Cavaliers don't want to wait
While some might categorize this season as a stepping-stone year for Virginia, the Cavaliers aren't buying it.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
October 25, 2006
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Most afternoons, Virginia coach Al Groh watches his 16 true freshmen practice, and he can't help but momentarily think about the future.

"You can see the picture when it's done," he said. Similarly, many observers categorized this year as a stepping-stone season for the Cavaliers, who start just three seniors and are 3-5, 2-2 ACC. Even on the first day of spring practices, Groh said, "We have a significant rebuilding job in front of us."

Through this season's struggles, Groh kept an eye toward the future, as he hopes to redshirt all but one of his true freshmen. Groh expects all 16 to play important roles in 2007.

Some Cavaliers are sick of hearing people tell them how good they can be next year.

"You don't wanna wait 'til next year," left guard Branden Albert said. "Waiting 'til next year? You're like, 'Why are we playing now? Why not just give up?' I just feel like we can win games now, instead of waiting till next year."

They must win three of their final four games to be eligible for a bowl game, a daunting task considering their opponents: North Carolina State at noon Saturday, Florida State, Miami and Virginia Tech. Yet all of those teams experienced hiccups this season. They witness the future's potential in practice, but last Thursday's 23-0 win over North Carolina enlivened the Cavaliers' attitudes about the present. "The season's not totally dismembered," cornerback Mike Brown said. "If we would've lost, it would've probably discouraged a lot of us from even those thoughts or aspirations (of making a bowl). ... And then it would've snowballed, and, who knows, we could've lost the next three. Just because our feeling would've been: Ah, the season's kinda done already. Let's just pack it in."

Before the season, Groh and his staff knew they needed to be resilient through this season. Just nine of Virginia's current starters started for at least half of last season. Brown remembered Groh telling the team during preseason practices, "Each player needs to progress a year beyond his year right now."

When Virginia started 1-3, then 2-5, talk centered on the Cavaliers' inexperience. The players tried to tune out that chatter. "It feels like you're just throwing in your towel when you go, 'Oh, we're young,' " Brown said. "We didn't wanna do that."

Virginia's class of incoming freshmen took a hit during the offseason when eight of the 24 recruits didn't earn good enough grades to enroll. Still, Groh said some of 16 are ready to contribute, especially at positions where the starter rarely leaves the field. Nose tackle Nate Collins is the only true freshman who has played.

Groh refused to name the other promising true freshmen, but in recent weeks he praised the play of inside linebackers John Bivens and Darnell Carter and outside linebacker John-Kevin Dolce. Virginia's starting linebackers - Jon Copper and Antonio Appleby inside, Clint Sintim and Jermaine Dias outside - have played more than 410 plays. Next among linebackers is Rashawn Jackson, who has played 89 plays, mostly on special teams.

Groh said he didn't want to burn the redshirt chances of some true freshmen on, say, 65 or 70 plays.

"We just took an approach here ... to really make an investment in the long term," he said. "If the makeup of the team was that those 65 or 70 plays might put us over the edge, made us a dominant team or given us a chance to have an even stronger run at the (ACC) title, then we might've (played the freshmen).

"I just didn't think in the long-term circumstance that the trade-off was worth it."

Take Virginia's first-year tailbacks, for example. Keith Payne and Raynard Horne have impressed Groh. He'd like to play them, but he's satisfied with senior Jason Snelling's production. "Am I gonna take 15 carries away from Jason to make it worthwhile?" he said. "Probably not."

Groh's discipline apparently stems from past experiences of playing true freshmen. Last season, he played 11 of 23, some in minimal roles. He played 10 in 2004.

Consider the case of wide receiver Maurice Covington. He lost his redshirt opportunity last year because of five catches in five games. Stuck behind senior Fontel Mines, he has one catch in eight games this year. Now look at what Groh is doing with first-year receiver Chris Dalton. He likes Dalton's skills but isn't playing him because there's no room in the rotation.

While no true freshman besides Collins has worked with the first team, Virginia's coaches try to keep first-year players involved by preparing them during practice as though they would play in the games, Groh said.

"I think just about every one of them," Groh said, "is a player that my anticipation right now is that they'll challenge for playing time next spring."

