Santi fits Cavaliers' mold
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
November 3, 2004

Al Groh has known Jeff Rutledge for quite a while.

When Groh was an assistant coach with the New York Giants in 1989, Rutledge was a quarterback on the team.

So, it shouldn’t be a surprise when Rutledge called the Virginia football coach last year, Groh listened to what he had to say. Rutledge was calling for one of the players on the high school team that he was coaching at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville.

The player? Tight end Tom Santi.

“[Coach Rutledge] knew how we operated,” Groh said. “He knew what kind of players we liked. He knew what kind of a player that he had. Tom had expressed to him that Virginia was one of the schools that he would be interested in. So, as soon as Jeff made contact with me, actually, I was watching the tape the next day, and as soon as I had turned that tape machine off, the decision had been made. So, it was mutual interest at that point.”

The end result?

Groh liked what he saw in Santi. And Santi loved what he saw from Virginia, as well.

After taking an official visit when Virginia hosted Florida State last October, Santi wasted little time in making his decision public.

Former Virginia assistant coach Andy Heck called Santi and asked if he had any news for him. Santi promptly told him that he was committing to Virginia over offers from Iowa, LSU, Stanford and Tennessee, the school he rooted for as a kid.

It was a perfect marriage, thanks in part to the offense that Rutledge employed at Montgomery Bell.

“I was really blessed to have him as our high school coach because we didn’t have a typical high school offense,” Santi said. “We definitely weren’t a very vanilla team. I ran a lot of set tight end, a lot of moving tight end and a lot of backfield stuff. I have been exposed to a little bit of everything that we do at Virginia. The offenses are really similar so that was really helpful.”

When Santi rolled into preseason camp, he made a great first impression on Groh.

“It was quickly apparent with Tom that he had a very good skill level and a little something special going on about him, as far as how he picked things up and tuned right into the environment,” Groh said. “That is, at no time was it too much for him. He was up to it mentally; he was up to it maturity-wise. He was up to it right from the start.”

Santi’s playing time in Virginia’s first seven games proves it. From earning a spot in the season opener on the kickoff return team to logging time behind tight end Heath Miller, Santi has proven to be a versatile weapon.

Now you can add fullback to that list.

With starting fullback Jason Snelling out of the lineup with an ankle injury, Groh turned to Santi during preparations for the Duke game on Oct. 23.

Santi did not disappoint. While he did not rush the ball against the Blue Devils, Santi caught two passes out of the backfield for 62 yards. On his second reception, quarterback Marques Hagans checked off and connected with Santi for short pass.

Thanks to Santi’s speed, he turned that short reception into a 46-yard gain.

Speed has always been one of Santi’s strong points. As a senior in high school, Santi ran track, competing in the

100- and 200-yard dash. Santi said his fastest time in the 100 was 11.1.

While the move to fullback likely is not a permanent one, Santi has embraced the role that he will have against Maryland on Saturday when the game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. at Scott Stadium.

“I will do anything to help the team win,” Santi said.

Tech looking into creatine charge
Virginia Tech football
By Randy King
981-3126
The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG - Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver said Tuesday he's confident that charges that one of the Hokies' strength coaches helped two football players secure creatine at discounted prices will be ruled as "a secondary violation, if a violation at all," should it wind up in the hands of the NCAA.

Weaver's response came in in the wake of a story published by the Daily News-Record of Harrisonburg in which Tech freshman offensive lineman Nick Marshman and former Hokies linebacker Mike Brown told the newspaper that Mike Gentry, Tech's assistant athletic director for strength and conditioning, helped them buy creatine at discounted prices during the 2003-04 academic year. Creatine is a legal muscle-building supplement that can be purchased in nutrition stores. The NCAA forbids schools from distributing the supplement to athletes and forbids athletes from receiving benefits, such as discounts, not available to the general student body.

The NCAA allowed schools to distribute creatine to its athletes free of charge until Aug.1, 2000. Athletes are still allowed to use the supplement as long as they don't get it from their schools.

