Name: Jake Fieler
Position: OL
Hometown: Parkersburg, WV
School: Parkersburg South / FUMA
Height: 6'5"
Weight: 300
24/7: 88, three stars
ESPN: 74, three stars
Rivals: 5.5, three stars
Scout: three stars
Other offers: Cincinnati, Southern Miss
With apologies to Jamil Kamara, it turned out that Jake Fieler was probably the most important recruit of the post-season recruiting push. With Will Richardson decommitting about a month after Fieler's commitment, UVA was left with a paltry two linemen in the class. You have got to wonder what ditch our program would be lying in if not for the good folks at Fork Union.
Fieler graduated high school in 2013, but did so without having received any Division I offers. Deciding he could earn some anyway, he enrolled at FUMA for some post-grad work, to try and boost his profile. Mission accomplished, as UVA and a small handful of other programs came sniffing around. Fieler took almost no time at all selecting the UVA offer.
He comes from an athlete family, which is always a plus. He has a volleyball-playing sister and his brother, Chase Fieler, is a senior hoopster at FGCU, famous for their Sweet 16 run last year and earning his 15 minutes with this. Whereas Chase is a tall and lanky forward, Jake gives up about 3 inches but makes up for it with an extra 100 pounds or so. Fieler's parents were college athletes, too.
While at FUMA, Fieler played guard almost (if not totally) exclusively. ESPN evaluates him as a guard, and says of his pass-blocking skills, "Displays a good punch with the ability to be able to slide with a rusher in short area once locked on." Again, the scouting reports are as useful for what they don't say as what they do; "short area" means, not in the open like a tackle. And Coach Shuman at FUMA came right out and called him Austin Pasztor, who stepped into the starting lineup as a freshman guard and stuck for his whole career, a ride that took him to the NFL.
Plenty of similarities, and not just having been coached by Shuman. Fieler is described as physical and strong, which was also the best part of Pasztor's game initially; they were both FUMA players who'd been overlooked by colleges and low-rated by the services (in Pasztor's case, because he was Canadian and only spent the one season at FUMA); of course, they play the same position, too.
Fieler's been told, as well, that he should be prepared to get second-string snaps in spring practice, as he enrolled in January along with Andrew Brown. So the fast track is another thing he shares with Pasztor; here in 2014, though, the sorry state of the depth chart is at least 2/3rds of the reason. With only 13 scholarship linemen in camp, maybe 12 this spring depending on the health of George Adeosun, the coaches basically have no choice. As well, it may mean Fieler's already leapfrogged a couple more experienced players, which would speak very poorly of recruiting in the past. That said, it might just also mean that with so few players, the coaches will just consider anyone second-string who isn't first string.
However you interpret it, Fieler will enter the fall with a head start on his classmate Steven Moss. Because of the state of the depth chart, that could really mean something. In a perfect world, we'd redshirt every lineman that ever rolled through the program. Hell, in a world with any kind of sanity at all, that's what'd happen. These days, playing as a true freshman seems to be the only path to playing time of any kind; the few linemen that've redshirted, we haven't seen hide nor hair of. Sean Karl and Ryan Doull redshirted and if they ever got into a game this year I sure missed it; meanwhile, four true freshman played extensively. Fieler, he might not redshirt either; it certainly seems as though the coaches fully intend for him to be in their plans this season. At least in his case, he's already a year older thanks to the postgrad year. Playing time at guard seems as wide open as any position on the field, so there's plenty of room for Fieler to continue following in Pasztor's footsteps. We could do quite a bit worse than to see that comparison hold true for four seasons.
Showing posts with label pasztor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pasztor. Show all posts
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Thursday, December 15, 2011
season preview: Florida State
Florida State Seminoles
Media prediction: 3rd
Last season:
Record: 23-11 (11-5) - ACC 3rd seed
Postseason: NCAA Sweet 16
KenPom: 31st of 345
Returning scoring: 63.2%
Returning rebounding: 58.6%
Returning assists: 57.4%
2010-11 All-ACC:
1st team: none
2nd team: none
3rd team: F Chris Singleton
HM: none
Rookie: none
Defensive: F Chris Singleton
(italics indicate departed player)
Starting lineup:
PG: Luke Loucks (Sr.)
SG: Michael Snaer (Jr.)
SF: Okaro White (So.)
PF: Bernard James (Sr.)
C: Xavier Gibson (Sr.)
Bench:
G Deividas Dulkys (Sr.)
PG Jeff Peterson (Sr.)
F Terrence Shannon (Jr.)
C Jon Kreft (Sr.)
G Terry Whisnant (Fr.)
Coach: Leonard Hamilton (9th season)
ACC schedule:
Twice: Clemson, Duke, Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech
Once: Boston College, Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest
We should really be liking the whole idea of Florida State right now. They're living proof that you can have a semi-adequate offense but if you pair it with a nasty, suffocating defense, you too can be a Sweet 16 team.
FSU has officially gained a nationwide reputation for lockdown defense, and that is not an overrated rep. Last year they were KenPom's #1 defensive team with an 86.2 rating; this year that rating is down to 83.7, which is, like, ridiculous. (It'll come up some during the ACC season, but still.)
FSU's thing is that they have a guy playing power forward who'd play center on every other team, and then an actual center as well. The former is Bernard James, who's done a heckuva job evolving his game from novelty (as a former NCO in the Air Force) to actual threat. It won't surprise you to learn that at 6'10", James blocks a ton of shots. Xavier Gibson gets the starts at center, and he's 6'11", and between them they're blocking 4.1 shots a game this season. James by himself has 2.5 BPG, which is....a lot.
Blocks and steals, the secret to success. Nearly every guard chips in at least 1 steal per game, and sixth man Deividas Dulkys is going strong at 2.2. FSU averages nine steals and seven blocks per game, which nobody in the conference can touch. All those blocks lead to an opponent's effective FG% (so far) of just 39%. The only strange thing is that you'd think a team that tall and that active would also be good rebounders, and they are on the offensive end, but not defensively. Good numbers for defensive rebounding are the ones above 70% - that is, you get 70% or better of available defensive rebounds - and right now FSU checks in at 65.5%, which is well below average.
(Oh by the way - do you know who the best defensive rebounding team in the country is right now? It's your own Virginia Cavaliers at 78.6%. This is a really sneaky thing to do to people. At some point this season, there will be an opponent blogger who looks at the big numbers on the ESPN profile that show UVA as the 264th-best rebounding team in the country and they will assume that we're an easy mark and ought to be easily outrebounded. Then we'll beat their team by 15 and they'll criticize their team's lack of effort on the glass. This is why your basketball stats should generally be tempo-free, especially rebounds. Obviously when there are so few possessions in a game, there will be fewer total rebounds.)
But I digress. Florida State. Now, they have that great defense, but the scoring - tthhbbbpppttt. They actually do miss Chris Singleton in this department. FSU's offensive efficiency has gotten quite a bit worse since last year. Point guards Luke Loucks and Jeff Peterson are strictly enablers who don't pose a major scoring threat; Peterson is a grad-student transfer from Arkansas (and Iowa earlier) and he's okay at taking care of the ball and all that but he's only shooting .378 from the field, which ain't good. Loucks may have found a shot this year, as he's hitting on .453, but for most of his career he's been a long way belong the .400 mark. Most of the scoring load falls on shooting guard Michael Snaer, and he's not very efficient, only shooting .402 himself. Truthfully, though FSU likes to play a little bit up-tempo, a lot of their offense comes from putbacks or from simply working the ball inside and letting their considerable size advantage go to work. Dulkys is the only legitimate threat from outside. And they'll never be a good offense until they take care of their turnover issue. It's something I brought up in last year's preview of this team - at which time they were turning the ball over on almost 25% of their possessions - and it's only gotten worse as this year they're up to an even 27%. (In this regard, no higher than about 19% qualifies as "pretty good" and 27% puts you in the nation's bottom ten. So it's definitely a thing.)
Still - that defense. There's a reason Tony Bennett preaches it. Because it makes you a good team and keeps you in every game, which is where FSU will be. This is a senior-laden, experienced bunch, too. They might be looking at a drop-off next year what with so many graduating, but they'll be tough to get to this year. FSU is 7-3 this year, but all three losses are to tournament teams and won't necessarily be held against them come seeding time. Not even the Harvard one. It'll hurt that they don't have a marquee nonconference win and won't get one unless they beat Florida, but they should do well against one of the tougher ACC schedules out there (Duke, UVA, VT twice, and BC, GT, Wake just once) and earn another tournament bid.
************************************************
So no post yesterday, and I'm vewy sowwy about that, but it's finals time you see. If the basketball team gets 12 days off between games, I'm allowed one night to take my last final of the semester too. A couple things from while I was out:
-- Auburn will be heading to Atlanta minus both coordinators now, with Ted Roof having been fired like last week, and now Gus Malzahn going to Arkansas State to replace Hugh Freeze, who left for Mississippi. (It makes you wonder why Ole Miss didn't just cut out the middleman and hire Malzahn.) So no coordinators and no Michael Dyer - the Tigers will be awfully shorthanded. Obviously it's not like the Auburn offense is just gonna shut down, but I think the #1 effect here is that there won't be a ton of crazy wrinkles in either offense or defense. Gene Chizik is taking over DC duties for the bowl, no doubt Auburn has a second-in-command to take care of the offense, but going in without their field marshals and one major piece of artillery can only spell good signs for the Hoos.
-- It was kind of a no-brainer, but now it's official: the ACC will go to an 18-game hoops schedule next year. Is this a way of unofficially announcing that Syracuse and Pittsburgh will be joining up that quickly? I doubt it - I think the most likely reason for making the move now, as opposed to waiting for the newcomers, is so that teams can nail down the scheduling logistics now and get comfortable with two fewer openings for OOC games. 18 is no great revolution; the Big Ten has been doing it for years and with only 11 teams at that. It should be fun next year with seven teams on the schedule twice, the closest we've been (and the closest we'll ever get) to the double-round-robin since it went away.
Anyway, with 14 teams in the conference this almost had to happen, otherwise we'd only get to play three teams twice and everyone else once. That would suck. If we add two more teams that'll happen anyway, but oh well.