U.Va. will face N.C. State's tough RBs
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
October 25, 2006
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia coach Al Groh called Andre Brown and Toney Baker the best running-back tandem the Cavaliers have faced this season.

Groh should know. He aggressively recruited them.

Virginia will face Brown and Baker, both sophomores, at noon Saturday when it hosts North Carolina State. Brown has 80 carries for 522 yards and four touchdowns - an average of 6.3 yards per carry, which ranks third in the ACC. Baker has 82 carries for 354 yards and four touchdowns.

This will be the first time Virginia has defended Brown and Baker, because the Cavaliers last played the Wolfpack in 2003, losing 51-37. In practice this week, two true freshman tailbacks will mimic the duo - with Raynard Horne as Brown and Keith Payne as Baker.

Groh knows Virginia can't afford broken tackles, a pockmark on last Thursday's 23-0 win over North Carolina. Tar Heels running back Ronnie McGill had 16 carries for 71 yards.

Virginia's coaches haven't seen Brown and Baker since their high school days. Brown was a senior in 2003, then attend Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham. Baker was a senior in 2004.

MCCABE WILL REASSESS SITUATION

Junior quarterback Kevin McCabe hasn't played since the season's third game, against Western Michigan, when he was pulled in favor of Christian Olsen, who then gave way to Jameel Sewell.

McCabe likely won't play again this season, because Sewell, a redshirt freshman, is Virginia's starter of the future. Olsen, a fifth-year senior, is the second-team quarterback and saw mop-up action against Duke and North Carolina.

McCabe said he would reassess his football career after the season. This is his fourth year at Virginia, and he's on track to graduate in May with a sociology degree. He could stay at Virginia and be a backup next season, his final year of eligibility, or transfer to a Division I-AA or I-A school. He'd be eligible to play right away at the I-A level because of a new NCAA rule that allows students who graduate in four years to transfer and play immediately.

He appeared in three games this season and started against Western Michigan. His stats: 23-of-32 passing for 222 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions.

"I'm just trying to get through these next couple weeks and assess the situation after that," he said. "I'm not done playing football. I'll tell you that much. ... I feel like I have a lot of football left in me."

Friends and family have urged McCabe to make the most of his college experience.

"To a certain extent, if you're a football player at a Division I school, that kind of is your experience," he said. "You base your whole life up to this point around sports. ... You just don't see it the same way the coaches see it. You just wish that you had another chance to go out and make something happen."

THIS AND THAT

Virginia has received a commitment from lineman Zane Parr, a 6-foot-4, 285-pound senior at Williamsport (Pa.) Area High. He is the 20th commitment for the Class of 2007.

Bears' Jones uses off week to add to UVa's scholarship fund
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE-- If there's any question as to which team has made the best use of the NFL bye week, a strong case could be made for Virginia.

For the second time in three weeks, an idle NFL running back returned to UVa this past weekend and announced a gift to the school.

On the first Sunday in October, it was New York Giants' running back and current NFL rushing leader Tiki Barber, who was joined by his twin brother, Ronde, an All-Pro cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This past Sunday, it was the Barbers' one-time UVa teammate Thomas Jones, the leading rusher for the unbeaten Chicago Bears.

Jones, two of whose sisters also attended UVa, announced the formation of a scholarship fund for a five-county area of Southwest Virginia.

Annual $2,000 scholarships will be given to qualifying students from Dickenson, Lee, Russell, Scott or Wise counties, as well as the city of Norton. Jones is from Wise County and played for Powell Valley High School in Big Stone Gap.

Admissions dean John Blackburn said UVa generally enrolls 10 students a year from far southwestern Virginia. The scholarships will be renewable yearly up to four years.

"I've been blessed in my career and my roots are in Southwest Virginia," Jones said in a statement released by UVa. "I'll never forget those roots. This scholarship will give people from my area a chance to experience what I experienced and, hopefully, to grow the way I've grown."

Jones was joined by his parents, Thomas and Betty, and by six of his seven siblings. His brother Julius is a running back for Dallas, which had a game Monday night.

"Both of our sons were able to use their athletic talents to gain scholarships," said Betty Jones, a former coal miner, "but football lasts a few years and education lasts forever."

