It's here. Yay? The first day of fall camp. If you like you can call it the first day of football season. Personally I wait until Monday of the first game week for that, because that's when I get this machine moving into its football rhythm, but today is just fine too if it suits you.
I do not write a full-blown preview of the season until I see how camp went, because stuff always changes. Always. But I do whet your appetite just a little every year with what I think are the questions that we need to answer by the end of August. Something a little more specific than just "what are the freshmen going to look like?" That is what we'll do today. These are the issues I think are most important for this year's practices.
1. Will Mike London keep his promise to pick a quarterback and stick with him?
You'll note that the QB thing is most emphatically not "Lambert or Watford?" It doesn't matter. It's a different question than last year entirely. When the choice was between Rocco and Sims, it was a question of experience and stability vs. dazzling potential. It mattered a bit more. This year it doesn't. Watford has played a little, but his limited run in 2011 isn't very informative and so much has happened since then that it wouldn't be fair to base any judgments on it. Both are close to equally inexperienced.
So no, I don't think it matters whether the coaches choose Watford or Lambert, and anyway it looks like the answer is leaning toward Watford. Really, I have minimal patience for people who pick one (especially when the candidates have been on the field so little) and root for that one to win and then get all pissy on message boards when their choice disagrees with the coaches. It smacks of individual over team, it starts unnecessary fights, and its arrogant to think you're that much smarter than the coaches when you don't get to see anything of practice, the film room, or the weight room. So the real question is: Are we going to have to put up with the wishy-washy stuff again? After two years of platoonery, it's clear that it doesn't work and probably stunts the growth of both QBs involved. There's a reason very smart coaches have said that if you have two quarterbacks, you don't have any. 1 + 1 = 1/2. If just one quarterback takes all the starters snaps this season, it'll produce benefits both this year and in future years. If not, we'll probably look back at the London era and decide that the reason it was shorter than the Groh era was because he couldn't ever make up his mind about quarterbacks.
2. How will we deal with the Sean Cascarano situation?
Cascarano's hip is more and more sounding like a medical scholarship waiting to happen. At the very least he's not ready for the start of camp, and at this point, it's a bonus if he can play at all. Tough situation for the team to lose an experienced senior who's capable of playing both tackle and guard. Cascarano probably would've lined up at RG, so for starters, the coaches need to decide who takes his place (Conner Davis would be the leading candidate) and then, who steps up to the two-deep. Might Ross Burbank see some action at guard as well as being the backup center? (Currently, Jackson Matteo is listed as the starter.) Ryan Doull is listed as the backup LG and Sean Karl the third-string RG. That's getting into redshirt freshman territory.
The line is otherwise fairly set. Jackson Matteo enters camp as the starting center, and that's the only other place where it looks like a change is possible (though not wildly likely), barring further injury. Morgan Moses and Jay Whitmire look pretty set as the tackles, and Luke Bowanko will have a starting role regardless of where he plays - which is LG at the moment.
3. How much playing time will Taquan Mizzell get?
Kevin Parks is probably going to get carries regardless. Khalek Shepherd keeps getting talked up, and we barely know a thing about Kye Morgan, who redshirted last year. (And just as a wild card, LaChaston Smith starts off the fall listed as a running back. Not terribly surprising, since Smith talked about wanting a shot there, and the depth chart is a little thin at tailback. But I think ultimately, Smith lands back on defense.)
Most of this won't matter if Mizzell is all that's been advertised. Parks is a fixture, but Shepherd and Morgan probably won't get in the way if Smoke is Smoke. Mizzell is said to be an outstanding pass-catcher in addition to all his physical talents as a ballcarrier, which only adds to the likelihood of seeing him on the field. How big will his role be? We'll probably know by the end of camp whether he'll see starters carries or not.
4. Can Jake McGee round out his game?
McGee got a few votes for the preseason all-ACC team because he's one hell of a pass-catching weapon, as demonstrated last year. But as a blocker he's not there yet, or at least, wasn't last year. He's up 15 pounds from last season, a good sign in that regard as long as it doesn't detract from his fluidity downfield. If he can really mature into being a true all-around tight end that can road-grade linebackers in the running game, protect against blitzers in pass-blocking, and go downfield as a receiver, he's got the chops to be first-team in the conference at some point.
5. What does the two-deep look like at defensive tackle?
Losing Justin Renfrow was a nasty hit to the depth there. You've got David Dean and Brent Urban as the starters; that's a good foundation. DT generally requires three really good options for a rotation, though, or the starters will wear down. Can Marco Jones be ready? (He might be needed more at DE, too.) The rest is freshmen. Andre Miles-Redmond is coming off a redshirt year, and there's true freshmen Tyrell Chavis (after FUMA-shirting) and Donta Wilkins. Any or all of them might have to show up on the field at some point, but fall camp will be crucial in establishing a pecking order there.
6. Who wins the placekicking battle?
Ian Frye and Dylan Sims are the main candidates. Let's hope at least one of them can kick well enough that by October, watching the kicker trot onto the field isn't a reason to have a nervous breakdown.
Obviously, there are all sorts of other things to be worked on. It'll be interesting to see how the schemes of Jon Tenuta and Steve Fairchild develop. Same goes for the special teams expertise of Larry Lewis, and Tom O'Brien's contributions to game management, but these won't really be noticed until game time. And yeah, I do kinda want to see what the freshmen will look like, both the true and the redshirted variety. All this in just four short weeks; it'll be game time any minute now.
Showing posts with label cascarano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cascarano. Show all posts
Monday, August 5, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
the recruit: Eric Tetlow
Name: Eric Tetlow
Position: OL
Hometown: Richmond
School: Mills Godwin
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 300
24/7: 82, three stars; #108 OT, VA #38
ESPN: 79, three stars; #41 OT, VA #23, Atl. #69
Rivals: 5.5, three stars
Scout: two stars; #122 OT
Other offers: Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Arizona State, Maryland, Purdue, Boston College, South Florida, Navy, East Carolina, Temple
Two Signing Day commitments necessitate two more recruit profiles before the series wraps up for the 2013 class. In the summer, UVA looked pretty set at O-line after taking commitments from Sadiq Olanrewaju, Jack McDonald, and Brad Henson; then some cracks in the depth appeared, most notably the loss of Tim Cwalina to a heart condition, and the coaches started looking around again. This was even before Henson decommitted; when that happened, the staff went into O-line overdrive.
Tetlow was one of the first guys they reached out to after Henson left; he had been recruited by UVA during the cycle, but was never offered, and committed to Wake Forest in November. The first time around, he said thanks but no thanks; that was just before Christmas.
But it so happens Tetlow is one of those guys who's picking a school and not just a football team. And he wants to study engineering, which is a very, very tall task for an athlete. Even one with a 3.9 GPA. It's even harder to do at a liberal arts school like Wake Forest. Tetlow would've had to do some convoluted distance-learning stuff through some other school and the more he thought about that, the less appealing it must have sounded. So literally in the middle of the night before Signing Day, he called the Wake and UVA coaches and made the switch. A very nice surprise for UVA fans; I don't envy making that phone call, though.
Tetlow's ratings are all over the map a little bit, but that's not too surprising. Mid-level offensive linemen tend to be that way more often than not. His offer list is OK and about matches the ratings. But what he's got going for him is being the biggest guy in the O-line class. The only other players already at 300 pounds are defensive guys. ESPN says "strong" and "strength" a few times in their assessment and sums him up as a guy who can run-block very well and has the physical tools to add pass-blocking to that repertoire.
Right now on the depth chart I've got Tetlow as a tackle, since that's sort of the default for incoming freshmen unless guard looks obvious. But I'm thinking Sean Cascarano as a comparison here. Cascarano could be a tackle if we needed it, and probably a good one. The reason he's not is named Morgan Moses and the other reason is named Oday Aboushi; he basically got pushed inside by players even better suited to tackle than he is. Tetlow's very similar. He's got the height and long arms for tackle and he's very smart, I don't doubt he can get the footwork down. But his run-blocking appears well ahead of his pass-blocking (the latter of which you don't learn anything about in his highlights because his opponents don't have any moves at all)** and the chances are that this class (and maybe the next one) hold players better suited to tackle than Tetlow. Olanrewaju is an obvious candidate, and George Adeosun blew up so damn fast it's hard not to see tackle potential with him as well.
So I think the ultimate move will be inside to guard. A smart engineering student like Tetlow might be a center candidate, but we have to wait and see on that. I suspect we won't learn much at all his first year, really, as I expect the coaches to do a fair amount of experimenting on him. If he's a guard, the path to playing time is a little more open than at tackle and his redshirt freshman year could see him on the field, with a very legitimate shot at starting by his third year in the program.
**Also, Tetlow has a website, on which is an amusing picture of a relatively clean Tetlow pass-blocking for a quarterback whose every inch of his uniform is caked with mud. Yes yes a zillion extenuating circumstances, not least of which is that there are four other pass-blockers not headed to BCS-level football, and it is in no way a reflection of Tetlow's skills, but it's still a funny commentary on the pass-blocking when the quarterback looks like a walking mud bath.
Position: OL
Hometown: Richmond
School: Mills Godwin
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 300
24/7: 82, three stars; #108 OT, VA #38
ESPN: 79, three stars; #41 OT, VA #23, Atl. #69
Rivals: 5.5, three stars
Scout: two stars; #122 OT
Other offers: Wake Forest, Pittsburgh, Arizona State, Maryland, Purdue, Boston College, South Florida, Navy, East Carolina, Temple
Two Signing Day commitments necessitate two more recruit profiles before the series wraps up for the 2013 class. In the summer, UVA looked pretty set at O-line after taking commitments from Sadiq Olanrewaju, Jack McDonald, and Brad Henson; then some cracks in the depth appeared, most notably the loss of Tim Cwalina to a heart condition, and the coaches started looking around again. This was even before Henson decommitted; when that happened, the staff went into O-line overdrive.
Tetlow was one of the first guys they reached out to after Henson left; he had been recruited by UVA during the cycle, but was never offered, and committed to Wake Forest in November. The first time around, he said thanks but no thanks; that was just before Christmas.
But it so happens Tetlow is one of those guys who's picking a school and not just a football team. And he wants to study engineering, which is a very, very tall task for an athlete. Even one with a 3.9 GPA. It's even harder to do at a liberal arts school like Wake Forest. Tetlow would've had to do some convoluted distance-learning stuff through some other school and the more he thought about that, the less appealing it must have sounded. So literally in the middle of the night before Signing Day, he called the Wake and UVA coaches and made the switch. A very nice surprise for UVA fans; I don't envy making that phone call, though.
Tetlow's ratings are all over the map a little bit, but that's not too surprising. Mid-level offensive linemen tend to be that way more often than not. His offer list is OK and about matches the ratings. But what he's got going for him is being the biggest guy in the O-line class. The only other players already at 300 pounds are defensive guys. ESPN says "strong" and "strength" a few times in their assessment and sums him up as a guy who can run-block very well and has the physical tools to add pass-blocking to that repertoire.
Right now on the depth chart I've got Tetlow as a tackle, since that's sort of the default for incoming freshmen unless guard looks obvious. But I'm thinking Sean Cascarano as a comparison here. Cascarano could be a tackle if we needed it, and probably a good one. The reason he's not is named Morgan Moses and the other reason is named Oday Aboushi; he basically got pushed inside by players even better suited to tackle than he is. Tetlow's very similar. He's got the height and long arms for tackle and he's very smart, I don't doubt he can get the footwork down. But his run-blocking appears well ahead of his pass-blocking (the latter of which you don't learn anything about in his highlights because his opponents don't have any moves at all)** and the chances are that this class (and maybe the next one) hold players better suited to tackle than Tetlow. Olanrewaju is an obvious candidate, and George Adeosun blew up so damn fast it's hard not to see tackle potential with him as well.
So I think the ultimate move will be inside to guard. A smart engineering student like Tetlow might be a center candidate, but we have to wait and see on that. I suspect we won't learn much at all his first year, really, as I expect the coaches to do a fair amount of experimenting on him. If he's a guard, the path to playing time is a little more open than at tackle and his redshirt freshman year could see him on the field, with a very legitimate shot at starting by his third year in the program.
