Division I Sports Academy Directors' Cup Standings
Virginia Takes Over Lead in Second Standings
Dec. 14, 2006

Cleveland, Ohio - Virginia has jumped three places to take over the top spot in the second set of the 2006-07 Division I Sports Academy Directors' Cup fall standings.

With 303 points, the Cavaliers recorded three top-10 finishes - third in men's soccer, fifth in women's field hockey and ninth in women's soccer. Virginia also finished 14th overall in both men and women's cross country.

Duke jumped from sixth to second with 266 points. The Blue Devils had a third place finish in women's field hockey, fifth in men's soccer, 10th in women's cross country and 17th in women's soccer.

Holding on to third by just 10 points is Colorado, with 254. The Buffaloes captured the men's cross country national championship, were runner-up in women's cross country and ninth in women's soccer.

Twelve-time defending champion Stanford is currently in fourth with 244 points, finishing first in women's cross country, fourth overall in men's cross country and ninth in women's soccer.

Just one point out of fourth and rounding out the top-five are the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest with 244 points. The Deacons finished runner-up in women's field hockey, took home third in men's soccer, were 17th in women's soccer and 27th in women's cross country.

These standings are based upon the completion of men and women's cross country, field hockey, men and women's soccer and men's water polo. In addition to Stanford and Colorado winning national championships in men's and women's cross country, Maryland took home top honors in women's field hockey, California Berkeley won the men's water polo title, California Santa Barbara was first in men's soccer and North Carolina won the women's soccer title.

The Sports Academy Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. The United States Sports Academy, based in Daphne, Alabama, is the program's sponsor. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 20 sports - 10 women's and 10 men's.

The next Division I standings will be released Thursday, December 28.

Please note, standings published midseason are unofficial. Official standings will be published upon the completion of the spring season.
 

Ex-aides make grade
Coaches Prince, Golden, Rocco apply lessons learned under Groh
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 13, 2006

Twelve months have passed since they left Al Groh's staff at the University of Virginia, each to pursue a dream of running a football program. Offensive coordinator Ron Prince headed to Kansas State, defensive coordinator Al Golden to Temple, associate head coach Danny Rocco to Liberty.

"I couldn't be happier," Rocco said, and his former colleagues Prince and Golden say they have no regrets either.

Each of the three has his program in better shape than when he inherited it.

Liberty, which was 1-10 in 2005, went 6-5 this season, and Rocco was named Big South Conference coach of the year.

"I think we have a chance to have a lot of success here," he said.

Kansas State, which won four games in 2004 and five in '05, is 7-5 and bound for a Dec. 28 date with Rutgers (10-2) at the Texas Bowl. The Wildcats won three of their final four regular-season games, including their Nov. 11 matchup with defending national champion Texas.

"There's quite a bit of excitement," Prince said of the mood in Manhattan.

For Golden, who took over perhaps the worst program in Division I-A, the on-field progress wasn't as tangible. After finishing 0-11 in 2005, the Owls went 1-11 this season. But the new coaching staff, which includes another former U.Va. assistant, Mark D'Onofrio, stabilized a program whose foundation was crumbling in the spots where it hadn't collapsed.

"There were so many elements in the program we had to change," Golden said, "and I think we accomplished a lot of those things, just to give ourselves a chance to move forward."

It didn't help Golden that Temple had to play a brutal nonconference schedule, which included games with Louisville, Clemson, Penn State and Navy. Or that, because of academic problems that occurred during the tenure of Golden's predecessor, the NCAA last spring stripped Temple of nine scholarships.

The Owls played 21 true freshmen and were outscored 496-131 this season. The good news for Golden: His players improved dramatically in the classroom and never quit battling on the field. The breakthrough came Oct. 28, when Temple snapped a 20-game losing streak with a 28-14 win over Bowling Green.

"Look, I'm not happy with our results," Golden said, "but now we don't have this albatross [the losing streak] hanging over our heads the entire offseason."