Weaver said his department will conduct an internal review of the matter. The investigation should take from a week to 10 days, Weaver said.

"We think it's a procedural issue at this point," Weaver said. "I am confident it was not something done intentionally. It's just a fact that we have missed an interpretation of the new legislation. So we're trying to get a clarification on that interpretation right now to determine if there is any violation at all."

Weaver said Gentry and Tim Parker, Tech's assistant AD for compliance services, visited with him and talked about about a procedure "that would allow us to be in compliance with NCAA regulations" following the legislature change concerning creatine in 2000.

"I will tell you that I have utmost confidence and faith in Tim Parker and Mike Gentry as professionals," Weaver said.

Weaver said that Tech could issue its own sanctions in the matter "if we feel like that is warranted."

According to the Daily News-Record, Brown, who transferred to James Madison University this year, said he paid $20 to Gentry for "two or three months" worth of creatine pills. A $19.99 bottle of creatine pills at a GNC store in Christiansburg would last about 10 days, an employee said.

Marshman said Gentry gave Hokie football players Cell-Tech, a popular powder version of the supplement.

Marshman said he took about 10 pills before lifting weights and 10 afterward three days a week.

"At Tech, they require you to get it through Coach Gentry," Marshman said, "because they can make sure everything is legal."

Weaver noted on Tuesday that "one would think it would be in the best interests of the student-athlete to have people who are in the business help them regulate [creatine use] than obtain it and regulate it themselves."

Once the internal review is concluded, Weaver said that the school will offer its self-report to the NCAA should it deem its action as a violation. If the investigation concludes Tech was not in violation of rules, there will be no report sent to the NCAA, he said.

"Secondary violations normally don't give you very severe sanctions," Weaver said. "Most times, [the NCAA] accepts the self-report and don't sanction you at all."

Hokies senior linebacker Mikal Baaqee estimated that 30 percent of the 100-plus players in the Tech program use creatine.

"Mostly, they're young guys who are adding bulk and trying to catch up with everybody else," Baaqee said. "I used to use it but not now. Everybody uses creatine.""I am confident it was not something done intentionally. It's just a fact that we have missed an interpretation of the new legislation."

Hoffman has coach's eye
UVa coach Al Groh is on the record that he is high on his senior nose guard Andrew Hoffman.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE - On at least three occasions in the last 10 days, Virginia head coach Al Groh has said publicly that nobody on his football team is having a better season than Andrew Hoffman.

Andrew Hoffman? That name might produce a few blank stares, even from UVa fans. Among other things, Hoffman has the distinction of being one of three remaining members of Virginia's program to have played in a game under Groh's predecessor, George Welsh, but that shouldn't be his only claim to fame.

When 12th-ranked Virginia (6-1, 3-1 ACC) takes the field Saturday against Maryland (4-4, 2-4), it will represent Hoffman's 35th start at nose tackle. The only UVa player who can top that, offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, has 36.

Ferguson doesn't get as much ink as the Cavaliers' preseason Playboy All-Americans - offensive guard Elton Brown and tight end Heath Miller. Ferguson has gotten more recognition than Hoffman - at least until Groh's Oct.25 call-in radio show.

"He had a good junior year, but, the last three or four games of the [2003] season, you could really see his game grow," Groh told listeners. "He had a terrific training camp and has really invested a lot of himself in his career and this season. He was really a dominant player in our game against Duke."

Since the Cavaliers haven't played since Oct.23, when they defeated the Blue Devils 37-16, Groh has only been in a position to elaborate on his comments.

"He's made plays for us; he hasn't just taken up space in there, as is sometimes the case at that position," Groh said. "On the third play of the season, he ran from one hash mark to the [opposing] sideline and caused a fumble."

Friends have made Hoffman aware of Groh's comments, and while Hoffman hasn't heard the same thing from Groh directly, "it is kind of cool to know he said it," Hoffman said.

