Ready to snap to it
Ryan Childress has proven to be a valuable member of the Cavaliers as the long snapper.
By Doug Doughty

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Think quarterback Matt Schaub has had a storybook Virginia football career? Consider Ryan Childress, Cavaliers deep snapper and erstwhile Shawsville High School Shawnee:

"Five years ago, I didn't know if I'd ever see the field," said Childress, who will letter in each of four seasons, spend three years on scholarship and has had his name dropped by the likes of famed Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.

In fact, for much of the fall, head coach Al Groh has held tryouts after practice to find a successor to Childress.

"He's been extremely valuable for us," Groh said this week, "and, as such, will be one of the most critical players to replace. It's a great comfort if you've got a good one and a constant source of worry if you don't."

As late as the 2002 season, Groh took a look at 6-foot-4, 275-pound Zac Yarbrough on field goals and extra points and talked about the need to have a bigger player for protection.

"Ryan has done a great job of holding up in the middle, both on placements and punts," Groh said. "Any time we've ever had any difficulties, it's been at some place other than his spot.

"When it was clear that he was our most accurate snapper, we tried to do some things within the scheme to give him a little bit of help."

Childress he hasn't had many poor snaps. During the 2002 season, he also ranked among the UVa special-teams leaders with 12 tackles, without the benefit of playing on the kickoff team.

"This year, we've been among the NCAA leaders in punts not returned," he said, "so there haven't been as many chances."

A running back in high school, Childress weighed 190 pounds when he arrived at UVa and now is listed at 209, although he's closer to 225.

"That's my next obstacle," said Childress, who is listed at 5-foot-11. "I'm going to have to lose some weight after the bowl."

Childress, who received his undergraduate degree in government last May, plans to work for a year before applying to one of the law schools in the state.

After having him in class, Sabato described Childress as the embodiment of a student-athlete, a tribute that Groh passed along on his weekly radio show.

"Coming from a small school such as Shawsville High School [now Eastern Montgomery], we thought he might get lost," said Childress' father, Marty, "but it looks like he found his way just fine."

When Childress played in the Continental Tire Bowl last year as a fourth-year junior, he knew it might be the last game of his college year.

"It came down to a numbers game, like a lot of things," Childress said, "and, luckily, Coach Groh decided to bring me back and finally I got a chance to beat Virginia Tech."

This week's game closes a book for the entire Childress family.

"Luckily, up to this point, we have not missed any of Ryan's games - 50 some - since he has been at UVa," Marty Childress said. "We've been all the way from Hawaii to Madison, Wis.

"I think one thing we have enjoyed is getting to know his fellow teammates and their families. Ryan, Kevin Bailey and Kase Luzar have became very close friends, so our family has become friends with their families."

Childress isn't the only UVa player from Montgomery County - freshman Mike Robertson from Blacksburg joined him this year - but it wasn't easy coming home after four straight Cavaliers defeats to the Hokies.

Childress' girlfriend, Glenvar High School graduate and Hollins assistant basketball coach Erika Hale, comes from a family of staunch Hokies.

"If we had gone five years and not beaten them, that would have been pretty hard to deal with," he said. "Down the road, I'll always be able to point back to that game and not take too much grief."

 

Brown has more than just size
Cavalier lineman possesses speed, power and passion
By John Galinsky / Daily Progress staff writer
December 24, 2003

To opposing defensive coaches, there aren’t many sights more impressive, and imposing, than Virginia junior guard Elton Brown – all 6-foot-6 and 333 pounds of him – tearing downfield as the lead blocker on a sweep or screen pass.

“He moves like he’s 220,” said J.C. Harper, Western Michigan’s defensive line coach. “Then he just flattens you like a steamroller.”

Harper’s colleagues in the ACC apparently agree. The league’s defensive coordinators named Brown the winner of the Jacobs Trophy, which goes to the conference’s top blocker. That honor came shortly after the media left Brown off the All-ACC first team.

“I think it showed that the people who knew what they were talking about cast their vote appropriately,” UVa coach Al Groh said.

If Brown is the ACC’s most dominant blocker, his size is only part of the reason. Other linemen have similar mass. It’s what he does with all that weight that makes him special.