-- There've been so many all-America nominations for our Hoos (and not just in football) that I haven't even mentioned them, so routine has it become. (That sounds horrible, in a way. I should be happier about this stuff.) Chase Minnifield, Demetrious Nicholson, and Austin Pasztor all have various nods from various sources; Minnifield has shown up everywhere. Pitcher Branden Kline (only a couple months til baseball season!) is a first-teamer in the preseason per the NCBWA. But maybe the coolest one is Morgan Brian of the ladies' euro-football team being named Freshman of the Year by Soccer America. I think we're quickly gathering up some strong contenders for this blog's Cavalier of the Year award next summer.
Monday, November 28, 2011
weekend review
This is going to be kind of a short review and also late because I've been spending all day focusing on the positive. Thinking happy, positive thoughts. It's days like Saturday where I'm thankful to have two teams in my rooting satchel. It sucks we lost - really, it sucks that we lost 38-0, I would've been able to just let a 21-14 loss wash right over me - but fortunately it cannot dampen Michigan's win over Ohio State. That's the bonus - you'd think going 1-1 on Saturday would even things out, but a win over a rival is untouchably delicious. Nothing can ever ruin that.
Of course, the flipside is that nothing can make up for a 38-point loss to a rival, either, right? Wrong - we are 8-4 and going bowling. As I was hoping to be 6-6 at this point, I can't let myself be too disappointed. I think the bowl possibilities are narrowed down to two: the Department Store Bowl in Charlotte and the Music City Bowl in Nashville, with either Cincinnati or Vanderbilt, respectively, as opponents. In other words, we're not even stuck in some non-destination hole playing some glorified D-II Sun Belt squad, and there are beatable opponents waiting. Win this upcoming bowl game to go to 9-4 and I can call it, at worst, the second-best season of UVA football since I arrived on Grounds as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed first-year. How can I complain? Besides the obvious, I mean.
Speaking of the obvious, let's take one last necessary look back on Saturday and then file it forever. Because we have to tally up the predictions, that's why. Otherwise, the only analysis you need is HOOS PLAY BAD. No need to anguish over things like the decision to forgo a field goal - wooo, it would've been 38-3 and besides that VT would've gotten the ball back in better field position than they did so maybe they'd've scored on that drive and then it would've been 45-3. Hoos play bad. Turn ball over. Not run block. Analyzing that game - so easy a caveman can do it. Let's analyze predictions instead:
- Either Jones or Parks tops 100 yards rushing.
You heard me: Not run block.
- Mike Rocco completes between 50 and 60 percent of his passes.
16 of 27 does in fact qualify. Unfortunately, he didn't do the other thing I said he needed to do, which is take care of the ball. Rocco actually moved the ball very well as long as he was on his own side of the field. When the Hokies had less ground to defend, they did it very well.
- So does Logan Thomas.
Thomas was 13/21, which is more than 60%, so I get nothing here. It's the only right call, as UVA failed in general to shut down Thomas through the air. The two things I most feared came to pass, and you see the result.
- David Wilson runs for 120+ yards.
Make that three things. Wilson got his yards alright, 153 of them.
- Perry Jones catches at least five. He is Superman.
Jones caught zero. Hello kryptonite.
- Whichever QB throws fewer interceptions, wins.
You know how this one went.
Three for six gives me 36-of-88 in the regular season, which is a shade under 41%. Considering how specific I make these predictions, I think that's not half bad. 6-6 in the score department, though, which literally is half bad, and 6-5-1 ATS. I have a chance to get over .500 on picks, and I suspect I'll do so if the Hoos win their bowl.
Losing means I didn't get to cast a vote for UVA in the Blogpoll after all. Maybe next year - or maybe in the final poll after the bowl. Anyway, this is the ballot. They're coming later these days because they take longer to do every week.
There's a lot of change because there were a lot of rivalry-game routs, and these rivalry games don't often match up a powerhouse against a patsy, so there was a lot of opportunity to make things happen.
I don't want to be ranking Southern Miss, by the way, but they are 10-2 (and UVA is kind of a marquee win) and the alternative is either Georgia Tech or dipping into the Big East turdbowl. So there you have it. And if it's any consolation, Saturday was clearly Virginia Tech's best win of the season - usually I just slot that one in the middle somewhere. (That's not consolation? Well, I tried.)
********************************************
This marks this year's final installment of Senior Seasons - a few teams are still playing, so I'll toss the results out there if I remember, but only in news bullets. But have no fear - I expect the 2013 recruiting class to be absolutely outstanding, so next year this ought to be a fun section.
Piscataway 34, Franklin 19: Kye Morgan ran for 158 yards and a touchdown, which pushed him over 1,000 yards in just ten games, but Franklin lost their annual rivalry game and finished 6-4.
Buford 42, Elbert County 13 (C.J. Moore)
St. Joseph 32, Hammonton 3 (Max Valles)
St. Joseph Prep 30, Malvern Prep 14 (Michael Mooney)
Hermitage 10, L.C. Bird 0 (Andre Miles-Redmond)
Only three schools will play next week: St. Joseph and Max Valles, Buford and C.J. Moore, and Hermitage with Andre Miles-Redmond. St. Joseph won its rivalry game against crosstown public school Hammonton, and next week will play for New Jersey's Non-Public I championship. Buford and Hermitage are in the state semifinals, Georgia's AA division and Virginia's Level 6. Hermitage's opponent is Centreville, and the winner plays the winner of Oscar Smith and Battlefield at Scott Stadium.
All three have excellent chances; St. Joseph has outscored opponents 423 to 19 this year. Hermitage should be favored against Centreville and then would likely have a battle of the titans against Oscar Smith. Buford has been crushing everyone and is going for its fifth straight title; it would take an upset for them to lose.
********************************************
-- I forgot to mention the demise of the soccer teams in their NCAA tournaments. The men, deprived of their best scorer, didn't get past the first round, losing at Klockner to Delaware, 1-0. The ladies carried a shutout streak into the quarterfinals (including a 4-0 win over VT) but lost to FSU in the quarters. Women's sports being what they are (which is to say, way fewer upsets) all four teams in the semis are 1 seeds; UVA was a 2 seed.
-- Someone tell me again why it's the ACC that always gets the bad football rap. We have nine bowl-eligible teams; the Pac-12 would have seven if one of them wasn't a dirty cheater. Seven Pac-12 teams have a losing record in-conference, and five overall, or they will once UCLA gets rocked in the Pac-12 championship. Only five ACC teams have losing conference records, and only three have losing records overall. And if you tell me that's because the ACC plays one fewer conference game and builds its record up on the nonconference schedule, I'll ask you why the SEC gets a pass on theirs.
At worst, the ACC has been the fourth-best conference this year behind the SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 - and the Big 12 is being held together by duct tape and toothpicks. The Pac-12 has already fired three of its coaches (all in the putrid Pac-12 South) with more potentially on the way.
-- Speaking of fired coaches, it appears that the ACC will get through this offseason without a single coaching change. That hasn't happened since the 2005-2006 offseason. Although it's not for lack of trying on the part of the fanbases. Marylanders are already chomping at the bit, of course, to get rid of Randy Edsall. Can't imagine why. And Bostonites want Frank Spaziani gone, but he's not going anywhere. (Via BC Interruption.)
-- After the talk of being "Oregon of the East" during last year's uniform unveilings (and getting out-Oregonned so hard by Maryland - and come to think of it, VT as well, but much more quietly) that died down fast this year. UVA skipped two combinations entirely (white over blue and orange over orange, the latter of which THANK GOD) and only used two combinations more than once (orange over blue three times and white over white four times.) All that hype over fancy new unis and we roll with white on white as much as possible.
Everything else was used just once. I could go the rest of my life and be happy never seeing blue/blue in any uniform style ever, but the white jersey with orange pants is too sharp to ignore. And it's a little disappointing to see so little of the classic blue and whites. There's still the bowl game, though.
-- UVA got very solid representation on the all-ACC teams released today. I don't think I can complain about any snubs; I guess I would have liked to see Perry Jones (honorable mention) get more consideration than Andre Ellington (2nd team) simply because Jones is a much greater receiving threat than Ellington, but I think overall it's pretty decent. And ohbytheway, nobody had more players on the first team than UVA did. Only Florida State tied us, with three. Here's the breakdown as far as UVA is concerned:
1st team: Austin Pasztor, Matt Conrath, Chase Minnifield
2nd team: Oday Aboushi, Steve Greer
HM: Perry Jones, Rodney McLeod, Anthony Mihota
-- Big basketball game tomorrow. Big one. It's kind of a bittersweet moment in history for me; it'll be the first time I've ever cheered against Michigan in anything. (I've always said that if this ever happened, I'd choose sides based on who needs the win more; that is clearly Virginia. It'll make up for my answer to Gobbler Country about picking a U-M win over a UVA one on Saturday.) On the plus side, you can expect a pretty well-informed game preview.
Of course, the flipside is that nothing can make up for a 38-point loss to a rival, either, right? Wrong - we are 8-4 and going bowling. As I was hoping to be 6-6 at this point, I can't let myself be too disappointed. I think the bowl possibilities are narrowed down to two: the Department Store Bowl in Charlotte and the Music City Bowl in Nashville, with either Cincinnati or Vanderbilt, respectively, as opponents. In other words, we're not even stuck in some non-destination hole playing some glorified D-II Sun Belt squad, and there are beatable opponents waiting. Win this upcoming bowl game to go to 9-4 and I can call it, at worst, the second-best season of UVA football since I arrived on Grounds as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed first-year. How can I complain? Besides the obvious, I mean.
Speaking of the obvious, let's take one last necessary look back on Saturday and then file it forever. Because we have to tally up the predictions, that's why. Otherwise, the only analysis you need is HOOS PLAY BAD. No need to anguish over things like the decision to forgo a field goal - wooo, it would've been 38-3 and besides that VT would've gotten the ball back in better field position than they did so maybe they'd've scored on that drive and then it would've been 45-3. Hoos play bad. Turn ball over. Not run block. Analyzing that game - so easy a caveman can do it. Let's analyze predictions instead:
- Either Jones or Parks tops 100 yards rushing.
You heard me: Not run block.
- Mike Rocco completes between 50 and 60 percent of his passes.