Part of a nose tackle's job description is to take up space and basically hold up offensive linemen in order that linebackers can step into lanes and make tackles.

"I actually thought he might be an offensive lineman," said Mickey Thompson, an ex-UVa defensive lineman who coached Hoffman at Park View High School in Sterling. "We didn't use him on offense as much as we should have, but he was probably the best drive blocker I've coached, by far."

Nevertheless, Thompson felt that Hoffman was a perfect fit for Groh's 3-4 scheme, although Hoffman is lankier than most nose tackles at 6-4 and 284 pounds.

"He's a two-gap kind of player," Thompson said. "He's a guy that you can't move. He's got great extension and hip roll. He does a great job with his hands. He's a player who can go in there and occupy two gaps and take things away."

As a true freshman in 2000, Thompson got into seven games but played only 65 snaps as an understudy to Monsanto Pope, who starts at defensive tackle for the Denver Broncos.

"I sat down with coach Groh [before the 2001 season] and asked him if I could redshirt," Hoffman said Tuesday. "I knew that the same players who had started my freshman year were coming back and that the same thing was going to happen again. I didn't want to waste another year, not getting a whole lot of playing time."

Of the three Virginia fifth-year seniors who played under Welsh, only Hoffman's redshirt year was planned. The other two, linebacker Rich Bedesem and wide receiver Michael McGrew, had their careers interrupted by injuries.

"I just felt, as far as my development, it would be a lot better to take that extra year, get my weight up and work on skills that I needed," Hoffman said. "When coach Groh said he wanted me to be a nose tackle, I embraced it. I don't know that it appealed to me so much as I just wanted to play, but the position kind of grew on me."

Hoffman's statistics in his first two seasons were identical - 56 tackles each year, one for loss. Although UVa will play fewer games this year, his tackle-per-game average is up (33 in seven games) and he already has four tackles for loss and the first sack of his career.

After he was matched against one of the ACC's top centers, Jason Brown from North Carolina, Brown didn't hesitate to compliment Hoffman on his performance following the Cavaliers' 56-24 victory.

One reason Hoffman has done so few interviews is a class schedule that requires him to take an ecology lab from 12:30-5 p.m. on Mondays, the day when UVa customarily does its player interviews. After starting out as an engineering major, he has played catch-up to complete degree requirements in environmental sciences.

He has an interesting story. As a youngster, he had a bout with Osgood Schlatter Disease, an inflammation of the knees, but that wasn't why his mother wouldn't let him to play football until the ninth grade. She wanted him to be coached by real coaches, not parents, "and I just saw more ambulances at football games than at the other sports," she said.

Since then, his mother, Janet Richardson, has become a football convert.

"We used to wonder why nobody ever wrote about Andrew," she said, "but, when you know your coaches respect you and you know your teammates respect you, what more could you want?"

Strains of Maryland-Va. rivalry go deep
Proximity, recruiting, individual successes play hand in fueling the fire
By Kevin Van Valkenburg
Sun Staff
Originally published November 3, 2004
 

COLLEGE PARK - Maybe it's because on the surface they're so different, and maybe it's because, deep down, they're so much alike. But no matter what reasons are behind it, one thing is obvious about this week: Maryland and Virginia don't like each other.

"I'm not sure why it is, but they obviously have no respect for Maryland, and obviously Maryland has no respect for Virginia," said Terps wide receiver Andrew Weatherly.

It's difficult to pinpoint when exactly the dislike started, but for the most part, Maryland won't even bother to deny that it exists.

"It's a genuine rivalry, every aspect of it," said Terps senior cornerback Domonique Foxworth. "Their coaches don't necessarily like our coaches, and our players don't necessarily like their players. It's not hard to get up for a game like that."

The genuine rancor between the two programs is actually somewhat refreshing in college football, where players and coaches typically do backflips each week trying to come up with new and interesting cliches, avoiding any bulletin board material that might be used against them for motivation.

