Sewell still growing as QB
Redshirt freshman hopes to remedy 1st-half struggles
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
October 9, 2006

Jameel Sewell knew there would be days like this.

Virginia’s redshirt freshman quarterback just hoped the losing feeling would be felt by an opposing signal-caller.

For the second time in three weeks, Sewell struggled to get on track early in a road game and Virginia never recovered.

And yet another loss away from Scott Stadium followed - East Carolina whipped UVa 31-21 on Saturday, pushing the Cavaliers’ road record to 10-21 under coach Al Groh.

Sure, there were a few positives for Sewell.

For the first time, he looked comfortable running the ball when receivers were covered downfield. He finished 24 yards rushing, including an 18-yard scamper.

“I saw more green grass,” Sewell said. “I just saw it and took it. Coach Mike [Groh] said ‘If you don’t like what you see, just go.’”

Sewell also looked comfortable running the Cavaliers’ hurry-up offense.

“In practice the past couple of weeks, we have been doing extremely well in the two-minute offense,” Sewell said. “And it showed tonight.”

The signal-caller also avoided throwing an interception for the second straight game and three of the final six drives for the Cavaliers lasted at least nine plays.

“That’s not enough,” Sewell said. “It took too long for us to have that momentum change. We needed to execute in the beginning of the game and we could have took the game away and ran with it if we had done such a thing.”

Sewell, who graded out his own performance with a “C,” finished 15 of 31 for 123 yards passing. That was 101 yards less than his counterpart, ECU quarterback James Pinkney (17 of 30, 224 yards).

Experience was on Pinkney’s side. East Carolina’s senior is in his third season as a starter and has thrown for over 6,000 yards in his career. Sewell was making just his third start.

Like was the case for ECU, Groh said it has been apparent this year that a majority of the top college football teams have a seasoned player taking snaps from under center.

“One of the things that struck me was all of the teams that are doing something have a veteran quarterback,” Groh said. “Whether it is Ohio State with a quarterback (Troy Smith) that two years ago everybody was saying should be a receiever or Georgia Tech with a quarterback (Reggie Ball) who two years everybody was saying shouldn’t be the quarterback.

“The teams that don’t have a veteran quarterback, that’s an issue for their team. That’s doesn’t mean you can’t win, and that’s not an excuse.”

Pinkney did not throw a touchdown pass, but as Groh pointed out East Carolina’s ground game - which churned out 208 yards - would not have been nearly as successful without the 11 first downs converted through the air.

“[Pinkney] played like a veteran quarterback,” Groh said. “I thought overall, his players stepped up and he won the game for his team tonight. Without his plays, I don’t think there would have been enough yards and enough points.”

Feeling fine

Virginia wide receiver Deyon Williams scored his 10th touchdown of his career on a trick play in the first quarter.

Will his 11th score come this season?

Williams, a senior, certainly thinks so.

“My foot felt fine,” Williams said after making three catches for

38 yards. “We will just have to see what the X-rays look like on Thursday.”

The wideout has played in two games since returning from surgery for a stress fracture in his right foot.

If he plays on Saturday against Maryland, Williams would be unable to apply for a redshirt and an extra year of eligibility.

... Virginia cornerback Chris Cook was limited against ECU after being diagnosed with strep throat prior to Saturday’s game.

 

Tat's unique voyage
Nigerian has met adversity in long path to Virginia
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
October 9, 2006

The item on The Daily Progress baseball page this season entitled “The Ryan Zimmerman Watch” was certainly informative, as fans were able to track the progress of the former Virginia standout during his rookie year with the Washington Nationals.

But in terms of intrigue, drama and romance - yes, romance - it had nothing on “The Solomon Tat Watch.”

The saga of the Virginia basketball recruit, which took more twists and turns than an episode of “Days of Our Lives,” didn’t get its own spot in the paper. But with all the brouhaha, maybe it should have.