16 of 27 does in fact qualify. Unfortunately, he didn't do the other thing I said he needed to do, which is take care of the ball. Rocco actually moved the ball very well as long as he was on his own side of the field. When the Hokies had less ground to defend, they did it very well.
- So does Logan Thomas.
Thomas was 13/21, which is more than 60%, so I get nothing here. It's the only right call, as UVA failed in general to shut down Thomas through the air. The two things I most feared came to pass, and you see the result.
- David Wilson runs for 120+ yards.
Make that three things. Wilson got his yards alright, 153 of them.
- Perry Jones catches at least five. He is Superman.
Jones caught zero. Hello kryptonite.
- Whichever QB throws fewer interceptions, wins.
You know how this one went.
Three for six gives me 36-of-88 in the regular season, which is a shade under 41%. Considering how specific I make these predictions, I think that's not half bad. 6-6 in the score department, though, which literally is half bad, and 6-5-1 ATS. I have a chance to get over .500 on picks, and I suspect I'll do so if the Hoos win their bowl.
Losing means I didn't get to cast a vote for UVA in the Blogpoll after all. Maybe next year - or maybe in the final poll after the bowl. Anyway, this is the ballot. They're coming later these days because they take longer to do every week.
From Old Virginia Ballot - Week 14
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | LSU Tigers | -- |
| 2 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 3 | Oklahoma Sooners |  2 |
| 4 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |  -1 |
| 5 | Michigan Wolverines | -1 |
| 6 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 7 | Stanford Cardinal | 2 |
| 8 | Oregon Ducks | -1 |
| 9 | Wisconsin Badgers | 5 |
| 10 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 3 |
| 11 | USC Trojans | -3 |
| 12 | South Carolina Gamecocks | 8 |
| 13 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 5 |
| 14 | Georgia Bulldogs | 3 |
| 15 | Michigan St. Spartans | 7 |
| 16 | Houston Cougars | -4 |
| 17 | TCU Horned Frogs | -7 |
| 18 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -7 |
| 19 | Kansas St. Wildcats | -- |
| 20 | Baylor Bears | 4 |
| 21 | Clemson Tigers | -6 |
| 22 | Penn St. Nittany Lions | -6 |
| 23 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 24 | Southern Miss. Golden Eagles | -1 |
| 25 | Notre Dame Fighting Irish | -4 |
| Dropouts: Rutgers Scarlet Knights | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
There's a lot of change because there were a lot of rivalry-game routs, and these rivalry games don't often match up a powerhouse against a patsy, so there was a lot of opportunity to make things happen.
I don't want to be ranking Southern Miss, by the way, but they are 10-2 (and UVA is kind of a marquee win) and the alternative is either Georgia Tech or dipping into the Big East turdbowl. So there you have it. And if it's any consolation, Saturday was clearly Virginia Tech's best win of the season - usually I just slot that one in the middle somewhere. (That's not consolation? Well, I tried.)
********************************************
This marks this year's final installment of Senior Seasons - a few teams are still playing, so I'll toss the results out there if I remember, but only in news bullets. But have no fear - I expect the 2013 recruiting class to be absolutely outstanding, so next year this ought to be a fun section.
Piscataway 34, Franklin 19: Kye Morgan ran for 158 yards and a touchdown, which pushed him over 1,000 yards in just ten games, but Franklin lost their annual rivalry game and finished 6-4.
Buford 42, Elbert County 13 (C.J. Moore)
St. Joseph 32, Hammonton 3 (Max Valles)
St. Joseph Prep 30, Malvern Prep 14 (Michael Mooney)
Hermitage 10, L.C. Bird 0 (Andre Miles-Redmond)
Only three schools will play next week: St. Joseph and Max Valles, Buford and C.J. Moore, and Hermitage with Andre Miles-Redmond. St. Joseph won its rivalry game against crosstown public school Hammonton, and next week will play for New Jersey's Non-Public I championship. Buford and Hermitage are in the state semifinals, Georgia's AA division and Virginia's Level 6. Hermitage's opponent is Centreville, and the winner plays the winner of Oscar Smith and Battlefield at Scott Stadium.
All three have excellent chances; St. Joseph has outscored opponents 423 to 19 this year. Hermitage should be favored against Centreville and then would likely have a battle of the titans against Oscar Smith. Buford has been crushing everyone and is going for its fifth straight title; it would take an upset for them to lose.
********************************************
-- I forgot to mention the demise of the soccer teams in their NCAA tournaments. The men, deprived of their best scorer, didn't get past the first round, losing at Klockner to Delaware, 1-0. The ladies carried a shutout streak into the quarterfinals (including a 4-0 win over VT) but lost to FSU in the quarters. Women's sports being what they are (which is to say, way fewer upsets) all four teams in the semis are 1 seeds; UVA was a 2 seed.
-- Someone tell me again why it's the ACC that always gets the bad football rap. We have nine bowl-eligible teams; the Pac-12 would have seven if one of them wasn't a dirty cheater. Seven Pac-12 teams have a losing record in-conference, and five overall, or they will once UCLA gets rocked in the Pac-12 championship. Only five ACC teams have losing conference records, and only three have losing records overall. And if you tell me that's because the ACC plays one fewer conference game and builds its record up on the nonconference schedule, I'll ask you why the SEC gets a pass on theirs.
At worst, the ACC has been the fourth-best conference this year behind the SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 - and the Big 12 is being held together by duct tape and toothpicks. The Pac-12 has already fired three of its coaches (all in the putrid Pac-12 South) with more potentially on the way.
-- Speaking of fired coaches, it appears that the ACC will get through this offseason without a single coaching change. That hasn't happened since the 2005-2006 offseason. Although it's not for lack of trying on the part of the fanbases. Marylanders are already chomping at the bit, of course, to get rid of Randy Edsall. Can't imagine why. And Bostonites want Frank Spaziani gone, but he's not going anywhere. (Via BC Interruption.)
-- After the talk of being "Oregon of the East" during last year's uniform unveilings (and getting out-Oregonned so hard by Maryland - and come to think of it, VT as well, but much more quietly) that died down fast this year. UVA skipped two combinations entirely (white over blue and orange over orange, the latter of which THANK GOD) and only used two combinations more than once (orange over blue three times and white over white four times.) All that hype over fancy new unis and we roll with white on white as much as possible.
Everything else was used just once. I could go the rest of my life and be happy never seeing blue/blue in any uniform style ever, but the white jersey with orange pants is too sharp to ignore. And it's a little disappointing to see so little of the classic blue and whites. There's still the bowl game, though.
-- UVA got very solid representation on the all-ACC teams released today. I don't think I can complain about any snubs; I guess I would have liked to see Perry Jones (honorable mention) get more consideration than Andre Ellington (2nd team) simply because Jones is a much greater receiving threat than Ellington, but I think overall it's pretty decent. And ohbytheway, nobody had more players on the first team than UVA did. Only Florida State tied us, with three. Here's the breakdown as far as UVA is concerned:
1st team: Austin Pasztor, Matt Conrath, Chase Minnifield
2nd team: Oday Aboushi, Steve Greer
HM: Perry Jones, Rodney McLeod, Anthony Mihota
-- Big basketball game tomorrow. Big one. It's kind of a bittersweet moment in history for me; it'll be the first time I've ever cheered against Michigan in anything. (I've always said that if this ever happened, I'd choose sides based on who needs the win more; that is clearly Virginia. It'll make up for my answer to Gobbler Country about picking a U-M win over a UVA one on Saturday.) On the plus side, you can expect a pretty well-informed game preview.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
weekend review
UVA just beat Maryland, in College Park, to earn bowl eligibility and officially deny Maryland theirs, so I think you'd forgive me if I just rode the high from the weekend and posted a bunch of :)'s and left it at that. But maybe not.
There are way too many impressive things from this weekend to list them one by one, so how about this: three more Hoos earned player of the week honors in the ACC, one of them being Austin Pasztor, which makes it three out of five starting offensive linemen (so far) that have done so this year.
Rodney McLeod's three picks made him a no-brainer for defensive back, but honestly, I only liked one and a half of them. Knock it down on fourth down, man! McLeod's second pick actually nearly cost the Hoos; two plays later, Rocco threw a pick that gave Maryland the ball at the edge of the red zone. If he'd have just knocked the ball to the ground, UVA gets the ball inside the 50 instead of their own 20, a 35-yard field position swing. The third pick was also on fourth down, but in a crowd so batting the ball might have been a risky play; hence, one and a half.
Let's dig into the extensive list of predictions this week.
- UVA running backs total at least 40 carries.
They had exactly 40, but I probably would've cheated a little and counted David Watford's carries too. Fortunately, I didn't need to. Once again, Bill Lazor leaned on the run.
- Jones and Parks total at least 30.
They had 36, which qualifies me to start off 2-for-2. Let me break off into story time here for a second: one thing I loved about growing up watching Michigan football was that Michigan always - always - had a workhorse running back they could rely on game in, game out to pile up the yardage. Generally a single hoss. There was Ricky Powers, Tyrone Wheatley, Touchdown Tim Biakabutuka, the A-Train, Anthony Thomas, Chris Perry, Mike Hart. Perry once toted the ball 51 times in a game. Running back is my favorite position on the field, and there's no fun quite like watching a dominant one do his thing.
UVA probably will never go with that strategy - in fact, the days of a single workhorse putting the team on his back like that are probably sliding slowly into oblivion - but what we're seeing now is close. No, nobody's going to average 26 carries a game the way Perry did, but the workload handed these backs is workhorse stuff all the same, and it's just a treat and a half to watch them do their thing. Plus, UVA is not Michigan and cannot click its heels together three times and make dominant running backs appear out of thin air; this platoon is a great thing for recruiting. Perry Jones has a terrific shot at getting to 1,000 yards; the fact that he can do so without hogging the depth chart allows Mike London to tell recruits that they can have their cake and eat it too. Playing time and stats are readily available regardless of the depth chart. Having a single workhorse is a lot of fun, but it turns your RB recruiting into QB-style recruiting where you can only attract a really good player once every three years or so. As long as there are this many carries to go around, UVA should be able to do very well for itself in picking up stars to carry the ball.
- All three backs exceed their season averages.
Jones did, but unfortunately for me here, Parks and Richardson did not. We saw much less of Clifton Richardson than usual and I just chalk that up to Perry Jones having a really good day.
