Virginia Accepts Gator Bowl Invitation

The Virginia football team accepted an invitation to play in the 2008 Konica Minolta Gator Bowl at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla., on Jan. 1. It is UVa's first Jan. 1 bowl game since the 1994 Carquest Bowl following the 1993 season; the Hoos fell to Boston College 31-13 in that game to finish 7-5. Needless to say, there's a lot more at stake this time around - Virginia is looking for its 10th win, something that has happened just once in the history of the program.

Getting to double digits in the victory column will require defeating Texas Tech from the Big 12 Conference. The Red Raiders, who feature an explosive offense, have won four of their last five bowl games. The Gator Bowl is scheduled to kickoff at 1 p.m. and will be televised nationally by CBS.

The Gator Bowl is also a test for Virginia fans, who have improved their travel reputation in recent years. However, the Cavs' only previous trip to the Gator Bowl in 1991 didn't produce a strong fan turnout from UVa. Gator Bowl Association president Rick Catlett believes that will not be the case this time around. He told The (Jacksonville) Times-Union that he received more than 100 e-mails Saturday from Virginia fans encouraging him to pick the Hoos.

"From every indication we've received, Virginia's fans will perform well by buying tickets to the game and traveling to Jacksonville," Catlett told The Times-Union.

For more information on the Gator Bowl, check out the following links:

Virginiasports.com Bowl Central
Gator Bowl Association web site
Gator Bowl "Patch" information
Ticketcity.com (Sabre sponsor)
UVA Bookstores gear (Sabre sponsor)

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

Football recruiting ...

Several new scholarship offers went out last week, including two to state of Virginia standouts. On Wednesday, head coach Al Groh made the trek to South Lakes High School (Reston, VA) to personally extend an offer to 6-4, 170-pound wide receiver A.J. Price. Price, a first-team all-Liberty district selection at wide receiver and kick returner this season, reciprocated the interest by making an unofficial visit to Virginia on Saturday. For comments from Price on the offer and the weekend visit, be sure to check out the EDGE.

Price now boasts offers from Duke, Michigan, North Carolina, Penn State, and Virginia. Florida is showing serious interest and Price is expected to make an official visit to Gainesville this weekend. He is scheduled to make an official visit to Penn State the following weekend with a decision perhaps coming soon after. Virginia is in strong shape, but Price may not have a spot in the class if he waits too long.

The other new offer went out on Saturday. It was to 6-4, 240-pound Highland Springs (VA) standout Rod Wheeler, a versatile prospect that is being recruited as a tight end. Wheeler, who hauled in 35 receptions this season, lined up at wide receiver and tight end for head coach Scott Burton. As a tight end prospect, he is athletic and versatile and shows nice potential.

Wheeler also boasts offers from Richmond and Syracuse. For more on his recruitment, stay tuned to the EDGE later today.

One of UVa's top targets will come off the board on Wednesday. 5-7, 155-pound Gateway (Monroeville, PA) WR/RB/KR/PR Cameron Saddler is expected to announce his college decision on Wednesday at 6 p.m. His finalists include Pitt, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Saddler is ready to make a decision after making official visits to his three finalists over the last month. He traveled to UVa on the weekend of Nov. 3 (Wake Forest game), Pitt on the weekend of the 24th and West Virginia this past weekend. Head coaches from all three programs are expected to make their final pitches before Wednesday's decision.

Saddler has always been high on Virginia, in particular head coach Al Groh, but will it be enough for the Hoos to pull out one of Pennsylvania's best? Stay tuned on Wednesday to find out.

Saddler's teammate and 5-star recruit, linebacker Shayne Hale, also made an official visit to West Virginia over the weekend. The 6-3, 220-pound Hale has now made official visits to Virginia and West Virginia. Ohio State is in the mix for an official as well, though nothing had been set at last check. UVa is also very much in the mix here and landing Saddler would be a big step toward landing Hale as well.

Basketball recruiting ...

6-11, 235-pound center John Brandenburg helped DeSmet Jesuit (St. Louis, MO) get on the winning track, scoring 20 points in a 56-38 win over Gateway Tech in its final game in last week's Whitfield Basketball Tournament. Brandenburg scored only two and six points in losses to Cardinal Ritter and eventual champ Whitfield in the previous two tournament games.

DeSmet is 1-2 on the season and will face Chaminade on Friday.

Chris Horne, our resident recruiting expert, provides updates throughout the week for Edge subscribers about UVa's commitments and recruiting targets in football and men's basketball. To sign up for an Edge subscription, please check out the Sabre Edge Sign Up and Information Page. If you're already on board as an Edge subscriber, click the links below to catch up on recruiting.

Sabre Edge recruiting updates from the past week ...

Brick Oettinger's Look at UVa's 2008 Class
Last week, the University of Virginia announced the signing of three players in the 2008 men's basketball recruiting class. This week, TheSabre.com caught up with PrepStars.com Talent Evaluator Brick Oettinger for his analysis on Virginia's three recruits as well as a look at the rest of the Atlantic Coast Conference fall hauls.

Virginia Impressing Price
Several days after receiving an official scholarship offer from the University of Virginia, South Lakes (Reston, VA) wide receiver A.J. Price was in Charlottesville on an unofficial visit. Accompanied by his mother, the 6-4, 170-pound senior spent Saturday afternoon touring UVa, attending a football practice and talking to coaches.