**Also, Tetlow has a website, on which is an amusing picture of a relatively clean Tetlow pass-blocking for a quarterback whose every inch of his uniform is caked with mud. Yes yes a zillion extenuating circumstances, not least of which is that there are four other pass-blockers not headed to BCS-level football, and it is in no way a reflection of Tetlow's skills, but it's still a funny commentary on the pass-blocking when the quarterback looks like a walking mud bath.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
the recruit: Jack McDonald
Name: Jack McDonald
Position: OG
Hometown: Dorchester, MA
School: Boston College High
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 275
24/7: 85, three stars; #35 OG, MA #5
ESPN: 76, three stars; #60 OG, MA #4, Atl. #122
Rivals: 5.6, three stars; #40 OG, MA #4
Scout: three stars; #48 OT
Other offers: North Carolina, Boston College, Miami, Maryland, UConn, Duke, UMass
Donta Wilkins and Kirk Garner committed at the beginning of one of the better weekends (we are defining "weekend" fairly loosely here) in UVA recruiting history; on the other end of it, Mike London nailed down the offensive line portion of it. Jack McDonald actually spent that weekend in Chapel Hill, and loved it so much he committed to UVA on Monday.
McDonald is one part of a troika of Massachusetts prospects that UVA pursued heavily. One, Maurice Hurst, is one of the closer near-misses we've had in a while, and is one of the reasons I never wanted to see UVA in the Big Ten: Michigan crushes us head-to-head. If you believe in miracles, there's a chance Hurst could still flip to UVA, but Michigan is 5-2 and UVA is 2-6 so don't get too excited. The other is Tevin Montgomery, still deciding between UVA, Vanderbilt, and BC. If McDonald had his way all three would head to UVA; they go to different schools but are very tight. They're also 2-3-4 in the state of Massachusetts according to recruiting consensus, usually ordered Hurst, Montgomery, McDonald.
The fact that McDonald is actually the lowest-rated lineman in the class is a testament to the quality we've got, since literally half the ACC wanted him. Looking at his highlight tape (something I frequently do for these but rarely use, since the tapes are designed to make everyone look like all-world players) I see a guy who doesn't have an overpowering initial push out of his stance but locks on strong and slowly grinds his assignment into the dust. McDonald plays right tackle for his high school team (at least, he did as a junior) which is a small, tiny strike against his pass-blocking since the best O-line prospects typically play left tackle the way the best baseball prospects play shortstop. Whether he's moved to left tackle in his senior year, I couldn't tell you.
In college he's a guy who could play either tackle or guard, but with a lean toward guard as we're probably going to be deep enough at tackle. He's got the height for tackle at 6'5", but he's closer to 6'4" than 6'6" so he's really just barely in range. At 275 pounds he's got some major growing to do, which makes him a rock-solid lock for a redshirt year. Another point in favor of guard: he gets up the field very well, with a basketball background that gives him some running ability. A guard often needs to be able to get a quick hat on a lineman, then release to a linebacker, or else, of course, pull to the other side and club whoever is in the hole where the running back is supposed to go. McDonald looks well-equipped to handle that.
As mentioned, the redshirt year is a guarantee. UVA is currently using a combination of Sean Cascarano, Conner Davis, and Cody Wallace at guard. It hasn't been an especially inspiring group, but it's going through a painful growth process and is hopefully gelling as it goes. All three will still be around next year, and then Cascarano graduates as McDonald enters his redshirt freshman year in 2014. As it stands now Ryan Doull is the next up on the conveyor belt, and McDonald, assuming he does end up at guard, will fall in line behind him. I do expect extra competition coming from behind; guard is not a deep group and the coaches will be looking to make it deeper, and one example there is 2014 O-line prospect Steven Moss, who is very much a future college guard. Assuming he develops as he should, though, there's little reason McDonald shouldn't be a regular in the rotation - if not a starter - by his third year in the program.
Position: OG
Hometown: Dorchester, MA
School: Boston College High
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 275
24/7: 85, three stars; #35 OG, MA #5
ESPN: 76, three stars; #60 OG, MA #4, Atl. #122
Rivals: 5.6, three stars; #40 OG, MA #4
Scout: three stars; #48 OT
Other offers: North Carolina, Boston College, Miami, Maryland, UConn, Duke, UMass
Donta Wilkins and Kirk Garner committed at the beginning of one of the better weekends (we are defining "weekend" fairly loosely here) in UVA recruiting history; on the other end of it, Mike London nailed down the offensive line portion of it. Jack McDonald actually spent that weekend in Chapel Hill, and loved it so much he committed to UVA on Monday.
McDonald is one part of a troika of Massachusetts prospects that UVA pursued heavily. One, Maurice Hurst, is one of the closer near-misses we've had in a while, and is one of the reasons I never wanted to see UVA in the Big Ten: Michigan crushes us head-to-head. If you believe in miracles, there's a chance Hurst could still flip to UVA, but Michigan is 5-2 and UVA is 2-6 so don't get too excited. The other is Tevin Montgomery, still deciding between UVA, Vanderbilt, and BC. If McDonald had his way all three would head to UVA; they go to different schools but are very tight. They're also 2-3-4 in the state of Massachusetts according to recruiting consensus, usually ordered Hurst, Montgomery, McDonald.
The fact that McDonald is actually the lowest-rated lineman in the class is a testament to the quality we've got, since literally half the ACC wanted him. Looking at his highlight tape (something I frequently do for these but rarely use, since the tapes are designed to make everyone look like all-world players) I see a guy who doesn't have an overpowering initial push out of his stance but locks on strong and slowly grinds his assignment into the dust. McDonald plays right tackle for his high school team (at least, he did as a junior) which is a small, tiny strike against his pass-blocking since the best O-line prospects typically play left tackle the way the best baseball prospects play shortstop. Whether he's moved to left tackle in his senior year, I couldn't tell you.
In college he's a guy who could play either tackle or guard, but with a lean toward guard as we're probably going to be deep enough at tackle. He's got the height for tackle at 6'5", but he's closer to 6'4" than 6'6" so he's really just barely in range. At 275 pounds he's got some major growing to do, which makes him a rock-solid lock for a redshirt year. Another point in favor of guard: he gets up the field very well, with a basketball background that gives him some running ability. A guard often needs to be able to get a quick hat on a lineman, then release to a linebacker, or else, of course, pull to the other side and club whoever is in the hole where the running back is supposed to go. McDonald looks well-equipped to handle that.
As mentioned, the redshirt year is a guarantee. UVA is currently using a combination of Sean Cascarano, Conner Davis, and Cody Wallace at guard. It hasn't been an especially inspiring group, but it's going through a painful growth process and is hopefully gelling as it goes. All three will still be around next year, and then Cascarano graduates as McDonald enters his redshirt freshman year in 2014. As it stands now Ryan Doull is the next up on the conveyor belt, and McDonald, assuming he does end up at guard, will fall in line behind him. I do expect extra competition coming from behind; guard is not a deep group and the coaches will be looking to make it deeper, and one example there is 2014 O-line prospect Steven Moss, who is very much a future college guard. Assuming he develops as he should, though, there's little reason McDonald shouldn't be a regular in the rotation - if not a starter - by his third year in the program.
Monday, October 1, 2012
weekend review
Rrrrrrghggggghhghhghh. We've lost three times now this season. The first two didn't really bother me a whole lot. (Maybe the GT one would've if they'd gotten blown the F out by Middle Tennessee and then killed us, but regardless.) This one makes me ANGAR. I am DISAPPOINT. And all sorts of other interweb words.
We just lost a very winnable game. A thousand mistakes - 999 by us, one by the refs - and every one of them was taken full advantage of. You can't give up 44 points and not expect to give some credit to the opposition, but make no mistake: we don't lose that game if we don't hand it over ourselves. Goats include:
-- Everyone who took a personal foul penalty, but in particular, Sean Cascarano, who piled up two (one of which turned a 2nd and 3 into a 2nd and 18, which in turn caused a pass play instead of a run play, which itself turned into an interception), and Kevin Parks, whose PF turned a 3rd-and-6 from the LTech 7 into a 3rd-and-21.
-- Dominique Terrell, whose hands of rock caused the abovementioned INT, which became an LTech touchdown within a minute or two.
-- Mike Rocco, who got desperate and forced passes that no human quarterback could have completed and of course saw them go back the other way.
-- Whichever dumbassed referee called roughing the passer on Eli Harold, giving LTech a free and undeserved fourth-down conversion, which of course became a touchdown within a minute or two.
-- Khalek Shepherd, or whoever's job it was to align the team for fourth down at the end of the game.
Of course that would be how that game would end; such a mistake-filled affair with an endless supply of bullets for self-foot-shooting could not possibly have ended any other way.
I had a lot of individual observations, but most of them melted away, leaving only the lingering stink of what sh/c/would have been. Let's see how many remain:
-- Demeitre Brim's burned redshirt is officially worth it. It would've been even more so if we'd won, since his touchdown-saving tackle turned into a goal-line stand and no points for the Bulldogs. Nice damn hustle. Anthony Cooper, too.
-- I haven't visited their boards, but I understand Louisiana Tech fans are shocked and appalled about never having seen a dirtier team in their life. Of course, there's always two sides to every scuffle and late hit, but keep this in mind also: I've only ever seen two quarterbacks kick an opposing player. Marcus Vick and Colby Cameron. Not good company to place yourself in.
-- CATCH THE GOD DAM BALL. (This also goes for Brandon Pettigrew, by the way.)
This week's depth chart lists the dreaded OR at quarterback. Mike London alluded to the possibility that his picks might be on the receivers, except for the one that bounced off Terrell's hands which was definitely on the receiver. Rocco is often required to throw to a spot, rather than a person, and trust that the receiver will be there when the ball is. That said, it's hard to imagine anything but a switch this week. It's a good time for it: it's one thing when your screwups cause the team to lose the game, but when they also contribute to your teammate losing his job, it helps the message sink in just that little bit more. Apparently the offensive guards are on notice too, because they also got the OR treatment, with Ross Burbank moving from center to push Sean Cascarano.
The (new) official blog position on the QB derby: I don't care any more. Both Rocco and Sims can get us to a bowl, which is the season's goal. But the larger point: expectations for both are starting to converge. Rocco is pressing and it's not working. Sims finally had the first ounce of pressure he's had all season put on his shoulders, and responded well. Throw either one out there against Duke, I don't care.
Oh well. Prediction summary:
-- UVA's running backs total more than 116 yards. Yup. As expected, there was room to run. A little, anyway. Perry Jones and Kevin Parks totaled 142, and Jones averaged 4.6 a carry with a longest of only 13 (thus, consistency.)
-- Mike Rocco gets back to completing more than two-thirds of his passes. Sad to say, no: 14 of 23 isn't that bad, but it's not two-thirds.
-- Colby Cameron throws for over 300 yards. No again. Cameron had only 218. That's not a bad showing at all by the defense; they generally forced him to stay short and underneath and didn't get burned deep.
-- Louisiana Tech is held under 3.5 yards a carry. Le sigh. Not even close, as the Bulldogs actually outperformed UVA on the ground. The hell, man.
-- If UVA holds the turnovers to no more than one, they'll win by double digits. Null prediction, but the way things were going in the first half, I've got no doubt it would've been true.
So: 8-for-25 on the season. I was better at this last year, I think. Also, since I predicted a win and we did not win, the overall prediction record goes to 4-1 and 0-3-2 ATS. Do not bet actual money using these scores I've been telling you.
**********************************************************
Blogpoll ballot ahoy:
A lot of shuffling, which is natural. You're reminded to remember that a team can win and drop, or lose and go up. Everything is reevaluated fresh every week, so where you were before isn't going to be a factor. That leads to some oddball drops, like TCU from top-15 to nowhere. (27th, FWIW.) That's partly because they added a lackluster game to their resume, partly because their opponents didn't fare too well, and partly because some new teams were added to the eligibility mix.
This week you had to be 3-1 or better, so 3-2 didn't cut it, and that dropped six teams out of contention, two of which had been ranked before. (Actually five. Minnesota is the sixth; they lost to go to 4-1 without any wins over a Big Five team, which is also a requirement.) Seven teams moved in to replace them in the consideration pool.
If I had to point to the strangest thing I see here, it's probably Texas Tech at 18th. But, like, it's not like these other teams are such hot stuff that a great injustice is being done. So I left it.
If you're wondering who the next five are, in order it's USC, TCU, Louisville, Duke, and Utah State. It doesn't say much for the resumes of the contenders this year so far.