Throughout the spring, Tat’s visa problem - and whether he would be able to attend Virginia - was the hottest topic of discussion among UVa hoops fans.

“I was always confident and never had any doubt I was coming here,” said a grinning Tat, during a recent interview at University Hall.

Virginia coach Dave Leitao wasn’t as sure.

“I think all of us were concerned at different points in the process that it may or may not come to fruition,” Leitao said. “We were staying as optimistic as we could, but there were days when it looked a little bleaker than others. He just kind of tried to stay the course.”

Tat’s circuitous route to Charlottesville started in Nigeria. The son of a bricklayer grew up in Jos Plateau - a few hundred miles from Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Like many kids in Nigeria, Tat’s sport of choice was soccer, but when he was 14 he began concentrating on basketball.

Two years later, while playing for the Junior National Team, Tat met Linzy Davis at a tournament in France.

Davis, the coach at Community Christian High in Stockbridge, Ga., recruited Tat to his school.

But just before coming to America, Tat’s 32-year-old sister, Deborah, whom he was living with in Nigeria, died from an unknown illness.

“She had a headache,” Tat said. “The next day we rushed her to the hospital, but she didn’t make it … it was tough. We were very, very close.”

It was the second tragedy that Tat had experienced. When he was 4, his 12-year-old brother, Magah, accidentally drowned.

Tat said his sister’s death gave him pause about leaving the only home he had ever known, especially since he had five other siblings still there.

“I didn’t really want to [go],” Tat said. “My parents encouraged me about it. They said life goes on. She passed. The past cannot be changed, but the future is whatever I want it to be, so I just have to move on. That’s what I did.”

While at Community Christian, Tat, who is fluent in nine Nigerian dialects, excelled on the basketball court and in the classroom. However, he often worried about how his family was doing. After his junior year he considered leaving school to play professionally in Greece.

“I come from a poverty section [of Nigeria],” Tat said. “I wasn’t sure how my family was living and their situation, so I was thinking of playing pro so that I could help them. But then I had a talk with my dad. My dad is huge when it comes to academics. He told me to go ahead and go to school, get my education and don’t worry about them. Don’t stress myself about it - find a future that will help [me].”

Under Davis’ tutelage, Tat, a guard/forward, developed his game and became sought after by some of the top college basketball programs in the country. In the fall of 2005, he verbally committed to Virginia, choosing the Cavaliers over Georgia.

But the craziness was just beginning.

Tat needed a visa so that he could stay in the country. In the aftermath of 9/11, obtaining one proved difficult - and quite frustrating.

There were many times when Tat and Davis believed they were on the brink of receiving the visa, only to be told that they needed to jump through a whole new set of immigration hoops.

In the spring, Davis told The Daily Progress that Tat would not be able to enroll at Virginia until the second semester in January - a highly unusual situation for a freshman basketball player.

But just a few days later, Davis reversed course and said Tat would be at UVa in time for classes in the fall. By then, he may have known that Tat had another way of staying in the country.

In May, Tat married Franda Clay, a single mother of two whom he says he had been dating for a few years.

By tying the knot, Tat obtained a conditional green card. In about 21 months,

he can make an application for the card to become permanent.

“We were always planning on getting married,” Tat said. “We just didn’t know when. We wanted to get married

as soon as we had the opportunity. I think that was the opportunity.”

Almost immediately, college basketball fans began wondering about the legitimacy of the union. One Web site superimposed a picture of Leitao’s face onto a shot of a woman in a wedding gown.

Leitao said that kind of reaction is unfair.

“I think people read so much more into things that they don’t have a knowledge of - both the public and the media,” Leitao said. “It’s his private life and business. He chose to [get married] and I respect him for that because there aren’t a lot of young guys who do it that way.

“It’s not like he just picked up a female on the street and got married. This is someone who he has been committed to for a long time.”

Tat doesn’t seem too bothered by the naysayers. In fact, he’s having a little fun with it. He said his teammates joke with him about being the only married guy on the team.

