What a wonderful weekend to be a Wahoo!

The sun is expected to shine on Scott Stadium as the Virginia football team holds its annual spring festival -- complete with a real game this time -- on Saturday afternoon. Fans can participate in the festivities beginning at 10:30 a.m., with the players taking the field at 12:30 p.m. Afterward, many former players, coaches, alumni and fans will gather for a barbeque dinner at Memorial Gymnasium in honor of Frank McCue, UVa's team doctor (and so much more) for more than four decades. It's also an important weekend for the surging baseball and men's tennis teams, not to mention a big recruiting weekend in football. Check it all out in this edition of SabreMail!

Football recruiting.

QB Vicqual Hall

It's early April, but this weekend promises to be a big one for the UVa football program. Many prospects will be on hand Saturday for the spring football game and Sunday for the Nike Camp.

Among the players to be on hand at least one day this weekend are UVa commitments QB Vic Hall and TE/OLB/DE Jason Fuller. Both plan on at least attending the Nike Camp on Sunday. Joining Hall will be Gretna teammate Horace Hubbard.

Other key in-state targets in Charlottesville include Varina's mammoth DT Joseph Johnson, Oscar Smith QB/Ath Greg Boone, Hermitage DE Jeffrey Fitzgerald, Centreville OT Pat Sheil, William Fleming LB Darryl Gresham, Landstown LB/S Deveon Simmons, GW-Danville S Cameron Martin, and Bethel CB Jamar Jackson. UVa has offered all of these prospects.

Big-time out-of-state targets RB Toney Baker (Ragsdale HS in NC) and Ath Derrick Williams (Eleanor Roosevelt HS in MD) are scheduled to be in attendance as well.

Stay tuned for more on the Nike Camp and the spring game attendees following this weekend.

Basketball recruiting.

A decision could come in the very near future from Blue Ridge School (Dyke, VA) PF Laurynas Mikalauskas. Mikalauskas, a 6-8, 240-pound power forward with very good offensive abilities, may decide between UVa and Virginia Tech soon. He has made an official visit to Virginia Tech and plans on making one to UVa in the coming weeks.

Mikalauskas averaged 18 points per game last season as a junior. He is playing for Boo Williams' AAU squad, which can be seen at the Southern Invitational in Charlottesville from April 30th thru May 2nd.

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Darryl Blackstock

The Cavaliers already have chosen up sides for the first real spring game in Al Groh's four years as head football coach. There will be 12-minute quarters and full-contact collisions in the contest between the "Wahoos" of Mike London and the "Cavaliers" of Mike Groh.

In the first "UVa Player Allocation Draft," as Groh called it, the Wahoos selected linebacker Darryl Blackstock with the first pick. The Cavaliers followed by taking quarterback Marques Hagans. Groh, who will serve as commissioner, joked that the winning team "will eat a lot better" on Monday.

The 2004 Spring Football Festival is a free event with a number of activities beginning at 10:30 a.m., including:

• Autograph signing area with UVa football alumni
  
• Sumo wrestling
  
• Joust
  
• Climbing wall
  
• Gyrosphere
  
• Speed thrown with football target
  
• Practice challenge with football
  
• Face tattoos & hair ribbons from cheerleaders
  
• Uniform try-on station
  
• Photo station with player cut-outs
  
• Hello Cavman
  
• Book signing area
  
• Bookstore stand
  
• Cavalier & Sabre
  
• WINA radio remote
  
• Cheerleaders and Dance team
  
• Halftime contests for prizes on field
  
• Ticket and promotional items available

For more information on the Virginia Football Festival, please see the link below.

Sabre Edge articles and columns from the past week

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