**********************************************************
Senior Seasons ahoy. And whether you want it or not, an update on the GP South Blue Devils, the alma mater of yours truly: this weekend they dropped 50-odd points on Port Huron Northern and moved to 5-1 on the season. This Friday is huge: the annual rivalry game against the Norsemen of GP North. South has won the last two, but this has only scratched the surface of payback for a seven-game losing streak and something like fifteen of the last eighteen or whatever. The way Michigan high school rules work, a sixth win would clinch a playoff spot, so it's a big deal.
Anyway, back to the shit you care about.
Damascus 23, Sherwood 20: Zach Bradshaw "set up two scores" with a 44-yard diving reception and a 73-yard punt return. Damascus is 5-0.
Gilman 37, Mt. St. Joseph 7: Micah Kiser had eight tackles, and Gilman is 3-2.
Ocean Lakes 21, Salem 15: One of the latest whines out of Hokieland is that Smoke Mizzell shouldn't have five stars because what you do on the field counts. Scoreboard. Whether Corwin Cutler or Bucky Hodges was the better quarterback on Friday is very debatable. But Cutler is the one with three stars, Hodges with four, and Cutler is the one who emerged victorious, and at worst, matched Hodges throw for throw. Cutler and Hodges each threw a touchdown, and Hodges had more yards but Cutler a better percentage. Let's hope any future Cutler/Hodges matchups end the same way. Ocean Lakes is 6-0.
Salisbury 34, Berkshire 0 (Sadiq Olanrewaju) - Salisbury is 2-0.
St. Peter's Prep (NJ) 56, BC High 0 (Jack McDonald) - BC High is 2-1.
South Iredell 33, Malden 10 (LaChaston Smith) - South Iredell is 6-1.
A.L. Brown 38, Cox Mill 34 (Keeon Johnson) - Brown is 6-1.
Houston Westside 58, Houston Chavez 7 (Hipolito Corporan) - Westside is 3-2.
Oscar Smith 38, Lakeland 9 (Zack Jones) - Oscar Smith is 3-2.
Osbourn 30, Potomac 14 (Donta Wilkins) - Potomac is 2-3.
Fork Union 33, Valley Forge (PA) 0 (Malcolm Cook) - FUMA is 5-1.
Benedictine 35, St. Christopher's 18 (Jack English) - St. Chris is 3-2.
Varina 27, Lee-Davis 0 (Tim Harris) - Varina is 3-1.
In the injured players department, neither LaChaston Smith nor Keeon Johnson played in their games, and Andre Levrone and Good Counsel were off this week.
**********************************************************
Last little bit of the weekend: Via MGoBlog, guess what the most-watched football game last weekend (or two weekends ago, whatever) was? I'll save you the guessing: Michigan-Notre Dame. Guess what series is being killed off in a couple years? Michigan-Notre Dame. Why is this important? There is no possible way NBC is happy about Notre Dame killing off its best game. Likely result: any NBC contract offer where NBC can count on seeing Michigan on the schedule will be higher than one sans Michigan. Which in turn means a very good chance either ND decides it prefers the ACC's TV money, or adds Michigan back to the schedule. Either is fine by me.
We just lost a very winnable game. A thousand mistakes - 999 by us, one by the refs - and every one of them was taken full advantage of. You can't give up 44 points and not expect to give some credit to the opposition, but make no mistake: we don't lose that game if we don't hand it over ourselves. Goats include:
-- Everyone who took a personal foul penalty, but in particular, Sean Cascarano, who piled up two (one of which turned a 2nd and 3 into a 2nd and 18, which in turn caused a pass play instead of a run play, which itself turned into an interception), and Kevin Parks, whose PF turned a 3rd-and-6 from the LTech 7 into a 3rd-and-21.
-- Dominique Terrell, whose hands of rock caused the abovementioned INT, which became an LTech touchdown within a minute or two.
-- Mike Rocco, who got desperate and forced passes that no human quarterback could have completed and of course saw them go back the other way.
-- Whichever dumbassed referee called roughing the passer on Eli Harold, giving LTech a free and undeserved fourth-down conversion, which of course became a touchdown within a minute or two.
-- Khalek Shepherd, or whoever's job it was to align the team for fourth down at the end of the game.
Of course that would be how that game would end; such a mistake-filled affair with an endless supply of bullets for self-foot-shooting could not possibly have ended any other way.
I had a lot of individual observations, but most of them melted away, leaving only the lingering stink of what sh/c/would have been. Let's see how many remain:
-- Demeitre Brim's burned redshirt is officially worth it. It would've been even more so if we'd won, since his touchdown-saving tackle turned into a goal-line stand and no points for the Bulldogs. Nice damn hustle. Anthony Cooper, too.
-- I haven't visited their boards, but I understand Louisiana Tech fans are shocked and appalled about never having seen a dirtier team in their life. Of course, there's always two sides to every scuffle and late hit, but keep this in mind also: I've only ever seen two quarterbacks kick an opposing player. Marcus Vick and Colby Cameron. Not good company to place yourself in.
-- CATCH THE GOD DAM BALL. (This also goes for Brandon Pettigrew, by the way.)
This week's depth chart lists the dreaded OR at quarterback. Mike London alluded to the possibility that his picks might be on the receivers, except for the one that bounced off Terrell's hands which was definitely on the receiver. Rocco is often required to throw to a spot, rather than a person, and trust that the receiver will be there when the ball is. That said, it's hard to imagine anything but a switch this week. It's a good time for it: it's one thing when your screwups cause the team to lose the game, but when they also contribute to your teammate losing his job, it helps the message sink in just that little bit more. Apparently the offensive guards are on notice too, because they also got the OR treatment, with Ross Burbank moving from center to push Sean Cascarano.
The (new) official blog position on the QB derby: I don't care any more. Both Rocco and Sims can get us to a bowl, which is the season's goal. But the larger point: expectations for both are starting to converge. Rocco is pressing and it's not working. Sims finally had the first ounce of pressure he's had all season put on his shoulders, and responded well. Throw either one out there against Duke, I don't care.
Oh well. Prediction summary:
-- UVA's running backs total more than 116 yards. Yup. As expected, there was room to run. A little, anyway. Perry Jones and Kevin Parks totaled 142, and Jones averaged 4.6 a carry with a longest of only 13 (thus, consistency.)
-- Mike Rocco gets back to completing more than two-thirds of his passes. Sad to say, no: 14 of 23 isn't that bad, but it's not two-thirds.
-- Colby Cameron throws for over 300 yards. No again. Cameron had only 218. That's not a bad showing at all by the defense; they generally forced him to stay short and underneath and didn't get burned deep.
-- Louisiana Tech is held under 3.5 yards a carry. Le sigh. Not even close, as the Bulldogs actually outperformed UVA on the ground. The hell, man.
-- If UVA holds the turnovers to no more than one, they'll win by double digits. Null prediction, but the way things were going in the first half, I've got no doubt it would've been true.
So: 8-for-25 on the season. I was better at this last year, I think. Also, since I predicted a win and we did not win, the overall prediction record goes to 4-1 and 0-3-2 ATS. Do not bet actual money using these scores I've been telling you.
**********************************************************
Blogpoll ballot ahoy:
From Old Virginia Ballot - Week 5
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 2 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | -- |
| 3 | Georgia Bulldogs |  2 |
| 4 | South Carolina Gamecocks | 2 |
| 5 | Florida St. Seminoles |  -2 |
| 6 | Texas Longhorns | 6 |
| 7 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | 7 |
| 8 | Kansas St. Wildcats | 1 |
| 9 | Oregon Ducks | -1 |
| 10 | UCLA Bruins | 1 |
| 11 | LSU Tigers | -7 |
| 12 | Arizona St. Sun Devils | 3 |
| 13 | Oregon St. Beavers | -- |
| 14 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 15 | Florida Gators | -8 |
| 16 | Stanford Cardinal | 4 |
| 17 | Clemson Tigers | -1 |
| 18 | Texas Tech Red Raiders | -- |
| 19 | Miami Hurricanes | 4 |
| 20 | Texas A&M Aggies | -- |
| 21 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | -- |
| 22 | Ohio Bobcats | -- |
| 23 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -- |
| 24 | Iowa St. Cyclones | -- |
| 25 | Cincinnati Bearcats | -- |
| Dropouts: TCU Horned Frogs, Northwestern Wildcats, USC Trojans, Louisville Cardinals, Arizona Wildcats, Virginia Tech Hokies | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
This week you had to be 3-1 or better, so 3-2 didn't cut it, and that dropped six teams out of contention, two of which had been ranked before. (Actually five. Minnesota is the sixth; they lost to go to 4-1 without any wins over a Big Five team, which is also a requirement.) Seven teams moved in to replace them in the consideration pool.
If I had to point to the strangest thing I see here, it's probably Texas Tech at 18th. But, like, it's not like these other teams are such hot stuff that a great injustice is being done. So I left it.
If you're wondering who the next five are, in order it's USC, TCU, Louisville, Duke, and Utah State. It doesn't say much for the resumes of the contenders this year so far.
**********************************************************
Senior Seasons ahoy. And whether you want it or not, an update on the GP South Blue Devils, the alma mater of yours truly: this weekend they dropped 50-odd points on Port Huron Northern and moved to 5-1 on the season. This Friday is huge: the annual rivalry game against the Norsemen of GP North. South has won the last two, but this has only scratched the surface of payback for a seven-game losing streak and something like fifteen of the last eighteen or whatever. The way Michigan high school rules work, a sixth win would clinch a playoff spot, so it's a big deal.
Anyway, back to the shit you care about.
Damascus 23, Sherwood 20: Zach Bradshaw "set up two scores" with a 44-yard diving reception and a 73-yard punt return. Damascus is 5-0.
Gilman 37, Mt. St. Joseph 7: Micah Kiser had eight tackles, and Gilman is 3-2.
Ocean Lakes 21, Salem 15: One of the latest whines out of Hokieland is that Smoke Mizzell shouldn't have five stars because what you do on the field counts. Scoreboard. Whether Corwin Cutler or Bucky Hodges was the better quarterback on Friday is very debatable. But Cutler is the one with three stars, Hodges with four, and Cutler is the one who emerged victorious, and at worst, matched Hodges throw for throw. Cutler and Hodges each threw a touchdown, and Hodges had more yards but Cutler a better percentage. Let's hope any future Cutler/Hodges matchups end the same way. Ocean Lakes is 6-0.
Salisbury 34, Berkshire 0 (Sadiq Olanrewaju) - Salisbury is 2-0.
St. Peter's Prep (NJ) 56, BC High 0 (Jack McDonald) - BC High is 2-1.
South Iredell 33, Malden 10 (LaChaston Smith) - South Iredell is 6-1.
A.L. Brown 38, Cox Mill 34 (Keeon Johnson) - Brown is 6-1.
Houston Westside 58, Houston Chavez 7 (Hipolito Corporan) - Westside is 3-2.
Oscar Smith 38, Lakeland 9 (Zack Jones) - Oscar Smith is 3-2.
Osbourn 30, Potomac 14 (Donta Wilkins) - Potomac is 2-3.
Fork Union 33, Valley Forge (PA) 0 (Malcolm Cook) - FUMA is 5-1.
Benedictine 35, St. Christopher's 18 (Jack English) - St. Chris is 3-2.
Varina 27, Lee-Davis 0 (Tim Harris) - Varina is 3-1.
In the injured players department, neither LaChaston Smith nor Keeon Johnson played in their games, and Andre Levrone and Good Counsel were off this week.
**********************************************************
Last little bit of the weekend: Via MGoBlog, guess what the most-watched football game last weekend (or two weekends ago, whatever) was? I'll save you the guessing: Michigan-Notre Dame. Guess what series is being killed off in a couple years? Michigan-Notre Dame. Why is this important? There is no possible way NBC is happy about Notre Dame killing off its best game. Likely result: any NBC contract offer where NBC can count on seeing Michigan on the schedule will be higher than one sans Michigan. Which in turn means a very good chance either ND decides it prefers the ACC's TV money, or adds Michigan back to the schedule. Either is fine by me.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
the recruit: Jay Whitmire
Name: Jay Whitmire
Position: OT
Hometown: Alexandria
School: T.C. Williams
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 290
ESPN: 77; three stars; #70 OT
Rivals: 5.7; three stars; #43 OT; VA #14
Scout: three stars; #30 OT
Other offers: Notre Dame, Penn State, North Carolina, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Maryland, NC State, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Duke
This is the good part. Because by this time room in the class was getting way crammed, and the coaches got real choosy about who they took a commitment from, and managed to close on most of the best targets besides. Jay Whitmire was one of the top Northern Va. targets of the year, and got a whole big list of offers real early. The ankle sprain that caused him to miss almost half the season probably prevented a few more, but regardless he was entertaining overtures from Notre Dame as late as November, a couple weeks before his commitment to UVA.