- UVA piles up at least 200 yards on the ground.
And then some - we got to 220. Maryland's run defense was about as bad as advertised.
- Mike Rocco's season passing average after this game is over 7 yards per attempt.
Rocco had what I think anyone would say was his best game of the year. His only season high was in yardage (he's put together better completion percentages, passer ratings, etc.) but when it comes down to body of work, this was Rocco's best of his career. He looked like a seasoned vet and, for one game at least, shed the dreaded "game manager" label and progressed to controlling the game, not just managing it. And yes, his season average is boosted up to 7.22. Prior to the Miami game it was down at 6.52; yes, that three-quarters of a yard is a big deal. UVA's passing attack has jumped from 104th in the country to 73rd in just two games.
- Rocco has about 20 pass attempts for about 170 yards.
That is 8.5 yards per attempt. Actual stats: 36 attempts for 307 yards, which is about 8.53. I do not get credit for the prediction because UVA went to the pass almost twice as much as I expected, but let the record show that Rocco played about exactly as well as I expected him to. And look, Maryland's kinda crappy so don't let your expectations go overboard for when we play teams with defenses like FSU and VT, but averaging 8.53 yards an attempt would make you 11th in the country in that regard.
- In terms of average, C.J. Brown is Maryland's leading rusher.
Should I get credit for this one? Brown averaged 12 per carry because his day consisted of taking off for a 25-yarder and one carry for -1, which if I remember right was just a fumble that he fell on. I'll go ahead and say yes because it's plays exactly like that 25-yarder that I was afraid of here, and UVA bottled up Davin Meggett (a 42-yarder and then seven carries for 10 more) and Justus Pickett (didn't do anything much) which was basically what I figured would happen.
- If Brown is held to less than 20 yards rushing, UVA wins by at least two touchdowns.
Well, he wasn't, and we did. I'm gonna call this one void and not count it because the "if" wasn't met, and I'll count my blessings that it wasn't, because the reason it wasn't is that Randy Edsall did exactly what I didn't expect. Brown just wasn't even used as a rushing threat. That quarterback situation looks eerily like our Rocco/Watford platoon from pre-Miami times, right down to the coach claiming that Brown has certain skills they want to take advantage of, and then just running the same plays for both of them. Danny O'Brien isn't a bad quarterback, and Maryland would be well-advised to drop the platoon or figure out some better way to utilize it.
- Tight end Matt Furstenburg leads Maryland in both receptions and yardage.
He did not, and wasn't even close. Maryland's receivers were targeted extremely heavily, and I was gonna say they had a much better day than I expected, except that would've sounded silly after watching them drop O'Brien's throws like they were poisoned.
- Neither Maryland quarterback completes more than 50% of their passes.
Thanks partly to the aforementioned dropsies, this proved true. Well. OK, fine. Mostly true. Brown was 4-for-7. Whatever. The total tally was 20-of-43, which is what I'm gonna defer to here and give myself another point. O'Brien was probably accurate enough to make me miss this one, but his receivers let him down too much, and catching the ball is half the battle.
- Maryland passes for less than 150 yards.
OK, maybe I was a little overenthusiastic on how well UVA might shut down the Maryland passing game.
- Official attendance is less than 40,000.
37,401. It was neat how stocked full the visitor's section was and how spotty and barren was the rest of the joint. Reports from people who attended said that Maryland fans spent their energy berating Edsall, not the visiting fans, which was a welcome change from the usual College Park atmosphere. The profane jerk-asses don't tend to be the ones willing to sit in the cold watching a terrible team get killed; they'll wait for fair weather, both literally and figuratively.
Mike Rocco had his best week passing, and I had my best week predicting: tally them up and it's 7 for 11. That brings me to 29-for-70, which looks bad because of the 2 and the 7, but it's 41%. Getting both the outcome and the spread right gets me to 5-4 both ways. In case you're wondering, winning 55% of your bets would make you rich if you could do it consistently, so all hail the 5-4 record.
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A busy Senior Seasons week; not as many games going on, but, playoff brackets are getting set left and right. Here's how your boys did this week:
Victory Christian 58, Santa Fe Catholic 20: Demeitre Brim ran for 227 yards and three scores, and - here's the part you might be more interested in - intercepted a pass as well. Victory finishes the season 8-2 and district champions, and has a week off next week before the playoffs begin.
St. Joseph 37, Egg Harbor Township 0: Max Valles caught a touchdown pass. St. Joe's finishes unbeaten at 8-0, and their defense with Valles and one-time UVA recruit Kaiwan Lewis has allowed an average of two points a game.
Franklin 41, Ridge 3: Kye Morgan had four rushing touchdowns and 139 yards, then sat for the second half in a rout. Franklin finishes the season 6-2 and playoff-bound.
Central Bucks South 61, Central Bucks East 40: As you might expect in scoring 61 points, Matt Johns had a big day, with 291 yards passing and four touchdowns. CB South is 7-3 and also headed to the playoffs.
Landstown 34, Kempsville 0: Kyle Dockins had four receptions and 101 yards. Landstown is 8-2.
Ocean Lakes 21, Kellam 12: Eli Harold had five carries and five catches for a total of 158 yards and two touchdowns. Ocean Lakes is 8-2.
Varina 42, Hanover 3: Maurice Canady went apeshit on Hanover; he carried for 148 yards and three touchdowns, threw for another, and returned an interception 70 yards for yet another. Varina is 8-1.
DeMatha 21, Bishop McNamara 8 (Michael Moore; DeMatha is 6-3.)
Malvern Prep 17, Haverford School 14 (Michael Mooney; Malvern is 8-1.)
Brenham 28, Stratford 3 (Kelvin Rainey; Stratford is 6-4.)
Worcester Academy 28, Phillips Andover 6 (Canaan Severin; WA is 4-3.)
Hampton 13, Phoebus 10 (Jamall Brown; Hampton is 8-2.)
Green Run 30, Tallwood 0 (Mark Hall; Green Run is 5-5.)
Hermitage 51, Thomas Jefferson 0 (Andre Miles-Redmond; Hermitage is 9-0.)
I should add that two of those games in the "other" list look as run-of-the-mill as the others, but aren't; Hampton's win over Phoebus and Malvern's win over Haverford represent two very large rivalries in which this year's winner hadn't done so for quite a while. For Hampton I think it's six years and for Malvern it's about the same. Bravo to the UVA-bound winners.
Playoff situations are mostly lined up now. Pretty much everyone is going, except for those listed last week. Most are not favored even in their opening round games, though. Even some teams that are usually top dog types are lower seeds. Ocean Lakes, Landstown, and Bayside are all hitting the road. Hampton will host Green Run next weekend, an elimination game between Jamall Brown and Mark Hall with Hampton heavily favored. Meanwhile, DeMatha is also in the unfamiliar position of underdog; they'll face Gonzaga again (whom they've lost to two years running) with the winner probably getting whomped by undefeated Good Counsel. Kelvin Rainey's Stratford team is in the playoffs as well, but likely to bow out in the first round.
Matt Johns and CB South, and Kye Morgan with Franklin, are in a little better position to start the playoffs, but nowhere near the bracket favorite, either. However, there are some teams in strong position to win a state title. St. Joseph with Max Valles is the one-seed in a three-team bracket - like Virginia, New Jersey separates the private schools. They'll have a bye to face the winner of this week's game. Norfolk Christian is also the one-seed in their VISAA four-team bracket. Down in Georgia, Buford of course starts the playoffs next week as the heavy favorite. And Victory Christian has to wait a week to find out their playoff position, but it should be solid.
Four teams are still in the regular season: Malvern Prep, which as a private school is also separate from Pennsylvania's public system; Worcester Academy, as Massachusetts gets kind of a late start; and the two Richmond-area teams, Varina and Hermitage. Why in the hell Virginia operates that way, with the playoffs starting and some of its teams still in the regular season, is a mystery to me.
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It seems the better the football team does, the less I say anything about soccer. It didn't help that my inner soccer hooligan wanted to smash a pub window when I read that the men's team's only actual dependable scorer - Will Bates - tore his ACL a couple weeks ago. But with postseason brackets being lined up, maybe I should get a small word in here. The women are a regional 2 seed in the 64-team bracket and will start the tournament by hosting Long Island on Friday. And tomorrow, the men take on GUESS WHO Wake Forest as the ACC 4 seed. At this point I think it's written in the ACC bylaws that UVA shall play Wake Forest at all conceivable opportunities. That's cool as long as we win.
There are way too many impressive things from this weekend to list them one by one, so how about this: three more Hoos earned player of the week honors in the ACC, one of them being Austin Pasztor, which makes it three out of five starting offensive linemen (so far) that have done so this year.
Rodney McLeod's three picks made him a no-brainer for defensive back, but honestly, I only liked one and a half of them. Knock it down on fourth down, man! McLeod's second pick actually nearly cost the Hoos; two plays later, Rocco threw a pick that gave Maryland the ball at the edge of the red zone. If he'd have just knocked the ball to the ground, UVA gets the ball inside the 50 instead of their own 20, a 35-yard field position swing. The third pick was also on fourth down, but in a crowd so batting the ball might have been a risky play; hence, one and a half.
Let's dig into the extensive list of predictions this week.
- UVA running backs total at least 40 carries.
They had exactly 40, but I probably would've cheated a little and counted David Watford's carries too. Fortunately, I didn't need to. Once again, Bill Lazor leaned on the run.
- Jones and Parks total at least 30.
They had 36, which qualifies me to start off 2-for-2. Let me break off into story time here for a second: one thing I loved about growing up watching Michigan football was that Michigan always - always - had a workhorse running back they could rely on game in, game out to pile up the yardage. Generally a single hoss. There was Ricky Powers, Tyrone Wheatley, Touchdown Tim Biakabutuka, the A-Train, Anthony Thomas, Chris Perry, Mike Hart. Perry once toted the ball 51 times in a game. Running back is my favorite position on the field, and there's no fun quite like watching a dominant one do his thing.
