Blog Banter: It Takes Two

When one of Virginia's brightest stars is gearing up for a professional career at the same time another recruit is joining the UVa football's commitment list, there's only one way to keep up on the news: a double dose of "question and answers" on The Good Ol' Blog at TheSabre.com. Remember, all the content on the blog is 100% free!

First, let's focus on basketball star Sean Singletary, who was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in the NBA Draft. The Sabre wanted to know how Singletary fit in with the Kings and what challenges he faced in making the roster in California. Who better to ask than someone on the ground in Sacramento? The Good Ol' Blog caught up with Sacramento Bee NBA writer Scott Howard-Cooper to talk about Singletary and what things look like for him in Sacramento: Singletary Questions Answered.

Of course, the good news surrounding 2009 football recruiting kept pouring in with another commitment (Robert "Cody" Wallace) last week. No one knows Cavalier recruiting better than Sabre expert Chris Horne, who joined Rob Mahini on The Good Ol' Blog to help clear the picture for Hoo fans. Who's the best get so far? How many slots are left in the 2009 class? Chris Horne answered those questions: Chris Horne on 2009 football recruiting.

Keep in touch with all the hot topics around Virginia athletics on The Good Ol' Blog.

This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

Football Recruiting

With 18 verbal commitments in the fold before July, UVa has truly thrived thus far in the 2009 football recruiting class. There still are spots remaining, though, and some need areas could still be addressed. This week, we'll revisit Virginia's 2009 football recruiting class needs on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. We'll tackle the offensive side later today.

Ten of the 18 verbal commits project to play on the offensive side of the ball, including one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight end and three offensive linemen. There could be some flexibility, however, and a good example of this is with multi-talented Orange (VA) athlete Quintin Hunter. Originally pegged as a wide receiver, the versatile 6-2, 180-pound prospect looked very good at quarterback - the position he excelled at last season - at Virginia's 7-on-7 passing league last month. Should Hunter continue to improve as a signal caller, the staff may have found its second quarterback of the '09 class.

Finding protection for whomever the Cavaliers future signal caller may be is a must, and the offensive line is one area the staff is sure to continue to target with its remaining scholarships. The staff has done well in landing 6-6, 260-pound Luke Bowanko, 6-6, 265-pound Sean Cascarano and 6-5, 260-pound Cody Wallace, but Coach Groh and company would like to add at least two more in this class. On Tuesday, we'll have a follow-up article on one of the remaining offensive line targets, Pennsylvania standout Nick Kindler. Kindler, a 6-6, 270-pound prospect out of Trinity (Camp Hill, PA), currently claims five schools at the top of his list.

Virginia has not just done well recruiting the offensive line, but success has come in recruiting the defensive line as well. In particular, the staff has landed three very promising prospect at the defensive end position, including Penn Charter (Philadelphia, PA) standout Justin Renfrow, Deep Run (Glen Allen, VA) star Jake Snyder, and 6-7, 265-pound Canadian star Brent Urban. I believe Virginia would like to land another defensive end if possible, but only if he is one of the top targets on the board.

Remaining high defensive end targets include Lafayette's (Williamsburg, VA) William Hill, The Hun School's (Princeton, N.J.) Anthony LaLota, and St. Xavier (Cincinnati, OH) star Pat Muldoon. In case you missed it, be sure to check out the EDGE article on Muldoon, who made a visit to Charlottesville last weekend. An indication of just how high a target he is, the 6-4, 265-pound prospect, a top defensive end recruit, was shown around UVa personally by head coach Al Groh.

Virginia has done an outstanding job of recruiting this class, but be sure to check out the "Needs" articles to find out exactly which positions the staff would like to address with its remaining scholarships.

Prospect videos

Last week, we added video of Virginia commits Connor McCartin, a linebacker, and defensive end Jake Snyder. This week, we'll add video of wide receiver commit Kevin Royal and we hope to add video of recent offensive line commit Cody Wallace, so be sure to check out those recruiting cards throughout the week.

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 ...

Metheny Reflects on UVa Camp
Sherando (Stephens City, VA) quarterback Ross Metheny enjoyed his recent time in Charlottesville. The 6-3, 190-pound signal caller, who was in Charlottesville for Virginia's summer camp, had an opportunity to work with his future quarterbacks coach, test out the lower leg he injured in the Group AA, Division 4 state championship game last season and even do a little recruiting for his future team.

Thomas Impressed with Visit to UVa
Brookville (Lynchburg, VA) star Logan Thomas certainly is a hotly contested recruit - he boasts 18 Division 1A scholarship offers - but he appears to be an even hotter commodity in the state of Virginia. Virginia and Virginia Tech are each recruiting the 6-6, 225-pound athlete extremely hard, with the Cavaliers receiving the most recent visit yesterday.

More recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...

• Muldoon Reflects on Visits to UVa, Virginia Tech
• UVa Scores Versatile Offensive Lineman
• Simpson Talks UVa Camp, Recruiting Process
• Gerson Excited To Join Cavaliers

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Devvarman 2 for 2 In Pro Career

Virginia Athletic Media Relations
Official Release

Cavalier alumni Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey continued their strong play on the USTA Futures Circuit by sweeping the titles at the $10,000 Dicks Sporting Goods Men's Futures of Pittsburgh, Pa. Devvarman took the singles title and Devvarman and Huey won the doubles title.