“It’s kind of hard to believe a guy as big as he is can move like he does,” said tight end Heath Miller. “He’s big and strong, but he’s also agile.”

Brown wasn’t always like that. As a freshman, he was just as big, but he wasn’t as nimble, powerful or athletic. He started the final four games that season – the first UVa true freshman offensive lineman to start a game in nearly 30 years – but that was primarily due to his bulk.

Over the past two seasons, Brown, 21, has changed his body with weight-room workouts, agility drills and a better diet. As a result, he has added muscle, lost fat and improved his speed and endurance. There may still be room for improvement, but the current product is something any coach would covet.

“He’s as good as it gets,” said fellow guard Brian Barthelmes. “He’s got a lot more quickness this year and he’s definitely gotten stronger. I know he’s been more dominant. He’s doing with people what he pleases.”

Brown missed two games, against Wake Forest and North Carolina, early in the season after suffering a concussion during practice. Those absences, plus the general ignorance of media members when it comes to evaluating offensive linemen, may have cost him a spot on the All-ACC team.

But Brown says he doesn’t care about that. What he hated was having to sit out at all.

“I love football. I always want to be out there butting heads with people. It killed me to have to watch when I really didn’t feel like I was injured,” he said.

“Missing two games, I don’t think I had the type of year I expected to have. But I think I’m developing as a player. … I know my run-blocking has gotten better. So has my pass protection. Just as an overall player, I’ve gotten a lot better. Nothing specific. It’s a lot of points here and there. I’ve just got to continue to work hard and it will pay off in the end.”

Brown doesn’t mind hard work because, to him, football is fun. He jokes with teammates and chatters incessantly during practice, but he also has a mean streak on the field that serves him well.

“He brings that aggression and that fire,” Barthelmes said. “He plays with a lot of passion.”

Sophomore linebacker Darryl Blackstock says it’s a matter of area code. Like Blackstock, Brown grew up in the Tidewater region and blossomed in a hotbed of exceptional athletes.

“It’s 757 – that’s where you learn about competition,” Blackstock said. “There are so many good athletes there. You play pickup games in basketball, in football, it’s always a war. I’ve been friends with Elton since sixth grade. I know where he gets that drive.”

Brown could be a major factor in Saturday’s Continental Tire Bowl against Pittsburgh. Though Virginia ranks just 86th in the nation in rushing offense, the Panthers are 88th in rushing defense. When Brown is on top of his game, the Cavaliers like to run behind him frequently.

“After his concussion, it took Elton a little bit of time to get back on his game,” Groh said. “There were a couple games where he wasn’t the same Elton as before. But toward the end, especially the last two games, he looked like he was playing some of his strongest ball here.”

First, however, Brown may be asked to reprise his role of Santa Claus at the team’s Christmas party on Thursday. He did the same thing last year and graded out high for jolliness.

“That was fun,” he said. “I’d be happy to do it again.”
 

The jury is still out on Cavaliers
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
December 24, 2003

If the Virginia men’s basketball team’s season so far were put in front of a jury, the deliberations might take a while.

The Cavaliers are 8-0. That’s the undisputed fact. Now, the strength of their competition can certainly be questioned. The Cavaliers ability to rebound and sustain a defensive effort can also be questioned.

What also can be questioned, however, is if the Cavaliers have played their best yet, regardless of opponent.

The future will provide answers to that. Time will tell if this 8-0 start masked obvious deficiencies or was the ideal start for a rather young team exploring what it’s actually capable of.

The jury might have to be sequestered for a few months.

This is the third time in four years the Cavaliers enter Christmas Day with an undefeated record.

In the 2000-01 season, the Cavaliers sped out to a 10-0 start and eventually finished 20-9 with a first-round loss to Gonzaga in the NCAA tournament.

In 2001-02, the Cavaliers opened 9-0 and rose to No. 4 in the nation but lost 10 of its final 13 games and were relegated to the NIT.

Certainly for examination purposes, it’s best to compare this UVa squad to that one in 2001-02. Those Cavaliers - unlike these ones who are winning their games by just under 13 points a contest - were winning games in convincing fashion. That Virginia team was winning games by an average margin of 21.4 points.