Tradition continues

Few of Al Groh's coaching moves this year have worked as well as his decision to move former fullback Jason Snelling to tailback for his fifth season. Snelling has averaged more than 100 rushing yards per game over the past four games and has moved up to fifth in the ACC in rushing.

"After his first season, when he was very productive, I think everybody had high expectations for Jason," Groh said. "Everything hasn't worked out the way as expected, but he's gotten to the point where he can really show what he can do."

Snelling has been plagued by illness and injury since then, "and that almost was in place last week," Groh said.

After having practiced Monday prior to UVa's game Thursday with North Carolina, Snelling was experiencing so much discomfort from a sore shoulder that he had to be excused from a Tuesday team meeting.

"Thursday morning, I was thinking, 'Well, I'll be darned; here he's had three good games, and now we're talking about the same issue: Will he be able to play in the game?''' Groh said. "It worked out well, he's fine, he practiced [Monday] and we expect him to roll through the next month as a very important player.' "

On Bunting

North Carolina's decision to fire coach John Bunting on Sunday came only three days after his visit to Charlottesville, where the Tar Heels were shut out by the Cavaliers for the first time since 1926.

When he was with the New York Jets, Groh said he once tried to hire Bunting as an assistant.

"I've known John for a long time," said Groh, who joined the Carolina staff as an assistant shortly after Bunting completed his playing career. "I don't think it's pleasant to see anybody go through it, I wish it had worked out more positively for him. A long time ago, those of us in it knew that that's the world that we exist in."

It was noted later Tuesday that Virginia this week goes up against another coach on the proverbial "hot seat" in North Carolina State's Chuck Amato, but "unless you're Jim Tressel or Pete Carroll, everyone's seat is a little warm," Groh said.

"Bullet" Bill

Virginia graduate Bill Dudley, a member of the college and professional football halls of fame, was introduced with the Cavaliers' 1941 team before an Oct. 14 home game with Maryland and was at Scott Stadium again Saturday as a "guest coach" for the Virginia-North Carolina game.

Dudley's final college game was in Chapel Hill., N.C., in a 28-7 Thanksgiving Day victory over the Tar Heels in 1941.
 

Double trouble for Cavs
Brown, Baker lead long list of playmakers for Wolfpack
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
October 25, 2006

Al Groh was barely inside John Paul Jones Arena on Tuesday for his weekly press conference before he started singing the praises of North Carolina State.

Despite having already faced some of the best college football players in the country, Virginia’s coach issued a strong statement about his upcoming opponent - Virginia (3-5, 2-2 ACC) hosts N.C. State (3-4, 2-2 ACC) on Saturday at Scott Stadium (noon).

“In N.C. State this week, we play a team that is the most dangerous team that we’ve played on a one-play-at-a-time basis, or the most one-play explosively dangerous team that we’ve played in all three phases,” Groh opened with. “They can change the game on any one play.”

The same could be said for Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko, who ranks No. 2 in the nation in passing efficiency, or East Carolina quarterback James Pinkney (9th in total offense). And who could forget Georgia Tech wideout Calvin Johnson scorching Virginia’s secondary for two touchdowns.

Those threats do not compare, Groh said, to the countless weapons for the Wolfpack.

Whether it would be defensively, offensively or on special teams, N.C. State has big-play capability, the coach said.

“They have a long history of blocking punts; this year they’ve blocked three,” Groh pointed out. “In Darrell Blackman, they have a very dynamic punt-return man.

“On any one particular play, I would certainly say they’re a greater threat to do something to disrupt the game as a team on any one particular play.”

Groh also raved about N.C. State’s 1-2 punch out of the backfield.

He would know.

Virginia unsuccessfully recruited tailbacks Andre Brown and Toney Baker, who together combine for 125 yards per game on the ground.

“Offensively, this is certainly the best two-back stable of runners that we’ve faced, in Brown and Baker, who are terrific players,” Groh said. “Each back in his own right is a 30-35 carries per game player, they just divide it up amongst themselves.”

Groh does, however, have a secret weapon or better yet, a pair.

In practice this week, true freshmen Raynard Horne and Keith Payne are getting a jump on Halloween.

“Raynard is Brown and Keith is Toney Baker,” Groh said.

Odd option

North Carolina State boasts four speedy wide receivers but the squad’s leading receiver is tight end Anthony Hill.