Golden and Prince, at 37, are among the youngest head coaches in Division I-A. Rocco, 46, spent two decades as an assistant, at schools ranging from Wake Forest to Colorado to Boston College to U.Va., before landing the job at Division I-AA Liberty.

Like Golden and Prince, Rocco was part of Groh's first staff at U.Va. and spent five seasons as an assistant there. In addition to coaching the outside linebackers, Rocco interacted with the team's academic-support staff, worked with the university's admissions department and, at various times, also served as recruiting coordinator and summer-camp director.

"Al Groh allowed me to do a number of things at Virginia that really prepared me for this position," Rocco said.

Since returning to his alma mater after the 2000 season, Groh has lost numerous assistants, some to the NFL and some to higher-profile positions elsewhere. He says he can live with that.

"If you want to make sure that there's no movement on your staff," Groh said, "then hire unambitious guys who don't have enough talent to attract people's eyes."

Of the 2005 exodus, Golden said, "I think it was just a situation where there were three guys who learned a lot at the University of Virginia and who worked well together but really wanted an opportunity to have their own programs. I'm proud to have worked with [Prince and Rocco] and excited about the things they're doing at their programs."

Prince grew up in Kansas, and his parents live about 20 miles from the Kansas State campus. He replaced a legend at K-State, Bill Snyder, but has handled the transition to a high-visibility head job with aplomb.

"I feel I was well-prepared for it, with all the things I learned from [Groh]," Prince said.

Kansas State loses about 20 seniors from this year's team. In 2007, Prince said, he'll "be looking at a less-experienced team, but I think we'll be a little more talented."

At Liberty, Rocco will have back 10 players who made first- or second-team all-Big South this season. Newcomers will include 6-6, 280-pound linebacker Vince Redd, a transfer from U.Va. who wasn't eligible this season. "I can't wait to start spring ball," Rocco said. "We will literally be so much farther ahead than we were last year because of the foundation we laid."

The same is true at Temple, said Golden, who believes the worst is behind him. It better be, he added with a laugh.

The Owls lose only five starters from this year, and it's realistic to think they could win several games next season, when they'll finally be full members of the Mid-American Conference. Temple should be better still in 2008, when virtually all of its 2007 team will be eligible to return.

Cavs pick up 22nd recruit
U.Va. is the choice after injury doesn't affect its attention
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Dec 15, 2006

Dontrelle Inman, who has long favored the University of Virginia, committed last night. The 6-3, 180-pound wide receiver, a senior at Batesburg-Leesville High in South Carolina, chose U.Va. over Georgia Tech.

Inman, who spent last weekend in Charlottesville, is the 22nd player to commit to U.Va. for 2007.

After helping the Panthers win South Carolina's Class AA title in 2005 - he had 31 catches for 400 yards and four touchdowns and was named all-state - Inman had an abbreviated senior season. On Sept. 30, he tore the lateral collateral ligament in his knee and missed the rest of the season.

The Cavaliers, led by assistant coach Levern Belin, never slowed in their pursuit of Inman, which impressed him.

"They just stayed with him through everything," Batesburg-Leesville coach Courtney McInnis said last night. "After he got injured, it was like it never happened."

Also a standout safety, Inman intercepted six passes in 2005 and three in '06. In the Panthers' run-oriented offense, he caught 18 passes for 201 yards and two TDs this season. He's known for his knack of making leaping catches when well-covered.

U.Va. has nearly filled its recruiting class for 2007. One of the remaining spots may go to Henrico High senior Corey Mosley, who recently was named second-team all-Central Region at defensive back.

Mosley visited Virginia last weekend and "got a lot of questions answered," he said yesterday. He's scheduled to visit Virginia Tech, his other finalist, next month but said he might choose U.Va. before then.

"It's being discussed," Mosley said. "It's coming down to crunch time."