“They [kid] in the locker room all the time,” Tat said, “but I love being married. It’s a great experience for me.”

The newlyweds have decided not to live together in Charlottesville this year, though. Tat said it’s because Franda’s real estate job is in Georgia. Plus, her two kids, ages 12 and 8, are in school there.

On the court, the 20-year-old Tat - older than most freshmen - is expected to contribute immediately.

The most striking thing about him is his physique. The 6-foot-5, 220-pounder has some Popeye-like muscles that he says he developed while working in his father’s bricklaying business as a youngster.

According to Davis, Tat’s strength is what will set him apart from most players.

“I call him the Ronnie Lott of basketball,” said Davis, referring to the NFL Hall-of-Famer. “He is just going to punish people in the ACC. As a matter of fact, I’d be shocked if the football coach doesn’t do everything he can to get Solomon on that team.

“If you foul him on one side of the foul line, you end up on the floor on the other side and he’s still standing.”

Davis said the best thing about Tat is his character. He called Tat a “model citizen.”

“Any parent would want their daughter to marry a Solomon Tat. He is an exemplary young man,” Davis said. “I have never even heard him curse, and he has a problem when other people curse around him.”

After quite a sojourn, Tat can’t wait for the team’s first official practice on Friday.

“I think Coach Leitao has a role for me,” Tat said. “I just want to come in and play hard on defense. I’m very excited.”

Tat’s teammates, who have gotten a glimpse of his skills during informal scrimmages, are eager to play with him.

“He’s just a good player,” said Virginia guard Sean Singletary. “He dribbles real well. He shoots real well. He’s got a nice, solid all-around game and is very mature, so he should be able to help us right away.”

Leitao is just glad everything worked out for his prized freshman - and not just on the basketball side of things.

“We’re so happy to have him,” Leitao said. “He’s a great, wonderful kid. He’s shown that already in the short time he’s been on grounds. People like him. He’s an energetic person who also has a smile. You can’t help but fall in love with and root for him.”

 

Sports Focus: U.Va. Football
QB's inexperience shows Redshirt freshman Sewell is a work in progress; he was hurt by dropped passes against ECU
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Oct 9, 2006

Tyler Palko is in his third season as Pittsburgh's starting quarterback. This is Reggie Ball's fourth season as Georgia Tech's starter and James Pinkney's third as East Carolina's offensive leader.

Not coincidentally, perhaps, those teams have whipped the Virginia Cavaliers by 25, 17 and 10 points, respectively, this season.

As he watched college football games on TV on Sept. 23 -- his team had played two nights earlier in Atlanta -- it struck U.Va. coach Al Groh, he said, that "all of the teams that are good have a veteran quarterback, whether it's Ohio State with a quarterback who everybody said two years ago ought to be a receiver, or Georgia Tech with a quarterback who a couple of years ago [people said] shouldn't be a quarterback."

The Cavaliers (1-1, 2-4), who host ACC rival Maryland (0-1, 3-2) this weekend, don't have a veteran quarterback, and that's one reason they're off to their worst start in six seasons under Groh. The job was handed last month to redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell, and in his three starts, he has been predictably inconsistent.

Saturday night in Greenville, N.C., the former Hermitage High star was 15 for 31 passing for 123 yards and one touchdown. Pinkney, meanwhile, completed 17 of 30 passes for 224 yards in the Pirates' 31-21 victory.

"Without his play," Groh said, "I'm not sure there would have been enough yards or enough points out of [ECU's] running game.

Sewell's 16 incompletions included a bomb that sophomore wide receiver Kevin Ogletree caught with "half a shoe" out of the end zone, as Groh put it.

On a night when U.Va.'s defensive backs did not distinguish themselves, neither did its wideouts. Sewell's incompletions included several dropped passes. On one such play late in the third quarter, Sewell threw a deep ball that Ogletree, along the U.Va. sideline, caught momentarily and then lost.