But it's hard to call this is "just another game" with a straight face when the actions of both schools both on and off the field prove it so obviously isn't. Two years ago, Maryland had a chance to possibly win its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference title late in the year, but saw those hopes disappear when the Terps got blown out in Charlottesville, 48-13.

Last year, before the two schools even played a late-season game in College Park, Virginia coach Al Groh and Maryland wide receivers coach James Franklin got into a heated argument on the field after the Terps claimed several of the Cavs were running through their drills. Maryland won, 27-17, behind 257 rushing yards from Josh Allen. Despite a late-season surge, Virginia ended up in the Tire Bowl for the second consecutive year while the Terps went to the more prestigious Gator Bowl.

"I think it's a good rivalry and I think it's gotten better each year because both teams have beaten each other," said Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen, who has won two of three against Virginia since he became Maryland's head coach. "It not much of a rivalry if one team wins all the time. ... I think it's great for the conference."

Proximity has a lot to do with it, according to Foxworth, because familiarity breeds contempt. "We're so close to one another," he said. "We get their news and they get ours. A lot of players from this area go there, and some Virginia guys come here."

And, some players in the recruiting process say they want to go to Virginia, then end up going to Maryland, and vice versa. That happened with Terps defensive lineman Robert Armstrong, who originally committed to Virginia, but then decided instead to go to Maryland after he failed to qualify right out of high school, and the Cavs didn't want him to enroll at mid-semester after a year at a military academy. Foxworth, in turn, hosted current Virginia cornerback Marcus Hamilton on his recruiting trip to Maryland before Hamilton decided he wanted to be a Cavalier.

Virginia also continued recruiting tight end Vernon Davis two years ago after he had committed to Maryland, including a hard, last-minute sell when news broke that a Terps assistant coach (whom Friedgen immediately fired) had given money to a Baltimore recruit. The relationship between the two programs has been chilly since.

Though Maryland has improved its reputation as an academic school tenfold in the last decade, Virginia is still ranked much higher in the U.S. News and World Report annual college rankings. Terps sophomore offensive lineman Andrew Crummey, who came to College Park from Ohio, said he sensed the divide immediately.

"Some people from our perspective look at it like they're preppy, they're trying to be better than us," Crummey said. "I've heard guys say that two years ago, [their fans] were chanting, 'You'll be working for us someday.' That's fine. Because it comes down to who plays hard and who does the most with what they have. Whether you go to Maryland or Virginia, whomever comes to play is going to win."

NOTES: Friedgen said Derrick Fenner (ankle), Steve Suter (hamstring), Rob Abiamiri (ankle) and Ray Custis (groin) are all probable for Saturday's game. Lineman Brandon Nixon (ankle) is likely out.

 

Cavs, Terps blend respect and distaste
'Bad blood' makes emotion run high between ACC rivals
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Nov 3, 2004
MARYLAND AT VIRGINIA
SATURDAY: 3:30 p.m. ON THE AIR: TV - ABC; Radio - WRVA, 3 p.m. TICKETS: Sold out.

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Al Groh spoke highly of Maryland's football team at a media gathering Monday, and Ralph Friedgen praised the 12th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers to reporters yesterday.

Make no mistake, though: These teams may respect each other, but that doesn't mean they like each other.

"It's some bad blood between us," said U.Va. safety Jermaine Hardy, a senior from Roanoke.

Asked if there's animosity between the programs, Groh said slyly, "I hear some rumors of it."

U.Va. (3-1, 6-1) takes on Maryland (2-3, 4-4) on Saturday at Scott Stadium. When the teams met last season at Byrd Stadium, Groh exchanged harsh words with Maryland assistant James Franklin before the game, and the teams nearly came to blows.

An unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty was assessed to the Terrapins, but that didn't stop them from whipping Virginia 27-17 on national television.

"It's definitely become a very serious rivalry in the ACC," said Cavaliers tailback Alvin Pearman, a senior from Charlotte, N.C.

"I think we're similar teams in some of our beliefs and the way we play. On top of that, we both hate to lose, and, more importantly, we hate to lose to each other. All that adds up to a lot of emotion."

