Thursday Night Game Provides Exposure

The Virginia football program plays its first Thursday night game in five years this week when it travels to Miami on Thursday. UVa last appeared as part of ESPN's Thursday night coverage on Oct. 19, 2006 when it defeated North Carolina, 23-0. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. in the nationally televised game on ESPN. This is also one of just 20 college football games this season being broadcast in 3D by ESPN.

Virginia coach Mike London said Monday that the national television opportunity can boost the profile of your program.

"Provided that you play well and you're competitive, it gives you an opportunity to get your name out there and to get your brand out there. These young men that we've been writing and calling and visiting their schools - they have heard about us. This is an opportunity to put a face with the name, an opportunity to put the school brand out there, to be recognized from the national media exposure that's given. Even from the commercials that they run - they talk about the schools, the things they have to offer," London said. "Playing well on national TV against a very, very good opponent is something that every program looks for once. Particularly, this is a good situation for us, provided we play well. The way recruiting has been going, and the mentality we have been trying to get across to the young men that are out there and their parents, this is another opportunity for us."

Miami owns a 5-3 edge in the all-time series between the schools.

This Week In Recruiting

Wylie (TX) offensive tackle Kyle Fuller was in Charlottesville on an unofficial visit this past weekend. Scholarship spots are limited, but the 6'5", 265-pound senior does have an offer from the Hoos. Virginia currently has four offensive line commitments including likely tackles Sean Karl and Michael Mooney, and likely interior line prospects Ryan Doull and Andre Miles-Redmond.

In addition to Virginia, Fuller is also considering Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas and others. Fuller has recently been quiet in terms of where he stands in his decision making process, though he reportedly wanted to commit to Iowa in late September. The Hawkeyes, though, reportedly had not officially offered at the time.

TheSabre.com plans to have more on Fuller's recruitment this week, so stay tuned.

On the basketball front, UVa hosted top 2013 class shooting guard Steve Vasturia on Saturday. The 6'4" junior out of St. Joseph's Prep (Philadelphia, PA), who reportedly has offers from Boston College and Notre Dame, among others, was seen being shown around by head coach Tony Bennett and assistant coach Ron Sanchez.

TheSabre.com also hopes to have more on Vasturia and his visit this week. UVa does not have any verbal commitments in its 2013 class.

Also this week on the recruiting front, the latest "Season Diary" featuring quarterback Matt Johns will be posted. Johns and his Central Bucks South (Warrington, PA) teammates have two games left in the regular season. If they win out, they are guaranteed a playoff spot.

The 6'4", 195-pound signal caller accounted for five touchdowns (3 pass, 2 rush) in this past week's win, which you can read more about in the Good Ol Blog's weekly Week In Review.

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 ...

Recruiting Notes: Tobey Has Great Visit
Center Mike Tobey had an outstanding time last weekend, when he and the University of Virginia's three other 2012 class recruits were in Charlottesville on official visits. On the football front, top 2012 class recruit Eli Harold provides his thoughts on the Georgia Tech win and Virginia's recruiting success in the Beach. I also take a look at tomorrow's expected visitors for the N.C. State game in this edition of "Notes."

More recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...

• 2013 Report: RB Mizzell Up To Six Offers
• UVa One Of Two Offers For 2014's Blanding
• Confirmed Visitors For The NC State Game (blog)
• Recruiting Week In Review: RB Sets Another Record (blog)

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Virginia Athletics Media Relations Official Release

The reigning ACC Champion Virginia rowing team opened its fall schedule Sunday at the 47th annual Head of the Charles in Boston. The Cavaliers had two boats in the championship eights, claiming first and ninth, while finishing second in the championship fours.

"It's a significant win," head coach Kevin Sauer said. "They did a nice job and raced really well and it wasn't just our first eight boat. Our second eight and our four did really well too and defeated some top competition."

In the championship eights, Virginia's 'A' boat finished in a time of 16:11.52, more than eight seconds faster than second place, Radcliffe Crew (16:19.63). UVa's 'B' boat placed ninth in a time of 16:45.65. Each crew started the 5,000-meter course single file about 10-15 seconds apart. Both Cavalier vessels passed the boat that started in front of them with UVa's 'A' boat passing Princeton, while the Cavs' 'B' passed Northeastern.

