Your guide to breaking news, recruiting updates and important offers from TheSabre.com! |
|
SabreMail - April 29th, 2005 |
Sabre Links
Home Page Football Recruiting
Recruiting Home Basketball Recruiting
Recruiting Home Sabre Edge
Articles/Features Sabre Products
|
||||||||||||||||||
Last weekend's NFL draft, in which a record seven Cavaliers were selected, raised several interesting questions: Was last year's team the most talented in UVa history? And if so, shouldn't the 'Hoos have done better than 8-4 and a bowl trip to Boise?
In that respect, the current draft class falls somewhere in between. Five of the seven draftees were second-day pics. Only Heath Miller (1st round, Steelers) and Darryl Blackstock (3rd, Cardinals) had their names called Saturday. Elton Brown (4th, Cardinals), Chris Canty (4th, Cowboys), Alvin Pearman (4th, Jaguars), Andrew Hoffman (6th, Browns) and Patrick Estes (7th, 49ers) went off the board Sunday. Four others (Marquis Weeks, Jermaine Hardy, Dennis Haley and Isaiah Ekejuiba) signed free-agent deals, so 11 players from last year's team drew interest from NFL clubs. And that doesn't even include D'Brickashaw Ferguson and Ahmad Brooks, who would almost surely have gone in the first round had they elected to leave early.
Success in football also depends on much more than a few good players. It takes an entire team, and the Cavs were not a complete team last year. Take a look at the UVa draftees. Note that no wide receivers or defensive backs were picked. Those areas were major deficiencies as was the punting game. You can't judge a team based on the NFL draft. For instance, the talented 1996 team, with passing-game problems of its own, went just 7-5. The only 10-win team in UVa history, in 1989, had no players picked in the first five rounds of the next draft. In the end, the 2004 team had enough talent to win eight games, most by large margins, but couldn't overcome its glaring weaknesses when faced with stiffer competition. Is that underachieving? Maybe. Disappointing? A little bit. But all things considered, 8-4 seems just about right.
John Galinsky |
|||||||||||||||||||
TheSabreShop.com - The Place for Wahoo Gear! | |||||||||||||||||||
T-Shirts, Wind shirts or Oxford shirts, TheSabreShop.com has them all! Check out these shirts and many more...
Please feel free to browse the great selection of items we've got in-stock and ready to ship. Hundreds of items - Secure shopping - Fast, reliable shipping!
Recruiting News |
This Week In Recruiting By Chris Horne Football recruiting... According to Mission Bay (San Diego, CA) assistant coach Rolando Garcia, Darren "DJ" Childs has signed and delivered his letter of intent to UVa. He is now officially the 23rd member of the 2005 recruiting class. In addition to averaging close to 12 tackles as a senior last season, the 6-0, 224-pound Childs was a force on special teams. He blocked two kicks his senior year after blocking five kicks/punts in his junior season. We hope to get video on Darren very soon and will post highlights on his profile as soon as we do. -- UVa had several top 2006 recruits in attendance for Saturday's spring game. Thomas Stone (MD) LB Nekos Brown, Blue Ridge School DB Greg Brown, Deep Run DE/TE Sean Gottschalk, Moore Catholic (N.Y.) WR Vidal Hazelton,, Glassboro (N.J.) OLB/TE George Johnson (a UVa commit) and McDonough (MD) athlete A.J. Wallace were among the prospects in attendance and all have a formal scholarship offer from the Cavs. The visits are said to have gone very well. Be sure to check out comments from Nekos Brown, George Johnson and Vidal Hazelton on their spring game experiences. -- A few new names have been added to UVa's offer list - Queen of Peace (N.J.) defensive end Mike Gee and Fork Union Military Academy Prep wide receiver Brandon Caleb. Gee is a 6-2, 240-pound recruit who is being recruited by the Cavs to play outside linebacker. He is one of the top defensive ends in the state of New Jersey. The 6-2, 190-pound Caleb plays receiver and outside linebacker in high school but is being recruited primarily as a receiver by the schools that have offered - Michigan State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Purdue, Syracuse, Virginia and Virginia Tech. UVa wide receiver coach John Garrett verbally offered Caleb earlier this week. -- The evaluation period has begun and UVa started visiting high schools this week. On Monday, Al Groh and Mike Groh visited Deep Run High School to DE/TE Sean Gottschalk,. Several other central Virginia schools the Grohs no doubt visited on Monday include Hermitage, Highland Springs (for LB Jarrell Miller,), Meadowbrook (for DE/OLB John Graves,) and Varina (for RB Brandon Minor).
For more recruiting information and updates, please see Sabre Edge.
Support TheSabre.com's Sponsors |
Today's SabreMail is brought to you by Village Realty. You've been to the Outer Banks, right? So you know all about its beautiful beaches, great golf and southern charm. Well, have you thought about buying or renting some property there? If so, Village Realty on the Outer Banks has a collection of homes and real-estate services that makes owning or renting easy. If you are looking to play golf, vacation or be a home owner, please contact Village Realty, proud sponsor of TheSabre.com, at 800-548-9688.
