Step down to D-II a lift for McCabe
By Jeff White
Published: December 14, 2008

Had things gone differently Dec. 6, Kevin McCabe would have been on ESPN2 yesterday, playing for the NCAA Division II national title. Undoubtedly some University of Virginia football fans would have tuned in, heard his name and said, "That's not the same Kevin McCabe, is it?"

It is. McCabe, who began his college career at U.Va., ended it at California University of Pennsylvania, not far from his native Pittsburgh. Cal U lost Dec. 6 to Minnesota-Duluth in the Division II semifinals, but McCabe can look back with pride on a spectacular final season.

In 14 games -- 12 of which the Vulcans won -- the 6-2, 220-pound right-hander completed 253 of 386 passes for 3,214 yards and 32 touchdowns, with 10 interceptions.

"It was a blast," said McCabe, who transferred to Cal U for his final season of eligibility after graduating from U.Va. in December 2007.

"I learned a lot about myself, and I'd love to see how my game translates over to the ACC now, because I feel like I'm a much better quarterback than I was two years ago."

McCabe's U.Va. career ended abruptly in 2006. He didn't play after the third game that season, a 17-10 loss to Western Michigan at Scott Stadium. That was also the first game he'd started, and it came one week after McCabe, then a redshirt junior, had thrown a 25-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime to help U.Va. edge Wyoming 13-12.

Against Western Michigan, McCabe completed 13 of 16 passes for 111 yards. But he also threw two first-half interceptions. The second was returned for a touchdown, after which offensive coordinator Mike Groh benched McCabe -- for good, it turned out.

Jameel Sewell, then a redshirt freshman, started Virginia's next game. Sewell didn't relinquish the job until January 2008, when he was declared academically ineligible.

As a redshirt freshman in 2004, McCabe played in three games. He made only one appearance in '05. In 2006, three of the 32 passes he threw were intercepted, with two returned for touchdowns.

"Obviously, that's not a good ratio to start off with," McCabe said. "But at the same time, it wasn't like I was getting the majority of reps in practice. I was just put in a tough situation to succeed, and I would have loved to have gotten a little bit more attention and a little bit more leeway.

"I would love to have seen what would have happened if I was just given another shot."

Mike Groh, who recently was dismissed from the U.Va. staff, called McCabe this month to congratulate him on his success at Cal U. His relationship with Virginia coach Al Groh's older son, McCabe said, wasn't as bad as has been reported. But McCabe said Mike Groh never talked to him about his unceremonious demotion.

"The lack of communication kind of separated us and took us farther apart," McCabe said.

McCabe knew he didn't figure into the Grohs' plans for 2007, so he left the team after the '06 season to preserve his final season of eligibility. But he wanted to get his degree from U.Va. and remained there in 2007, sleeping on the floor of a duplex shared by such players as Chris Long, Cary Koch and Allen Billyk.

"I have no ill feeling toward the program at all whatsoever. I'm still a fan," said McCabe, who still talks regularly to his former teammates. "I still say 'we' like I'm part of the team."

Soon after enrolling at Cal U, a perennial power in Division II, McCabe established himself as the team's No. 1 quarterback. And now, after his star turn, McCabe is hearing from agents vying to represent him as he moves into the next phase of his football career.

"[Never] would I have ever thought I'd be where I'm at in that regards," McCabe said.

 

Where have all the Warriors gone?
Jeff White
Dec 11, 2008

CHARLOTTESVILLE – Has the pipeline from Oak Hill Academy to the U.Va. men’s basketball program been severed?

A conversation I had last night with Doug Doughty, The Roanoke Times’ longtime U.Va. beat writer, turned at one point to the lack of an Oak Hill presence in four-year coach Dave Leitao’s program.

Five of the greatest players in U.Va. history – Cory Alexander, Junior Burrough, Curtis Staples, Travis Watson and J.R. Reynolds – starred for coach Steve Smith at Oak Hill, a private school in the tiny town of Mouth of Wilson in Southwest Virginia.