In four seasons as coach at his alma mater, Groh has compiled a 28-18 record. Friedgen is 35-12 in four seasons at Maryland, from which he graduated in 1970. The coaching staffs collide frequently in pursuit of prospects, and some of the Terrapins' recruiting tactics have rankled the Cavaliers.

Asked yesterday about U.Va., Friedgen answered, "I think it's our chief rival."

Starting in 1992, the Cavaliers won nine straight in this series, but Maryland ended that streak with a 41-21 victory in 2001. Virginia hammered the Terps 48-13 in '02 but self-destructed in College Park last season.

"When we first got here, we always knew the rivalry was Virginia Tech," said U.Va. quarterback Marques Hagans, a redshirt junior from Hampton. "But somewhere down the line since we've been here, the rivalry [with Maryland] has grown. I think there's some bad blood."

Pearman said: "I don't know whatever happened to Coach Groh and Coach Friedgen back in the day, but it definitely reveals itself in the way that each of these teams play against each other. When I first got here, I don't think this rivalry was as intense as it's really become."

Hagans said he doesn't have "any bad feelings personally against [the Terps]. They might have them against us, but none of that really matters. You still got to play a game within the white lines for 60 minutes."

 

Santi Is Holding Up His End
Virginia Freshman Makes Quick Rise Into Starting Lineup
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, November 3, 2004; Page D01

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Nov. 2 -- Tom Santi knew he would eventually get a chance to start for the Virginia football team, but not this soon and not like this.

In the preseason, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound freshman was the Cavaliers' fourth-string tight end -- a gifted former high school all-American stuck behind three older, similarly talented teammates. He couldn't have known he would enter November as the starting fullback.

Virginia's Tom Santi kept Duke defenders at arm's length last month, catching two passes for 62 yards and helping the Cavs rush for 348 yards. (Sara D. Davis -- AP)

"No," Santi said, "that wasn't exactly in the plans."

Plans changed when Jason Snelling, a budding star at fullback, suffered a significant ankle sprain in Virginia's Oct. 7 game against Clemson. After briefly elevating senior backup Brandon Isaiah, the Cavaliers decided to give Santi most of the fullback duties, using him in a hybrid role similar to what some offenses call H-back.

Ten days ago at Duke, Santi made an auspicious debut at his new position, catching two passes for 62 yards and helping the running game roll up 348 yards in a 37-16 win. On Saturday at Scott Stadium, he will again have to do his part for the 12th-ranked Cavs (6-1, 3-1 ACC) to solve Maryland's stout defense.

The seemingly resurgent Terps (4-4, 2-3), fresh off a shocking upset of Florida State, will no doubt present a greater challenge than did the last-place Blue Devils, but Santi likely won't be fazed.

"At no time has it seemed like this is too much for him," Virginia Coach Al Groh said. "He's done an admirable job for a young player at being able to really get in the swing of things right away. . . . Things don't get to him."

Thus, Santi wasn't particularly perturbed to join the Cavaliers in August and find himself looking up from the bottom of the depth chart at tight end, even though he had been one of the nation's top recruits at that position. Junior Heath Miller was a preseason all-American. Senior Patrick Estes was the biggest, most crushing blocker. Redshirt freshman Jonathan Stupar was cut from the same mold as Miller.

It seemed Santi had some work to do if he wanted to make an impact. At the same time, though, he knew Groh liked to play multiple tight ends, especially when there were so many to choose from. That was part of the reason Santi chose the Cavaliers.

"I really had no idea what was going to happen," Santi said. "You can't really come into training camp with a whole lot of expectations. You've just got to go in there and flip up the blue collar and go to work."

Groh took notice, just as he had more than a year earlier when he received a highlight tape in the mail from Jeff Rutledge, Santi's coach at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville. Rutledge had spent 13 seasons in the NFL as a backup quarterback, including a seven-year stint with the New York Giants that overlapped in 1989 with Groh's first season as the team's linebackers coach.