The junior leads the Wolfpack with 19 receptions for 220 yards.

He will not be hard to miss on Saturday. Hill is listed at 6-foot-6 and 277 pounds but that does little, Groh said, to diminish his playmaking ability.

“You would not expect to see the type of athletic ability that you do,” Groh said, “but he is a very athletic player.”

Hill, who has started five of seven games, can create mismatches in the secondary like former Maryland tight end Vernon Davis.

“He has caught his share of vertical passes,” Groh said. “They use him in a diversified way.”

Flashback

During Monday night’s game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants, Dallas coach Bill Parcells opted to pull quarterback Drew Bledsoe for Tony Romo.

It was only the fifth time during Parcells career that he made a quarterback change for a reason other than injury.

During two of the moves, Groh was coaching under Parcells (Vinny Testerverde for Glenn Foley in 1998 and Ray Lucas for Rick Mirer in ’99). Despite the history, don’t expect Groh to offer his opinion to his former boss.

“I have been in enough meetings with Bill under these circumstances that we were all hoping that we could get out of the meeting unscathed,” Groh laughed. “So now that I am a distance away, I think this would be kind of like putting your hand in the lion’s cage.

“Hey, I didn’t do anything wrong but I think I would probably be the subject of some abuse if I got too close.”

Salutations

If you were in the stands last Thursday night and witnessed Groh saluting toward the crowd and thought he was saluting you, relax.

The gesture was made toward his wife, Anne.

“I was waving to my wife as I do before all the games,” Groh pointed out.

In the trenches

North Carolina State ranks seventh in the ACC with 15 sacks on the season. That’s 11 fewer than Virginia, but the Cavaliers remain concerned with the Wolfpack defensive line.

“The biggest challenge probably will be their D-line,” UVa wideout Kevin Ogletree said. “This is probably the best one that we have faced.

“They have some fast players on the defensive line that we should prepare for.”

Moving on up

In the past few weeks, redshirt freshman Mikell Simpson has jumped over sophomore Cedric Peerman and knocked senior Michael Johnson off Virginia’s depth chart at tailback.

Why so?

“Mikell just made a positive impression on us in practice,” Groh said. “There are only so many roles and so many balls to go around.”

Simpson has 12 carries for 56 yards in four games on the season.

Extra points

Sophomore Andrew Pearman (knee) returned to practice on Monday in full pads for the first time. Groh did not offer a timetable for his return to action.

“He put his pads on,” Groh said, “and now we will see where that goes.”

… Groh said he is unsure if the Cavaliers will wear the all-blue uniforms that they have donned in the past two games again this week. Expect it to go back-and-forth, but Groh said his wife, who doubles as his fashion design expert, liked the change.

… UVa and N.C. State rank 1-2 in the ACC in stopping opponents on third down. The Wolfpack have allowed 29.9 percent of conversions. The Cavaliers are at 30 percent. …

The Wolfpack have struggled stopping opponents in the red zone. The squad ranks 11th in the ACC in the category, ahead of only one team (North Carolina). … UVa ranks 15th in the country in sacks. … Virginia’s game next week at Florida State will kick off at noon. … N.C. State is a 1-point favorite for Saturday’s game.

 

Long finding ways to keep improving
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
October 25, 2006

When you’re a defensive end and your last name is Long, as in that Long, then you had better be pretty good.

Such is the life of Chris Long, the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long. In seasons past, we have attempted to avoid talking about the link between the two so that Chris could carve out his own reputation.

From the beginning

Even in earlier times, Chris liked it that way, but now he doesn’t mind the son-of-Howie thing so much. Maybe that’s because he has established himself as a solid player in his own right for Virginia’s Cavaliers.

“I could be an average to good player in high school and that’s not good enough,” Chris said Tuesday about growing up as the son of a football star. “Guys on the opposing team would say, ‘Wait a second, this guy’s dad is in the Hall of Fame?’”

Long believes that he could play safety and people would still find a way to make comparisons between him and his father. Once, that rubbed him the wrong way, but not now.

“I think at this point, I’m very proud of it,” said Chris. “Before, I was kind of ‘whatever ... don’t talk about that, I’m trying to be me.’ I’m real comfortable with where I am right now, so there’s no reason to shy away from that.”