The pass was well-contested by the ECU defender. "By the same token," Groh said, "if you're going to score a lot of points, those are the kinds of catches a team has to come up with."

Two plays after Ogletree's drop, senior Deyon Williams failed to make a routine catch that would have given U.Va, which trailed 24-14, a crucial first down. Finally, on U.Va.'s first possession of the final quarter, the normally sure-handed Emmanuel Byers ran a crossing pattern and had a step on his defender, with a clear path to the end zone. But Byers dropped Sewell's pass, and Virginia had to punt.

"That's definitely not me, and that's why I'm so frustrated right now," Byers said after the game. "That one play there could have changed the whole game. Who knows? We probably would have come out on top if I had scored."

Groh's son Mike is U.Va.'s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He's also the only quarterback in school history to lead the Cavaliers to nine victories and a bowl win in back-to-back seasons.

Mike Groh was "very positive about" Sewell's performance against ECU, Al Groh said. As a redshirt freshman, Sewell grasps the offense, Mike Groh believes, better than he or Matt Schaub did at similar stages in their careers.

"We felt [Sewell] really made a lot of progress yesterday," Al Groh said last night.

Groh also singled out tailback Jason Snelling (103 yards rushing) and defensive ends Chris Long and Jeffrey Fitzgerald. U.Va.'s coaching staff credited Long, a junior, with 14 tackles, including a sack, and three quarterback pressures. Fitzgerald, a redshirt freshman from Hermitage, was credited with 11 tackles, two sacks, two QB pressures and one pass breakup.

"Those two guys did a lot to hold us in the game," Groh said.

 

Groh: Sewell learning quickly
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Do not allow a play of 50 yards or more: C+

Virginia did not give up a play of more than 50 yards, but the Cavs did give up five plays of 20 yards or more, including a 44-yard reception that helped East Carolina take a 24-7 lead at the half.

Help the offense: C+

The Cavaliers scored a touchdown after a blocked punt by Ben Parziale gave them possession at the ECU 17-yard line, but they didn't force any turnovers.

Rush for at least 150 yards: B

Virginia rushed for a season-high 153 yards, including 103 by senior tailback Jason Snelling.

One of the conclusions to be drawn as Jameel Sewell approaches the 100th passing attempt of his brief Virginia football career is that he does not lack arm strength.

Maybe one of these weeks, the Cavaliers will have something to show for it.

Sewell's longest completion in five games -- three as a starter -- was a 20-yard screen pass in the final minutes of the Cavaliers' 31-21 loss at East Carolina on Saturday night.

"He's got a lot of range and he's got good accuracy," UVa coach Al Groh said. "That's something that he really brings that we'd like be able to take advantage of as his career evolves."

Sewell was on target on two long throws to Kevin Ogletree, but Ogletree was out of the end zone on the first one and dropped the second.

Three other Virginia players have completions longer than Sewell's 20-yarder. Even wide receiver Emmanuel Byers has completed two passes for more than 20 yards, both for touchdowns.

To Sewell's credit, he has not been intercepted in 51 pass attempts over the past two games. UVa quarterbacks yielded seven interceptions in the first four games, three of which were returned for touchdowns.

"I was talking to Mike [Groh] this morning and he was very positive about it," said Al Groh, whose son is the Cavaliers' offensive coordinator. "There were two quarterbacks who had really good results around here that he compared to Jameel.

"He said, number one, that he thinks Jameel is way, way ahead of where Mike was in terms of his understanding of everything and way ahead of where Matt [Schaub] was our first year here.

"Whatever shaky spots there may be, he's ahead in seeing the field and making decisions and handling things that come to him."

There's no substitute for experience, as Groh noted after three-year East Carolina starter James Pinkney completed 17 of 30 passes for 224 yards, his 16th straight game with 200 or more.

Virginia will face another veteran quarterback this week in Maryland fifth-year senior Sam Hollenbach.

"That's a big issue," Groh said. "We played on a Thursday [at Georgia Tech] and we were off on Saturday, and watching a few games, one of the things that struck me was that all of the teams that are good have a veteran quarterback.

