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This Week In Recruiting
By Chris Horne

In case you missed it, the University of Virginia men's basketball team has picked up its first commitment of the 2010 class. 6-8, 220-pound power forward Will Regan pledged to head coach Tony Bennett and company last Sunday but kept the news to himself, his family, close friends and the Virginia staff until last Friday.

Regan, who attends Nichols School in Buffalo, New York, participated in the NBAPA Top 100 Camp and stayed around one day with his mother and father to tour the grounds and speak with the Virginia coaches.

"Everything was great," Regan told TheSabre.com last Friday night. "Virginia is a great school. It has the number one business school. They play in the best conference. They have the best weight training coach. I talked to an academic advisor and the weight training coach on Sunday. Everything going together just made it a great fit."

Named Buffalo News Player of the Year last season as a junior, Regan averaged 22 points and 13 rebounds per game in 2008/2009. A hard-working, smart player, Regan also has the ability to score inside and outside. He feels he'll be a good fit in Coach Bennett's system, one of the reasons why he went ahead and committed.

EDGE subscribers will be able to read more about Will this week in a "Q&A" piece, in which he discusses the recruiting process, the decision he made, his basketball career up to this point and more. Rated a 3-star prospect by Scout.com and Rivals.com, Regan chose the Cavaliers over a finalist list that included Arizona State, Maryland, Providence and Stanford.

...

Continuing with our basketball coverage, we'll have more with promising rising senior forward Michael Cobbins and rising senior guard Brian Richardson this week.

Cobbins, a 6-8 standout out of Palo Duro High School in Amarillo, Texas, has been offered by Virginia. He participated in the NBAPA Top 100 Camp and showed a nice skill-set and athletic ability. He also has been offered by Georgia Tech, Iowa State and New Mexico, but don't be surprised to see that list continue to grow.

Richardson, a 6-5 prospect out of Greenfield (Wilson, N.C.), has been offered by Alabama, Marquette, South Carolina and Xavier, among others. He met with the new Virginia staff the Sunday after the NBAPA Top 100 Camp and says the meeting went well, though he has not yet been offered.

Virginia did offer 6-6 guard Joe Harris last week. The Chelan (WA) standout rising senior, who has also been offered by San Diego and Washington State, participated in Virginia's Elite Camp the Monday and Tuesday prior to the NBAPA Top 100. Harris, a versatile prospect, averaged 26 points per game last season as a junior.

UVa football makes the cut for Henry Anderson ...

6-6, 243-pound defensive end Henry Anderson told TheSabre.com on Sunday night that he has narrowed his list of schools to eight. Anderson, who includes Virginia in the list of eight, is hoping to commit to a school in July.

A standout out of Woodward Academy (College Park, GA), Anderson racked up 70 tackles including 10 tackles for loss last season as a junior. He has been offered by programs in the ACC, Big 10, Pac 10 and the SEC. Stay tuned today for more on this prospect, who appears to be one of Virginia's top overall recruits in the 2010 class.

We'll also have more today on Bethel (Hampton, VA) cornerback Rijo Walker. According to Bruins head coach Jeff Nelson, the 5-10, 170-pound Walker was offered by UVa last week while attending Al Groh's camp.

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 ...

UVa Reels in Commitment #1 in 2010 Class
Tony Bennett has scored his first verbal commitment as University of Virginia head coach. 6-8, 220-pound power forward Will Regan, a rising senior out of Nichols School in Buffalo (N.Y.), is Coach Bennett's first commitment as Cavaliers head coach and UVa's first commitment of the 2010 recruiting class.

Checking in with Team USA S Corey Lillard
Before arriving in Charlottesville on July 6th, University of Virginia incoming freshman Corey Lillard is suiting up for the United States in the IFAF Junior World Championships. Lillard, a 5-11, 205-pound safety out of Liberty (Bealeton, VA), arrived in Canton (OH) on June 13th and has been practicing with the US squad ever since. How have things gone so far?

More recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...