The tape showed a player with natural pass-catching abilities, enviable size and more than enough speed to be a big-play tight end. Santi soon had a scholarship offer.

"As soon as I turned that tape machine off," Groh said, "the decision had been made."

Despite the presence of Miller, Estes and Stupar, Santi was at no time pointed toward a redshirt season -- "When they can contribute something to winning, we're ready to use them," Groh said, echoing one of the bedrock principles of his program -- but his opportunities might have been severely limited if not for a pair of injuries. Estes missed time early because of migraine headaches, and Stupar sat out the first five games because of a broken foot.

Santi made the most of increased practice time, gradually earning a larger role in the games. He has played in all seven games this season, totaling eight catches for 123 yards.

His best catch -- the one that made his coaches and teammates sit up a little straighter in their chairs in the film room last week -- came on a third-and-11 play late in the fourth quarter at Duke. Santi caught a pass in stride, used his speed to reach the corner and turned up the left sideline behind a wide receiver's block for a 46-yard gain.

"He's a special talent," quarterback Marques Hagans said.

Cavaliers Notes: After having surgery in May to repair a herniated disk in his back, sophomore guard Ian-Yates Cunningham will take a redshirt year, Groh said Monday night on his radio show. Cunningham started the final four games last season as a freshman. . . . Reserve defensive end Chris Long likely will play this weekend after missing the past month because of mononucleosis.
 

The new longest suffering fan base? You don't have to go far to find them
Bart Isley, Cavalier Daily Columnist

At Virginia, it sometimes seems as if being miserable is a badge of honor. Respect is gained in the wee hours at Clemons -- war waged over who can outdo who in total assignments and impending tests.

Sports can be the same way at times: fans attempt to outdo each other for whose team is worse. No question, those fans would prefer to cheer on a winner, but just like a Commerce School group forced to meet at 3 a.m. on a Sunday night, if they're going to be miserable, they better at least be the best at it.

Red Sox devotees used to hold the title as the most tortured fan base in sports until last week's world championship. Some are calling the win one of the greatest sports stories ever, and looking at the way they won, it certainly has to be. Only the Red Sox could come back from three down and then sweep the best team from the regular season.

The bigger issue, however, is who will now accept the mantle of the most tortured fan base in sports. As I pointed out, I am in no way accusing these fan groups of wanting to be losers. They just want to be the best losers they can be.

Let's start with the obvious successor to the throne -- the Chicago Cubs. The Chicago franchise is almost as maligned as the Red Sox, and their title drought is actually longer, stretching back to 1908. People also believe, as they did with the Sox, that the Cubbies are cursed.

The Cubs have also experienced many lean years, years mocked in the timeless cinematic classic "Rookie of the Year," about a kid who helps pitch the Cubs to a World Series. Despite this movie's lack of plausibility, I'd be willing to bet that guys worse than Chet Steadman, played by Gary Busey, pitched for the Cubs since 1945.

In football, the Minnesota Vikings have to be considered part of the debate. The Vikings boast four Super Bowl losses and despite fielding several good teams since their run in the 1970s, haven't been back in the Super Bowl since 1977. The Vikings were founded in 1961, so their fans have suffered 43 years without a championship.

The Cubs and Vikings always come up in a discussion of the most torturous team to cheer on, so talking about them more would just be rehashing old arguments. To find a possibly more tortured fan base, I didn't have to look far. I simply glanced over at University Hall and thought of Virginia basketball fans.

Virginia fans have been cheering on the Cavaliers since 1905 when Henry Lannigan began his 24-season run at the Virginia helm. In the program's first 66 years, the Cavaliers only appeared in the postseason once. After the 1940-41 season the Cavaliers suffered a surprising (or for Virginia, unsurprising) early exit in the NIT against the City College of New York.