UVA probably will never go with that strategy - in fact, the days of a single workhorse putting the team on his back like that are probably sliding slowly into oblivion - but what we're seeing now is close. No, nobody's going to average 26 carries a game the way Perry did, but the workload handed these backs is workhorse stuff all the same, and it's just a treat and a half to watch them do their thing. Plus, UVA is not Michigan and cannot click its heels together three times and make dominant running backs appear out of thin air; this platoon is a great thing for recruiting. Perry Jones has a terrific shot at getting to 1,000 yards; the fact that he can do so without hogging the depth chart allows Mike London to tell recruits that they can have their cake and eat it too. Playing time and stats are readily available regardless of the depth chart. Having a single workhorse is a lot of fun, but it turns your RB recruiting into QB-style recruiting where you can only attract a really good player once every three years or so. As long as there are this many carries to go around, UVA should be able to do very well for itself in picking up stars to carry the ball.
- All three backs exceed their season averages.
Jones did, but unfortunately for me here, Parks and Richardson did not. We saw much less of Clifton Richardson than usual and I just chalk that up to Perry Jones having a really good day.
- UVA piles up at least 200 yards on the ground.
And then some - we got to 220. Maryland's run defense was about as bad as advertised.
- Mike Rocco's season passing average after this game is over 7 yards per attempt.
Rocco had what I think anyone would say was his best game of the year. His only season high was in yardage (he's put together better completion percentages, passer ratings, etc.) but when it comes down to body of work, this was Rocco's best of his career. He looked like a seasoned vet and, for one game at least, shed the dreaded "game manager" label and progressed to controlling the game, not just managing it. And yes, his season average is boosted up to 7.22. Prior to the Miami game it was down at 6.52; yes, that three-quarters of a yard is a big deal. UVA's passing attack has jumped from 104th in the country to 73rd in just two games.
- Rocco has about 20 pass attempts for about 170 yards.
That is 8.5 yards per attempt. Actual stats: 36 attempts for 307 yards, which is about 8.53. I do not get credit for the prediction because UVA went to the pass almost twice as much as I expected, but let the record show that Rocco played about exactly as well as I expected him to. And look, Maryland's kinda crappy so don't let your expectations go overboard for when we play teams with defenses like FSU and VT, but averaging 8.53 yards an attempt would make you 11th in the country in that regard.
- In terms of average, C.J. Brown is Maryland's leading rusher.
Should I get credit for this one? Brown averaged 12 per carry because his day consisted of taking off for a 25-yarder and one carry for -1, which if I remember right was just a fumble that he fell on. I'll go ahead and say yes because it's plays exactly like that 25-yarder that I was afraid of here, and UVA bottled up Davin Meggett (a 42-yarder and then seven carries for 10 more) and Justus Pickett (didn't do anything much) which was basically what I figured would happen.
- If Brown is held to less than 20 yards rushing, UVA wins by at least two touchdowns.
Well, he wasn't, and we did. I'm gonna call this one void and not count it because the "if" wasn't met, and I'll count my blessings that it wasn't, because the reason it wasn't is that Randy Edsall did exactly what I didn't expect. Brown just wasn't even used as a rushing threat. That quarterback situation looks eerily like our Rocco/Watford platoon from pre-Miami times, right down to the coach claiming that Brown has certain skills they want to take advantage of, and then just running the same plays for both of them. Danny O'Brien isn't a bad quarterback, and Maryland would be well-advised to drop the platoon or figure out some better way to utilize it.
- Tight end Matt Furstenburg leads Maryland in both receptions and yardage.
He did not, and wasn't even close. Maryland's receivers were targeted extremely heavily, and I was gonna say they had a much better day than I expected, except that would've sounded silly after watching them drop O'Brien's throws like they were poisoned.
- Neither Maryland quarterback completes more than 50% of their passes.
Thanks partly to the aforementioned dropsies, this proved true. Well. OK, fine. Mostly true. Brown was 4-for-7. Whatever. The total tally was 20-of-43, which is what I'm gonna defer to here and give myself another point. O'Brien was probably accurate enough to make me miss this one, but his receivers let him down too much, and catching the ball is half the battle.
- Maryland passes for less than 150 yards.
OK, maybe I was a little overenthusiastic on how well UVA might shut down the Maryland passing game.
- Official attendance is less than 40,000.
37,401. It was neat how stocked full the visitor's section was and how spotty and barren was the rest of the joint. Reports from people who attended said that Maryland fans spent their energy berating Edsall, not the visiting fans, which was a welcome change from the usual College Park atmosphere. The profane jerk-asses don't tend to be the ones willing to sit in the cold watching a terrible team get killed; they'll wait for fair weather, both literally and figuratively.
Mike Rocco had his best week passing, and I had my best week predicting: tally them up and it's 7 for 11. That brings me to 29-for-70, which looks bad because of the 2 and the 7, but it's 41%. Getting both the outcome and the spread right gets me to 5-4 both ways. In case you're wondering, winning 55% of your bets would make you rich if you could do it consistently, so all hail the 5-4 record.
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A busy Senior Seasons week; not as many games going on, but, playoff brackets are getting set left and right. Here's how your boys did this week:
Victory Christian 58, Santa Fe Catholic 20: Demeitre Brim ran for 227 yards and three scores, and - here's the part you might be more interested in - intercepted a pass as well. Victory finishes the season 8-2 and district champions, and has a week off next week before the playoffs begin.
St. Joseph 37, Egg Harbor Township 0: Max Valles caught a touchdown pass. St. Joe's finishes unbeaten at 8-0, and their defense with Valles and one-time UVA recruit Kaiwan Lewis has allowed an average of two points a game.
Franklin 41, Ridge 3: Kye Morgan had four rushing touchdowns and 139 yards, then sat for the second half in a rout. Franklin finishes the season 6-2 and playoff-bound.
Central Bucks South 61, Central Bucks East 40: As you might expect in scoring 61 points, Matt Johns had a big day, with 291 yards passing and four touchdowns. CB South is 7-3 and also headed to the playoffs.
Landstown 34, Kempsville 0: Kyle Dockins had four receptions and 101 yards. Landstown is 8-2.
Ocean Lakes 21, Kellam 12: Eli Harold had five carries and five catches for a total of 158 yards and two touchdowns. Ocean Lakes is 8-2.
Varina 42, Hanover 3: Maurice Canady went apeshit on Hanover; he carried for 148 yards and three touchdowns, threw for another, and returned an interception 70 yards for yet another. Varina is 8-1.
DeMatha 21, Bishop McNamara 8 (Michael Moore; DeMatha is 6-3.)
Malvern Prep 17, Haverford School 14 (Michael Mooney; Malvern is 8-1.)
Brenham 28, Stratford 3 (Kelvin Rainey; Stratford is 6-4.)
Worcester Academy 28, Phillips Andover 6 (Canaan Severin; WA is 4-3.)
Hampton 13, Phoebus 10 (Jamall Brown; Hampton is 8-2.)
Green Run 30, Tallwood 0 (Mark Hall; Green Run is 5-5.)
Hermitage 51, Thomas Jefferson 0 (Andre Miles-Redmond; Hermitage is 9-0.)
I should add that two of those games in the "other" list look as run-of-the-mill as the others, but aren't; Hampton's win over Phoebus and Malvern's win over Haverford represent two very large rivalries in which this year's winner hadn't done so for quite a while. For Hampton I think it's six years and for Malvern it's about the same. Bravo to the UVA-bound winners.
Playoff situations are mostly lined up now. Pretty much everyone is going, except for those listed last week. Most are not favored even in their opening round games, though. Even some teams that are usually top dog types are lower seeds. Ocean Lakes, Landstown, and Bayside are all hitting the road. Hampton will host Green Run next weekend, an elimination game between Jamall Brown and Mark Hall with Hampton heavily favored. Meanwhile, DeMatha is also in the unfamiliar position of underdog; they'll face Gonzaga again (whom they've lost to two years running) with the winner probably getting whomped by undefeated Good Counsel. Kelvin Rainey's Stratford team is in the playoffs as well, but likely to bow out in the first round.
Matt Johns and CB South, and Kye Morgan with Franklin, are in a little better position to start the playoffs, but nowhere near the bracket favorite, either. However, there are some teams in strong position to win a state title. St. Joseph with Max Valles is the one-seed in a three-team bracket - like Virginia, New Jersey separates the private schools. They'll have a bye to face the winner of this week's game. Norfolk Christian is also the one-seed in their VISAA four-team bracket. Down in Georgia, Buford of course starts the playoffs next week as the heavy favorite. And Victory Christian has to wait a week to find out their playoff position, but it should be solid.
Four teams are still in the regular season: Malvern Prep, which as a private school is also separate from Pennsylvania's public system; Worcester Academy, as Massachusetts gets kind of a late start; and the two Richmond-area teams, Varina and Hermitage. Why in the hell Virginia operates that way, with the playoffs starting and some of its teams still in the regular season, is a mystery to me.
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It seems the better the football team does, the less I say anything about soccer. It didn't help that my inner soccer hooligan wanted to smash a pub window when I read that the men's team's only actual dependable scorer - Will Bates - tore his ACL a couple weeks ago. But with postseason brackets being lined up, maybe I should get a small word in here. The women are a regional 2 seed in the 64-team bracket and will start the tournament by hosting Long Island on Friday. And tomorrow, the men take on GUESS WHO Wake Forest as the ACC 4 seed. At this point I think it's written in the ACC bylaws that UVA shall play Wake Forest at all conceivable opportunities. That's cool as long as we win.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
the recruit: Kelby Johnson
Apologies: I was going to have the first of many season previews up, but they require one missing ingredient that hasn't been released yet from the ACC media extravaganza. So enjoy the flip-flop: Boston College tomorrow, Kelby Johnson today.
Name: Kelby Johnson
Position: OT
Hometown: DC area, MD
School: DeMatha
Height: 6'8"
Weight: 285
ESPN: none
Rivals: 5.4, two stars, MD #19
Scout: three stars, #79 OT
Other offers: New Mexico
Mike London's got the touch: another April commitment landed within a couple weeks of making the offer, and again from program extraordinaire DeMatha, just a few days after extending the DeMatha streak to four years with Jordan Lomax.
Recruitniks have heard the names Arie and Cyrus Kouandjio, who attracted scholarship offers from every D-I school ever. Arie was a senior last year and signed with Alabama in 2010; Cyrus will be a senior this upcoming season. Both are all-world offensive tackle recruits from DeMatha, and important because that's why Kelby Johnson didn't have a starting job last year. With Arie gone, Johnson will step into place, more than likely on the right side.