 

The world according to Howie Long: Part I
December 15, 2006

In a rare sitdown, Pro Football Hall of Famer and TV personality Howie Long chatted with Jerry Ratcliffe, the sports editor at The Daily Progress, about the former Oakland Raider star’s playing days, life after football, his three sons and their young careers and Virginia football. Here is a look at the world of football according to Howie, Charlottesville’s most visible sports figure, in a two-part series:

Q: I remember asking you the day you were inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame about what it meant to you and you said that it was too much to absorb at that time. Now that you’ve had a few years to reflect on it, do you have a better grasp of the honor?

A: I can’t tell you how much of a sacrifice that your family makes, the kind of sacrifice that you make, all the games you were shot-up in, all the games you played hurt, all the operations. When you think you’ve hit the ceiling in terms of how far you thought you could take yourself physically and mentally, you go beyond that. All the people on the stage behind me that day had done that. To go in with Joe [Montana] and Ronnie [Lott], and Dave Wilcox and Dan Rooney was special.

It gives you a sense of peace, not that you needed to validate what you accomplished on the field, but it is the gold standard to be one of, I think at that time there were seven defensive ends in the history of the game that were in the Hall of Fame. When you stop and think about that for a second you go, ‘Wow.’ It all seemed to have happened so quickly, the 13 years [in the NFL] and my college career at Villanova.

Villanova, for me, was the perfect situation. It wasn’t too big, it wasn’t too small, it wasn’t on television - it allowed me to grow up at a place that was good for me. When a player got hurt in the Blue-Gray, I got to go in as a replacement player. Joe Restic, the coach at Harvard - I played with his son in high school - he was on the committee, and Jimmy Johnson was my [Blue-Gray] coach. It’s such a small world and all that stuff flashes through your mind. [The other Hall of Famers] make bets behind you on who cries first. That’s the big thing at the Hall of Fame. What inevitably gets you and got me was when I talked about my grandmother, who brought me up. Still, when I think about it, I have to remind myself that I’m part of that, because I don’t think about it that often. Every once in a while it’s good to remind yourself, ‘Hey, I’m in the Hall of Fame.’ It’s like [Terry] Bradshaw ...

I have to remind him every once in a while, ‘You’re Terry Bradshaw, you won four Super Bowls, you’re a two-time Super Bowl MVP.’ It’s funny, but he’s a lot different than you think. He’s not someone who sits there and thinks like that. You do have to remind him of how great he was. On the air, that’s all a schtick. Don’t buy that hee-haw stuff. My man is a Phi Beta Kappa of life.

Q: Your first choice as a presenter into the Hall was your son, Chris, but he wasn’t ready for that task. What went into the decision to choose him?

A: He was 14 at the time and the thing I wanted him to know was that he was my first choice and I wanted him to have the opportunity to say yes or no. If you know Chris, and you do by now, Chris is a very straightforward kid who will give you a straight answer. He just told me, ‘Hey, 14,000 people and it’s on national television, I’d rather this not be the forum for my first lengthy speech.’ I understood. I was 40 at the time and I was nervous.

Q: What was that day in Canton like for you?

A: You’ve got 12 minutes. You write out that speech and you rewrite it 30 times and I rewrote it the night before the speech. I’ve still never seen the speech, I’ve still never watched and that’s probably my own personal thing. But you time it out and time it out, and when you get up there it ends up being 15 or 17 minutes. It was about 100 degrees that day and there are so many people you want to thank because when you go into the Hall of Fame, I’m taking everyone that touched my life with me. I’m taking my high school coach, I’m taking my Uncle Billy that I lived with, my Uncle George that I lived with, my grandmother who had since passed away and was such a big part of my life, my kids, my pro coach, my college coach. There were so many people who had touched my life and I forgot one. I forgot Tom Flores.

In that 15 minute speech I got everybody in but Tom Flores and I know it just devastated him. So, when I went back to get my Hall of Fame ring I specifically asked that Tom be down on the field with me to try and make it up to him. I still to this day, that’s the only regret I have about the whole thing.

Q: Talking about taking the beating that NFL players endure, what about Tiki Barber? He received a lot of criticism in some circles for announcing that this would be his last season.