Whitmire is the top OL commit of the class by both offers and scouting services. "Athletic" is the word that gets tossed around the most; you are permitted to believe it on account of the lacrosse he plays. A 290-pound guy playing lacrosse is athletic.
On account of being an offensive lineman and missing half the year, there's not much to say about Whitmire's season, though he did happen to collect a few sacks on the defensive side. Whitmire was easily a Washington Post All-Met pick as a junior; the injury kept him off the list this fall. It probably also cost him his fourth star with Scout, though they didn't drop him too many places in their OT rankings. The rankings can be cruel to a guy with an injury.
Anyway, I wouldn't worry. Whitmire reminds me muchly of Sean Cascarano, except that Cascarano's about 20 pounds lighter and staggeringly ginger. Both are very athletic tackles with similar rankings (if ESPN had bothered) and accolades coming out of high school, and Cascarano's looking like a guy who's going to be very hard to keep off the field in his redshirt sophomore year. If not a starter, he'll still be in the rotation. Whitmire should have a similar timeline. As 98% of linemen do, he'll redshirt, and once 2012 arrives it's not hard to see Whitmire nosing into the two-deep as a redshirt freshman. Following that year, Oday Aboushi and Aaron Van Kuiken graduate, and we should see a lot of Whitmire after that.
**********************************************
A little housecleaning of the news on the street is in order:
- You know by now that Billy Baron packed up and went back to Rhode Island. I suppose it was inevitable that one of the six freshmen in this class would get squeezed out of the rotation enough to want to leave. Still, it's weird that our association with Baron was less than a year long; the guy only committed last March. Hate to say it after sending so much praise his way when he committed, but the impact here is minimal. Obviously it's got no effect on this year, and Baron was going to have to wait until at least 2012-'13 to get a real shot on the court, especially if Malcolm Brogdon turns out to be just as much all that as he's supposed to.
- Pick three different positions on the football team where we can least afford to have the inevitable attrition this offseason. How about cornerback, center, and linebacker? Welcome to your average UVA offseason. It never fucking fails. It's exactly the way things go at UVA that the guys acting like dumbasses would be the ones standing in between the starters and the totally untested freshmen - or the starters themselves with freshman backups.
In case you're too lazy to click the link, that's starting LB Ausar Walcott, potential starting CB Devin Wallace, and backup C Mike Price, all suspended indefinitely for the ever-popular "conduct detrimental to the team." Walcott's been in trouble with the law in the past, though as I recall it was something really dumb and nothing that went past "why don't you cool off in the back of the car here and then go home." This isn't police stuff, fortunately. Also fortunately, it's not actually the attrition we're waiting for; these three knuckleheads will probably be back after they demonstrate appropriate contrition, dedication, etc. etc.
- The men's tennis team is deserving of at least a quick mention - they're ranked #1, and they've played 67 matches this season and lost two. Eh, not bad. The indoor nationals are approaching - UVA hosted and won them last year - and they'll be going for four in a row in Seattle in a couple weeks. The outdoor season is the real deal (that's the one that earns you an actual NCAA championship) but the men are dominating this season in a way they didn't last year.
Position: OT
Hometown: Alexandria
School: T.C. Williams
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 290
ESPN: 77; three stars; #70 OT
Rivals: 5.7; three stars; #43 OT; VA #14
Scout: three stars; #30 OT
Other offers: Notre Dame, Penn State, North Carolina, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Boston College, Maryland, NC State, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Duke
This is the good part. Because by this time room in the class was getting way crammed, and the coaches got real choosy about who they took a commitment from, and managed to close on most of the best targets besides. Jay Whitmire was one of the top Northern Va. targets of the year, and got a whole big list of offers real early. The ankle sprain that caused him to miss almost half the season probably prevented a few more, but regardless he was entertaining overtures from Notre Dame as late as November, a couple weeks before his commitment to UVA.
Whitmire is the top OL commit of the class by both offers and scouting services. "Athletic" is the word that gets tossed around the most; you are permitted to believe it on account of the lacrosse he plays. A 290-pound guy playing lacrosse is athletic.
On account of being an offensive lineman and missing half the year, there's not much to say about Whitmire's season, though he did happen to collect a few sacks on the defensive side. Whitmire was easily a Washington Post All-Met pick as a junior; the injury kept him off the list this fall. It probably also cost him his fourth star with Scout, though they didn't drop him too many places in their OT rankings. The rankings can be cruel to a guy with an injury.
Anyway, I wouldn't worry. Whitmire reminds me muchly of Sean Cascarano, except that Cascarano's about 20 pounds lighter and staggeringly ginger. Both are very athletic tackles with similar rankings (if ESPN had bothered) and accolades coming out of high school, and Cascarano's looking like a guy who's going to be very hard to keep off the field in his redshirt sophomore year. If not a starter, he'll still be in the rotation. Whitmire should have a similar timeline. As 98% of linemen do, he'll redshirt, and once 2012 arrives it's not hard to see Whitmire nosing into the two-deep as a redshirt freshman. Following that year, Oday Aboushi and Aaron Van Kuiken graduate, and we should see a lot of Whitmire after that.
**********************************************
A little housecleaning of the news on the street is in order:
- You know by now that Billy Baron packed up and went back to Rhode Island. I suppose it was inevitable that one of the six freshmen in this class would get squeezed out of the rotation enough to want to leave. Still, it's weird that our association with Baron was less than a year long; the guy only committed last March. Hate to say it after sending so much praise his way when he committed, but the impact here is minimal. Obviously it's got no effect on this year, and Baron was going to have to wait until at least 2012-'13 to get a real shot on the court, especially if Malcolm Brogdon turns out to be just as much all that as he's supposed to.
- Pick three different positions on the football team where we can least afford to have the inevitable attrition this offseason. How about cornerback, center, and linebacker? Welcome to your average UVA offseason. It never fucking fails. It's exactly the way things go at UVA that the guys acting like dumbasses would be the ones standing in between the starters and the totally untested freshmen - or the starters themselves with freshman backups.
In case you're too lazy to click the link, that's starting LB Ausar Walcott, potential starting CB Devin Wallace, and backup C Mike Price, all suspended indefinitely for the ever-popular "conduct detrimental to the team." Walcott's been in trouble with the law in the past, though as I recall it was something really dumb and nothing that went past "why don't you cool off in the back of the car here and then go home." This isn't police stuff, fortunately. Also fortunately, it's not actually the attrition we're waiting for; these three knuckleheads will probably be back after they demonstrate appropriate contrition, dedication, etc. etc.
- The men's tennis team is deserving of at least a quick mention - they're ranked #1, and they've played 67 matches this season and lost two. Eh, not bad. The indoor nationals are approaching - UVA hosted and won them last year - and they'll be going for four in a row in Seattle in a couple weeks. The outdoor season is the real deal (that's the one that earns you an actual NCAA championship) but the men are dominating this season in a way they didn't last year.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
the recruit: Tim Cwalina
Name: Tim Cwalina
Position: OT
Hometown: Mt. Lebanon, PA
School: Mt. Lebanon
Height: 6'7"
Weight: 295
ESPN: 74; two stars; #139 OT
Rivals: 5.5; three stars; PA #29
Scout: two stars
Other offers: Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Boston College
We're finally at the end of the summer commitment wave. Unless you count Clifton Richardson making it officially official in September-ish, Tim Cwalina committed in July on a visit to Charlottesville and that was the last verbal to Mike London until November.
And when the news came out, UVA fans reacted with a unanimous "wut?"
The word "sleeper" is overused in recruiting; every time everyone's team gets a verbal from some two-star that didn't have any other offers, he's a "sleeper." No, he's a decent-ish football player that nobody else really wanted. Tim Cwalina is a sleeper. He called the recruiting process "hectic and annoying" and I will submit that for galactic understatement of the year because I would guess that Tim Cwalina hates the whole thing. For one thing, that plus a single Rivals article are the only places on the whole googletubes to find an actual thing Cwalina said. Most everything else comes from his coach, some of which are articles for which Cwalina declined to be interviewed.
I don't think he ever went to any combines, either, because all the recruiting sites (which usually get their height/weights from combine measurements) have different statistics on the guy. 295 sounds right since it comes from his high school coach. He could easily be 300 by the time he shows up at UVA, since he packed on 25 pounds during the last offseason.
Despite the dearth of information, football programs know who he is. Cwalina pretty definitely had offers from Boston College and his hometown Pitt, and probably Wisconsin too, as well as a couple maybe-no-one-will-notice-him offers from places like Buffalo. He also made second-team all-state in Pennsylvania (and Mt. Lebanon plays at Quad-A, the highest level, so the competition is stiff) so if they didn't know before the season, they'd have known afterwards.
UVA has four offensive line commits for 2011. Kelby Johnson is from DeMatha, Ross Burbank is from Virginia Beach, and Jay Whitmire is probably the star of the group and played at T.C. Williams. High-profile places for followers of UVA recruiting, to be sure. And Cwalina has, overall, the lowest ratings of the bunch. But it'd be a mistake to ignore him; other than Whitmire, Cwalina has the best offer list. Any lineman that Wisconsin offered is a damn good lineman. He's got long arms and a "prototypical tackle body", so based on a couple paragraphs by the gurus or semi-gurus I'm willing to say he'll stay at tackle. Mike London and his offensive staff are doing a good job of reestablishing the O-line pipeline, and younger players like Morgan Moses and Sean Cascarano are stepping into their roles, so Cwalina and his classmates probably won't get to the two-deep for a couple years. (Moses leaving early for the NFL, as he could do if his talents live up to the hype, could help speed that timeline along.) But there's good reason to believe that this class of linemen, Cwalina included, will make a good successor group when the current core group has moved on.
Position: OT
Hometown: Mt. Lebanon, PA
School: Mt. Lebanon
Height: 6'7"
Weight: 295
ESPN: 74; two stars; #139 OT
Rivals: 5.5; three stars; PA #29
Scout: two stars
Other offers: Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Boston College
We're finally at the end of the summer commitment wave. Unless you count Clifton Richardson making it officially official in September-ish, Tim Cwalina committed in July on a visit to Charlottesville and that was the last verbal to Mike London until November.
And when the news came out, UVA fans reacted with a unanimous "wut?"
The word "sleeper" is overused in recruiting; every time everyone's team gets a verbal from some two-star that didn't have any other offers, he's a "sleeper." No, he's a decent-ish football player that nobody else really wanted. Tim Cwalina is a sleeper. He called the recruiting process "hectic and annoying" and I will submit that for galactic understatement of the year because I would guess that Tim Cwalina hates the whole thing. For one thing, that plus a single Rivals article are the only places on the whole googletubes to find an actual thing Cwalina said. Most everything else comes from his coach, some of which are articles for which Cwalina declined to be interviewed.
I don't think he ever went to any combines, either, because all the recruiting sites (which usually get their height/weights from combine measurements) have different statistics on the guy. 295 sounds right since it comes from his high school coach. He could easily be 300 by the time he shows up at UVA, since he packed on 25 pounds during the last offseason.
Despite the dearth of information, football programs know who he is. Cwalina pretty definitely had offers from Boston College and his hometown Pitt, and probably Wisconsin too, as well as a couple maybe-no-one-will-notice-him offers from places like Buffalo. He also made second-team all-state in Pennsylvania (and Mt. Lebanon plays at Quad-A, the highest level, so the competition is stiff) so if they didn't know before the season, they'd have known afterwards.
UVA has four offensive line commits for 2011. Kelby Johnson is from DeMatha, Ross Burbank is from Virginia Beach, and Jay Whitmire is probably the star of the group and played at T.C. Williams. High-profile places for followers of UVA recruiting, to be sure. And Cwalina has, overall, the lowest ratings of the bunch. But it'd be a mistake to ignore him; other than Whitmire, Cwalina has the best offer list. Any lineman that Wisconsin offered is a damn good lineman. He's got long arms and a "prototypical tackle body", so based on a couple paragraphs by the gurus or semi-gurus I'm willing to say he'll stay at tackle. Mike London and his offensive staff are doing a good job of reestablishing the O-line pipeline, and younger players like Morgan Moses and Sean Cascarano are stepping into their roles, so Cwalina and his classmates probably won't get to the two-deep for a couple years. (Moses leaving early for the NFL, as he could do if his talents live up to the hype, could help speed that timeline along.) But there's good reason to believe that this class of linemen, Cwalina included, will make a good successor group when the current core group has moved on.