While the merits of level of competition, etc., between this year and that year can be debated, hindsight reveals that the 2001-02 team never got better after New Year’s Day. In essence, those Cavaliers left their best basketball in the months of November and December.

Perhaps - to borrow a phrase from the school’s football coach - these Cavaliers are what they are right now and beating teams like JMU, Loyola Marymount and Coastal Carolina by between 10 and 15 points are the optimal outcomes.

Of course, that’s not the opinion held by the Cavaliers themselves and there are legitimate premises for that assertion.

In some games Virginia has played solid defense and struggled offensively and vice versa. The Cavaliers have not had what would be judged a great shooting game, especially from the perimeter. Since they do have two players - Todd Billet and Devin Smith - that were among the ACC’s best 3-point shooters last season and three more players - Derrick Byars, Gary Forbes and J.R. Reynolds - that are good shooters either by past performance or reputation it’s likely eventually a superb shooting game will come.

“It’s good I think not to have gotten to that stage when we’ve played a great game or had a great shooting game. I don’t think it’s realistic to say that everyone is going to be clicking on the same night and in some ways that’s certainly the strength of this team,” said Billet after Monday’s 89-74 win over Coastal Carolina. “I think the strength of this team is that we are able to adjust to different situations. … We’re a versatile team and that will help us when we get into ACC play.”

Within every game postgame newsconference this season, UVa coach Pete Gillen has used the phrase “we still have a lot of work to do” or “we’re still improving” or “we need to get better.” He used similar words after the win against Coastal Carolina.

“We’re just trying to get better. I think we have a great upside. We still have a ton of work to do before Sunday’s game [the ACC opener at N.C. State]. I feel good about our team but we still have a lot of work to do yet. I think we have the ingredients.”

These Cavaliers do have an advantage of those undefeated-by-Christmas teams of the past: they aren’t ranked. With a ranking comes a certain microscope and the Cavaliers probably are not quite ready for such scrutiny. Actually, that’s their preference at the moment.

“I think that’s fine with us. None of all that ranking stuff really matters. The rankings don’t factor into much. Being ranked now doesn’t really help you with NCAA selection. We are all about taking care of business and taking care of the games on our schedule. We can only control the things we can control. We can’t control other people’s opinions,” Billet said.
 

Happy to be home, and playing, for the holidays
Injury forced Pearman, a Charlotte native, to miss last season's bowl
RON GREEN JR.
Staff Writer

This time, Virginia's Alvin Pearman is more than the Cavaliers' unofficial host during the Continental Tire Bowl.

When the Cavaliers were here last December, prepping for their dismantling of West Virginia in the inaugural Charlotte bowl, Pearman was in the early stages of a long rehabilitation after season-ending knee surgery.

At Country Day, where Pearman had been a high school star, the running back could only watch as his teammates practiced on the field where he spent so many autumn afternoons. Pearman could tell his stories, provide directions and offer tips on where to go and what to do in Charlotte but he couldn't play football.

"Any time you can't go back to your hometown and show off for your friends and family, it's tough," said Pearman, who like teammate Chris Canty is from Charlotte. "But I still had a great time."

This time should be better for Pearman. He's healthy again, showing no lingering effects from the anterior cruciate ligament surgery he underwent last fall.

"You see so many players after that surgery, they're back but they're not the same player," Virginia coach Al Groh said. "But from the first time, he was the same old Alvin. Same quickness. Same cuts. Same change of direction.

"What he didn't have was his confidence and he got that back in a hurry."

As the Cavaliers' season unfolded, Pearman -- a junior -- blossomed. While the Cavaliers struggled, in large part due to injuries to quarterback Matt Schaub and running back Wali Lundy, Pearman found his place, becoming a dangerous running and receiving threat out of the backfield.

Pearman was the only ACC player to rank among the league's top 10 in both rushing yards and receptions. He gained 539 yards on the ground and accented that with 57 receptions, the second-highest total among running backs nationally.

When the Cavaliers were ineffective running against Florida State, Pearman set an ACC record with 16 receptions, the most ever by a running back in a game and five more than any Cavalier back had caught.