A: I know Tiki’s beaten up. He’s a lot more beaten up than people know. I think he’s done a really nice job. Anyone familiar with the Barber brothers (Tiki and Ronde) knows how considerate, articulate, focused individuals they are and that’s a great reflection on the University of Virginia.

I think Tiki’s hand injury is a lot worse than people know. The average career for a running back in the NFL is three-and-a-half to four years and the beatings that they take are extraordinary.

That’s why, when faced with a choice of picking a running back with a first-round choice, unless he’s Bo Jackson or someone like that, [teams] may take a comparable player at a left tackle or defensive end or quarterback. A running back’s shelf life is so short.

What Tiki has accomplished, particularly at his size, is amazing. And what he has accomplished in the final third of his career is mind-boggling. I think the inadvertent announcement, because he plays in New York, and because at that time his team was very hot, more was made of it than usual. It’s bigger externally than it is internally and I think Tiki has a pretty good idea of the goings on inside that locker room.

Q: You’ve been part of the “FOX NFL Sunday” show for 13 years. Elaborate, if you will, about your job.

A: I had met Terry for about 30 seconds in passing prior to us working together and we couldn’t be any different. He’s from Louisiana, I’m from Boston. He grew up Baptist, I grew up Catholic. He was a quarterback, I was a defensive lineman. He’s a Steeler, I’m a Raider. It goes on and on and on.

If I have a better friend or someone that I have more fun with outside my family, I don’t know who it is. I laugh from the minute I get to work to the minute I leave. I love my job. I am really fortunate to be able to be part of covering a sport that I have a great deal of passion for at every level. I love high school football, college football and pro football.

Q: When you started with the FOX crew, I imagine you had to learn on the fly. Has your approach changed over the years, or have you tried to keep it constant?

A: You know what? I think from maybe week five of Year 1, once we got kind of got acclimated, not much has changed in that arena. I never equated the camera to being people. My philosophy of talking about football has always been just like I’m sitting here having a conversation with John Q. Public. I don’t think you can be anything other than who you are, particularly on television over a long period of time. People see right through that. I think what you see on our show is that you see exactly who we are. We watch Sunday night football together, we watch college football on Saturdays. My sons are like my colleagues’ nephews. It’s as if, ‘Well how did Howie do this week?’ or Terry wants to know, ‘How’d Kyle do? How’s Chris doing?’ Terry has all daughters, I have all sons. So, in a sense, my boys are like Terry’s nephews. It’s fun from that standpoint, too.

Jimmy has been a great source of information for everyone. Sitting next to Jimmy is like sitting next to the Shell Answer Man. If Jimmy Johnson sat down, and I’ve tried to get him to do this, and did the coaching tree of where he’s been, all the coaches that have been under him, including Joe Gibbs, who was his defensive ends coach somewhere. But his knowledge of how to build a franchise, how to coach a football team, the philosophy of how to handle players, I thoroughly enjoy talking to him about those things. Any time I have a question about a football outside my realm of knowledge, I go right to Jimmy.

Q: What’s a typical workweek like for you?

A: I go through probably 20 highlighters a week. I watch a lot of film. I watch college film, I watch high school film and I watch pro film, because I have sons in high school, a son in college and, obviously, my job is about pro football. But it’s what I like to do. I really enjoy football, the subtleties, the techniques. I’m a big technique guy, I’m a big foundation guy, how you build a player both mentally and physically ... the work habits, the toughness, the discipline. Those are some of the things I knew my older boy would get [at UVa] with Al Groh and I feel good about that. I knew he would be ready for Al because I coached him and Al couldn’t be any harder on him than I’ve been.

“I do a lot of work during the week. I’m a late-night guy. I’m up ’til 1 a.m. There’s a lot to do. I probably go into a broadcast with 20 pages of information and I use one-third of a page. But I don’t know any other way to prepare. I’d rather be over-prepared than under-prepared. You can’t control a lot of things, but you can show up on time and you can out-work everybody. It’s real simple and that’s what I tell my boys. If someone’s out-working you, then you’re not working hard enough.