Virginia Impresses Top Safety Recruit
Eleanor Roosevelt (Greenbelt, MD) safety Okechuckwu Okoroha, one of Virginia's top remaining targets in the 2008 recruiting class, gave Virginia the first shot to impress him in an official visit capacity. This past weekend's official visit was Okoroha's first trip to Virginia since the Elite Junior Day in June. Just like he did on the previous experience, the 6-0, 192-pound star came away impressed.

More recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...

• UVa Offers Price
• Rodney McLeod's Official Visit to UVa
• Did UVa Visit Sway Glenn?
• Virginia Hosts 4-Star Mattes

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Fan of the Week

Every week, theSabre.com features a Fan of the Week photo on the front page of the Web site. (Archives are available in the Wahoowa! section.) So you want to be the fan of the week? It's easy - be the loudest Hoo at a live UVa event, wear some crazy Cavalier gear, or do something else to catch our attention. If Mike or Kris spot you and take your picture, you'll be in the running for Fan of the Week honors!

Newslink - Your One Stop Shop for UVa News

TheSabre.com provides an excellent service for the Virginia fan base that you may not know about: Newslink. Sabre NewsLink provides you with links to the daily news on your Hoos. Our staff checks the Internet each morning to locate and link to articles from various online media sources from around the state and beyond. We even throw some interesting ACC news to let you know what the Hoos' opponents are up to. Sabre NewsLink is updated every morning, 365 days a year!

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Get this year's basketball fan t-shirt as the Hoos set out to defend their ACC regular season championship! The 2008 UVA Basketball fan t-shirt features a full-front design with a partial basketball over top Virginia Hoops with Hoo emphasized. The tag line The Hoo in Hoops is underneath.

Issue No. 205 - Sept. 2, 2005

It's now been 249 days since Virginia's 2004 season ended with a Boise bowl loss to Fresno State. During that time, Al Groh says he has watched film of UVa's four losses many times in an effort to identify problems and correct them. Tomorrow we'll get a chance to see what he's figured out.

What changes does Al Groh have in store for the Cavs?

More than anything, that's what I'll be watching when the Cavaliers face Western Michigan tomorrow night at Scott Stadium. Sure, it will be fun to check out all of UVa's new starters and, most likely, witness a blowout victory. But I'll be most interested in Virginia's overall approach on offense and defense. What, if anything, will be different?

Groh says he has analyzed every aspect of his program, as he does every offseason, with particular attention to the deficiencies that cost the Cavs in big games last year. But he hasn't gone into specifics about what he saw, what went wrong and what exactly he's changed. There have been signs. A reshuffled coaching staff with Al Golden taking over the secondary. More of a focus on the passing game during spring practice and training camp. He's hinted that he intends to be more aggressive on offense and defense this season, but how that aggression will manifest itself in schemes and play-calling remains to be seen.

Tomorrow, we'll start seeing for ourselves the results of Groh's offseason analysis. Surely, we won't see everything against the overmatched Broncos. And clearly the Cavs don't need a major overhaul. After all, they did win eight games and lead the ACC in total offense last year. But 250 days after the end of a disappointing season, it will be nice to get a fresh start and see if the coaches have some fresh ideas.

John Galinsky
Former Editor
TheSabre.com

Coming Soon

The Sabre has you covered when it comes to Hoo news. Here are a few of the articles to expect on the site in the coming days:

• UVa Hosts Syracuse In perhaps the biggest non-conference home game of the season, the Cavaliers host Syracuse on Wednesday. The Sabre will be there to provide coverage.
• Gator Bowl preparation The Sabre will get you ready for the Gator Bowl and opponent Texas Tech.
• Inside the Game The Sabre plans to take one last look at the Virginia Tech game and see if any of the breakdowns apply to the bowl season.

In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

UVa Headed To Gator Bowl
Virginia has waited a long time for its return to college football's biggest bowl day - 14 years to be exact - but this year's Cavaliers will play on the first day of the year after an impressive 9-3 regular season. UVa was tabbed as the ACC's No. 3 selection Sunday, joining Big 12 representative Texas Tech in the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl on Jan. 1. The game is at 1 p.m. in Jacksonville, Fla.

10 Things I Learned Vs. Virginia Tech
Leaving the game on Saturday, and on an almost minute-by-minute basis since, I have been asked one question after another about the Virginia Tech game, this UVa team, and the future of the Virginia program. So this week, perhaps "10 Things ..." should be titled "10 Questions ...", with what follows being the best I can do in terms of answers.

10 Questions For Leitao's Hoos (Part II)
The Virginia basketball team is seven games in to the 2007-08 season, posting a 6-1 record through the November portion of the schedule. Only one of those wins has been by less than 10 points, a 3-point victory at Arizona. Now that we've seen the early portion of the schedule and have a better feel for the team and its personnel, let's take a look at Part II of "10 Questions For Dave Leitao's Hoos."

Greg's Game Grades '07: VT
In the Virginia Tech scouting reports, it was noted that Virginia needed to be effective running the football, to limit the big play ability of VT's passing game, to avoid special teams breakdowns, to prevent short fields for the Hokie offense, and to win the battle on the line of scrimmage against Tech's defensive front. The simple fact is that Al Groh's team did none of these things consistently. The Hoos did not do enough to sustain drives. They did not contain the Tech offense's big plays. They did not win the field position battle.

More recent updates on The Sabre ...

• Blog Banter: Let's Do This Quickly
• Groh Named ACC Coach of Year
• Hoos Wallop Wildcats

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