Even when Ralph Sampson played for Virginia in the early 1980s, and Terry Holland was setting the course for the Cavaliers, the team couldn't track down the elusive national championship. Holland led the team to two Final Fours in the 1980s, but Virginia students never got to light bonfires in homage to their team, as their ACC rivals to the South, North Carolina and Duke have done so many times. Other teams have suffered for as long as the Cavaliers, but few teams without a championship can boast a three-time national player of the year, as Virginia can with Sampson.

The Jeff Jones years were also championship-free, despite several strong teams during the mid-1990s. In 1998, Pete Gillen arrived, and Cavalier fans have been subjected to more disheartening problems despite Gillen's early promise. This time the problems are concentrated in player departures and poor team defense.

This program has gone almost 100 years without a championship, besides a single ACC crown in 1976, longer than the Cubs and Red Sox droughts, and twice as long as the Vikings have actually existed.

Virginia basketball fans are clearly one of the most tortured fan bases in the nation. I think it's time that the program takes its rightful place in the group of titles you don't want, along with "best player not to win a major" and "best quarterback not to win a Super Bowl." Virginia basketball fans seem primed for the mantle of most tortured fan base, even if the rest of the nation isn't paying attention.

Cavs face talented Terp special teams
While Virginia's punting has struggled this season, this weekend's opponent Maryland has found success
Walker Freer, Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

Maryland's special teams have played extraordinarily this season and between their starting kicker and punter, the Terrapins start two of the best special teams players in the country. Week in and week out it adds up to a scary duo for opposing teams.

Starting place kicker Nick Novak is 12 for 17 on field goal attempts thus far this season, while punter Adam Podlesh has been averaging 44.7 yards per punt. That impressive average ranks the sophomore second in the ACC, and ninth nationally, in punting.

"Adam's done a great job all season," Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said, "He's been a weapon for us, and unfortunately we've had to punt a lot."

With a young quarterback behind center, and a streaky offense, the Terps have had to punt a lot. It's no surprise then that the team has had to lean hard on its defense and special teams to produce victories. In recent outings, Podlesh's punts have contributed as much as any defensive stand, helping to pin opposing offenses deep in their own territory. Entering Saturday's game, Podlesh has attracted the attention of the Cavalier coaches.

"The punter is terrific," Virginia head coach Al Groh said. "He does it all the right way. He's got distance. He's got height, and he's got location. He's really a big factor for their team."

With the exception of the Florida State game, Virginia has not been forced to punt very often, and never with the game in jeopardy. Sophomore Sean Johnson has handled the punting responsibilities this season, achieving poor results, only averaging 33 yards per punt.

Consistent punting is something that Virginia has lacked for the past few seasons. The situation became even more dire when starting punter Tom Hagan left the football team to focus on baseball last spring. With that loss, Virginia was left with a choice between true freshman Chris Gould, walk-on sophomore Noah Greenbaum, junior transfer Kurt Korte and Johnson, who just returned this fall from a two-year Mormon mission trip.

During the spring football scrimmage last April, some of the loudest cheers came during special teams for the punters, indicating that fans hoped for a revival in the punting game. The fans haven't been the only ones to notice the punting problems, as fellow players have also mentioned the seriousness of the problem.

"They [Maryland] have a very good punt game," Virginia's punt returner Alvin Pearman said. "That's something we really have to focus on because we're not doing too well in overall punt yards. That difference can really pan out in the course of a game."

The position of punter has been the one spot Groh has not deliberately worked to infuse with new talent during his four years at Virginia. It's fairly common for major college football programs to fill their kicker and punter positions with walk-ons, so coaches can save a scholarship for a "skill position" player -- a practice Groh has followed. Coaches traditionally have not viewed punters as "skill position" players.

"If you really think special teams are important, then you have to be willing to make whatever investments are necessary -- time-wise, personnel-wise, roster-spots-wise," Groh said.

If the punting game continues to struggle, Groh may be forced to spend some of offseason recruiting punt specialists, instead of relying solely on walk-ons. On Saturday, Maryland will aim to prove to the Cavaliers just how important a strong punting game can be.