Monday, October 18, 2010
weekend review
I was sorely tempted to take all the recruiting board prospects that are considering both UVA and UNC and drop 'em into the red category. I mean, Travis Hughes had it in his head that UVA had no future until the USC game; did this Saturday convince you that the future is sunshine and oranges? I resisted the urge, however, in favor of calm, rational decision making, which is way less fun. So the recruiting board stays the same this week.
I did give the depth chart a once-over, though. The O-line shuffle continues; actually, it shuffled before the game and I didn't fix it because it was pretty close to game time by the time that was announced, and Friday is my self-allowed day off. Changes for this week:
- Morgan Moses is your new starter at right tackle, as I'm sure you noticed. Backing him up is Aaron Van Kuiken; Sean Cascarano backs up Oday Aboushi on the left side.
- Luke Bowanko moves back to guard to back up B.J. Cabbell.
- Billy Schautz steps in as a backup DE for Jeremiah Mathis, who is now an emergency tight end. That's a temporary arrangement; after the season, I'm moving Mathis back to DE.
Quarterback does not change, as London has announced Marc Verica's job is safe, at least for this week. Obviously an unpopular move, but - I cannot stress this enough - the right one. If there were an exactly equal chance of winning a game with one of the freshmen, then it would make sense to start up a platoon between Metheny and Rocco, and see if one can separate from the other. It would not make sense to pick one or the other. Suppose you choose incorrectly and that becomes evident either this fall or next year; you've wasted a golden chance.
But a QB platoon is a pretty poor way to win a football game. In 99% of QB platoons, the whole is less than the sum of the two parts. Marc Verica would have to be a tremendously awful quarterback to be worse than a platoon of two freshmen that can't separate themselves from each other, one of whom drops snaps. Metheny did that twice against UNC. And London has hinted that the freshmen really don't have full grasp of the offense.
I have serious doubts that the full playbook is in effect for the freshmen, when they come into the game. One or the other, or both, are messing it up. The coaches' job is to win games, not sacrifice games this year for a slightly better chance at winning next year. UVA fans need not worry that London is blind to Verica's many miscues; London sounds like he's more than painfully aware of them and doesn't have a choice.
*******************************************
Anyway, let's move on to what the future holds. Or what the present holds for our future. Or something. Going to arrange it a little differently this week. First, articles where our guy gets a mention; then, all the rest of the scores.
St. Christopher's 28, Bishop Ireton 20: Thompson Brown blocked an Ireton extra point.
Petersburg 31, Hopewell 21: Kevin Green rushed for 100 yards (including a 66-yard TD run), passed for 145 on 9-of-14, threw a touchdown pass, and ran for two more.
Hermitage 43, J.R. Tucker 0 (Diamonte Bailey)
L.C. Bird 34, James River 10 (Anthony Harris)
I.C. Norcom 20, Churchland 14 (Kameron Mack)
Ocean Lakes 43, Green Run 0 (David Dean)
Hampton 63, Bethel 7 (David Watford)
Bullis (MD) 42, St. S/St. A 31 (Darius Lee)
Phoebus 44, Menchville 6 (Caleb Taylor and Clifton Richardson)
Cox 14, Tallwood 0 (Ross Burbank)
Damascus 27, Sherwood 20 (Brandon Phelps)
Stone Bridge 28, James Madison 10 (Rob Burns)
Good Counsel 42, Paul VI 0 (Vincent Croce)
H.D. Woodson 20, McKinley 15 (Darius Redman)
DeMatha 21, St. John's 14 (Jordan Lomax/Kelby Johnson)
South Mecklenburg 42, Independence 35 (Adrian Gamble)
Archbishop Spalding 39, Boys' Latin 29 (Marco Jones)
Mt. Lebanon 21, Bethel Park 7 (Tim Cwalina)
*******************************************
I've been working on a basketball depth chart similar to the football one. It's not easy to get it the way I want it, because basketball positions are a lot more fluid than football. The vast majority of the roster will show up at two different positions at some point in the season. It's not any easier when Sammy Zeglinski gets to have knee surgery. Going into a season suddenly without your veteran point guard is a scary proposition. It seems a safe bet that if he misses this season, he'd be awarded a sixth year, but I think from a program-development standpoint it's a lot better if he can return this year. I'm not holding my breath though. Jontel Evans and Billy Baron just got a lot more important.
Oh, and the AP poll study page is updated with the latest. Very interesting week, with Alabama losing; the voters got a chance to stray off the beaten path. The results are enlightening. Teams got an average of one-third of a rank boost from their regional voters. Whether that's significant, I'm not sure, but it's the strongest regional bias yet. Pac-10 voters were totally in the tank for Oregon State - I think the trend at the end of the day will be that Pac-10 voters are especially prone to overrating the daylights out of the less-known West Coast contenders. But it was Big Ten voters that took the crown for most regionally biased this time around.
I did give the depth chart a once-over, though. The O-line shuffle continues; actually, it shuffled before the game and I didn't fix it because it was pretty close to game time by the time that was announced, and Friday is my self-allowed day off. Changes for this week:
- Morgan Moses is your new starter at right tackle, as I'm sure you noticed. Backing him up is Aaron Van Kuiken; Sean Cascarano backs up Oday Aboushi on the left side.
- Luke Bowanko moves back to guard to back up B.J. Cabbell.
- Billy Schautz steps in as a backup DE for Jeremiah Mathis, who is now an emergency tight end. That's a temporary arrangement; after the season, I'm moving Mathis back to DE.
Quarterback does not change, as London has announced Marc Verica's job is safe, at least for this week. Obviously an unpopular move, but - I cannot stress this enough - the right one. If there were an exactly equal chance of winning a game with one of the freshmen, then it would make sense to start up a platoon between Metheny and Rocco, and see if one can separate from the other. It would not make sense to pick one or the other. Suppose you choose incorrectly and that becomes evident either this fall or next year; you've wasted a golden chance.
But a QB platoon is a pretty poor way to win a football game. In 99% of QB platoons, the whole is less than the sum of the two parts. Marc Verica would have to be a tremendously awful quarterback to be worse than a platoon of two freshmen that can't separate themselves from each other, one of whom drops snaps. Metheny did that twice against UNC. And London has hinted that the freshmen really don't have full grasp of the offense.
“We called a couple formations opposite of what the signal was,” London said. “So there’s issues that all of them have, and the one right now that’s best to run the offense is the one that started the game.
“So this week in practice we’ll continue to keep evaluating them. Maybe the young guy or the other quarterbacks can make the right calls and eliminate the quarterback-center exchange issues and all that. But for the most part, the guy that’s got the most significant reps is the guy that right now is the No. 1 quarterback. And like I said, every day next week is an evaluation day with all of these guys, and that’s the way it’s got to be.”
I have serious doubts that the full playbook is in effect for the freshmen, when they come into the game. One or the other, or both, are messing it up. The coaches' job is to win games, not sacrifice games this year for a slightly better chance at winning next year. UVA fans need not worry that London is blind to Verica's many miscues; London sounds like he's more than painfully aware of them and doesn't have a choice.
*******************************************
Anyway, let's move on to what the future holds. Or what the present holds for our future. Or something. Going to arrange it a little differently this week. First, articles where our guy gets a mention; then, all the rest of the scores.
St. Christopher's 28, Bishop Ireton 20: Thompson Brown blocked an Ireton extra point.
Petersburg 31, Hopewell 21: Kevin Green rushed for 100 yards (including a 66-yard TD run), passed for 145 on 9-of-14, threw a touchdown pass, and ran for two more.
Hermitage 43, J.R. Tucker 0 (Diamonte Bailey)
L.C. Bird 34, James River 10 (Anthony Harris)
I.C. Norcom 20, Churchland 14 (Kameron Mack)
Ocean Lakes 43, Green Run 0 (David Dean)
Hampton 63, Bethel 7 (David Watford)
Bullis (MD) 42, St. S/St. A 31 (Darius Lee)
Phoebus 44, Menchville 6 (Caleb Taylor and Clifton Richardson)
Cox 14, Tallwood 0 (Ross Burbank)
Damascus 27, Sherwood 20 (Brandon Phelps)
Stone Bridge 28, James Madison 10 (Rob Burns)
Good Counsel 42, Paul VI 0 (Vincent Croce)
H.D. Woodson 20, McKinley 15 (Darius Redman)
DeMatha 21, St. John's 14 (Jordan Lomax/Kelby Johnson)
South Mecklenburg 42, Independence 35 (Adrian Gamble)
Archbishop Spalding 39, Boys' Latin 29 (Marco Jones)
Mt. Lebanon 21, Bethel Park 7 (Tim Cwalina)
*******************************************
I've been working on a basketball depth chart similar to the football one. It's not easy to get it the way I want it, because basketball positions are a lot more fluid than football. The vast majority of the roster will show up at two different positions at some point in the season. It's not any easier when Sammy Zeglinski gets to have knee surgery. Going into a season suddenly without your veteran point guard is a scary proposition. It seems a safe bet that if he misses this season, he'd be awarded a sixth year, but I think from a program-development standpoint it's a lot better if he can return this year. I'm not holding my breath though. Jontel Evans and Billy Baron just got a lot more important.
Oh, and the AP poll study page is updated with the latest. Very interesting week, with Alabama losing; the voters got a chance to stray off the beaten path. The results are enlightening. Teams got an average of one-third of a rank boost from their regional voters. Whether that's significant, I'm not sure, but it's the strongest regional bias yet. Pac-10 voters were totally in the tank for Oregon State - I think the trend at the end of the day will be that Pac-10 voters are especially prone to overrating the daylights out of the less-known West Coast contenders. But it was Big Ten voters that took the crown for most regionally biased this time around.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
weekend review
Much to see, much to do. The weekend review plows ahead with....
....recruiting board update. Here's what's new:
- Removed LB Conner Crowell, who's down to OSU and PSU. Pick Penn State.
- Moved CB Blake Countess from yellow to red. Looking highly unlikely.
- Moved LB Curtis Grant from blue to red. Ditto. Also, dammit.
- Added S Avery Walls to red.
- Created a new green section. I kept seeing players in blue and yellow that didn't quite feel like they belonged there, exactly, and I kept thinking "if only I had an in between section that's where they'd be." And then I realized I had the power to do that because it's my blog. The new residents of the area just in between blue and yellow are DE Horace Arkadie and LB D.J. Hill (up from yellow) and LB Sean Duggan and CB Demetrious Nicholson (down from blue.)
Pessimism is the name of the game this week in recruiting. It has been two months since the last commitment, after all. But in a way that's by design: the staff has to be careful with who they take. There's probably only a small list of maybe six or seven players they'd take a commitment from right this minute - guys like Demetrious Nicholson and Travis Hughes - and they're all being patient with the process. You see the five players in bold orange - as you'll remember they're my own choices as most-desired names. Just below those five would be Sean Duggan and Rory Anderson. Of those seven, I would bet a lot of money on UVA getting at least one, and I doubt they get more than three. Three would be about the awesomest thing ever, really. (Remember, names in red don't get bolded in orange because red is while-we're-at-it-I-want-a-pony land.)
*******************************************
....depth chart update. I did something new here too. Names in red are guys who are out for the season, and names in purple are guys who are out but not all year. They remain bolded and/or italicized so you have an idea of their role if healthy and what the team would look like without injuries getting in the way.
Changes are:
- Joe Torchia is out for the year, so Colter Phillips is your new starting TE and Paul Freedman the backup. Hopefully we don't have to go past that. Coach London said he's keeping the redshirt on the other tight ends, Swanson and McGee, but that's not for the sake of the redshirt. They're simply too small, still.
- As I mentioned yesterday, Morgan Moses moves over to right guard to back up B.J. Cabbell; that position will almost certainly see a changing of the guard (HAW!) by the end of the year. Probably sooner rather than later, as the depth chart lists an "or." Luke Bowanko is now listed as a backup tackle. Sean Cascarano and Oday Aboushi are the starters; who gets what side isn't really settled yet but for the purposes of this chart it doesn't matter.
This youth movement, by the way, I regard it as a huge positive. That's three members of the '09 recruiting class (Cascarano, Bowanko, Aboushi) in the O-line two-deep. Four if you count Moses.
*******************************************
....newsy stuff.