It marked the second Futures Circuit event for both since turning pro and the second titles they have won. Last week, Devvarman won the singles title and Devvarman and Huey won the doubles title at the event in Rochester, N.Y. They also swept the titles at the event in Tampa, Fla. in January prior to the collegiate dual match season.

In the singles final of the Pittsburgh event, Devvarman topped Travis Helgeson 6-3, 6-1. Helgeson, a recent graduate of Georgia, was the only player to defeat Devvarman during last year's collegiate season. Since turning pro, Devvarman has a 10-0 singles record and has not lost a set.

In the doubles final, Devvarman and Huey defeated Adam El Mihdawy and Rhyne Williams 6-1, 6-3.

Devvarman will return to action next week in a non-points event, the Kennedy Funding Invitational, a charity tournament in New City, N.Y. Devvarman played the tournament last year as an amateur and reached the final, before falling to ATP Top 100 player Michael Russell in three sets. This year's field includes Russell, Paul Goldstein, Justin Gimelstob, Sam Querrey, Robert Kendrick, Wayne Odesnik, and Bobby Reynolds.

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Issue No. 162 - October 29, 2004

Pearman, Cavs run over Duke

Alvin Pearman

Not much was going right for the Virginia football team last Saturday. Marques Hagans, limited by injury, couldn't throw the ball downfield. The defense, burned by trick plays, gave up 337 yards to the worst offense in college football. The Cavaliers committed nine penalties, a season high.

Thank goodness for Alvin Pearman. The senior tailback came to the rescue, carrying 38 times for 223 yards as the Wahoos finally pulled away for a 37-16 victory over pesky Duke at Wallace Wade Stadium. In all, Virginia rushed for 348 yards - 346 more than it managed on its previous trip to Durham in 2002.

Unlike in previous seasons, the Cavs can turn to a power running game when other things aren't working. Pearman. Wali Lundy (82 yards, two TDs) and Michael Johnson (47 yards) followed their blockers and eventually wore down the Blue Devils. UVa led by just a touchdown before scoring two insurance TDs in the fourth quarter.

For a story on the game, please check out the link below.

Pearman Leads Virginia to Victory

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 soon:

• JHoo's Summer Reading: JHoo helps take an in-depth look at the football team with the sixth article in this series.
• 5 Players With Something To Prove Greg Waters takes a look at some names to watch on this year's Cavalier football team.
• Jed Williams: Jed is busy working out his next column, which will appear in the coming days.

In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

Some Interesting Scheduling Options For UVa
News trickled out of West Virginia this week that the Mountaineers and Cavaliers are considering a future football series, though the details - possibly starting as soon as 2010 with potential neutral site games according to The Charleston Daily Mail - remain quite murky at this time. Naturally such news, particularly since UVa often stays quite tight-lipped about its future schedules, quickly stirred up debate among Hoo fans. Setting aside what anyone thinks of the potential WVU series, there are always quite a few interesting schedule options - including the creation of a George Welsh Cup - for the Hoos.

Blog Banter: Singletary Questions Answered
When Virginia's Sean Singletary was selected in the NBA Draft's second round by Sacramento, Cavalier fans immediately turned their attention to the star guard's future and his situation with the Kings. Do they have a point guard? Does he fit the style of play? The Sabre caught up with Sacramento Bee NBA writer Scott Howard-Cooper to talk about Singletary and what things look like for him in Sacramento. Check out The Good' Ol Blog for the answers.

Best Seat In The House: Shawn Moore
Shawn Moore was Virginia's starting quarterback from 1988-90, a period when he dialed up some eye-popping numbers. He passed for 6,629 yards and 55 touchdowns, and finished fourth in the 1990 Heisman voting. Impressive indeed. What does Moore think about the Cavaliers' upcoming season and the greatest Cavalier player of all time? He joined The Best Seat in the House to talk about that and more. Also, check out free Best Seat audio updates with football recruit Sean Cascarano and basketball recruit John Brandenburg.

Singletary's Shot At NBA Arrives
Two Februarys ago, Sean Singletary and I settled into a pair of blue seats in the bottom rows of University Hall for a one-on-one interview about what was becoming a highly successful sophomore season. Somewhere along the way, I posed a question comparing Singletary to Dwayne Wade and Allen Iverson. Singletary? He shot me a sideways glance and chuckled out loud. As I explained at the time, I meant more on the "relentless heart" scale than anything else, a trait Singletary admittedly admired. Soon, Singletary - along with Sacramento Kings fans - will get to make an up-close comparison, relentless heart or otherwise.

JHoo's Summer Reading '08: Offensive Line
I admit, I have not been looking forward to writing the column about UVa's 2008 offensive line. Why, you ask? The Summer Reading columns are supposed to be informative, giving the reader some insight into a unit's outlook for the upcoming season. When it comes to the offensive line, however, I worry that this column will beg more questions than it answers. On the other hand, perhaps that is an apt analogy for breaking down the offensive line going into the 2008 season.

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