In the championship fours, the Cavaliers, who were in the fourth boat off the mark, passed both the Radcliffe Crew and Riverside Boat Club boats on their way to finishing second in a time of 18:34.40. Virginia was the top collegiate team in the fours. Vesper Boat Club won the championship fours in 18:21.85.

"It was promising to see the four be competitive this early in the season," associate head coach Steve Pritzker said. "We have a tremendous group of athletes on our team and look forward to continuing to develop the depth of our squad over the coming months."

Virginia Line-Ups: Championship Fours (Bow Number 4): Coxswain Molly Frear, Catherine Multari, Chelsea Simpson, Kaitlin Fanikos, Maddie Keating. Championship Eights 'A' (Bow Number 2): Coxswain Sidney Thorsten, Cara Linnekohl, Chandler Lally, Susanne Grainger, Brandy Herald, Martha Kuzzy, Fiona Schlesinger, Sarah Cowburn, Kristine O'Brien. Championship Eights 'B' (Bow Number 6): Coxswain Sarah Jordan, Carli Goldberg, Carolyn Glandorf, Lizzie Youngling, Morgan Joseph, Marelle Myers, Emmi Benton, Sarah Borchelt, Keziah Beall

UVa Picked to Finish Fourth in ACC

Virginia Athletics Media Relations Official Release

he Virginia men's basketball team was picked to finish fourth in the 2011-12 preseason poll of media representatives attending the Atlantic Coast Conference's Operation Basketball event on Wednesday (Oct. 19). It's the highest the Cavaliers have been picked in the preseason poll since the 2001-02 season when they were picked to finish third. North Carolina finished first in the voting by media representatives participating in the preseason poll with 706 points. The Tar Heels received 57 of the 59 first place votes in the poll with Duke receiving the other two first place votes. Duke was second in the poll with 649 points followed by Florida State (560), Virginia (463), Miami (455), Virginia Tech (411), Clemson (403), NC State (316), Maryland (264), Georgia Tech (176), Wake Forest (109) and Boston College (90).

UVa was picked to finish 11th in last year's ACC preseason poll and finished tied for seventh in the regular season. Virginia had an overall record of 16-15 and a 7-9 record in the ACC last season.

UVa senior forward Mike Scott was one of six players selected to the 2011-12 ACC Preseason All-Conference Team. North Carolina's Harrison Barnes was a unanimous selection with 59 votes. Also selected to the team were North Carolina's John Henson (47 votes) and Tyler Zeller (46 votes), Miami's Malcolm Grant (32 votes), Duke's Seth Curry (20 votes) and Scott (20 votes). Barnes was selected the ACC Preseason Player of the Year and Duke's Austin Rivers the conference's Preseason Rookie of the Year.

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Around the World of Wahoo Sports ...