- The mens' swim team opened the season with a huge dual meet win over Florida, and the women came within two points of achieving the same. Impressive. Florida's mens' team took 5th last year (UVA was 10th) and their women were national champions. Even with a loss, the womens' result is as impressive as the mens'; a two-point margin becomes at least a tie just by switching any finish in any race with the opposing swimmer one spot higher.
- UVA hasn't announced it, but UConn has: a 2016-2017 home-and-home rematch with the Huskies. The future schedules page is duly updated.
- The NCAA violation train pulled into Chapel Hill Station this week and left with three of their better players: D-linemen Marvin Austin and Robert Quinn and WR Greg Little, off the team permanently. This week is Carolina week, so I'll probably stop caring after Saturday until the sanctions come down from on high, but here is the official roundup of their player status as it stands now:
Out for good: Austin, Quinn, Little, S Jonathan Smith
Reinstated: RB Shaun Draughn, S Da'Norris Searcy, S Deunta Williams
Suspended: CB Kendric Burney, who returns after the UVA game
Pending, still out: DE Mike McAdoo, DE Linwan Euwell, RB Ryan Houston, CB Charles Brown, S Bryan Gupton, FB Devon Ramsey
Carolina has proven competitive without this bunch of miscreants, so I don't expect to see any huge advantage for UVA this weekend. What you've seen is what you get, and they're 3-2.
*******************************************
....senior seasons:
- Fork Union 27, St. Christopher's 10: Loss for Thompson Brown.
- Petersburg 30, Matoaca 18: Kevin Green throws for two touchdowns and 189 yards, as well as 3 2PCs, in a win.
- Hermitage 34, Mills Godwin 7: Win for Diamonte Bailey, but he doesn't make the article.
- L.C. Bird 48, Cosby 7: Anthony Harris throws one touchdown to help in the win.
- I.C. Norcom 26, Maury 3: Little bit of a closer game than usual for Kameron Mack's team.
- Phoebus 44, Kecoughtan 0: It stays easy for Caleb Taylor, though.
- Green Run 33, Kempsville 13: Win for David Dean.
- Hampton 77, Heritage 0: Holy shit. With David Watford at the helm, Hampton scored on every possession of the first half. Heritage has scored three points all season long.
- Salem 19, Cox 0: Ross Burbank and his offense get shut out.
- Blue Ridge 42, St. S/St. A 28: Loss for Darius Lee, but he catches a touchdown pass.
- Denbigh 28, Menchville 17: Tough season continues for Clifton Richardson.
- DeMatha 31, Good Counsel 28: It hasn't been a season quite up to snuff for Jordan Lomax, Kelby Johnson, and DeMatha, but what better way to get back on track than with a huge, huge win over Vincent Croce and Good Counsel?
- Stone Bridge 56, Fairfax 0: Rob Burns has been helping produce shutout after shutout.
- H.D. Woodson vs. Spingarn, postponed.
- Damascus 49, Watkins Mill 21: Brandon Phelps is still undefeated.
- Providence 38, Independence 27: Loss for Adrian Gamble.
- STAB 14, Boys' Latin 10: Marco Jones visits Charlottesville and gets his first loss of the season for his efforts.
- Mt. Lebanon 31, Baldwin 21: Tim Cwalina also continues undefeated.
*******************************************
....AP poll study update. I've created a new page wherein all the weekly updates are stored; if you're interested, it resides here. Also, it'll be linked on the side with the other useful stuff. This week, there's a slight uptick in evidence for regional bias, but it's still not as convincingly strong as it should be if there's to be a conclusion in favor of the hypothesis.
Tomorrow: the return of the ACC Roundtable!
....recruiting board update. Here's what's new:
- Removed LB Conner Crowell, who's down to OSU and PSU. Pick Penn State.
- Moved CB Blake Countess from yellow to red. Looking highly unlikely.
- Moved LB Curtis Grant from blue to red. Ditto. Also, dammit.
- Added S Avery Walls to red.
- Created a new green section. I kept seeing players in blue and yellow that didn't quite feel like they belonged there, exactly, and I kept thinking "if only I had an in between section that's where they'd be." And then I realized I had the power to do that because it's my blog. The new residents of the area just in between blue and yellow are DE Horace Arkadie and LB D.J. Hill (up from yellow) and LB Sean Duggan and CB Demetrious Nicholson (down from blue.)
Pessimism is the name of the game this week in recruiting. It has been two months since the last commitment, after all. But in a way that's by design: the staff has to be careful with who they take. There's probably only a small list of maybe six or seven players they'd take a commitment from right this minute - guys like Demetrious Nicholson and Travis Hughes - and they're all being patient with the process. You see the five players in bold orange - as you'll remember they're my own choices as most-desired names. Just below those five would be Sean Duggan and Rory Anderson. Of those seven, I would bet a lot of money on UVA getting at least one, and I doubt they get more than three. Three would be about the awesomest thing ever, really. (Remember, names in red don't get bolded in orange because red is while-we're-at-it-I-want-a-pony land.)
*******************************************
....depth chart update. I did something new here too. Names in red are guys who are out for the season, and names in purple are guys who are out but not all year. They remain bolded and/or italicized so you have an idea of their role if healthy and what the team would look like without injuries getting in the way.
Changes are:
- Joe Torchia is out for the year, so Colter Phillips is your new starting TE and Paul Freedman the backup. Hopefully we don't have to go past that. Coach London said he's keeping the redshirt on the other tight ends, Swanson and McGee, but that's not for the sake of the redshirt. They're simply too small, still.
- As I mentioned yesterday, Morgan Moses moves over to right guard to back up B.J. Cabbell; that position will almost certainly see a changing of the guard (HAW!) by the end of the year. Probably sooner rather than later, as the depth chart lists an "or." Luke Bowanko is now listed as a backup tackle. Sean Cascarano and Oday Aboushi are the starters; who gets what side isn't really settled yet but for the purposes of this chart it doesn't matter.
This youth movement, by the way, I regard it as a huge positive. That's three members of the '09 recruiting class (Cascarano, Bowanko, Aboushi) in the O-line two-deep. Four if you count Moses.
*******************************************
....newsy stuff.
- The mens' swim team opened the season with a huge dual meet win over Florida, and the women came within two points of achieving the same. Impressive. Florida's mens' team took 5th last year (UVA was 10th) and their women were national champions. Even with a loss, the womens' result is as impressive as the mens'; a two-point margin becomes at least a tie just by switching any finish in any race with the opposing swimmer one spot higher.
- UVA hasn't announced it, but UConn has: a 2016-2017 home-and-home rematch with the Huskies. The future schedules page is duly updated.
- The NCAA violation train pulled into Chapel Hill Station this week and left with three of their better players: D-linemen Marvin Austin and Robert Quinn and WR Greg Little, off the team permanently. This week is Carolina week, so I'll probably stop caring after Saturday until the sanctions come down from on high, but here is the official roundup of their player status as it stands now:
Out for good: Austin, Quinn, Little, S Jonathan Smith
Reinstated: RB Shaun Draughn, S Da'Norris Searcy, S Deunta Williams
Suspended: CB Kendric Burney, who returns after the UVA game
Pending, still out: DE Mike McAdoo, DE Linwan Euwell, RB Ryan Houston, CB Charles Brown, S Bryan Gupton, FB Devon Ramsey
Carolina has proven competitive without this bunch of miscreants, so I don't expect to see any huge advantage for UVA this weekend. What you've seen is what you get, and they're 3-2.
*******************************************
....senior seasons:
- Fork Union 27, St. Christopher's 10: Loss for Thompson Brown.
- Petersburg 30, Matoaca 18: Kevin Green throws for two touchdowns and 189 yards, as well as 3 2PCs, in a win.
- Hermitage 34, Mills Godwin 7: Win for Diamonte Bailey, but he doesn't make the article.
- L.C. Bird 48, Cosby 7: Anthony Harris throws one touchdown to help in the win.
- I.C. Norcom 26, Maury 3: Little bit of a closer game than usual for Kameron Mack's team.
- Phoebus 44, Kecoughtan 0: It stays easy for Caleb Taylor, though.
- Green Run 33, Kempsville 13: Win for David Dean.
- Hampton 77, Heritage 0: Holy shit. With David Watford at the helm, Hampton scored on every possession of the first half. Heritage has scored three points all season long.
- Salem 19, Cox 0: Ross Burbank and his offense get shut out.
- Blue Ridge 42, St. S/St. A 28: Loss for Darius Lee, but he catches a touchdown pass.
- Denbigh 28, Menchville 17: Tough season continues for Clifton Richardson.
- DeMatha 31, Good Counsel 28: It hasn't been a season quite up to snuff for Jordan Lomax, Kelby Johnson, and DeMatha, but what better way to get back on track than with a huge, huge win over Vincent Croce and Good Counsel?
- Stone Bridge 56, Fairfax 0: Rob Burns has been helping produce shutout after shutout.
- H.D. Woodson vs. Spingarn, postponed.
- Damascus 49, Watkins Mill 21: Brandon Phelps is still undefeated.
- Providence 38, Independence 27: Loss for Adrian Gamble.
- STAB 14, Boys' Latin 10: Marco Jones visits Charlottesville and gets his first loss of the season for his efforts.
- Mt. Lebanon 31, Baldwin 21: Tim Cwalina also continues undefeated.
*******************************************
....AP poll study update. I've created a new page wherein all the weekly updates are stored; if you're interested, it resides here. Also, it'll be linked on the side with the other useful stuff. This week, there's a slight uptick in evidence for regional bias, but it's still not as convincingly strong as it should be if there's to be a conclusion in favor of the hypothesis.
Tomorrow: the return of the ACC Roundtable!
Monday, October 11, 2010
that can't happen
I know it's a rebuilding project, yes. I know the talent level on this team isn't where it should be to compete for the ACC. I still didn't like what I saw on Saturday. Rebuilding isn't the same thing as building from scratch. You have to have something to build from, otherwise you're Georgia State, starting fresh and with no expectations whatsoever. I'd like to think that for UVA, that's the defense. That's what's supposed to hold firm and give the team a chance to win while the offense finds its bearings.
Despite an offensive performance that I'd call "almost adequate," the roles were reversed on Saturday. Georgia Tech is a mistake-prone team this year; those mistakes were the only thing standing between them and 50 points. Only under circumstances involving the phrase "I-AA" should the grinding, clock-chewing GT offense be a 50-point machine. I have no idea whether to pin the performance on the players or the coaches, which probably means it's a combination of both. I do know that the decision to open up a fifteen-foot gap at the line of scrimmage was a coach thing, and why Jim Reid would choose to do that against a triple option offense where option #1 is "hand off to a big-ass fullback and let him go in a straight line" is more puzzling than a 10x10 Rubik's Cube.
I've said repeatedly I don't think the 4-3 is a great matchup for that offense, and obviously in order to beat GT in the future either the talent level is going to have to vastly improve relative to GT, or Reid is going to have to scheme his brains out. It's not just scheme: the newness of our OLBs to their position was painfully obvious, and the MLBs were slow to get outside the blockers, leaving them easy targets to get sealed off the pursuit early on.
As for the offense, it wasn't awful, actually. Against FSU and USC I brushed off the last touchdown of the game as a product of less effort on defense and going against the scrubs; this time I'm willing to put that caveat aside because Matt Snyder was covered as hell on the two fine catches he made on the final drive and showed off some white-guys-can-jump moves that I didn't think he had. Whereas the FSU game might as well have been 34-7, I think the 21 points are legitimate.
Still, the running game, as ever, stunk. Hard. Perry Jones was bottled up except for the one run. With Verica, it's like he wasn't even a factor - an improvement over the FSU game, to be sure, and probably about as good as anyone can expect given the four sacks and lack of ground support. Losses always give a megaphone to the BACKUP QB NOWZ crowd that exists in every losing team's fanbase, but Verica's performance was the result of the poor play around him, not the other way round.
As we knew before the season, it starts on the O-line, the least effective group we have. This week you're starting to see the changes you'd expect for a unit with that label: Morgan Moses moves inside to guard, to back up B.J. Cabbell, and Sean Cascarano replaced the injured Landon Bradley at left tackle. Though this is presented a certain way by Mike London, seasoned football observers should be able to read the writing on the wall here: Cabbell's days as the starter there are probably numbered, and Bradley is likely to be Wally Pipped out of his job as well. That's not even to mention the loss of Joe Torchia for the season, ending his UVA career. Torchia has never been a very effective blocker, and his wonky shoulder almost certainly has a big say in that. It's a rebuilding project. You can't expect things to stay much the same as the season rolls on, and these are welcome changes with the exception of the premature end to a career.