Tearing it up

Long should be comfortable because he has been on a real tear the past three weeks, which comes at a good time for a young Virginia team that is trying to reverse its fortunes.

While the Cavaliers coughed and sputtered out of the block, they find themselves heading into this weekend’s home game against N.C. State, only one game out of first place in the ACC’s Coastal Division with a 2-2 record. Georgia Tech (3-1) hosts Miami (2-1).

“A couple of weeks ago, if I had said the season’s not over, I think a lot of people would have smirked,” Long said. “It’s not. I feel like we finally can say that. We haven’t done anything groundbreaking, but we’ve won a couple of games now and we’re starting to feel like we have that identity a little more.”

As co-captain, Long has certainly been one of the leaders. He has been vocal and he has led by example, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by the junior who hails locally from the St. Anne’s-Belfield program.

The little things

But even the dashing defensive end from Ivy had somewhat of a revelation well into the season after Virginia’s win over Duke. He came to the conclusion that he was working hard, practicing hard, but not practicing smart.

He found that he wasn’t giving the attention to his techniques the way he should, that he had become somewhat complacent in that part of his game.

“You might be putting your hands in the wrong place or taking the wrong steps, or you might not be running at the ball as much as you should,” Long said of his personal critique. “If you want to be a quality player, you’ve got to practice that way.”

Ever since then, forget about it. He’s been a force from his right end spot, although last week coach Al Groh and defensive coordinator Mike London threw North Carolina a curve by lining up Long at nose tackle a few times and even at the left end spot.

Against the Tar Heels, he was in on seven tackles, including two for loss and a sack. The performance was so good that UVa nominated him for ACC Defensive Lineman of the Week honors. In the two games prior to UNC, Long made 15 tackles, including five behind the line of scrimmage.

His 5.0 tackles-per-game average is fourth among all ACC defensive linemen, but over the past six games he’s averaged 6.3 stops per game.

Long attributes much of that to simply practicing smarter.

“I think that’s a phase that you hope players move into, that they mature as a player,” said Groh. “That is a very good sign of his maturity and the results are showing that maturity.”

Chris said that he often asks his dad, who starred for the Oakland Raiders back when they were a nasty bunch, for tips and Howie has been careful not to interject his critiques unless Chris has asked, a policy that goes back to the St. Anne’s days.

“There’s a lot of little things [Howie has advised him on], like play every play like it’s the most important play in the world ... or, if you’ve got 55 plays and there’s only a couple you’ve messed up on, you should focus on the plays you messed up on, and to be very critical of your own game,” Chris said.

Like his dad, Chris brings a certain intensity to the football field and that hasn’t gone unnoticed either.

“He’s wired pretty hot,” said Groh of Chris Long, who now has 20 starts under his belt. “He’s a total-effort player. When he first started practice he was like a dog chasing cars, just all effort.

“But he’s learned how to direct and focus that effort toward the things that are going to result into performance,” the coach pointed out. “He’s got a plan for what he has to do to get better every day.”

Earlier this season, prior to his post-Duke epiphany, Long wasn’t posting the types of numbers that he has of late. While he’s not a big numbers guy (“You can play the game of your life and be disruptive and have only one tackle,” he said in defense of his theory on numbers), Long did admit that he was frustrated at the beginning of the season.

Perhaps that was because he was getting double-teamed a lot, held a lot (he drew five holding penalties on opponents for 50 yards in lost yardage, which is better than the average sack yardage), and wasn’t finding the same success that he ended the previous season on when he was nearly unblockable in the Music City Bowl.

He never gave up on this season and has always remained positive. He didn’t want to sit through a season of losing every week and felt bad for the fifth-year seniors like Michael Johnson and Jason Snelling, who don’t have a next year to look forward to at Virginia.

“I just think that’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Long said. “I’m disappointed after a loss, but the sun still comes up the next day. On Sunday there’s nothing you can do but take the confidence you gained and move forward.”

That’s one huge reason why Virginia finds itself technically still in the hunt in the Coastal Division and why the N.C. State game looms large for the Cavaliers.

Just like Howie, Chris never gives up.

But there is one trait from his dad that Chris promises we won’t ever see from him.

“No flat-tops,” Chris said. “No way.”