• Cavalier Women's Soccer Blasts Virginia Tech 4-0: The No. 6 Virginia women's soccer team posted its fourth consecutive victory with a 4-0 win over in-state rival Virginia Tech on Thursday in front of a nationally televised audience and a season-high 1,988 fans at Klockner Stadium. The Cavaliers (12-3-2, 6-2-1 ACC) clinched a home game in the ACC Tournament with the result. Caroline Miller scored two goals to lead the Cavaliers, her fourth multi-goal game of the season. Morgan Brian and Julia Roberts each had a goal and an assist for Virginia.
• Virginia Plays Virginia Tech to Scoreless Draw: The No. 21 Virginia men's soccer team played Virginia Tech to a scoreless draw Friday evening at Thompson Field in Blacksburg. Both teams had a plethora of opportunities, but neither could strike the deciding blow. Virginia (9-5-1, 3-2-1 ACC) took 19 shots, while Virginia Tech (4-9-2, 1-4-1) recorded 14. Both teams took five corner kicks.
• Starsia Named 2011 USILA DI Head Coach of the Year: Virginia head men's lacrosse coach Dom Starsia has been awarded the 2011 F. Morris Touchstone Award as the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's (USILA) Division I Head Coach of the Year. Starsia becomes the first Virginia head coach to win the F. Morris Touchstone Award, which was first presented in 1958.
• Virginia Recruiting Class Ranked No. 8 Nationally by Baseball America: Virginia's incoming recruiting class for the 2011-12 season has been rated No. 8 nationally by Baseball America in the publication's annual recruiting rankings. Virginia welcomed in a 13-man class for 2012. This class is UVa's seventh in the last eight years to earn a top-20 recruiting tag and ties the 2006 class as highest-ranked recruiting class in program history.
• Volleyball Drops Two ACC Matches: The Virginia volleyball team won the first set over ACC rival Clemson, 25-19, but dropped the next three, 15-25, 25-27, 20-25, Friday. Senior Simone Asque led the Hoos with 18 kills. On Saturday, the Cavaliers dropped a 3-1 decision to Georgia Tech and fell to 8-13 on the season and 2-9 in ACC play. Junior Jessica O'Shoney led the Cavaliers with 10 kills and a game-high seven blocks.
• Wake Forest Defeats Virginia 5-0: The Virginia field hockey team (7-11, 0-4 ACC) was defeated 5-0 Saturday at Wake Forest. Virginia concludes the regular season Saturday (Oct. 29) at home vs. Duke.
• Virginia Finishes Fifth at SMU Classic: The Virginia women's swimming team finished fifth with 248 points at the SMU Classic, which wrapped up Saturday at the six-lane Perkins Natatorium in Dallas, Texas. Texas won the meet, totaling 350 points, while Florida was second (330) and host SMU took third (257). Sophomore Rachel Naurath took third in the 200 butterfly (2:01.11) as the top individual finisher. Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams will compete Friday at Navy in Annapolis, Md. It will be the first meet of the year for the Cavalier men and will begin at 4 p.m.
• Robison Collects Three Medals at Pan Am Games: Former Virginia swimmer Scot Robison ('11) represented the United States at the Pan American Games and returned home Saturday with a gold medal and two silvers. Virginia head coach Mark Bernardino served as an assistant coach with the U.S. men at the event, which wrapped up Friday in Guadalajara, Mexico.

To read the full stories or gather more information on Virginia athletics, check out Virginiasports.com.

UVA Bookstores Halloween T-Shirts

The UVA Bookstores Halloween T-shirt is ready for pre-orders! Pre-orders will begin to be shipped Oct. 10.

Have fun this Halloween and be safe in the UVA Halloween glow-in-the-dark T-Shirt. UVA is screened with glow-in-the-dark ink on the front chest with spooky and fun orange Halloween icons. In between each letter, there is a spider and its webs.

You can also print a FREE V-Sabre Pumpkin Stencil to carve on your pumpkin this year! Just click here!

And don't forget about "Orange and Blue Football Fridays" at the UVA Bookstore. Save 25% in-store only on the Fridays before home football games (9/2, 9/23, 9/30, 10/14, 10/21, 11/11, 11/25)! For more information and restrictions, click here.

Issue No. 449 - June 14, 2010

Record Nine Cavaliers Selected in MLB Draft

UVa Athletics Media Relations, Official Release

A school-record nine Virginia baseball players, including three Wednesday, were selected in the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Virginia had six selections on the second day, which equaled the school record of six picks in 2007 and 2008, then added a trio of picks on Wednesday.

Jarrett Parker (Stafford, Va.) was a second-round pick (74th overall) of the San Francisco Giants. Phil Gosselin (West Chester, Pa.) was a fifth-round pick (164th overall) of the Atlanta Braves and Robert Morey (Virginia Beach, Va.) was also a fifth-round pick (167th overall) of the Florida Marlins. Kevin Arico (Flemington, N.J.) was a 10th-round pick (307th overall) of the Cincinnati Reds. Dan Grovatt (Tabernacle, N.J.) was an 11th-round pick (327th overall) by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Tyler Cannon (Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) was a 12th-round selection (360 overall) by the Cleveland Indians.