Reynolds’ final season at U.Va. was 2006-07, however, and the the Cavaliers haven’t had an Oak Hill graduate on their roster since. That’s the longest such stretch in nearly two decades, and Virginia isn’t expected to add any Oak Hill graduates from the Class of 2009 or 2010.

The Oak Hill connection in U.Va. men’s hoops:

*1991-92 through ‘94-95: Alexander and Burrough

*1994-95 through ‘97-98: Staples

*1998-99: none

*1999-2000 through 2002-03: Watson

*2003-04 through ‘06-07: Reynolds

*2007-08: none

*2008-09: none

*2009-10: none projected

History suggests Oak Hill should be a recruiting priority for U.Va. coaches. The impact of former Warriors at Virginia has been huge. To wit:

*In career scoring, Burrough ranks No. 6, Staples is No. 10, Reynolds is No. 11, Watson is No. 14 and Alexander is No. 24.

*In career rebounds, Watson is No. 2 and Burrough is No. 3.

*In career assists, Alexander ranks No. 8 and Reynolds No. 10.

*In career blocked shots, Watson ranks No. 3 and Burrough No. 8.

—30—

Posted by Jeff White

Clawson gone; what about Zaunbrecher/Doug Doughty/Roanoke Times

Former University of Richmond head coach and Tennessee offensive coordinator Dave Clawson is the new head coach at Bowling Green, which takes him out of the mix for Virginia offensive coordinator, if he was ever in the mix.

Former UVa offensive coordinator Ron Prince probably will remain in the discussion until he gets another job. I've got to believe that Ed Zaunbrecher is a strong possibility, given his connections to both Al Groh and assistant head coach Bob Pruett.

Zaunbrecher was the offensive coordinator for both Groh at Wake Forest (1980-83) and Pruett at Marshall (from 2000-2001).

Zaunbrecher also has been the offensive coordinator at LSU and Florida and most recently has been the quarterbacks coach at Purdue under Joe Tiller, who was his own coordinator.

Danny Hope, who has been the coach-in-waiting under Tiller this past season, elected not to retain Zaunbrecher, a 58-year-old Middle Tennessee State graduate.

Zaunbrecher also was an assistant at Illinois and was the head coach at Louisiana-Monroe for five years in the 1990s.

DD

 

Focus intensifies on sagas of QBs Boyd, Newsome
RECRUITING - Norm Wood | Inside Recruiting
December 14, 2008

When it comes to high school sports, the Hampton Roads area has a lot to offer this time of year, with the conclusion of football playoffs and the start of basketball season.

All of that intrigue takes a backseat right now to the biggest high school sports story in the area. None of it is as fascinating as the ongoing Tajh Boyd and Kevin Newsome commitment watch.

Not since the days of Hampton High's Ronald Curry, who wound up at North Carolina after de-committing from the University of Virginia, has area recruiting been this compelling. Of course, coaches at Virginia, Virginia Tech, Penn State, Boston College, Oregon and Ohio State probably aren't as thrilled by all of the Boyd-Newsome drama.

If Newsome's desired personal schedule is any indication, we're probably no more than a week away from getting some kind of resolution to his saga. Newsome, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound quarterback, wants to enroll in college in January. In order to do so, he may need to make a college decision by Dec. 22, because college coaches will have to honor an NCAA-mandated dead period in recruiting from Dec. 22-Jan. 1. He's considering scholarship offers from Tech, Penn State, Ohio State and BC.

RECRUITING - Norm Wood Bio | Recent columns

Boyd, a 6-foot, 210-pound quarterback who led Phoebus High last weekend to the Group AAA Division 5 state championship, is forging ahead with his recruitment after having his heart broken by Tennessee.

He was expected to visit Ohio State this weekend, but Boyd and his mother, Carla, didn't answer phone calls or return messages. He also may be headed to Oregon next weekend. Both schools have offered him. He also is looking at offers from U.Va. and BC.