 

Collins holds his own in active duty
From a small private school, he's surpassed expectations in freshman season at U.Va.
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Oct 25, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE The alarm clock sounds early for B.J. Cabbell on Fridays -- around 5 a.m. The offensive guard from Nelson County wants to be sure he's on time for the 6 o'clock workout required of the 15 freshmen on the University of Virginia football team who are redshirting this season.

Cabbell's roommate, Nate Collins, ignores the alarm. He stays in bed, content, while Cabbell rushes to get ready.

Collins, a 6-2, 281-pound nose tackle, is the only true freshman U.Va. has used this season. Because he plays on Saturdays, he's exempt from Friday-morning play dates with strength-and-conditioning coach, Evan Marcus.

U.Va.'s other first-year players "always make fun of me Thursday nights," Collins said yesterday. "They'll be like, 'Oh, yeah, we've got to go to sleep. You get to go to a hotel tomorrow night instead of having to go to the workout with us.'"

Of the recruits who signed letters of intent with Virginia in February, Collins might have been the least heralded, and as such he was considered a long shot to play this season.

He's a graduate of King & Low-Heywood Thomas, a small private school in Stamford, Conn., known more for producing scholars than big-time football players. Collins, who lives across the Connecticut state line in Port Chester, N.Y., said sports are mandatory at KLHT, and some of his teammates played football only because soccer or cross country didn't appeal to them.

Division I-AA schools New Hampshire and Delaware liked Collins, but U.Va. was the first Division I-A program to offer him a scholarship. He committed in July 2005, not long after impressing Virginia's coaching staff during a camp at the school.

Then came a senior season during which Collins, who's run the 40-yard dash in 4.76 seconds, played fullback, linebacker, quarterback and, occasionally, nose tackle. He arrived in Charlottesville with low expectations.

"I thought they were going to redshirt me, and I had no problem with that," Collins said. "I came here ready to learn. Before this year, I didn't really know a lot about football. I mean, I watched football and I played in high school, but things we're doing here, half the stuff I never learned in high school."

He began training camp at nose tackle but soon was switched to defensive end. He later moved back inside and is listed on the second team, behind junior Allen Billyk and ahead of junior Keenan Carter.

Collins has been in for 111 plays, making 10 tackles. He's yet to master the techniques asked of a nose tackle in the 3-4 defense but compensates with athleticism, energy and determination.

Defensive coordinator Mike "London told me the reason why I was going to get on the field this year is because even when I go to the wrong place, I'm going 150 percent," Collins said, "and I'm always flying to the ball, flying around."

A year from now, another group of freshmen will be meeting for pre-dawn workouts on Fridays during football season, and Collins' classmates will have joined him on the active roster. Don't be surprised if he's starting by then.

"I'm just trying to learn as much as I can," Collins said. "When the time comes for spring [practice], I want to have all the fundamentals down, so that I'm not making mistakes."

 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Oct 25, 2006

KIND WORDS: Three days after his football team lost 23-0 to Virginia at Scott Stadium, North Carolina coach John Bunting learned Sunday that he'll be dismissed after the season. The timing of the announcement surprised U.Va.'s players and coaches.

"It's unfortunate," junior defensive end Chris Long said yesterday. "I don't know anything about that situation. I've heard nothing but good things about coach Bunting."

The Cavaliers' coach, Al Groh, has known Bunting for several decades.

"I think all coaches empathize with other coaches and their particular circumstances, and his staff . . . I don't think it's pleasant to see anybody go through it," Groh said. "I wish it had worked out more positively for him."

In major-college football, as in the NFL, coaching changes are common.

"A long time ago, those of us in it knew that that's the world that we exist in," Groh said, "and most guys I know are trying to work every day to make sure we don't fall into those circumstances."

U.Va. (2-2, 3-5) hosts ACC rival N.C. State (2-2, 3-4) at noon Saturday. Virginia fans have grumbled about Groh, just as Wolfpack fans have complained about Chuck Amato. Such is the life of most Division I-A football coaches.

"Unless you're Jim Tressel or Pete Carroll, everybody's seat is a little warm," Groh said.

CHANGE OF PACE: On its first defensive series against UNC, Virginia lined up, as usual, with three linemen and four linebackers. Its nose tackle, however, was Long, a two-year starter at end.