These two losses make the UNC game a pivotal one. Bowl hopes, if you harbor any, depend on it. That's a team not unlike GT: doing the best they can with heavy personnel losses, and being competitive with what's left. I hope the GT game was simply a result of a bad matchup, but do you see how the narrative is changing here? It's how seasons go downhill and it's an old, old story: you go from confidently believing that misfortune was the result of something easily fixed, to hoping it, to realizing it wasn't. A good showing against UNC - that is, a win, not a plucky loss - can reverse that. Otherwise, there's little left to fall back on but the baseline "oh well, it was a rebuilding year," and that's no fun.
Despite an offensive performance that I'd call "almost adequate," the roles were reversed on Saturday. Georgia Tech is a mistake-prone team this year; those mistakes were the only thing standing between them and 50 points. Only under circumstances involving the phrase "I-AA" should the grinding, clock-chewing GT offense be a 50-point machine. I have no idea whether to pin the performance on the players or the coaches, which probably means it's a combination of both. I do know that the decision to open up a fifteen-foot gap at the line of scrimmage was a coach thing, and why Jim Reid would choose to do that against a triple option offense where option #1 is "hand off to a big-ass fullback and let him go in a straight line" is more puzzling than a 10x10 Rubik's Cube.
I've said repeatedly I don't think the 4-3 is a great matchup for that offense, and obviously in order to beat GT in the future either the talent level is going to have to vastly improve relative to GT, or Reid is going to have to scheme his brains out. It's not just scheme: the newness of our OLBs to their position was painfully obvious, and the MLBs were slow to get outside the blockers, leaving them easy targets to get sealed off the pursuit early on.
As for the offense, it wasn't awful, actually. Against FSU and USC I brushed off the last touchdown of the game as a product of less effort on defense and going against the scrubs; this time I'm willing to put that caveat aside because Matt Snyder was covered as hell on the two fine catches he made on the final drive and showed off some white-guys-can-jump moves that I didn't think he had. Whereas the FSU game might as well have been 34-7, I think the 21 points are legitimate.
Still, the running game, as ever, stunk. Hard. Perry Jones was bottled up except for the one run. With Verica, it's like he wasn't even a factor - an improvement over the FSU game, to be sure, and probably about as good as anyone can expect given the four sacks and lack of ground support. Losses always give a megaphone to the BACKUP QB NOWZ crowd that exists in every losing team's fanbase, but Verica's performance was the result of the poor play around him, not the other way round.
As we knew before the season, it starts on the O-line, the least effective group we have. This week you're starting to see the changes you'd expect for a unit with that label: Morgan Moses moves inside to guard, to back up B.J. Cabbell, and Sean Cascarano replaced the injured Landon Bradley at left tackle. Though this is presented a certain way by Mike London, seasoned football observers should be able to read the writing on the wall here: Cabbell's days as the starter there are probably numbered, and Bradley is likely to be Wally Pipped out of his job as well. That's not even to mention the loss of Joe Torchia for the season, ending his UVA career. Torchia has never been a very effective blocker, and his wonky shoulder almost certainly has a big say in that. It's a rebuilding project. You can't expect things to stay much the same as the season rolls on, and these are welcome changes with the exception of the premature end to a career.
These two losses make the UNC game a pivotal one. Bowl hopes, if you harbor any, depend on it. That's a team not unlike GT: doing the best they can with heavy personnel losses, and being competitive with what's left. I hope the GT game was simply a result of a bad matchup, but do you see how the narrative is changing here? It's how seasons go downhill and it's an old, old story: you go from confidently believing that misfortune was the result of something easily fixed, to hoping it, to realizing it wasn't. A good showing against UNC - that is, a win, not a plucky loss - can reverse that. Otherwise, there's little left to fall back on but the baseline "oh well, it was a rebuilding year," and that's no fun.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
numerology
The incoming freshmen were added to the official roster today, and I like to think you can learn stuff by looking at the numbers they were assigned. Let's take a look, shall we? Here are the numbers:
Oday Aboushi - 72
Lovante' Battle - 37
Luke Bowanko - 74
Sean Cascarano - 79
Paul Freedman - 88
Will Hill - 93 (he was already there as an early enrollee)
Quintin Hunter - 15
Perry Jones - 33
Corey Lillard - 29
Jeremiah Mathis - 58
Connor McCartin - 51
Ross Metheny - 13
Justin Renfrow - 54
Laroy Reynolds - 26
Kevin Royal - 82
Bobby Smith - 85
Tim Smith - 14
Jake Snyder - 90
Javanti Sparrow - 16
Hunter Steward - 76
Brent Urban - 99
Cody Wallace - 78
Dominique Wallace - 21
Tucker Windle - 39
Observations, speculations, etc.:
- Conspicuously absent is Morgan Moses. Prep school now seems a near certainty. No truth to any rumors that Moses is so dominantly massive that the delay is due to the school petitioning to allow him to wear #100.
- Dominique Wallace has been given a running back's number. Some say he would make an excellent linebacker and might eventually be slotted there, but guys with #21 don't practice with the linebackers. This pleases me. Dominant linebackers are fun, and there's a school of thought that says Wallace would make a terrific linebacker, but personally, running back is my favorite position. There's no substitute for an unstoppable force at running back behind a line that's at least respectable. It's how you control the game on offense, and it's spectacular to watch. And Wallace has a chance to be an unstoppable force at running back. I can't wait.
- Either Luke Bowanko is a guaran-damn-teed redshirt, or the presence of Patrick Slebonick is a mistake. Slebonick, as you might recall, was not asked back for a fifth year, or that was the report in January. But there he is. Slebonick, were he to play this year, would exist on the fringes of the depth chart, but he would be on the depth chart nonetheless, and the two have the same number (74.) You can give two guys the same number, they just can't be on the field at the same time.
- The other same-number clash on the O-line between two scholarship players involves #78, shared by Cody Wallace and Isaac Cain. Wallace is listed as "Unk" instead of "Fr." - either he should be worried, or he should kick the ass of the intern assigned to fat-finger the roster in. Wallace is also a guaranteed redshirt, though you don't need the number on the jersey to tell you that, just look at the number in the weight column.
- Speaking of weight, look at Sean Cascarano. 255?? Is that for real? His recruiting profiles all listed him as 270.
- Nobody gets #7. Interesting. I thought Metheny might get it, but he's #13.
- #39 is a really weird number for a linebacker, but that's what Tucker Windle got. There's just no room in the 40's and 50's.
- Tim Smith with #14. I know WR's often get numbers in the teens, but that sticks out a little bit. Looking forward to seeing that kind of impact on the field.
- Laroy Reynolds and Javanti Sparrow still haven't been officially slotted on offense or defense. They both have WR/DB by their names. Sparrow has a number (#16) that's more a WR's number than a DB's (but there are exceptions) and Reynolds is the opposite at #26. Doesn't mean anything official, but I think it's at least a hint toward which way they're leaning.
- Observations on the pictures: Maybe it's the lighting, but Oday Aboushi looks a lot less chubby in the face than before. (Before, After.) Like he's lost some baby fat. Still listed as 300 pounds though. Dominique Wallace has some 300-pound dreads, which are excellent. Can't decide whether Metheny, Reynolds, or Bobby Smith is the goofiest-looking. Tim Smith and Brent Urban are going to be carded at establishments for the next twenty years, although Urban being 6'7 might eventually dissuade a few would-be bouncers. Sean Cascarano is the only one with hair to match the orange on his uniform, which makes it all the bigger shame that he has no profile linked. As a rule, the entire team seems to have been told to pose for the pictures as if they just buried their dog.
Anyway, I've updated the depth chart accordingly. Last year's senior class is now gone, and replaced with next year's recruiting class. The scholarship count, as best I can tell, stands at 87. I took Moses off and put him with next year's class, and I took out Kyle Long, too, the chances of him coming now look dim. Also gone: TE Rod Wheeler. Slebonick returns for now, and for whatever reason I didn't have Isaac Cain on there, my bad. So that's what brings us to 87. That means two more people have to leave the team, but the rumblings are there about who that might be (Jameel Sewell? Uh-oh?), and meeting the 85 limit doesn't look like it'll be so hard any more.
Last, but not least - in fact, probably "most": a new UVA blog has arrived on the scene. Go check it out, you must do this. It is called The Great Blog of Virginia, and if the scenery is any indication it looks promising indeed, though it breaks with not-long-at-all-established tradition of pulling the blog name from the Good Ol' Song. There are entirely too few Virginia blogs inhabiting the blogowebz at the moment, so go check it out.
Oday Aboushi - 72
Lovante' Battle - 37
Luke Bowanko - 74
Sean Cascarano - 79
Paul Freedman - 88
Will Hill - 93 (he was already there as an early enrollee)
Quintin Hunter - 15
Perry Jones - 33
Corey Lillard - 29
Jeremiah Mathis - 58
Connor McCartin - 51
Ross Metheny - 13
Justin Renfrow - 54
Laroy Reynolds - 26
Kevin Royal - 82
Bobby Smith - 85
Tim Smith - 14
Jake Snyder - 90
Javanti Sparrow - 16
Hunter Steward - 76
Brent Urban - 99
Cody Wallace - 78
Dominique Wallace - 21
Tucker Windle - 39
Observations, speculations, etc.:
- Conspicuously absent is Morgan Moses. Prep school now seems a near certainty. No truth to any rumors that Moses is so dominantly massive that the delay is due to the school petitioning to allow him to wear #100.
- Dominique Wallace has been given a running back's number. Some say he would make an excellent linebacker and might eventually be slotted there, but guys with #21 don't practice with the linebackers. This pleases me. Dominant linebackers are fun, and there's a school of thought that says Wallace would make a terrific linebacker, but personally, running back is my favorite position. There's no substitute for an unstoppable force at running back behind a line that's at least respectable. It's how you control the game on offense, and it's spectacular to watch. And Wallace has a chance to be an unstoppable force at running back. I can't wait.
- Either Luke Bowanko is a guaran-damn-teed redshirt, or the presence of Patrick Slebonick is a mistake. Slebonick, as you might recall, was not asked back for a fifth year, or that was the report in January. But there he is. Slebonick, were he to play this year, would exist on the fringes of the depth chart, but he would be on the depth chart nonetheless, and the two have the same number (74.) You can give two guys the same number, they just can't be on the field at the same time.
- The other same-number clash on the O-line between two scholarship players involves #78, shared by Cody Wallace and Isaac Cain. Wallace is listed as "Unk" instead of "Fr." - either he should be worried, or he should kick the ass of the intern assigned to fat-finger the roster in. Wallace is also a guaranteed redshirt, though you don't need the number on the jersey to tell you that, just look at the number in the weight column.
- Speaking of weight, look at Sean Cascarano. 255?? Is that for real? His recruiting profiles all listed him as 270.
- Nobody gets #7. Interesting. I thought Metheny might get it, but he's #13.
- #39 is a really weird number for a linebacker, but that's what Tucker Windle got. There's just no room in the 40's and 50's.
- Tim Smith with #14. I know WR's often get numbers in the teens, but that sticks out a little bit. Looking forward to seeing that kind of impact on the field.
- Laroy Reynolds and Javanti Sparrow still haven't been officially slotted on offense or defense. They both have WR/DB by their names. Sparrow has a number (#16) that's more a WR's number than a DB's (but there are exceptions) and Reynolds is the opposite at #26. Doesn't mean anything official, but I think it's at least a hint toward which way they're leaning.
- Observations on the pictures: Maybe it's the lighting, but Oday Aboushi looks a lot less chubby in the face than before. (Before, After.) Like he's lost some baby fat. Still listed as 300 pounds though. Dominique Wallace has some 300-pound dreads, which are excellent. Can't decide whether Metheny, Reynolds, or Bobby Smith is the goofiest-looking. Tim Smith and Brent Urban are going to be carded at establishments for the next twenty years, although Urban being 6'7 might eventually dissuade a few would-be bouncers. Sean Cascarano is the only one with hair to match the orange on his uniform, which makes it all the bigger shame that he has no profile linked. As a rule, the entire team seems to have been told to pose for the pictures as if they just buried their dog.