Q: How do you evaluate the way the NFL is going at present?

A: A lot of people want the dominant team and I think we have some dominant teams if you look at your Indianapolis’s, San Diego, the Bears and the Patriots have won three of the last five Super Bowls. Any time Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are involved in a football team you have to look out for them. But I think the NFL is striving for parity and I think we’re seeing that.

 

Moore learned from UVa visit
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
December 15, 2006

In the midst of a sub-par season at Appalachian State in 2004, Jerry Moore went outside Boone, N.C., for help.

During that campaign - one that saw the Mountaineers’ coach miss the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs - Virginia coach Al Groh opened his practice doors as the Cavaliers prepared for the MPC Computers Bowl.

It is not a common occurrence, but Moore - who leads Appalachian State into tonight’s NCAA Division I-AA title game against UMass - and former Virginia offensive coordinator Ron Prince had a special bond in place.

When Moore arrived at Appalachian State in 1989, the first player he signed was Prince, an offensive tackle from Dodge City Community College.

Prince, now the head coach at Kansas State, will never forget that.

“When I was young and really stupid, Coach Moore was such a mentor to me,” Prince said. “He’s been like a father to me through all the years. He has been so supportive and so good.”

When Moore arrived in Charlottesville, his mind was solely on football and how he could turn a team that had just posted a 6-5 record into a national title contender.

“Even with all the success he has had, he had a year that he didn’t think was as exciting as he would have liked and he decided to come up,” Prince said. “He didn’t want to be in the meetings. He just wanted to come and watch practice.”

Prince offered to have Moore stay in his home with his family while he was in town. Moore declined the offer.

Prince also begged his college coach to join him for dinner night after night. Moore declined again and again.

“He just went back to his hotel room and got his thoughts together of where he felt his team needed to go and how they needed to approach things,” Prince recounted.

Prince and Groh were just happy to help in a small way.

“In this business you share things with your friends and with people that you love and care about and care about you,” Prince said, “because you want to see them do well.”

With that relationship in place, Prince was happier than almost anyone in America when Appalachian State beat Northern Iowa, 21-16, and hoisted the 2005 I-AA championship trophy last year.

“No one has more pride in that national championship that they won last year than I do,” he said.

Just ask Prince’s recruits. When the title game was aired last year by ESPN, as it will be tonight, Prince put it on every single television set.

“We made all the recruits watch it,” he joked. “That’s how deeply connected we feel.”

To say the least, Prince will be watching tonight with a vested interest.

Local flavor

At least three players in tonight’s title game have obvious connections to Central Virginia.

UMass starting wideout Brandon London, cornerback Brandon Freeman and reserve quarterback Joe Sanford attended local high schools.

London, who leads the Minutemen in receptions and receiving yards, graduated from Albemarle and played one season at Fork Union for postgraduate coach John Shuman, while Sanford led Monticello to the state title game in 2004.

On the season, London has 46 catches for 750 yards and nine touchdowns. The 22-year-old was a first team selection on the Atlantic-10 All-Conference team.

Freeman, a two-way star at Blue Ridge under former coach Mike Alley, has been credited with 24 tackles and one sack in nine games. He is also a valuable player on special teams.

Sanford has not attempted a pass but has appeared in 10 games and is credited with two tackles.

Many local football fans also know London and Sanford for their connections to Virginia’s football program. London’s father, Mike, is the Cavaliers’ defensive coordinator and his uncle, Paul, played at UVa. Sanford joined the UVa football team prior to the 2005 season as a walk-on and transferred to UMass with four years of eligibility remaining. Sanford’s father, Mark, played fullback at UVa and currently serves as the head football coach at The Covenant School.

 

Source: Duke rape accuser pregnant
DAVID SCOTT
Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. - The woman at the center of the Duke lacrosse rape case is pregnant and due to give birth any day, roughly nine months after the team party where she says she was raped by three men in a bathroom.