Unsurprisingly for someone who spent his junior year as a backup, the word "raw" is used pretty frequently in scouting reports on Johnson, these coming from his limited playing time last fall and the showcases he's attended. Obviously, the lack of PT also explains his general lack of offers, though Rutgers at least was recruiting him pretty hard before his commitment to UVA. They never got around to pulling the offer trigger, but Johnson was at their spring game the very weekend before he committed to UVA.
Johnson is really, really tall for a lineman - for leverage reasons, they don't come much taller than he does at 6'8". It's that height that will ensure he stays at offensive tackle, as it makes it a little harder to get the explosive forward drive an interior lineman needs to be a run-blocker. (Austin Pasztor is listed as 6'7" but he's also soared past 300 pounds and was a 310-pound freshman.) Johnson isn't likely to be that big come next fall, but he has put on weight nicely - the Rivals articles from December call him 265-270 pounds, a solid 20 pounds lighter than they list him today.
The base assumption for Johnson's projection is the same as 98% of all other offensive linemen: redshirt a year, then work his way into the starting lineup. But Johnson does have two aces up his sleeve. The first is DeMatha, the praises of which I've sung before. The second is that while his ratings and offers and recruitment and such would be thoroughly unimpressive for your regular prospect, they're pretty decent for a guy who's got more camp time than field time. Johnson's size is prototypical and more than just about anyone on the commit list, he stands to benefit from his senior season. The O-line is young and Johnson's likely to need two full seasons at UVA before he even sniffs the field, thanks to the number of people in front of him. But of the three linemen already onboard (Johnson, Ross Burbank, and the lately-committed Tim Cwalina), as it stands today, July 2010, Johnson is the one with the most upside.
Name: Kelby Johnson
Position: OT
Hometown: DC area, MD
School: DeMatha
Height: 6'8"
Weight: 285
ESPN: none
Rivals: 5.4, two stars, MD #19
Scout: three stars, #79 OT
Other offers: New Mexico
Mike London's got the touch: another April commitment landed within a couple weeks of making the offer, and again from program extraordinaire DeMatha, just a few days after extending the DeMatha streak to four years with Jordan Lomax.
Recruitniks have heard the names Arie and Cyrus Kouandjio, who attracted scholarship offers from every D-I school ever. Arie was a senior last year and signed with Alabama in 2010; Cyrus will be a senior this upcoming season. Both are all-world offensive tackle recruits from DeMatha, and important because that's why Kelby Johnson didn't have a starting job last year. With Arie gone, Johnson will step into place, more than likely on the right side.
Unsurprisingly for someone who spent his junior year as a backup, the word "raw" is used pretty frequently in scouting reports on Johnson, these coming from his limited playing time last fall and the showcases he's attended. Obviously, the lack of PT also explains his general lack of offers, though Rutgers at least was recruiting him pretty hard before his commitment to UVA. They never got around to pulling the offer trigger, but Johnson was at their spring game the very weekend before he committed to UVA.
Johnson is really, really tall for a lineman - for leverage reasons, they don't come much taller than he does at 6'8". It's that height that will ensure he stays at offensive tackle, as it makes it a little harder to get the explosive forward drive an interior lineman needs to be a run-blocker. (Austin Pasztor is listed as 6'7" but he's also soared past 300 pounds and was a 310-pound freshman.) Johnson isn't likely to be that big come next fall, but he has put on weight nicely - the Rivals articles from December call him 265-270 pounds, a solid 20 pounds lighter than they list him today.
The base assumption for Johnson's projection is the same as 98% of all other offensive linemen: redshirt a year, then work his way into the starting lineup. But Johnson does have two aces up his sleeve. The first is DeMatha, the praises of which I've sung before. The second is that while his ratings and offers and recruitment and such would be thoroughly unimpressive for your regular prospect, they're pretty decent for a guy who's got more camp time than field time. Johnson's size is prototypical and more than just about anyone on the commit list, he stands to benefit from his senior season. The O-line is young and Johnson's likely to need two full seasons at UVA before he even sniffs the field, thanks to the number of people in front of him. But of the three linemen already onboard (Johnson, Ross Burbank, and the lately-committed Tim Cwalina), as it stands today, July 2010, Johnson is the one with the most upside.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
requiem for an era: The Players That Made It Happen, part 2
Last of the series. At some point we'll actually have to stop reminiscing and act like there's present-day stuff going on. Today's lists continue the five-player format. First, we have five that, for whatever reason, never lived up to their potential or their hype. Again, these count down from five to one. There's a darker theme to this list. The last four involve some veiled criticism of some aspect of our program - there are things, some of which are the head coach himself and some of which have nothing to do with him, that hold this program back. For the most part, these players failed to live up because of it.
#33 - Wali Lundy
Here's the one that doesn't involve any sideswipes at anything. You might even be surprised to see him on the list. Lundy had by any account an excellent career. If I'd done a top ten list the other day instead of five, Lundy would be a shoo-in. In his four years here, he played a starring role.
And yet, it felt like it could have been so much more than just a "role." Lundy's star shone brightest early on. It dimmed as time passed, and Alvin Pearman gradually moved into the lead part. As a freshman in 2002, Lundy was the primary running back and kick returner and second-leading receiver, too, and made national headlines with his four-touchdown effort in the bowl game. At that point, the sky was the limit. 1900 all-purpose yards as a freshman is the sort of thing that launches Heisman campaigns two or three years later.
But the next season, though Lundy was still the primary running back and thisdamnclose to a 1,000-yard campaign, Pearman and not Lundy was the first receiving option out of the backfield; in Lundy's junior year, Pearman overshadowed him entirely and crossed the 1,000 yard mark that Lundy couldn't. By 2005, Pearman had graduated and Lundy returned to his role as primary running back, but couldn't even top 600 yards, even with a line populated by future NFLers. (By comparison, the O-line of 2008, infamous for its lack of runblocking skills especially early in the season, helped Cedric Peerman to 200 more rushing yards than Lundy had in '05.)
It's tough to include Wali Lundy on a list like this, but it's also a bit disappointing to think of the difference between the reality and what we had in our imaginations as the clock ticked away on a 24-point win over West Virginia in 2002.
#4 - Anthony Martinez
The blow is cushioned here, because Marques Hagans turned out to be a pretty damn good player, and a decent answer to the argument that Groh couldn't develop quarterbacks. But Martinez is why that argument exists. Martinez was the it guy when he committed. The future. Especially since, at the time he committed, Matt Schaub and Bryson Spinner were busy playing hot potato with the quarterback job, and a few days later, Florida State would paste the Hoos in Charlottesville.
Martinez sat on the bench for most of two years, coming in for a little backup duty in 2003. No biggie; Schaub was busy rewriting record books. But when 2004 rolled around and he found himself fourth on the depth chart, he vamoosed. Normally the transfer of your fourth-string quarterback doesn't make many waves, but the potential alone that he had when he came in would have landed him even higher on this list. That is, if not for the probability that had he played, he would have basically been Marques Hagans anyway.
#95 - Jeffrey Fitzgerald
ARGH. Fitzgerald was a freshman All-American in 2006. A beast. That year, he outshone junior Chris Long - Fitzgerald led the team in sacks, TFL, and fumbles recovered, and actually even managed to be second in interceptions too. He was similarly spectacular in 2007 as a sophomore. This season, he was a beast for Kansas State instead. Fitzgerald left the team for academic reasons - not because the NCAA said he was ineligible, but because UVA did.
We have a pretty good defensive line right now, but we're thin at DE and surely Fitzgerald would look pretty good there this year. He picked up at K-State right where he left off and led the team in sacks, TFL, fumbles forced - you know, all the stuff. Even returned an INT for a touchdown, just as he once did here. UVA fans will not soon forget what might have been here - though Fitzgerald did indeed pick up where he left off, missing a season couldn't have helped his development. What if he didn't have to leave off?
#32 - Keith Payne
"No Payne, no gain." That was the clever refrain occasionally heard when UVA fans would discuss Payne and what he'd bring to the program in the future. It seems like ages and ages ago, but once upon a time, Payne had UVA fans acting like schoolgirls who just made eye contact with a Jonas Brother. It reached a fever pitch after Payne's high school team won a state championship, in large part because of his four touchdowns, against Percy Harvin's high school team. Big things were expected, despite Payne's lack of offers outside the state and mediocre guru ratings. Big, big, big things. This was the guy who was going to put the team on his shoulders and carry it back to prominence.
Unfortunately, we tend to overrate our talent, sometimes egregiously. Payne turned out to be slow, and not particularly bruising. He fell further and further down the depth chart as time went on, and finally called it quits earlier this fall. It's not his fault, really, that he didn't live up to the hype; it just turned out that the hype didn't match the actuality.
#7 - Peter Lalich
The number says it all. Lalich was another big-time quarterback recruit. Highly rated by everyone, and UVA fans were positively thrilled when Lalich made an early commitment to Virginia. Though the offers kept rolling in all summer, he didn't budge. We had our quarterback of the future, and that is really one of the most comforting thoughts a fan can have.
But we didn't account for stupidity. Despite being on probation for underage drinking and having some pretty easy probation terms (DON'T DRINK), this proved too difficult. Lalich admitted to the judge he had continued to drink, while also expressing that he was under the impression he was only supposed to not get arrested. This was such a serious crime that the judge came down and.....extended his probation. Whoop-de-doo.
Grownups can be pretty stupid too, though. Sometimes more. Al Groh was perfectly happy to keep his starting quarterback on the team, given that Lalich's crime was nothing more than the same shit that happens in five hundred places every Friday and Saturday night in Charlottesville.....and then telling the judge the truth about it. Craig Littlepage saw things differently, and stepped in to remove Lalich from the team. And he wonders why the football team is 3-9.
OK, so enough reminiscing. Not all of Al Groh's players are no longer on the team. Many of them even have talent. Next year, some new coach will be trying to take Al Groh's players and do something better than 3-9 with them. The next list will look at next year's building blocks. This isn't necessarily a list of the best players. You won't find Matt Conrath or Ras-I Dowling. This is: who has the talent and needs to make use of it?