• More Reports from the NBAPA Camp
• San Diego F Impressed by Visit to Virginia
• UVa Offers Washington Guard Joe Harris
• Trio Headlines Dinwiddie's 2011 Class
• UVa Pursuing Archbishop Carroll OLB

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UVa Finishes 8th In Directors' Cup Rankings

UVa Athletics Media Relations Official Release

Virginia finished eighth in the final 2008-09 Learfield Sports Directors' Cup competition for Division I schools. The final results were announced today by the National Association of Directors of Athletics (NACDA). It ties the best finish ever by Virginia in the 16-year history of the program. The Cavaliers were also eighth in 1999.

It marks the 16th consecutive year, since the program's inception, the Cavaliers have recorded a top-30 finish. UVa is one of 15 schools to rank in the top 30 of the final Directors' Cup standings in each year of the program's existence. Virginia finished 17th in last year's final Directors' Cup standings.

"Our athletics department's ranking of eighth in this year's final Directors' Cup standings matches our highest ranking and is affirmation of the hard work put in by our student-athletes, coaches and our entire department staff," said UVa athletics director Craig Littlepage. "It is also an indication that the support and dedication of our alumni, friends, faculty and University staff, and donors are yielding results. Our future challenge is to be an athletics program that consistently performs among the nation's top 10 in the Directors' Cup standings, while at the same time ranking among the national leaders in the academic achievements of our student-athletes."

Teams or individuals in 20 of Virginia's 25 athletic programs advanced to postseason competition in 2008-09. Virginia won six Atlantic Coast Conference championships in 2008-09, the most of any league member. ACC titles were for - men's cross country, men's and women's swimming and diving, men's tennis, men's outdoor track and field and baseball.

Some of the highlights of the athletics year included:

• A total of 89 Cavalier student-athletes earned All-ACC honors in 2008-09.
• Virginia had 62 student-athletes named to All-America teams for their respective programs during the year.
• The Virginia baseball team advanced to the College World Series for the first time after winning its first Regional (Irvine, Calif.) and Super Regional (Oxford, Miss.).
• The Virginia women's golf team had its best finish at the NCAA Championships (eighth).
• Dominic Inglot (London, England) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) became the first doubles team from the ACC to win the NCAA Men's Doubles Championship.
• The Virginia men's tennis team went 32-1 and reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships. The team also won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Men's National Team Indoor Championship for the second consecutive year.
• Ryan Foster (Stephens City, Va.) became the first Cavalier to win the men's individual title at the ACC Cross Country Championships.
• The UVa men's lacrosse team reached the semifinals of the NCAA Championships finishing 15-3.
• The women's rowing team finished fourth at the NCAA Championships and the Cavaliers' Varsity Eight finished second in that event. The Cavaliers won the NCAA South/Central Regional.
• The men's swimming and diving team finished ninth at the 2009 NCAA Championships, the best finish for the Cavaliers in the history of the program. The UVa women were 12th at NCAAs.
• Senior Yemi Ayeni became the first Cavalier to win an NCAA track and field regional title when he finished first in the discus. He also won the ACC title in the event and placed fourth at the NCAA Championships.

Several members of Virginia coaching staffs were cited for outstanding achievement during the year. Cavalier baseball coach Brian O'Connor was named the national coach of the year. UVa women's golf coach Kim Lewellen was one of three national regional coaches of the year, and Jason Vigilante was named the southeast regional women's cross country coach of the year and the NCAA men's southeast region outdoor track and field coach of the year. UVa men's tennis coach Brian Boland was the ITA mideast region coach of the year and Carrie Lane was named the NCAA women's southeast region outdoor track and field assistant coach of the year.

Four different Virginia coaches won a total of six ACC Coach of the Year awards. Mark Bernardino was the men's and women's swimming coach of the year, Boland was the men's tennis coach of the year, Dom Starsia was the men's lacrosse coach of the year and Vigilante was named the men's cross country and men's outdoor track and field coach of the year.

Read the full release and see expanded standings at Virginiasports.com

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Around the World of Wahoo Sports ...