It will be interesting to see if Penn State, which also has offered Boyd, will get back in the mix for Boyd's services. With backup quarterback Pat Devlin opting to transfer, Penn State has just one scholarship quarterback on its roster for the 2009 season.

Boyd de-committed in October from West Virginia. Then he committed to Tennessee, but opted to de-commit when he and new Volunteers coach Lane Kiffin agreed that Knoxville might not be the best spot for Boyd.

Newsome is enrolled at Churchland High in Portsmouth after spending the fall at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham and his early high school years at Western Branch High in Chesapeake. He reneged in August on a commitment to Michigan and reopened his recruitment.

He and Boyd are considered by many recruiting analysts to be among the nation's top 10 quarterback recruits. They were both selected this week to play Jan. 3 in San Antonio in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, a prestigious high school all-star game.

ELITE LINEMAN CONSIDERING U.VA.
When offensive tackle Oday Aboushi turned his back on a commitment to BC, it meant U.Va. was back in the picture. That's big news, considering he'd be one of U.Va.'s top three commitments this year if he pledged to the Cavaliers.

He'd also be the highest-rated offensive-line commitment for U.Va. since 2005, when the Cavaliers signed Branden Albert and Eugene Monroe. Aboushi, a 6-6, 300-pound prospect from Xaverian High in Brooklyn, N.Y., was expected to be in Charlottesville this weekend for an official visit.

He's considered by many analysts to be one of the nation's top 25 offensive-tackle recruits. He's still looking at BC, but he also is giving offers from U.Va., Maryland, Rutgers and Iowa serious looks, too. He has visits set up for Maryland and Rutgers.

Now, there may be no tougher job in college football recruiting than evaluating the future of an offensive lineman. Just ask Virginia Tech offensive-line coach Curt Newsome, who has dealt with diminished returns from expected recruiting gems such as Will Alvarez (there's still time; he's just a redshirt freshman, but he has struggled thus far) and Aaron Brown. Brown's issues are due to shoulder injuries, an avoidable factor that caused him to miss the entire season and could cost him his career.

Newsome isn't alone. There are examples of highly touted high school offensive linemen who went on to flop in college everywhere. It's hard to tell which kids will struggle with the blocking complexities of college offenses, which guys will have a higher pain threshold than others (an inevitable consequence of playing on the offensive line) or which players will simply eat themselves out of college football.

With all that in mind, Aboushi seems to be a pretty safe bet to be a solid player. As a college coach, if you can't trust a top-25 offensive tackle to make an impact, what tackle can you trust?

London calling
Mike London is the first to say he inherited the mother lode when he became the University of Richmond's football coach in January.

He is the last to say that the bounty of 17 returning starters from a national semifinalist still demanded strong leadership, resourceful coaching and subtle tuning.

But London, a graduate of UR and Bethel High, provided all that and more, and Saturday the dividend was a riveting 21-20 victory at Northern Iowa that propels the Spiders into Friday's Division I-AA national championship game against Montana in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Even as Richmond fell behind 20-7, even as the UNI crowd cheered louder and the fourth-quarter clock wound down, you never sensed panic in the players or their rookie head coach. And that last drive: Are you kiddin' me?

Sixty-two yards in 90 seconds? On the road with no timeouts? A fourth-down conversion just for fun?

Just another example of the playoff drama that the knotheads running Division I-A football insist on denying athletes, coaches and fans.

But back to London.

When Richmond coach Dave Clawson inexplicably resigned after last season to become offensive coordinator at Tennessee, London was the no-duh choice to succeed him. He'd worked as an assistant at Richmond, William and Mary, Boston College, Virginia and with the NFL's Houston Texans. He'd established a reputation as an effective recruiter and defensive strategist.

"I've been trained for this," London said at his introductory news conference.

He learned his lessons well. Since a disheartening loss to James Madison in mid-October, Richmond (12-3) has won eight consecutive games, including an overtime conquest at William and Mary in the regular-season finale and a 33-13 second-round playoff pounding of three-time defending national champion Appalachian State last week in Boone, N.C.