"It was just different down there," Long said with a smile. "I don't know if it's something we'd want to do [again] in the future, but I'm always willing to do whatever."

Redshirt freshman Kevin Crawford, who'd played in only one of U.Va.'s first seven games, started at right end for Long. After two plays, Crawford headed to the sideline, and Long moved back to end.

"It wasn't so much that Kevin had beaten anybody out," Groh said. "We were just trying a little different mix with Chris, and that necessitated getting somebody else in there."

The 6-3, 284-pound Crawford, a Woodbridge High graduate, worked at nose tackle in practice last season but was shifted this year to end.

"He's starting to make a little move," Groh said, "like a number of other players in his class."

Long said: "He's an explosive athlete, and a lot of people might not see that on the surface, but you see things he does in practice. He shows flashes of being a really physical, dominant player."

DOUBLE TROUBLE: N.C. State has two of the ACC's premier running backs in sophomores Andre Brown and Toney Baker. Each seriously considered the Cavaliers before signing with the Wolfpack.

"This is certainly the best two-back stable of runners that we've faced, in Brown and Baker," Groh said. "Both of them are terrific players. We're very familiar with them from way back when."

Brown has rushed 80 times for 522 yards and four touchdowns this season. Baker has run for 354 yards and four TDs on 82 carries.

Sometimes, Groh said, the Cavaliers' recruiting targets choose to attend schools that aren't in the ACC, so "they can kind of be, as the old saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. It might have been a down time for the moment, but they themselves won't be the guys to ruin your Saturdays.

"Some of these other guys, you see that go the other way. You know you're going to have to deal with this guy for a long time. Those are two of them right there."

In practice this week, Raynard Horne is playing the role of Brown on U.Va.'s scout-team offense, and Keith Payne is Baker. Brown and Payne are freshmen who are redshirting. Payne, at 6-3, 243 pounds, is bigger than Baker (5-10, 228).

DAY TO DAY: Andrew Pearman might return this weekend. Pearman, a sophomore, hasn't played since Sept. 21, when he suffered a knee injury at Georgia Tech. He had arthroscopic surgery Oct. 2.

Pearman, who plays wide receiver and returns punts, practiced in pads Monday, but it's not clear if he'll be available Saturday.

IN RANGE: With 14 career interceptions, senior cornerback Marcus Hamilton has by far the most of any active U.Va. player. He's tied with Kevin Cook on the Cavaliers' all-time list. Ronde Barber is third with 15, Pat Chester is second with 16, and Keith McMeans (1987-90) leads the list with 17.

- Jeff White
 

UVa meets State for first time in three years
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
October 25, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Virginia hasn't played N.C. State in three years. That doesn't mean the Cavaliers haven't been keeping tabs on the Wolfpack.
A byproduct of the new 12-member ACC is that teams will often go years without playing certain schools in the opposite division. The Cavaliers, for example, have not played N.C. State or Wake Forest, a pair of Atlantic Division teams, since 2003.

"We try to keep up as much as we can," Virginia head coach Al Groh said. "Obviously, the teams that are on our schedule get the majority of our attention, but we try to keep a running book on all the teams in the conference. ?

"We don't want (conference teams) to be in the same category as if they're no different than a non-conference opponent."

The last time UVa and N.C. State played, Philip Rivers and the Wolfpack bested Matt Schaub and the Cavaliers in a good old-fashioned shootout in Raleigh, 51-37. Rivers threw for 410 yards and Schaub countered with 393. Both threw four touchdowns.

"Both of them have gone on to show why nobody could cool them off on that particular day," Groh said.

Dynamic duo

With the possible exception of Clemson, no team in the ACC has a better set of running backs than N.C. State, which features a pair of sophomores, Andre Brown and Toney Baker.

Brown has racked up 522 rushing yards this year, averaging a gaudy 6.5 yards per carry. Baker, who has two more carries than Brown this season, has rushed for 354 yards. Both have four touchdowns.

Virginia is familiar with both through the recruiting process. Groh aggressively went after Brown, who spent a year at Hargrave Military Academy before choosing the Wolfpack. Unlike other recent recruits UVa just missed on, Brown stayed in the ACC.

