," Olsen said. "If I get in, that's fine. If I don't get in, that's fine, too. I'm happy as can be that I came here, and we'll go from there and see what my future has in store."

 

Zidenberg's tear continues
With two blocked punts already this year, junior has a shot at school record
Aaron Perryman, Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

By Aaron Perryman Cavalier Daily Staff Writer Normally, if you asked a football fan who a standout player on their favorite team is, the answers would typically be a quarterback, running back, wide receiver or perhaps a terrific defensive player. This may not be the case for Virginia in 2006, however. When thinking of this Cavalier team's star players, junior Josh Zidenberg and his special teams play should not be overlooked.

Zidenberg is listed as a fullback but his major contributions this season have come on the special teams unit. He has blocked two punts already this year through only five games. The last year the entire Cavalier team blocked two punts was in 1998, so the fact that Zidenberg has done it twice by himself through five games is a remarkable feat.

The record for most blocked punts by a Cavalier in a single year is three by Anthony Poindexter in 1996. Poindexter is currently the running backs coach and assistant special teams coordinator for Virginia. With seven games still to go in this season, tying or breaking this record is a definite possibility.

Poindexter "actually said something to me about it in the locker room," Zidenberg said. "Hopefully I can give him a run for his money. That'd be great."

Zidenberg's first block this year came against Wyoming in the first home game of the season. The block led to a crucial three points for the Cavaliers, who only won 13-12 by a point in overtime. Zidenberg's more recent block came last Saturday at Duke. This block led to a touchdown for the Cavaliers and added to Virginia's momentum as they went on to a 37-0 drubbing of the Blue Devils.

"It was kind of the same call, but it was different in that the formation was different," Zidenberg said. "The first one I more freelanced. This one was more, I knew that I was going for it and had a great opportunity to get it."

As is the case with nearly all solid players, Zidenberg has a belief in his own talents.

"I feel confident in my ability to beat the snapper one-on-one, considering that he has to snap the ball and then has to block," Zidenberg said.

However, Virginia coach Al Groh points out that Zidenberg's confidence is often of the quiet type.

"Josh is one of those players who is not flashy, but he's dependable," Groh said. "Whatever job he's given, he will do it as well as he can do it and he certainly did that on that play."

This was the second consecutive blocked punt at Duke by the Cavaliers.

"Duke runs a little bit of an unusual punt formation," Groh said. "Jon Thompson blocked one for us down here two years ago. It was much the same thing here. Josh had a good idea of what to do against the formation."

Even though the Cavaliers put up 37 points against Duke, the offense still struggled, producing only 253 yards. The scoring drives were generally short, and Duke turned the ball over five times, hiding the continuing struggles of the offense. If the struggles continue, Zidenberg may need to break Poindexter's blocked punts record to ignite the Cavaliers to more wins in the future.

 

WR Williams' status for season still unknown
Virginia notebook
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
October 3, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Deyon Williams is back, but whether or not he sticks around this season depends on the next week and a half.

Williams, who had surgery in August to repair a stress fracture in his right foot, got his first limited action of the season against Duke last Saturday, catching one pass for four yards. The senior wide receiver got the go-ahead from doctors to participate fully on Thursday and was cleared for the game.

He’s not necessarily back for good, though. If he is to have a recurrence of the injury, he could still gain a medical hardship waiver and come back next season.

The NCAA stipulates that an athlete applying for a medical redshirt cannot participate in more than 20 percent of the team’s contests (in a 12-game football season, that number is rounded up to three), with all participation occurring in the first half of the season.

The East Carolina game is the halfway point of the season, meaning all decisions as to Williams’ playing status have to be made before UVa plays Maryland on Oct. 14, most likely once the wideout gets the results back from his weekly Thursday X-rays.

That timetable just so happens to coincide with when doctors told Williams he should know if the foot injury is in the clear.

“If I feel my playing abilities aren’t where they should be - even though I feel (good) now, things could change next week - I could still shut it down,” Williams said.

Williams figures he injured the foot last year and it got progressively worse as he practiced in the spring and through the summer. He said he felt some soreness during the summer but nothing as bad as the third day of pre-fall practice, when during a punt return drill he felt more pain in the foot than normal.

Virginia has plenty of familiarity with stress fractures. Tight end Jon Stupar had a more serious one in 2003. The medical staff consulted with trainers from the women’s field hockey team, which frequently deals with the injury.

During the surgery, doctors inserted a small screw into Williams’ foot to help heal the fifth metatarsal bone (his foot set off a security wand at the airport on the way to Duke). Doctors said it would be a minimum of five weeks of recovery time, which would have been the day after the Georgia Tech game.

Williams did everything to expedite the healing process, from using an electric bone growth generator (essentially an ultrasound) to downing plenty of mint-flavored Tums.

“They said it would help,” the lactose-intolerant Williams said. “I was eating them like candy.”

Despite Williams’ insistence of coming back, coaches urged him not to do so too quickly, telling him to test the foot and make sure it felt right before getting on the field. It’s the same approach he’s taking this week.

“I do all I can do,” Williams said. “I go hard. I put pressure on it to make sure it feels good. If I feel anything that’s uncomfortable, I say something to the doctor. But everything’s going well right now.”