Of course, players such as quarterback Eric Ward, defensive end Lawrence Sidbury and running back Josh Vaughan were the linchpins. But London forged the Spiders into a team, particularly after the last-second loss to JMU could have splintered them.

Moreover, as Comrade Fairbank chronicled in a column last month, London helped his players navigate life and death -- one Spider lost his mother, another a brother.

Like Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, London is the consummate local-guy-makes-good story. It's enough to turn a JMU alum still nursing Friday's loss to Montona into a Richmond fan.

Posted by David Teel
 

Ousted Belin looks to set record straight
By Jay Jenkins
Published: December 11, 2008

In the eyes of Levern Belin, there was failure to communicate.
According to a released statement from Virginia coach Al Groh on Monday, Belin was one of three assistant coaches that “stepped down” from his post.
Groh also stated that Belin, the program’s defensive line coach, and former offensive coordinator Mike Groh would “pursue career opportunities.”
Belin balked at those claims and stopped short of saying that Al Groh was forced to make the staff changes.
“Just get the record straight ... I did not step down, nor was I seeking other opportunities,” Belin said. “I love Charlottesville and UVa.”
Belin, who was recruited to play football at Wake Forest by Al Groh, joined the Cavaliers’ coaching staff in 2005 after a one-year stint at Northern Illinois.
Yet after Virginia finished 5-7 this season and in fifth place in the ACC’s Coastal Division — ahead of only Duke, a team that beat the Cavaliers 31-3 — staff changes were unavoidable.
That led to Belin receiving his walking papers with “compensation” based on his time with the university.
The news for Belin was just another chapter in a heart-wrenching patch in his life. While an assistant coach at Virginia, Belin’s father was killed in an automobile crash in North Carolina. In 2007, one of his twin sons died at birth, keeping the coach from the season-opening contest at Wyoming.
“My dad died while I was here and my firstborn son died while I was here,” Belin said. “Never once did I not think about how much I loved my players at UVa.
“While I disagree with the situation, I know the truth. God will
always take care of his children.”
As tumultuous as the times may have been for Belin, former nose tackle Allen Billyk said he always placed his players first.
“He has had some unfortunate things in the past couple of years and I think that really shows his character since he is able to push that stuff aside for a while and concentrate on football, however small that is at times,” Billyk said. “He had family stuff going on and he never lost focus trying to make us a better team.”
A devout Christian, Belin said he would press on and wanted his former players to know his admiration for them.
“Understand this ... the joy I have, no man can take away, much less a job,” he said. “To the players: I love you all and best wishes.”

 

ACC rookies make their mark
By Whitey Reid
Published: December 14, 2008

There’s no doubt that Virginia is off to its shakiest start since coach Dave Leitao came aboard prior to the 2005-06 season. UVa, in the midst of a two-week hiatus due to winter exams, sits at 3-3.

However, a silver lining to the team’s struggles has been the play of freshmen Sylven Landesberg and Sammy Zeglinski.

Landesberg and Zeglinski (who is technically a redshirt freshman) are Virginia’s top two scorers, combining to average 32.2 points, more than any other ACC freshman duo.

That’s pretty impressive when you consider that the ACC, as is often the case, has a very talented crop of rookies. A look around the conference, which gobbled up eight of the 24 players who participated in last spring’s McDonald’s All-American Game, confirms that.

North Carolina didn’t exactly need any “Burger Boys” after Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green all put their NBA plans on hold and returned to school. But, as usual, the Tar Heels gladly welcomed three of them.

Tyler Zeller, a 7-footer from Indiana, started the first two games of the season while Hansbrough was recovering from a shin injury, but then suffered a wrist injury of his own that shut him down for the season.

That opened the door for former Benedictine (Richmond) standout Ed Davis to get more minutes. Davis, who left Leitao and the Cavaliers at the proverbial altar after his father, former NBA player Terry Davis, steered him toward UNC late in the recruiting process, has looked good.

