February might not be a time for many UVA sports fans (www.virginiasports.com) to think about football: The men’s basketball team is hovering near the top of the ACC standings; the baseball team is ranked in the Top 10 in preseason polls; and the No. 1 lacrosse team is getting set to defend its national title. But ever since the football Cavs capped their 5-7 season with another loss to Virginia Tech, hardcore college football fans have had February 7 marked on their calendars, National Signing Day, the first day for high school kids to ink letters of intent for their college of choice.
When the smoke cleared last Wednesday, UVA came out with 24 players. Top gets include quarterback Peter Lalich of Springfield, Virginia and outside linebacker J’Courtney Williams of Danville, Virginia.
 Al Groh may be looking at the hot seat in 2007, but if his new recruiting class is as good as many locals think, at least Groh (or his successor) will have some talent when the redshirts come off in 2008. |
The local buzz? Pretty damn upbeat. Writers for TheSabre.com (www.thesabre.com) and The Daily Progress heralded the new crop as possibly the best ever for Head Coach Al Groh. During a press conference, Groh said, “I’d have to take a real studied approach to say whether it’s first, second, third. But it’s certainly up there.”
National recruiting watchers had mixed opinions on the UVA class. While Rivals.com (www.rivals.com)/Sports Illustrated picked it as No. 25, Virginia’s class didn’t make Scout.com (www.scout.com) or ESPN’s Top 25. Perhaps more troubling for Wahoos is who did make it: Conference rivals UNC, Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson and Florida State all consistently outranked UVA in recruiting lists this year.
“We really pay limited attention to those [ratings],” said Groh. “The only ratings that count are the ones we put on our board. …In our eyes, they’re all beautiful.”
Whether these beauties will ever have a chance to start for Groh remains to be seen. Because Groh’s philosophy is shifting toward redshirting most freshmen, these players probably won’t see any action for at least another year—another year that Groh might not get if this season turns out like the last one. Athletic Director Craig Littlepage declined an extension on Groh’s contract, commenting that expectations are higher than a 5-7 season. And ESPN.com’s Bruce Feldman, asked in a recent online chat to name ’07 hot-seat coaches, threw out two names—Groh’s included.
C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.