• Cannon Named to CWS All-Tournament Team: Virginia shortstop Tyler Cannon has been named to the 2009 Men's College World Series All-Tournament Team, which was announced last night following the conclusion of the CWS. Cannon hit a team-best .600 (6-for-10) in the College World Series and had a .733 on base percentage. He reached base at least three times in all three games and scored three times.
• ACC Tournament in Charlottesville Highlights 2009 Field Hockey Schedule: The 2009 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament highlights the Virginia field hockey schedule, announced by head coach Michele Madison. The Cavaliers play 19 regular season games, including nine at home, before competing in the ACC Tournament Nov. 5-8 in Charlottesville. The season kicks off Aug. 28 against Miami (Ohio) at the University Hall Turf Field. The Cavaliers played the nation's toughest schedule in both 2007 and 2008 and it doesn't look to get any easier this season, according to Madison.
• Wrestling Releases 2009-10 Schedule: A tough non-conference schedule and home dates with rising programs Maryland, Old Dominion and Virginia Tech highlight he Virginia wrestling team's 2009-10 schedule, released Wednesday by fourth-year head coach Steve Garland. "Our goal with our schedule each year is to ensure our student-athletes see top competition," Garland said. "We feel that this year's schedule will provide some tough challenges while offering our wrestlers a look at some teams they have not seen in the past. We finish the year with our ACC dual run, which has proven to be extremely difficult in recent years. In all, we feel we have reached a great balance this year."
• Virginia Repeats as VaSID All-Sports Champion: The University of Virginia won .648 percent of its intercollegiate athletic contests in 2008-09 to win the 31st annual Virginia Sports Information Director's Association Division I All-Sport championship. This is the Cavaliers 11th overall title, second straight and fourth in the last six years.

For more Hoo news or to read full releases, check out Virginiasports.com.

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Issue No. 23 - February 7, 2002

Virginia Football Lands Monster Class

Coach Al Groh stated in his first UVa press conference that he expected the Cavaliers to compete for the ACC Title and beyond. The first real step toward that goal was established yesterday, when UVa signed all 26 of its football commitments for the 2002 class.

This class included some late commitments from nationally recognized players, like Wali Lundy, Marcus Hamilton, Michael Johnson, Jr., Kai Parham and national defensive player of the year Ahmad Brooks.

Other top players who signed earlier in the recruiting process were Virginia's Anthony Martinez, Ohio's Tony Franklin, New York's Kwakou Robinson and D'Brickashaw Ferguson, as well as North Carolina's Willie Davis. Those players helped to attract many other top recruits to Virginia. In fact, it would be safe to say that there aren't many 'projects' in this class, as there have been in previous classes. Not one recruit holds a rating less than two stars according to the recruiting site Rivals100.com.

Tom Lemmings ranks the class 5th nationally, with many other recruiting services giving the Hoos a nod for Top 10 status. Rivals100 currently ranks the Cavalier class 12th, but that's against teams who signed many more than 25 players. The NCAA only allows a maximum of 25 scholarships to be awarded from each institution every year. Several Top 10 recruiting classes currently have between 27 and 32 commitments.

Coach Groh expects many of these incoming freshmen to play right away next season. With a 13th game recently added to next season's schedule, as well as the possibility of a 14th game in the post-season, the Cavaliers will need as many bodies as the can get.

Major credit was given to the staff, current players and faculty by Groh, for their support and energy throughout the recruiting practice. As you'll see later in this update, Groh says, 'The chase is never over until the Waffle House closes,' which is to say that recruiting never stops. Regarding that statement, while many college coaches across the country will be taking a week or so vacation, this staff will already be recruiting the nation's top juniors. Virginia hosts a junior football recruit day this weekend, and many of the players will be taking in the Virginia basketball game this Sunday, February 10th against Clemson.

Check Out SabreMail #23.

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's Summer Reading Series continues this week.
• NBAPA Top 100 Camp: Editor Kris Wright brings you player capsules from the NBAPA Top 100 Camp at the JPJ.
• Jed Williams: Jed Williams is working on his next column about the Hoos.

In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

JHoo's Summer Reading '09: Running Backs
2009 is going to be a very interesting year for Virginia's running backs, a group that is trying to sort itself out on the depth chart while the individual players also try to define themselves in Gregg Brandon's offense. But make no mistake about it - there is talent in this group, and diverse talent at that.

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