For Groh, Pearman's contribution felt like a bonus.

While hoping for a quick return, Groh's decades of football experience told him to temper his expectations related to Pearman's impact this season.

"Sometimes these things take longer than you want," Groh said. "You know there was this old commercial that said it's not nice to fool Mother Nature. He took her on and won."

If the Cavaliers didn't win as often as many expected, injuries were largely responsible. One day Schaub was being pushed as a Heisman Trophy candidate, the next he was nursing a bad shoulder that sidelined him and landed like a body blow on the Cavaliers.

Lundy, meanwhile, missed all or part of four games, and a team expected to challenge for the ACC championship, needed to beat Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech in its final two games to secure a return visit to Charlotte.

"Early this season, not enough people stepped up and wanted to be leaders," Pearman said. "When your head honcho goes down, everybody has to step up. But we didn't have enough guys do that."

Eventually the Cavaliers got healthier and better.

"We became a very confident team and that made all the difference," Pearman said.

Pearman, whose brother, Andrew, will play football for the Cavaliers beginning next season, has given Virginia an element of versatility out of the backfield. While Groh admires Pearman's heart and toughness, he likewise appreciates the possibilities his running back can create.

"The game slowed down for me this season," Pearman said. "I started recognizing defenses better and that allows you to anticipate things better."

Anticipation is part of what makes this return home special for Pearman. It's something that was lacking last December.

"Very rarely do people get a second chance at a wonderful opportunity like this," Pearman said. "It's the best Christmas present I could have."
 

Cancellation delays some Pitt players

Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris must have known something, scheduling a 40-minute walkthrough, in shorts, the day his team touched down in Charlotte.

Actually, most of his team touched down. Several Panthers -- including superstar wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald -- never reached the Queen City in time for Monday's brief practice at Myers Park High.

"We had some players who had a plane cancelled, so we're missing about 10 guys at practice," Harris said of the late-afternoon workout.

No harm. Harris scheduled the practice just to assemble his group and stretch their legs. The real work was in Pittsburgh before a break for players to visit family and friends. The Panthers will practice hard the next couple of days in anticipation of Saturday's game.

Fitzgerald and the others all figure to be in town for this morning's practice, which is closed to both the public and media. -- RICK BONNELL

Virginia in familiar practice setting

Virginia began its pre-bowl workouts Monday at Charlotte Country Day, the same place the Cavaliers practiced last year.In fact, virtually everything is the same for Virginia as it was a year ago.

"We'll see how it plays out but how a team travels and practices is almost as big a factor as the game plan," coach Al Groh said. "You want to get into a routine quickly so you can focus on practice rather than getting ready for practice."

The Cavaliers had a heavy practice Monday, will have a lighter workout today after a visit to Lowe's Motor Speedway, then go heavy again Wednesday.

The team will have Christmas morning off, practice in the afternoon then have a team party Thursday night. -- RON GREEN JR.

Panthers will be at home disadvantage

It's clear that both geographically and realistically, Pittsburgh will function as the road team in this game. Virginia, with a campus one state away, is bringing a ton of people. By comparison, the Panthers have sold a couple thousand tickets.

Blame that in part on the contrast in expectations: The Cavaliers overcame a poor start to finish strong with a victory against Virginia Tech. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh lost its final game to Miami, wasting a chance at the Big East title and a Bowl Championship Series bid.

"I think when (the Cavaliers) have sold at least 20,000, maybe 30,000, tickets, and we haven't come close, we'll probably be at a disadvantage," Harris said.

"I know a lot of people were disappointed (by the Miami loss), as we were. I would hope that there would be more people wanting to support us, but that's the way it goes. We're in a pro town, the press is a lot different than in a college town, and I think that has some effect as well."

Translation: Even in a down season for the Steelers, it's hard to get Pittsburgh to care about anything but its NFL team. -- R.B.

Notes

• Groh attended the funeral of his agent, Craig Kelly, Monday afternoon in Columbia. Kelly passed away over the weekend after a short battle with cancer.

• More than 45,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday's game, according to Frank Kay, director of media relations for the bowl. The lower level of Ericsson Stadium is essentially sold out, Kay said.