The pregnancy was confirmed late Thursday by a person familiar with the case, speaking to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Both Fox News and WRAL-TV in Raleigh reported she gave birth Thursday night.

There had been no prior indication the woman, a 28-year-old college student who already has children, was even pregnant. She has not spoken in public since granting a single interview to the News & Observer of Raleigh shortly after the party.

The person who confirmed the pregnancy to the AP had no information about the father. Defense attorneys have stressed for months that no sex occurred at the party and they have cited DNA testing that found genetic material from several males in the accuser's body and her underwear - but none from any member of the lacrosse team.

Calls to attorneys representing the three indicted players were not returned Thursday night, as were calls and messages left with District Attorney Mike Nifong.

Medical records included in a defense motion filed Thursday were not made public. It wasn't clear whether a pregnancy test was taken immediately after the party.

The development came just hours after defense attorneys file a motion saying the woman misidentified her alleged attackers in a photo lineup that was "an incoherent mass of contradiction and error." The attorneys asked a judge to bar prosecutors from using the photo lineup at their clients' trial and prevent the accuser from identifying the players from the witness stand.

Duke University law professor James E. Coleman Jr. said the case would be "effectively dismissed" if the court finds the lineup inadmissible "and rules that it is so suggestive that there can't be an in-court identification."

Within Thursday's motion, the defense highlighted what it considers numerous holes in the accuser's story.

Among the details cited are examples of how the accuser's story changed in the hours and days after the party; that she has a history of bipolar disorder; that she identified two people as having attended the party who were not there; and that she identified four attackers during the April photo lineup.

An earlier defense motion argued the lineup was "unnecessarily suggestive" because the accuser was shown only photos of lacrosse players.

Thursday's motion adds details about efforts by police investigators and Nifong to assist the accuser in identifying the three men she said gang-raped her in a bathroom at a March 13 team party where she had been hired to perform as a stripper.

Based in part on those identifications, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans were indicted on charges of rape, kidnapping and sexual offense. All three players have insisted they are innocent.

Investigators conducted three photo lineups, according to the defense motion. In the first two, the accuser failed to identify Evans and did not identify Seligmann as an attacker, despite being shown photos of both men.

Defense lawyers argue that the third lineup, conducted April 4 at the Durham Police Department, violated departmental policies and the defendants' constitutional due process rights because it included only pictures of those at the party.

A hearing is scheduled Friday, but it is unclear whether the defense might argue their motions filed Wednesday and Thursday. The hearing had been expected mostly to deal with scheduling.

 

Lawsuit: Vick kept seeing underage girl
Marcus Vick, then-Virginia Tech quarterback, ignored 2004 court orders to stay away, lawsuit says.
By Mark Berman
981-3125

A lawsuit filed Wednesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court contends that then-Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick continued to have sex with an underage Christiansburg girl for nearly two years after a judge ordered him to stay away from her.

In 2004, Vick was told three times by the courts to have no contact with the girl, who claims in the lawsuit that her sexual relationship with Vick continued through December 2005.

Vick, now a 22-year-old rookie with the NFL's Miami Dolphins, is being sued for $6.35 million by the girl, who is now 17, and her grandmother. The girl accuses Vick of sexual battery upon a minor, intentional infliction of emotional distress, willful and wanton conduct, and fraud.

"As a direct and proximate result of Marcus Vick's unlawful sexual intercourse with Jane Doe, the plaintiff suffered, and will continue to suffer, psychological trauma associated with the child sexual abuse perpetrated by defendant Marcus Vick," the lawsuit states.

The girl identifies herself in the lawsuit as the one who had sex with Vick on the January 2004 night that led to his arrest and conviction that year for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The lawsuit states that the girl, identified only as Jane Doe, was a 15-year-old honor student at Christiansburg High School when she first had sex with Vick in January 2004.

According to the lawsuit, the pair also had sex eight more times -- in February, March and April of 2004, and in January, February, March and December of 2005. The sex took place either at Vick's apartment, the apartments of two unidentified Tech players, or the girl's grandmother's house.