The 6-foot-8 power forward is averaging 9.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks, leaving Wahoo fans to wonder what kind of numbers he would have posted in a Virginia uniform.

“Ed has a lot of post moves, a nice hook and he can block shots,” said Ellington. “I expect him to be able to play a lot of quality minutes for us.”

Larry Drew II, whose father, Larry, was also a former NBA player, is the third member of Tar Heels’ class. The point guard from California, stuck behind Lawson and others, hasn’t played very much but has still managed to notch 27 assists and just 11 turnovers.

“Larry’s just really fast and knows how to lead the team,” Ellington said. “He’s very unselfish, always looking to get teammates involved.”

Just like Drew, Elliot Williams — the jewel of Duke’s recruiting class — is stuck behind a number of talented guards (Nolan Smith, Gerald Henderson, Jon Scheyer and Greg Paulus). The McDonald’s All-American, who chose the Blue Devils over Virginia and hometown Memphis, has averaged just 13.6 minutes.

Meanwhile, big man Miles Plumlee, who also spurned UVa, has averaged only 7.6 minutes.

Arguably, the most impressive freshman in the ACC so far has been Wake Forest’s Al-Farouq Aminu.

“Aminu is terrific — a future pro,” marveled Clemson coach Oliver Purnell.

Aminu, a 6-foot-8, 205-pounder from Georgia, can play almost any position on the court. He’s averaging 12.3 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.5 blocks.

“What makes him good is his humbleness,” said Wake Forest senior guard Harvey Hale. “He could miss three in a row but his facial expression will never change, and then he’ll make three and his facial expression will never change because he just keeps playing, and he can score in a variety of ways. He’s like one of those players who you’re like, ‘Wow, he had 20 and 10,’ because he’s not flashy, but he gets the job done.”

If Aminu wasn’t enough of an addition, the Demon Deacons — who arguably had the best class in the conference — also reeled in two of the top big men in 6-foot-10 Tony Woods and 7-foot Ty Walker.

Woods reminds Hale of a young Tyler Hansbrough.

“He’s just so tough and plays so hard,” Hale said. “He’s relentless on the boards and just goes after the ball and finishes with dunks.”

Hale calls Walker, who hasn’t played much yet, “a game-changer.”

“He blocks shots. He gets offensive rebounds and can dunk really well. He’s really athletic.”

Hale is expecting big things from all three freshmen.

“I’m a senior and they’re better than me, but they’re listening to me and that’s something I respect about them and makes me see why they’re good,” he said. “They don’t let anything bother them. They just keep playing and keep playing.”

That’s one of the attributes that Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt likes most about his freshman, 6-foot-5 point guard Iman Shumpert. The Chicago native is averaging 12.7 points, 6.0 assists and 4.2 rebounds.

“He’s interesting because he’s very talented, but also a very intelligent player,” said Hewitt of Shumpert, who Virginia will see in its league opener in Atlanta on Dec. 28. “He’s a terrific defender and plays very hard and very unselfish.”

Leading the way in sheer quantity of recruits was Florida State, which brought in five true freshmen. Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton, by all accounts, also found great quality.

At the top of the list is McDonald’s All-American Chris Singleton, a 6-foot-9 forward who, like Aminu, can play inside and outside. Singleton, from Dunwoody, Ga., has looked solid in the early going, averaging 9.7 points and 8.1 rebounds.

FSU also has a nice post prospect in 7-foot-1 redshirt freshman Solomon Alabi, who chose the Seminoles over Virginia two springs ago. The Nigerian, who boasts a 7-foot-3 wingspan, is averaging 7.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in nine starts.

Alabi looks like a more beefed-up version of Virginia freshman Assane Sene, who, after sitting out the first three games of the season due to eligibility concerns, will be looking to make a similar impact for UVa.

Meanwhile, 6-foot-11 center John Brandenburg, Virginia’s fourth freshman, has barely gotten off the bench this season.

However, the early contributions of his classmates — Landesberg and Zeglinski — have more than made up for it.