"Teams like Penn State or Georgia or whoever doesn't have a veteran quarterback, that's an issue with their team. Without [Pinkney's] play, I'm not sure there would have been enough yards or enough points out of their running game."

Note

Groh said he was notified by trainers on the way to ECU that starting cornerback Chris Cook had strep throat. That accounted for Cook's absence on a 44-yard reception by Bobby Good before the half.

Good ran for 30 yards after breaking an attempted tackle by former starter Chris Gorham, who had been inserted after Groh learned that Cook was having problems catching his breath.
 

Virginia's learning curve slumps downward
Virginia faces another veteran quarterback this weekend, as the Cavaliers continue to ask redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell to learn on the job.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
October 9, 2006

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- Virginia coach Al Groh had a rare opportunity on Sept. 23 to watch a few Saturday college football games on television. His Cavaliers played at Georgia Tech two days earlier, and redshirt freshman quarterback Jameel Sewell made his first start.

While watching the games, Groh noticed that, not surprisingly, veteran quarterbacks tended to play better than inexperienced ones. Sewell's first three starts supported that theory, as the Cavaliers went 1-2. But Groh said Sewell is progressing well in his decision-making. Virginia will tough out Sewell's growing pains this season in an effort to give him experience.

He was 15-of-31 passing for 123 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions Saturday in Virginia's 31-21 loss at East Carolina. Yet the Cavaliers again struggled to sustain drives. Of their 12 drives, four went three plays and out. The yardage of those drives: 2, 1, zero, zero. Virginia's average drive covered 24.4 yards.

After facing Georgia Tech senior Reggie Ball and East Carolina senior James Pinkney, Virginia plays another experienced quarterback Saturday: Maryland senior Sam Hollenbach.

Dropped passes hurt Sewell's statistics at East Carolina, but he threw several balls at receivers' feet in the first half. Groh said Sewell does that because he over-strides, stepping too far in front of himself and losing balance.

After watching the game footage, Groh noticed that Sewell improved on several things coaches emphasized to him last week in practice - namely, his reads and looking off defenders.

It's still too soon, Groh said, to pressure Sewell into playing like a veteran. "We're just trying to get him moving along now," he said.

OFFENSE

News flash: Virginia's offensive line was wretched through most of the first five games. OK, so maybe that's news to no one. Yet it was easy to overlook the line's effort Saturday. On 19 carries, running backs Jason Snelling and Cedric Peerman never lost yardage. Virginia finished with a season-high 153 rushing yards and 5.7 yards per carry - 3.3 more than its season average. Snelling's 29-yard run was the Cavaliers' longest of the season.

DEFENSE

Too many missed tackles to remember. At least one stands out: On East Carolina's final drive of the first half, Pinkney hit wide receiver Bobby Good near the sideline. Good faked out cornerback Chris Gorham after the catch and sprinted away. The play gained 44 yards and helped set up the touchdown that gave East Carolina a 24-7 lead. Gorham was in the game because starter Chris Cook, suffering from strep throat, was on the sideline. Cook played but struggled, perhaps because he was sick.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Chris Gould missed his only field-goal attempt, from 47 yards. He is 6-of-10 this season and 2-of-6 from beyond 40 yards. Former walk-on Ben Parziale blocked a punt to give Virginia possession at East Carolina's 17-yard line. Virginia has blocked three punts this season, its most since 1996, when it also had three.

COACHING

Wide receiver Deyon Williams said afterward that the Cavaliers lack fire. Yeah, Virginia is 2-4 - its worst six-game start since 1988, when it also started 2-4. But it's never good when a senior co-captain publicly admits something like that.

The Cavaliers' consistent incompetence on the road - they are 10-21 under Groh, with most of those wins coming against bad teams - remains a major pimple on the program. «

OVERALL VS. EAST CAROLINA: D+

SEASON AVERAGE: D