The girl's lawyer, D. Stephen Haga, said the girl came to see him about a month ago.

"This relationship, she was under the impression there was going to be something to it," Haga said Thursday. "She was being misled. Now she's kind of realized she was being used, abused. ... She is angry at the way she was taken advantage of."

Montgomery County Commonwealth's Attorney Brad Finch declined to comment when asked if he was going to investigate the matter and whether Vick could face criminal charges.

Larry Woodward, Vick's attorney and agent, said: "I'm going to defend Marcus on the civil case ... and if anything else comes up, certainly we'll deal with that."

Woodward refused to comment on whether the girl's allegations were true.

The lawsuit also states that in April 2005, Vick persuaded the girl to have oral sex with him while she was having sex with another Tech player who was not identified in the lawsuit.

On another occasion, the lawsuit states, Vick "conspired" with a second unnamed Tech player to use that player's apartment so Vick could have sex with the girl and evade "scrutiny by the Blacksburg Police Department and news media."

Vick "made repeated misrepresentations to plaintiff Jane Doe, including that defendant Marcus Vick was in love with her; that defendant Marcus Vick wanted her to have his child; that a sexual relationship between an adult male of his age and a female child of her age was acceptable; and that it was acceptable and necessary for plaintiff Jane Doe to engage in sexual intercourse with other adult men in order to please him," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit notes that the girl was "unable to legally consent" to the sexual activity.

"Plaintiff Jane Doe has suffered injury to her physical, mental and emotional health, injury to her body, and shock and injury to her nervous system, all of which injuries have caused and continue to cause plaintiff great mental, physical and nervous pain and suffering and emotional distress," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit states the girl dropped out of high school the semester she met Vick because she suffered "severe emotional distress, including humiliation and ridicule."

The lawsuit states Vick, the brother of former Tech quarterback and now Atlanta Falcons star Michael Vick, maintained "frequent and continuous contact" with the girl by phone and other means from January 2004 until he moved from the area in December 2005.

The girl observed Vick and the first unnamed Tech player smoking marijuana during several visits to Vick's apartment, according to the lawsuit. Vick offered the girl alcohol and marijuana at various times during their relationship but she refused, according to the lawsuit.

Vick, Tech linebacker Brenden Hill and then-Tech running back Mike Imoh were each convicted in May 2004 in Christiansburg by Juvenile and Domestic Relations Judge Robert Viar of three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for giving three underage girls liquor and encouraging them to strip. Vick had confessed to police that he had consensual sex with one of the girls that night. The girl who allegedly had sex with Vick invoked her Fifth Amendment rights when called to the stand at the trial. All three men appealed.

It was said at the trial and in a 2004 search warrant that the offenses and the first sexual encounter took place at the Blacksburg apartment of Vick and Hill on the night of Jan. 27, 2004, after the girls met the players at a Tech women's basketball game that night. But the lawsuit states that the night in question was on Jan. 24, 2004, after a different Tech game.

Vick was charged in the matter in February 2004. According to the lawsuit, as a condition of his bond, Vick was ordered to have "no contact with the victims or witnesses while this case is pending." The lawsuit states that was also a condition of his bond when he was convicted three months later.

In August 2004, hours before he was convicted of reckless driving and possession of marijuana in New Kent County, Vick was suspended by Tech for the fall semester.

Vick pleaded no contest in September 2004 to one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was convicted and ordered by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Bobby Turk to have no contact with the three teenage victims in the case. Vick received a suspended 30-day jail sentence, 24 hours of community service and a $100 fine.

Tech athletic director Jim Weaver said he was notified of the lawsuit Wednesday in a letter from the girl's attorney. Tech was not named in the lawsuit.

Vick earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors in 2005. But in January 2006, after he received a speeding ticket and stomped on a Louisville player in the Gator Bowl, he was kicked off the team by Tech officials.

Vick was signed by the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent. He is a third-string receiver and third-string quarterback, and has yet to appear in a game.