#18 - Kris Burd
The receiving corps was - let's see, how can I put this delicately? - horrendous this year. Damn it when Heather Dinich is right. Burd will be a junior next year, and given that he was the only receiver to show consistent competence for a full 12 games, he'll be looked at to continue his improvement and step up to catch a few more balls next season. Burd is not the fastest or the flashiest, but he is the best route-runner and the only receiver this year who showed the ability to get open both inside and outside.
#63 - Austin Pasztor
Last year, Pasztor stepped in as a true freshman and you could see the difference right away. The impact on the run-blocking was measurable, even to the layman's eye. He had his share of struggles this year along with the rest of the line, but when the pass rush reached Sewell, Pasztor generally wasn't the guy looking backward apologetically at his quarterback with his hands on his hips after the whistle. There will be more senior players than Pasztor on the line next year, but Big Canada should bring the combination of experience and talent that will desperately be needed to help anchor a faltering unit.
#56 - Cam Johnson
Johnson has been a little bit of a tweener so far. Too small to play DE in the 3-4 and not really quick enough to take on all the responsibilities of the OLB. But a new coach might mean a new defense. If we switch to a 4-3, Johnson would make a terrific defensive end. If not, Johnson still has some terrifying pass-rush skills that can be made use of. He may or may not become a three-down player - more power to us if he does - but at the very least his ability to rush off the edge is a big asset.
#28 - Rodney McLeod and #40 - Corey Mosley
I'm cheating here and stuffing two players into one category. Mosley lost his starting job midway through the season to Brandon Woods, who was a fine player other than his annoying tendency to bite on play-fakes. Woods won't be around next year, so the safety position belongs to these two, and if I never see either one ever again try to tackle someone with their shoulder it'll be a blessing. They're rightfully highly regarded and I expect them to have the middle of the field on lockdown next year. Just - please tackle with your arms.
#53 - Steve Greer
Greer is good. Very good. He even (for the most part) held his own and didn't get blasted into the secondary by fullbacks with thirty pounds on him. He has a chance to be special, and next year would be a great time to start.
That list was written with next year in mind; this one, with the two or three after that. Here are the players who will hopefully be the long-term difference-makers: Al Groh's final legacy. This is a lot more speculative and highly based on my own opinion rather than anything concrete.
#39 - Tucker Windle
Windle, as a true freshman, played his way from the bench all the way to the starting lineup this year. He wasn't by any stretch an every-down player, nor did he rack up the tackles, but there he was, leapfrogging older players and starting the Virginia Tech game in place of an injured Darren Childs. Having spent this season proving his talent as compared to the competition, Windle could be penciled in as a starter as soon as next year if the 3-4 sticks around, and though Greer has a head start, Windle might very well catch up when all's said and done.
#?? - Kevin Parks
Ladies and gentlemen, the best high school running back in North Carolina history. Parks puts up eye-popping stats on a powerhouse team. His running style has been described as similar to a bowling ball, and he's about that tall, too. While it's perfectly fair and legitimate to warn against falling into the Keith Payne trap, Parks nevertheless is a determined runner who appears to compare favorably in style to Mike Hart - only the leading rusher in Michigan's history.
#21 - Dominique Wallace
To be honest, I hardly even know why. Wallace's season was cut short due to injury, and he should be eligible for a medical redshirt. And he was only averaging three and a half yards per carry. But Wallace has always struck me as a guy with shoulders wide enough to carry a program and knock linebackers over in the process. Running back is my favorite position and Wallace is my favorite kind of running back. I think if he's healthy next year and ready to go and the offense is right, Wallace has a great shot at a feature role.
#99 - Brent Urban
To my mind, the defensive end of the future. Urban took a redshirt year this year but Groh thought highly enough of him to bring him on all the road trips. There are a couple pretty talented players ahead of him on the depth chart, but he should be able to work his way into the picture and be a major impact player when his turn comes.
#?? - Morgan Moses
Maybe? As likely as not, Moses is a candidate for the next coach's version of the first list. What might have been. But if he qualifies, and if he maintains his commitment despite all his favorite coaches getting fired, and if he stays eligible at UVA, the mammoth offensive tackle is just what the doctor ordered to fix the offensive line.
With that, we wrap up the series. There's soccer and basketball to get up into, not to mention a coaching search and all the nuttiness that surrounds it. And before you know it, it'll be lacrosse and baseball season. Time does fly.
#33 - Wali Lundy
Here's the one that doesn't involve any sideswipes at anything. You might even be surprised to see him on the list. Lundy had by any account an excellent career. If I'd done a top ten list the other day instead of five, Lundy would be a shoo-in. In his four years here, he played a starring role.
And yet, it felt like it could have been so much more than just a "role." Lundy's star shone brightest early on. It dimmed as time passed, and Alvin Pearman gradually moved into the lead part. As a freshman in 2002, Lundy was the primary running back and kick returner and second-leading receiver, too, and made national headlines with his four-touchdown effort in the bowl game. At that point, the sky was the limit. 1900 all-purpose yards as a freshman is the sort of thing that launches Heisman campaigns two or three years later.
But the next season, though Lundy was still the primary running back and thisdamnclose to a 1,000-yard campaign, Pearman and not Lundy was the first receiving option out of the backfield; in Lundy's junior year, Pearman overshadowed him entirely and crossed the 1,000 yard mark that Lundy couldn't. By 2005, Pearman had graduated and Lundy returned to his role as primary running back, but couldn't even top 600 yards, even with a line populated by future NFLers. (By comparison, the O-line of 2008, infamous for its lack of runblocking skills especially early in the season, helped Cedric Peerman to 200 more rushing yards than Lundy had in '05.)
It's tough to include Wali Lundy on a list like this, but it's also a bit disappointing to think of the difference between the reality and what we had in our imaginations as the clock ticked away on a 24-point win over West Virginia in 2002.
#4 - Anthony Martinez
The blow is cushioned here, because Marques Hagans turned out to be a pretty damn good player, and a decent answer to the argument that Groh couldn't develop quarterbacks. But Martinez is why that argument exists. Martinez was the it guy when he committed. The future. Especially since, at the time he committed, Matt Schaub and Bryson Spinner were busy playing hot potato with the quarterback job, and a few days later, Florida State would paste the Hoos in Charlottesville.
Martinez sat on the bench for most of two years, coming in for a little backup duty in 2003. No biggie; Schaub was busy rewriting record books. But when 2004 rolled around and he found himself fourth on the depth chart, he vamoosed. Normally the transfer of your fourth-string quarterback doesn't make many waves, but the potential alone that he had when he came in would have landed him even higher on this list. That is, if not for the probability that had he played, he would have basically been Marques Hagans anyway.
#95 - Jeffrey Fitzgerald
ARGH. Fitzgerald was a freshman All-American in 2006. A beast. That year, he outshone junior Chris Long - Fitzgerald led the team in sacks, TFL, and fumbles recovered, and actually even managed to be second in interceptions too. He was similarly spectacular in 2007 as a sophomore. This season, he was a beast for Kansas State instead. Fitzgerald left the team for academic reasons - not because the NCAA said he was ineligible, but because UVA did.
We have a pretty good defensive line right now, but we're thin at DE and surely Fitzgerald would look pretty good there this year. He picked up at K-State right where he left off and led the team in sacks, TFL, fumbles forced - you know, all the stuff. Even returned an INT for a touchdown, just as he once did here. UVA fans will not soon forget what might have been here - though Fitzgerald did indeed pick up where he left off, missing a season couldn't have helped his development. What if he didn't have to leave off?
#32 - Keith Payne
"No Payne, no gain." That was the clever refrain occasionally heard when UVA fans would discuss Payne and what he'd bring to the program in the future. It seems like ages and ages ago, but once upon a time, Payne had UVA fans acting like schoolgirls who just made eye contact with a Jonas Brother. It reached a fever pitch after Payne's high school team won a state championship, in large part because of his four touchdowns, against Percy Harvin's high school team. Big things were expected, despite Payne's lack of offers outside the state and mediocre guru ratings. Big, big, big things. This was the guy who was going to put the team on his shoulders and carry it back to prominence.
Unfortunately, we tend to overrate our talent, sometimes egregiously. Payne turned out to be slow, and not particularly bruising. He fell further and further down the depth chart as time went on, and finally called it quits earlier this fall. It's not his fault, really, that he didn't live up to the hype; it just turned out that the hype didn't match the actuality.
#7 - Peter Lalich
The number says it all. Lalich was another big-time quarterback recruit. Highly rated by everyone, and UVA fans were positively thrilled when Lalich made an early commitment to Virginia. Though the offers kept rolling in all summer, he didn't budge. We had our quarterback of the future, and that is really one of the most comforting thoughts a fan can have.
But we didn't account for stupidity. Despite being on probation for underage drinking and having some pretty easy probation terms (DON'T DRINK), this proved too difficult. Lalich admitted to the judge he had continued to drink, while also expressing that he was under the impression he was only supposed to not get arrested. This was such a serious crime that the judge came down and.....extended his probation. Whoop-de-doo.
Grownups can be pretty stupid too, though. Sometimes more. Al Groh was perfectly happy to keep his starting quarterback on the team, given that Lalich's crime was nothing more than the same shit that happens in five hundred places every Friday and Saturday night in Charlottesville.....and then telling the judge the truth about it. Craig Littlepage saw things differently, and stepped in to remove Lalich from the team. And he wonders why the football team is 3-9.
OK, so enough reminiscing. Not all of Al Groh's players are no longer on the team. Many of them even have talent. Next year, some new coach will be trying to take Al Groh's players and do something better than 3-9 with them. The next list will look at next year's building blocks. This isn't necessarily a list of the best players. You won't find Matt Conrath or Ras-I Dowling. This is: who has the talent and needs to make use of it?
#18 - Kris Burd
The receiving corps was - let's see, how can I put this delicately? - horrendous this year. Damn it when Heather Dinich is right. Burd will be a junior next year, and given that he was the only receiver to show consistent competence for a full 12 games, he'll be looked at to continue his improvement and step up to catch a few more balls next season. Burd is not the fastest or the flashiest, but he is the best route-runner and the only receiver this year who showed the ability to get open both inside and outside.
