catching up

So with eight - yup, eight - more season preview posts to finish up, and only two weeks to do them and really not that many because a week from Thursday it's time for the preview of the W&M game at which point we shift right into Season Mode, naturally last week turns into a light posting week in which I skip two days. Of course I would do this.

So let's get back to talking Virginia. P.S. - enjoy it, because if you've been following along, you noticed the pattern in the season previews and you can probably figure out what's next. Ewwww.

Starting with a recruiting board update. I've been adding stars as they come along, but that obviously isn't the big deal in this go-around.

- The big deal is Rijo Walker moving from blue to beautiful orange. We'd been kind of a long time in between commitments, something like six weeks. And we'd been a really long time - measurable in years, not weeks - in between commitments from actual, no-shit cornerbacks who play cornerback in high school and are being recruited as cornerbacks to play cornerback at UVA. So that's nice.

- Removed safeties Ed Reynolds and Andre Simmons. I was thinking maybe we'd hear some small something even though we got full up at safety with Latimer and Alvarez, but nope. Nada. As in, nada peep. Unless Nick Dew shocks the world, we're done at safety.

- Added OT Gifford Timothy to blue. That's three OT's up there, and we probably won't need any more than one, so we're in great shape.

- Shuffled the reds and yellows a bit, with LB Quayshawn Nealy and CB James Scales moving down to red, and CB Louis Young moving up to yellow.

- Added '09 commit Cody Wallace, now a teammate of Morgan Moses at Fork Union, to the list, up near the top there.

On the OT recruiting: As I said, it's my guess we only get one of the three. Moses and Wallace count in this class now, which basically means along with Conner Davis, we have four linemen, which is about right for the small class size this is going to be. I suppose the coaches would take two, but three, no. Khamrone Kolb very publicly cut his list to three, and hell you might as well read about Robby Havenstein while you're at it, and Penn State is probably the #1 competition for both.

Next up, time for the return of a favorite feature of mine. Mondays, I dig up the results of our recruits' high school football games and keep you up to speed on what they've been doing. This was fun last year because we got to find out things like whether Tim Smith would score two, three, or four touchdowns that week. This year, Kevin Parks is going to be the guy putting up the numbers. I swear if he could see over Perry Jones's head without standing on tiptoes, he'd be a high four-star and everyone from Florida to Oklahoma to Alabama would come calling. Fortunately, he's five-foot-not-much, and he's a Hoo.

KEVIN PARKS: This week was opening week in North Carolina, and Parks went batshit. Try 226 yards and five touchdowns on 17 carries. We probably won't see that much domination all year because West Rowan is really good and their opponent this week (Central Cabarrus) is really bad. Still. The final score, if you're wondering, was 54-0 and that was with a running clock in the second half and oh yeah the game ended with 10 minutes to go because of lightning. Central would have done better to punt on first down, having gained a total of -37 yards on offense.

Parks now has well over 100 touchdowns in his high school career and could very easily have 130, maybe 140 if things go well, by the time he's done. See why I can't wait for him to be the feature back at UVA?

- TYLER BROSIUS didn't fare as well. Tuscola was upset in their opener, and Brosius was 15 of 27 for 196 yards, 2 TDs, and three picks.

- Don't forget about ADRIAN GAMBLE, who's on board for 2011. He chipped in a touchdown in a 42-41 squeaker. Gamble has "incredible speed" according to the Observer, "running past Mallard Creek defenders like a prep version of Usain Bolt." OK, he's probably not that damn fast, but still - sweet.

- Pablo Alvarez's season starts next weekend, but damn if they don't have some pretty sweet unis (remember which other team I'm a fan of) and yo, look who headlines their football page.

North Carolina is the only place we have recruits playing this week, but like I said, we can check in on Florida next week, as well as Virginia, and Maryland in the first week of September.

OK, next couple weeks go like this. I need to squeeze in eight more season previews (VPISU and Wake, four nonconference opponents, and our own offense and defense) before next Thursday. Not gonna lie - the nonconference opponents might get dropped. Because there's also Rijo Walker to profile, another round of high school games to get to next Monday, and this weekend I will get the last baseball video posted on YouTube, dammit, or die trying.

Then, the season schedule is pretty routine:

- Thursday, up goes the week's game preview. I take a look at what we can do to win, what we can do to lose, and the week's other ACC games as well.

- Friday and Saturday are my "weekends" and I generally don't post, unless Stuff Goes Down.

- Sunday, you get your preliminary look at my Blogpoll ballot, and if all goes well, my plan is to have the game highlights up on YouTube also. If we win.

- Monday is the Weekend Review post. Recruiting board gets updated, you get filled in on the high school games, and we check out the bloggers' takes on how their team did. That's always amusing, especially when they lost: bloggers always get really emo when their team loses, and I'm no different. Generally there's a little bit of soccer stuff thrown in here, too.

- Tuesday and Wednesday are Whatever.

Gawd I can't wait.