Anyway, I've updated the depth chart accordingly. Last year's senior class is now gone, and replaced with next year's recruiting class. The scholarship count, as best I can tell, stands at 87. I took Moses off and put him with next year's class, and I took out Kyle Long, too, the chances of him coming now look dim. Also gone: TE Rod Wheeler. Slebonick returns for now, and for whatever reason I didn't have Isaac Cain on there, my bad. So that's what brings us to 87. That means two more people have to leave the team, but the rumblings are there about who that might be (Jameel Sewell? Uh-oh?), and meeting the 85 limit doesn't look like it'll be so hard any more.
Last, but not least - in fact, probably "most": a new UVA blog has arrived on the scene. Go check it out, you must do this. It is called The Great Blog of Virginia, and if the scenery is any indication it looks promising indeed, though it breaks with not-long-at-all-established tradition of pulling the blog name from the Good Ol' Song. There are entirely too few Virginia blogs inhabiting the blogowebz at the moment, so go check it out.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
the recruit: Sean Cascarano
I would have written some more of these over Christmas, only I didn't. In any case there are about six more recruits I haven't yet covered, and hopefully I'll have to add another couple to the pile by February.
Name: Sean Cascarano
Position: OT
Hometown: Glenview, IL
School: Glenbrook South
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 270
ESPN: 40 (hasn't bothered)
Rivals: 5.7, three stars, #40 OT, #12 prospect in IL
Scout: 2 stars, #105 OT
The coaches are looking to add some more offensive linemen to the class of 2009 and seem likely to bring in at least two more, but if they don't, Sean Cascarano will be the biggest one of the class and probably the highest rated. Cascarano was the best player this year on a very good Glenbrook South squad and shuffled around a bit on the offense, outside of his usual spot at right tackle. Here you can find pictures of the Glenbrook South squad; Cascarano wears #58 and lines up occasionally on the left side as well as the right, and at fullback as well in what looks like a wishbone-ish goal line set.
This speaks to some athleticism and versatility, and my rather unfounded flyer of an opinion on that is that Groh saw in Cascarano a player who could be moved to play guard and fit right in with our pulling-guard offensive scheme. That'd be our old one, of course, but the spread requires no less athleticism in its linemen. Not to mention that Cascarano scored a 29 on the ACT and Gregg Brandon is looking for smarts in his players to help them pick up the schemes and timing quickly.
Cascarano committed in June, by which time he was already drawing interest from around the Big Ten. MSU and IU had offered; had Cascarano not fallen in love with UVA at the prospects' camp, Illinois and Iowa probably would have sent offers too. That, and the first-team all state selections lead me to believe Scout is full of crap sticking him with a two-star rating, and if ESPN were to send a scout to take a look, he'd garner about a 77 or 78.
Don't expect Cascarano to step into the two-deep right away like Austin Pasztor; at 270 pounds he's not quite there. The trick is to get another 20 pounds on the kid while keeping his footwork and athleticism. That's what redshirt years are for. But he's got the brains and the quickness to excel in the spread; if Groh and Brandon last beyond this year, Cascarano might fit exactly the mold of lineman they're looking for.
Name: Sean Cascarano
Position: OT
Hometown: Glenview, IL
School: Glenbrook South
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 270
ESPN: 40 (hasn't bothered)
Rivals: 5.7, three stars, #40 OT, #12 prospect in IL
Scout: 2 stars, #105 OT
The coaches are looking to add some more offensive linemen to the class of 2009 and seem likely to bring in at least two more, but if they don't, Sean Cascarano will be the biggest one of the class and probably the highest rated. Cascarano was the best player this year on a very good Glenbrook South squad and shuffled around a bit on the offense, outside of his usual spot at right tackle. Here you can find pictures of the Glenbrook South squad; Cascarano wears #58 and lines up occasionally on the left side as well as the right, and at fullback as well in what looks like a wishbone-ish goal line set.
This speaks to some athleticism and versatility, and my rather unfounded flyer of an opinion on that is that Groh saw in Cascarano a player who could be moved to play guard and fit right in with our pulling-guard offensive scheme. That'd be our old one, of course, but the spread requires no less athleticism in its linemen. Not to mention that Cascarano scored a 29 on the ACT and Gregg Brandon is looking for smarts in his players to help them pick up the schemes and timing quickly.
Cascarano committed in June, by which time he was already drawing interest from around the Big Ten. MSU and IU had offered; had Cascarano not fallen in love with UVA at the prospects' camp, Illinois and Iowa probably would have sent offers too. That, and the first-team all state selections lead me to believe Scout is full of crap sticking him with a two-star rating, and if ESPN were to send a scout to take a look, he'd garner about a 77 or 78.
Don't expect Cascarano to step into the two-deep right away like Austin Pasztor; at 270 pounds he's not quite there. The trick is to get another 20 pounds on the kid while keeping his footwork and athleticism. That's what redshirt years are for. But he's got the brains and the quickness to excel in the spread; if Groh and Brandon last beyond this year, Cascarano might fit exactly the mold of lineman they're looking for.
Monday, September 1, 2008
senior seasons: how the recruits are doing
As promised earlier, I'm gonna do my best to provide updates - hopefully, weekly - on the senior seasons that our committed recruits have. I doubt I can get this to be completely comprehensive, and defensive guys and both sides of the line in particular are gonna get the short end of the stick, because "blocked a bunch of dudes" rarely makes the little blurbs. Here's the first one.
Dominique Wallace:
Ran for 164 yards and a 24-yard touchdown on 15 carries in Chancellor's 33-0 win over Turner Ashby.
A game to watch in the future will be on September 12 when Chancellor visits Quintin Hunter's Orange County. Orange County, as best I can tell, hasn't played a game yet, except for a preseason benefit game that doesn't count in the standings.
Sean Cascarano:
Cascarano was named to the Chicago Sun-Times' preseason all-Chicago offense. Cascarano's Glenbrook South team beat rival Glenbrook North 35-7 to start the season.
Tucker Windle:
Charlotte Catholic beat Myers Park 21-20 to go to 1-1. Windle had two touchdown catches.
Perry Jones:
Ran for 83 yards and three touchdowns in Oscar Smith's 43-0 season-opening win over Booker T. Washington.
Next on the agenda: recruiting board. No actual updates, but a couple tidbits here:
Rivals pay article in which Justin Brown reiterates his interest in UVA: "not in danger of being cut from my list," are his words.
DE Michael Buchanan will take his officials to Cal, Illinois, Purdue, and Vandy, and "isn't sure" about where his fifth will be. Like Rex Burkhead, consider this a longshot.
QB Kevin Newsome
- VT, PSU, Mich., UNC, WVU
RB Tavon Austin
- Md., WVU, UGA, Mich., Neb.
RB De'Antwan Williams
- Bama, VT, BC, Md., Rutgers, WVU
RB Antone Exum
- lots, but definitely VT
WR Justin Brown
- PSU, VT, NCSt., S.Car, UNC
WR Sean Farr
- Md., WVU, Akron, EMU
WR Timothy Smith
- L'ville, S.Car, WVU
WR Rex Burkhead
- plenty
TE Logan Thomas
- VT, Clemson, WVU, UNC, Wake, Tenn.
OT Morgan Moses
- pretty much everyone east of the Mississippi
OT Patrick Ward
- about 20 schools
OT Oday Aboushi
- Iowa, Md., Rutgers, PSU, Mich.
DE Brennan Williams
- BC, Mich., Duke, Wake
DE Michael Buchanan
- Purdue, Ill., Cal, Vandy, KU
DE Lanford Collins
- VT, PSU, Tenn., WVU, Md., NCSt., UNC, BC, Ill.
DE Garry Gilliam
- UConn, PSU, Temple, Pitt, Akron
DE Will Hill
- UConn, Md., Mich., UNC, S.Car
DE Anthony LaLota
- BC, UF, Mich., ND, PSU, Rutgers
DE Bernardo Nunez
- lots
DE DeAntre Rhodes
- VT, Md., Clemson, Tenn.
DE Pat Muldoon
- Cincy, BC, Wisc.
OLB Jelani Jenkins
- everyone and their aunt
CB Travis Hawkins
- who isn't interested?
S Javanti Sparrow
- Clemson, UNC, PSU, VT, WVU
S Taylor Sowell
- Miami, VT, WVU, GT
DB Joshua Evans
- 28 other schools. for real.
Dominique Wallace:
Ran for 164 yards and a 24-yard touchdown on 15 carries in Chancellor's 33-0 win over Turner Ashby.
A game to watch in the future will be on September 12 when Chancellor visits Quintin Hunter's Orange County. Orange County, as best I can tell, hasn't played a game yet, except for a preseason benefit game that doesn't count in the standings.
Sean Cascarano:
Cascarano was named to the Chicago Sun-Times' preseason all-Chicago offense. Cascarano's Glenbrook South team beat rival Glenbrook North 35-7 to start the season.
Tucker Windle:
Charlotte Catholic beat Myers Park 21-20 to go to 1-1. Windle had two touchdown catches.
Perry Jones:
Ran for 83 yards and three touchdowns in Oscar Smith's 43-0 season-opening win over Booker T. Washington.
Next on the agenda: recruiting board. No actual updates, but a couple tidbits here:
Rivals pay article in which Justin Brown reiterates his interest in UVA: "not in danger of being cut from my list," are his words.
DE Michael Buchanan will take his officials to Cal, Illinois, Purdue, and Vandy, and "isn't sure" about where his fifth will be. Like Rex Burkhead, consider this a longshot.
QB Kevin Newsome
- VT, PSU, Mich., UNC, WVU
RB Tavon Austin
- Md., WVU, UGA, Mich., Neb.
RB De'Antwan Williams
- Bama, VT, BC, Md., Rutgers, WVU
RB Antone Exum
- lots, but definitely VT
WR Justin Brown
- PSU, VT, NCSt., S.Car, UNC
WR Sean Farr
- Md., WVU, Akron, EMU
WR Timothy Smith
- L'ville, S.Car, WVU
WR Rex Burkhead
- plenty
TE Logan Thomas
- VT, Clemson, WVU, UNC, Wake, Tenn.
OT Morgan Moses
- pretty much everyone east of the Mississippi
OT Patrick Ward
- about 20 schools
OT Oday Aboushi
- Iowa, Md., Rutgers, PSU, Mich.
DE Brennan Williams
- BC, Mich., Duke, Wake
DE Michael Buchanan
- Purdue, Ill., Cal, Vandy, KU
DE Lanford Collins
- VT, PSU, Tenn., WVU, Md., NCSt., UNC, BC, Ill.
DE Garry Gilliam
- UConn, PSU, Temple, Pitt, Akron
DE Will Hill
- UConn, Md., Mich., UNC, S.Car
DE Anthony LaLota
- BC, UF, Mich., ND, PSU, Rutgers
DE Bernardo Nunez
- lots
DE DeAntre Rhodes
- VT, Md., Clemson, Tenn.
DE Pat Muldoon
- Cincy, BC, Wisc.
OLB Jelani Jenkins
- everyone and their aunt
CB Travis Hawkins
- who isn't interested?
S Javanti Sparrow
- Clemson, UNC, PSU, VT, WVU
S Taylor Sowell
- Miami, VT, WVU, GT
DB Joshua Evans
- 28 other schools. for real.
Monday, June 16, 2008
sweet 16
Cavaliers land yet another football commitment
Things moving fast and furious in the wacky wacky world of Recruitingland. Sean Cascarano came to camp, liked what he saw, and became the sixteenth recruit to offer up a verbal to Groh and Co.
It's only June and you don't need me to tell you that recruiting is a touch more successful this year than last. As this post enters the quasi-permanence of cyberspace, the 'Hoos stand at just two fewer commits than last year's entire signing class. (The usual caveat applies about verbals often not being worth the paper they're not written on.) Last year's class had but one four-star (per Rivals), and was mostly two-stars; this year already, everyone is either a three-star (most of them), four-star (two of them) or not yet rated. Scout appears to not have done much actual scouting, for every recruit but one bears the one-star known as "we dunno."
Things moving fast and furious in the wacky wacky world of Recruitingland. Sean Cascarano came to camp, liked what he saw, and became the sixteenth recruit to offer up a verbal to Groh and Co.
It's only June and you don't need me to tell you that recruiting is a touch more successful this year than last. As this post enters the quasi-permanence of cyberspace, the 'Hoos stand at just two fewer commits than last year's entire signing class. (The usual caveat applies about verbals often not being worth the paper they're not written on.) Last year's class had but one four-star (per Rivals), and was mostly two-stars; this year already, everyone is either a three-star (most of them), four-star (two of them) or not yet rated. Scout appears to not have done much actual scouting, for every recruit but one bears the one-star known as "we dunno."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)