#63 - Austin Pasztor
Last year, Pasztor stepped in as a true freshman and you could see the difference right away. The impact on the run-blocking was measurable, even to the layman's eye. He had his share of struggles this year along with the rest of the line, but when the pass rush reached Sewell, Pasztor generally wasn't the guy looking backward apologetically at his quarterback with his hands on his hips after the whistle. There will be more senior players than Pasztor on the line next year, but Big Canada should bring the combination of experience and talent that will desperately be needed to help anchor a faltering unit.
#56 - Cam Johnson
Johnson has been a little bit of a tweener so far. Too small to play DE in the 3-4 and not really quick enough to take on all the responsibilities of the OLB. But a new coach might mean a new defense. If we switch to a 4-3, Johnson would make a terrific defensive end. If not, Johnson still has some terrifying pass-rush skills that can be made use of. He may or may not become a three-down player - more power to us if he does - but at the very least his ability to rush off the edge is a big asset.
#28 - Rodney McLeod and #40 - Corey Mosley
I'm cheating here and stuffing two players into one category. Mosley lost his starting job midway through the season to Brandon Woods, who was a fine player other than his annoying tendency to bite on play-fakes. Woods won't be around next year, so the safety position belongs to these two, and if I never see either one ever again try to tackle someone with their shoulder it'll be a blessing. They're rightfully highly regarded and I expect them to have the middle of the field on lockdown next year. Just - please tackle with your arms.
#53 - Steve Greer
Greer is good. Very good. He even (for the most part) held his own and didn't get blasted into the secondary by fullbacks with thirty pounds on him. He has a chance to be special, and next year would be a great time to start.
That list was written with next year in mind; this one, with the two or three after that. Here are the players who will hopefully be the long-term difference-makers: Al Groh's final legacy. This is a lot more speculative and highly based on my own opinion rather than anything concrete.
#39 - Tucker Windle
Windle, as a true freshman, played his way from the bench all the way to the starting lineup this year. He wasn't by any stretch an every-down player, nor did he rack up the tackles, but there he was, leapfrogging older players and starting the Virginia Tech game in place of an injured Darren Childs. Having spent this season proving his talent as compared to the competition, Windle could be penciled in as a starter as soon as next year if the 3-4 sticks around, and though Greer has a head start, Windle might very well catch up when all's said and done.
#?? - Kevin Parks
Ladies and gentlemen, the best high school running back in North Carolina history. Parks puts up eye-popping stats on a powerhouse team. His running style has been described as similar to a bowling ball, and he's about that tall, too. While it's perfectly fair and legitimate to warn against falling into the Keith Payne trap, Parks nevertheless is a determined runner who appears to compare favorably in style to Mike Hart - only the leading rusher in Michigan's history.
#21 - Dominique Wallace
To be honest, I hardly even know why. Wallace's season was cut short due to injury, and he should be eligible for a medical redshirt. And he was only averaging three and a half yards per carry. But Wallace has always struck me as a guy with shoulders wide enough to carry a program and knock linebackers over in the process. Running back is my favorite position and Wallace is my favorite kind of running back. I think if he's healthy next year and ready to go and the offense is right, Wallace has a great shot at a feature role.
#99 - Brent Urban
To my mind, the defensive end of the future. Urban took a redshirt year this year but Groh thought highly enough of him to bring him on all the road trips. There are a couple pretty talented players ahead of him on the depth chart, but he should be able to work his way into the picture and be a major impact player when his turn comes.
#?? - Morgan Moses
Maybe? As likely as not, Moses is a candidate for the next coach's version of the first list. What might have been. But if he qualifies, and if he maintains his commitment despite all his favorite coaches getting fired, and if he stays eligible at UVA, the mammoth offensive tackle is just what the doctor ordered to fix the offensive line.
With that, we wrap up the series. There's soccer and basketball to get up into, not to mention a coaching search and all the nuttiness that surrounds it. And before you know it, it'll be lacrosse and baseball season. Time does fly.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
it's because of the signs
Whoa now. If you saw that one coming, put your hand in the air. Now put it down, because you are a liar. 31-0 would have been a very plausible pre-game prediction if you gave the points to Maryland. I don't even care that every word of doom, gloom, and snark that I put in the game preview blew up in my face; it's certainly better than having it all come true.
But don't think for a minute that this is only awesome because of the margin of victory. Or because both the offensive line and the defense displayed a previously invisible level of talent. Or because the running game finally made an appearance. Or because we now have an ACC win to show for this season.
No, Maryland fans are what make wins like this so completely enjoyable. Their Scout board has some particular gems. Granted, Scout boards tend to be just one level of evolution above ESPN comments, which themselves are not far above YouTube comments. No matter; the people there at the TSR (Turtle Sports Report) are still Maryland fans, and thus, their anger and hatred is my beautiful weekend.
For example, it makes my weekend just to know that people like this had a bad day yesterday:
Also, you should read this thread for superb hilarity, which would be funny no matter which team is involved: Teams Better At Football Than Maryland
Enough hating on the Twerps, though. What did our team do well last night?
- Block, for one. They consistently got a push off the line of scrimmage, for the first time all year. Austin Pasztor was particularly impressive. Most of our best runs were to the left side. B.J. Cabbell, the pulling guard from the other side, finally was able to pull and not bump into the backside of his own counterpart. Pasztor got his chance because Zak Stair was "Out" on the injury report; Stair just got Wally Pipped.
- It's amazing how good the skill players look when given room to operate. Ced Peerman was a hoss, Mikell Simpson nearly as much. These guys are really good backs, which is easy to forget when the line can't hold back the defenders. Verica's accuracy really shone. He fit some nifty passes into tough spots. I expect big things out of him in the future. And where did he get those touchdown-scampering wheels?
- Sintim and Ras the Destroyer are far and away the best players on defense. It showed again last night. Just as I said last week, that it was no coincidence the defense went to pieces against Duke when they left with cramps. Ras-I had Darius Heyward-Bey covered all day.
- Totally forgiven: the unsportsmanlike penalty against Sintim and the celebration penalty against Ogletree. All Tree did was spike the ball: one of those calls that the refs' hands are tied because the rule was written by fascist dictators. Sintim could maybe stand to jaw a little less, but in both cases, it was nice to see the fire and drive on this team for once; it was also nice to have something that they could get fired up about.
Adjusted stats on Verica coming later.
So. Signs back in the stadium; 31-0 victory over hated rival. Offensive line performs brilliantly. Defense performs brilliantly. Quarterback is deadly accurate. Faith, once vaporized, is restored. Funny how ESPN's cliched little slogans (Every Victory Can Change The Season or whatever it is) can be so amazingly fitting. Is this the Turning Point in the season? It's too early to say. Remember, Maryland looked like ass in their first two games, then thought they had hit a turning point by rocking California's world a few weeks ago. Then this. We're still the team that got destroyed by Duke. But now we're also the team that destroyed Maryland, and having such a win on the schedule brightens the outlook considerably. Because now we know it can be done.
But don't think for a minute that this is only awesome because of the margin of victory. Or because both the offensive line and the defense displayed a previously invisible level of talent. Or because the running game finally made an appearance. Or because we now have an ACC win to show for this season.
No, Maryland fans are what make wins like this so completely enjoyable. Their Scout board has some particular gems. Granted, Scout boards tend to be just one level of evolution above ESPN comments, which themselves are not far above YouTube comments. No matter; the people there at the TSR (Turtle Sports Report) are still Maryland fans, and thus, their anger and hatred is my beautiful weekend.
For example, it makes my weekend just to know that people like this had a bad day yesterday:
UVA Is A Trash ProgramYep. Nothing says "class" like Maryland. Let's be clear on this, just in case this is too hazy a point I'm making: Maryland has the absolute worst fan base in the entire country. Schadenfreude is never quite so freude-y as when Maryland is involved, because for the most part they are so deserving of it.
Their fans don't deserve to be happy. They don't deserve jobs. They don't spouses. They don't deserve healthy children. They are insects. F*cking disgusting pieces of trash who plague the rest of the country. I hope they all have miserable lives and die as lonely, disease infected vegetables. Their worthless piece of sh!t program can SMyD.
Also, you should read this thread for superb hilarity, which would be funny no matter which team is involved: Teams Better At Football Than Maryland
Enough hating on the Twerps, though. What did our team do well last night?
- Block, for one. They consistently got a push off the line of scrimmage, for the first time all year. Austin Pasztor was particularly impressive. Most of our best runs were to the left side. B.J. Cabbell, the pulling guard from the other side, finally was able to pull and not bump into the backside of his own counterpart. Pasztor got his chance because Zak Stair was "Out" on the injury report; Stair just got Wally Pipped.
- It's amazing how good the skill players look when given room to operate. Ced Peerman was a hoss, Mikell Simpson nearly as much. These guys are really good backs, which is easy to forget when the line can't hold back the defenders. Verica's accuracy really shone. He fit some nifty passes into tough spots. I expect big things out of him in the future. And where did he get those touchdown-scampering wheels?
- Sintim and Ras the Destroyer are far and away the best players on defense. It showed again last night. Just as I said last week, that it was no coincidence the defense went to pieces against Duke when they left with cramps. Ras-I had Darius Heyward-Bey covered all day.
- Totally forgiven: the unsportsmanlike penalty against Sintim and the celebration penalty against Ogletree. All Tree did was spike the ball: one of those calls that the refs' hands are tied because the rule was written by fascist dictators. Sintim could maybe stand to jaw a little less, but in both cases, it was nice to see the fire and drive on this team for once; it was also nice to have something that they could get fired up about.
Adjusted stats on Verica coming later.
So. Signs back in the stadium; 31-0 victory over hated rival. Offensive line performs brilliantly. Defense performs brilliantly. Quarterback is deadly accurate. Faith, once vaporized, is restored. Funny how ESPN's cliched little slogans (Every Victory Can Change The Season or whatever it is) can be so amazingly fitting. Is this the Turning Point in the season? It's too early to say. Remember, Maryland looked like ass in their first two games, then thought they had hit a turning point by rocking California's world a few weeks ago. Then this. We're still the team that got destroyed by Duke. But now we're also the team that destroyed Maryland, and having such a win on the schedule brightens the outlook considerably. Because now we know it can be done.
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