"Last year was a year that most of the players that we dearly wanted (and didn't get), we're never going to see again," Groh said. "They can kind of be, as the old saying goes, out of sight, out of mind. It might be a down time for the moment, but they themselves won't be the guys to ruin your Saturdays.

"These other guys, you know you're going to have to deal with them for a long time."

UVa is using a pair of true freshman tailbacks to simulate the Wolfpack rushers in practice this week. Raynard Horne is playing the role of Brown. Keith Payne is imitating Baker, though, at 6-foot-3, 243 pounds, he's five inches taller and 15 pounds heavier than the N.C. State back.

"He's bigger than almost anybody," Groh joked.

End game

Redshirt freshman Kevin Crawford didn't get his first action until the fifth week, so it was surprising last Thursday that he started at defensive end in an experimental package that moved Chris Long to nose tackle.

"He's starting to make a move, like a number of players in his class," Groh said of Crawford.

The 6-foot-3, 284-pound Crawford, can play either nose tackle or end. He was listed as a tackle in the preseason but now sits third on the depth chart at left end behind Jeffrey Fitzgerald and Alex Field.

With true freshman Nate Collins getting snaps at nose tackle, Crawford just might stay at end.

"We're trying not to have (our young linemen) all stacked up in one place," Groh said.

Extra points

Sophomore wideout Andrew Pearman practiced in pads Monday for the first time since having surgery to remove loose particles in his knee earlier this month. He hasn't played since the Georgia Tech game and his status for Saturday remains unclear. ? Redshirt freshman Mikell Simpson is listed second on the depth chart at tailback ahead of Cedric Peerman (William Campbell). Simpson, who has rushed 12 times for 56 yards and a touchdown this year, entered the North Carolina game as the No. 2 back. Peerman has averaged just 3.0 yards per carry this season.

- Andy Bitter
 

Collins has stepped up on defensive line
Freshman nose tackle Nate Collins has seen time in all eight games, providing solid relief
JP Stroman, Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

When most true freshmen arrive on Virginia's football team, they typically expect to spend a year on the bench learning the ropes of the college game. Nate Collins is the exception. The nose tackle has performed ably in backup duty this year, playing in all eight of the Cavaliers' games so far. He has notched six solo tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and one sack. But Collins did not expect to be such a significant part of the defense so early in his career.

"I was real surprised," Collins said. "When I came here, I really didn't know what to expect. I thought that they were going to redshirt me, and I had no problem with that."

Collins is originally from Port Chester, N.Y., where he recorded 11 sacks and rushed for 850 yards and 10 touchdowns at King and Low-Heywood Thomas High School. He was also named a Boston Globe All-League player as a senior. Given his experience playing nearly every position on the field in high school, Collins arrived at Virginia with an open mind.

"I came here ready to learn, because before this year, I really didn't know a lot about football," Collins said. "I mean, I played football, and I watched football, but the things that we're doing here, I never learned in high school. We didn't play a 3-4 in high school, and there are all sorts of different terms and such."

Collins's playing time in no way diminishes the efforts of the rest of the team's freshmen. Even though most fans do not get to see them on the field for a year or two, the players work just as hard as the rest of the team in practice, honing their skills for an opportunity to shine on the Scott Stadium turf someday.

"We don't take away time from game preparation to work with the true freshmen in practice, but they do all the drills and work hard," coach Al Groh said. "We try to coach them just as if they're going to play on Saturday. We don't want their development to be in abeyance for a year. The pressure is on them to improve everyday like everyone else. If they want to make a run for playing time at their position come spring practice, this is the time where they develop their game to do so."

This year's freshman class is strong, featuring, among others: Superprep and PrepStar All-American tight end/defensive end Joe Torchia, tailback Keith Payne, who was ranked as the eighth-best player in Virginia by SuperPrep and The Roanoke Times, and Mike Parker, who was ranked as the No. 46 safety in the country by rivals. com.

"I wouldn't want to single any of them out, but I think just about every one of them is a player that I anticipate will challenge for playing time during spring practice," Groh said.

Spending a year on the bench can be very beneficial to a player's development, as starting quarterback Jameel Sewell can attest. Sewell, a redshirt freshman, struggled early on after being named the starter but has come into his own in recent games against Maryland and North Carolina, passing for a season-high 243 yards against the Terps. He has proved to be a dual threat as well, rushing for a touchdown in both games.