Thank you for actively supporting the sponsors of TheSabre.com. Sponsorships are a critical component of our business and sponsors' success will permit us to continually improve our services to you, our community.
News, Notes and Fan Discussion |
Post of the Week Some of the best posts aren't full of insights and opinions. They just pose a good question and start interesting discussions, like this one on the football board yesterday...
Subject: Why exactly are/were people unhappy with Hagans' performance last year?
For the complete thread containing this post, please click the link below.
Long, Peerman among spring game standouts
But it was still a good chance for fans to catch what amounted to a 90-minute scrimmage - Offense vs. Defense - and identify some potential stars of the future. Defensive end Chris Long and tailback Cedric Peerman were the standouts on defense and offense, respectively, while Theirrien Davis and the other wideouts also performed well before a crowd of 6,000-plus. The Cavs won't convene training camp again for more than three months, but the spring practices gave us plenty to discuss over the summer as we anticipate next season. Will the passing game be better? Are the injuries going to linger? Is there enough depth at linebacker? What's the story in the secondary? We'll tackle these questions and more in the coming months. Here is the Sabre's article on the spring game.
Edge subscribers can read this in-depth analysis of the spring game and the entire practice period below.
We'll have more post-spring analysis and tons of 2005 football preview stories over the summer, so please click here to sign up for Sabre Edge. Around the Wahoo sports world...
For more information on UVa athletics, please see their official website below.
For the Sabre's weekly update on UVa baseball, please see the link below.
What's New on TheSabre.com? |
Please take TheSabre.com Content Survey! Sabre readers, Wahoo fans -- we want your opinions! Here's your chance to tell us what you think of TheSabre.com's content and to help improve the site by providing your feedback. If you haven't done so already, please take TheSabre.com Content Survey -- we need feedback from subscribers and non-subscribers -- and tell us what you think. This is your chance to help run the show yourself. All comments and feedback will be carefully read and considered! We're not collecting your personal information. We're just asking questions about the site. So please take a couple of minutes, click the link above and help us improve the site for you! Sabre Edge articles and columns from the past week
There is no doubt that Antonio Appleby is a talented football player. In fact, there may not have been a more athletic big man recruit in the Commonwealth of Virginia this year. For the Cavalier coaches, the only real question about the 6-4, 240-pounder from Virginia Beach is where to put him on the field. Consider this: Appleby was ranked as the nation's #25 linebacker by SuperPrep. He was rated as the country's #9 tight end by ESPN.com. Oh, and for good measure, Rivals ranked him as the #30 strongside defensive end in the nation.
In some ways, this was an especially important spring for the Virginia offense. Given the problems with the passing game in the latter half of last season, the coaches needed to start coming up with some solutions. They also needed to begin resolving issues on the offensive line, create a tentative depth chart and figure out which young players will be ready to make an impact this fall. Were the Cavs successful? Well, yes and no.
Even though many key players weren't on the field Saturday, the spring game gave fans a glimpse of some young players who will be asked to contribute in 2005. Linebackers Clint Sintim and Jon Copper, defensive end Chris Long and safety Jamaal Jackson were a few of those guys whom the 'Hoos hope will make a difference next season. On offense, Theirrien Davis continued to impress as did center Jordy Lipsey and running back Cedric Peerman. Marques Hagans also played well in limited action.
While not overly exciting, this year's spring game turned out to be an adequate synopsis of what has gone on in practices this spring. Lots of players were out due to injuries, there was a continued and well-documented emphasis on passing and pass defense, and young players continued to impress. I thought I'd share a few of the things that really jumped out at me, such as the play of Chris Long, Theirrien Davis, Cedric Peerman, Clint Sintim, and more.
In the last four NFL drafts, only seven Virginia players have been selected. But this weekend could be a big one for UVa prospects. Four Cavaliers (Heath Miller, Elton Brown, Darryl Blackstock and Chris Canty) are certain to be picked relatively early, while a handful of others may be snatched up in the later rounds. Here is a rundown of the draft-eligible players for the Wahoos. What are the experts saying about them? Where are they ranked by draft websites? We give you the consensus opinions and make a prediction for each player.
Sabre Edge recruiting updates from the past week Our resident recruiting expert, Chris Horne, provides updates for Edge subscribers about UVa's commitments and recruiting targets in football and men's basketball. To sign up for an Edge subscription, please see the sign-up promotion below. If you're already on board as an Edge subscriber, click the links below to catch up on recruiting. Football
Sabre Edge |
Get your Wahoo fix. Subscribe to Sabre Edge!
All of the great Sabre Edge content can be yours for the price of $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year. Try it for a month and cancel if you like. But we think you'll get hooked on the Edge and find out for yourself why the most knowledgeable Cavalier fans are Edge subscribers. If you're a true Wahoo, then the Sabre Edge is right for you. Check it out!
|
SabreMail is a trademark of TheSabre.com - Copyright © 2001 - 2005 - All Rights Reserved |