Early returns

Mike Brown’s debut as a punt returner had its ups and downs at Duke. The sophomore returned the first punt he saw 22 yards to put UVa in scoring position.

But he muffed the next punt, allowing the Blue Devils to take over possession near midfield, then got gun-shy, letting another punt bounce when it could have been fielded.

Normally, Virginia head coach Al Groh would go to the sure-handed Emmanuel Byers after Brown fumbled once. Not this time.

“We have a team this year that if we bailed out on every player who was learning how to play, we’d only be playing with about four,” Groh said. “That’s part of player development.”

As he is wont to do, Groh related a story from his first preseason game as a Giants assistant for Bill Parcells in 1989. Dave Meggett was a rookie and dropped his first three punts. Someone on the sideline told Parcells he’d lose the game if he didn’t take Meggett out.

Parcells’ response was, “If I take the player out, I’m going to lose the player.”’

Meggett went on to have the second most punt return yards in NFL history.

Extra points

Sophomore wide receiver Andrew Pearman was scheduled for surgery to clean out fragments of his injured knee on Tuesday. Groh doesn’t know when he’ll be back, but doesn’t expect the injury to be long term. … Kickoff for the Maryland game on Oct. 14 has been set for 3:30 p.m. … Cornerback Marcus Hamilton was the ACC’s defensive back of the week after intercepting two passes against Duke. The senior leads the conference with three interceptions and is second nationally among active players with 13 career picks.

 

New faces work into the system for ECU football
By Nathan Summers
The Daily Reflector
Wednesday, October 04, 2006

According to the math of East Carolina football coach Skip Holtz, it is the number of plays documented in games that forms the foundation for measuring a player's worth.

Naturally, the quality of those plays can sway the equation. But when Holtz began piecing together first his starters and top reserves and then his scout teams for the 2006 season, the guys left at the far end of the line in terms of experience were the ones he felt needed to start beefing up those numbers.

Heavy in Holtz's numbers game are his true freshmen, junior college transfers and recent academic qualifiers. So a good deal of them, especially the latter-most group, are on the plan which gives them small doses of playing time on a weekly basis.

It might mean special teams duties for the youngest, but for players like receiver Jamar Bryant — a Hamlet native who signed but did not qualify at Georgia before coming to ECU — it means small doses with potential big impact.

"If a guy's going to get on three special teams and play 20 plays a game, by the end of the year, there's a guy who's played 240 plays for you," said Holtz. "A year from now, when you start trying to replace linebackers and other key positions, you have some guys with some experience, that played not just five or 10 plays but had an opportunity to be on 200-plus plays."

Bryant has become a regular fixture in the Pirates' offense already, but mainly in a role which has helped senior Aundrae Allison stay fresh, and open.

Allison was a one-man gang at times last season, and it made for some grueling games for the former transfer, who saw more and more attention as the 2005 season wore on.

"Jamar Bryant is a great talent," said Holtz of the receiver who has made eight grabs for 82 yards while appearing in all four games. "He was thrown into a position last week when Aundrae Allison got hurt and played a great deal (against West Virginia). I don't know if he was ready for that role mentally and physically, ready to play that much. But he's given us some depth, and I think he's making Aundrae a little bit better.

"Aundrae had to play 70 or 75 plays a game a year ago, and now Aundrae is playing 50 plays and Jamar is playing 20 or 25 plays. It's helping Aundrae because it allows us to keep a fresh receiver in there all the time."

In defensive lineman Jay Ross, Holtz and defensive coordinator Greg Hudson found an immediate answer to several injuries on the Pirates' defensive front. The loss of end Shauntae Hunt and sophomore tackle Brandon Setzer was a distress call.

But Ross, along with former reserve Wendell Chavis, came to the rescue. Ross too had to deal with qualifying issues first.

The Wilmington native had a great opening week of camp in August, but then a knee injury sent him right back out of the mix. Now, he's logged experience in the team's last two games in place of Setzer.

With Chavis now residing on the banged-up list, Ross has been a godsend.

"The more he plays, the more comfortable he's getting," Holtz said. "The nervous jitters are gone with him."

Doug Palmer, a former Fayetteville Byrd standout, might have finally found his niche too, even if he looks a little odd wearing the No. 70 on the defensive line. That's only because he tried first to find a more familiar spot on the Pirates' offensive line but couldn't.

At 6-foot-3, 315 pounds, Holtz thought Palmer was a prime candidate to help stabilize the defensive line.

"Doug Palmer we had at tackle and guard, just trying to find the right position for him," Holtz said. "With injuries to Chavis and Setzer on the (defensive) interior, we looked at it and knew we needed a big body. When he was down with the defense one day, they took a look at him and thought that he'd do great in that role. He didn't have to learn as much."

So far, so good for Holtz. Also in the mix from a corps of players Holtz had to keep out of sight and out of mind until they were qualified is former Northside High standout C.J. Wilson, a 6-4, 265-pound defensive lineman whom Holtz said proved his worth when he stepped in to relieve injured end Scotty Robinson earlier this season.

"Everyone of those guys has been a welcome addition," Holtz said of the players he thinks will remain in regular rotation at their respective positions.