Tyler Wilson (Midlothian, Va.) was selected in the 35th round (1,057th overall) by the Cincinnati Reds. Kenny Swab (Kernersville, N.C.) quickly followed as he was picked seven slots later (1,064th overall) by the Atlanta Braves. Neal Davis (Baltimore, Md.) was selected in the 36th round (1,101st overall) by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Read the full news release here.

Check Out SabreMail No. 449.

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:

• UVa Football In ACC Play: The Cavaliers head back to ACC play this week against Miami. Stay tuned for football updates including TheSabre.com's postgame coverage of the NC State game with articles from Greg Waters and JHoo.
• Pro Hoos: TheSabre.com debuted a new series. Beyond The Lawn" is a 12-month series found exclusively on TheSabre.com that follows three Virginia Cavaliers through a year as a professional athlete. Baseball's Tyler Wilson (Baltimore Orioles), track and field's Stephanie Marie Garcia (U.S. Olympic hopeful), and football's Clint Sintim (New York Giants) share their experiences throughout the year. Stay tuned for the next edition with Stephanie Marie Garcia!

In Case You Missed It ...

Sabre articles since the last SabreMail

The Sunday Sampler 2011 - NC State
Frustrated. That was the mood around Hooville after Saturday's 28-14 loss to NC State. One week after exposing a ranked Georgia Tech team in a 24-21 upset, the Virginia football team crashed to earth in disappointing fashion. That resulted in more frustration for Hoos everywhere. A missed opportunity. Actually, I should say another missed opportunity.

Wolfpack Win At Virginia
It was eerily ironic to recall the Cavalier Marching band playing 'Mission Impossible' during its halftime performance. After watching Virginia's sluggish offense muddle through the first half against North Carolina State, it was hard to imagine the Hoos finding enough points to claim their third straight victory. In the end, the Wolfpack capitalized on several Virginia miscues and won a defensive battle at Scott Stadium, 28-14.

NC State Watch List
The Virginia football team closes out a four-game stretch of home games this weekend against NC State. If the Hoos can topple the Wolfpack, they would finish this quartet of games at 3-1 with a 5-2 overall record in hand. That means the Cavaliers would have five cracks at bowl eligibility in the regular season's final 30 days. Can you say big game? So what items are important in this UVa-NCSU showdown? Let's take a closer look in the NC State Watch List.

Game Preview 2011: NC State
Virginia pulled off a solid upset last week when it toppled then No. 12 Georgia Tech, 24-21. Now the Hoos will try to avoid the proverbial letdown game when NC State comes to town for this Saturday's matchup. That's certainly been the theme of the week. Bottom line: Virginia needs to put together another game where mistakes are limited and all three phases contribute to the cause if it wants to win back-to-back ACC games for the first time since October of 2009.

Q&A - Freshman Darion Atkins
Darion Atkins became known for at least two things in his career at Landon School: defense and rebounding. The 6'8", 222-pound forward averaged about 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots per game over the course of his junior and senior seasons, and he is looking to contribute in these areas in his freshman season at the University of Virginia. Atkins discusses his expected role this season and much more in this Sabre Q&A.

Photo Gallery: UVa 24, Georgia Tech 21
The Virginia football team put together a solid all-around game in its 24-21 upset of Georgia Tech. The offense ran the ball well and the defense shut down the GT option and passing game, including a big interception from Chase Minnifield. Take a look back at the victory with 93 images of the Hoos on the 80th birthday of Scott Stadium.

Tailgating With Chefhoo - NC State
A discussion of barbecue often elicits feelings of passion and pride. Different areas of the country claim their "own" version is the only true version of real barbecue and North Carolina is no different. In fact, books have been written about this phenomenon. It is likely that pork barbecue was invented in the Tar Heel state, so let's celebrate its wonderfulness with a tasty version of this southern treat for the game with NC State.

JHoo's 10 Things I Learned 2011 ... Georgia Tech
In this week's edition about 287 Things I Liked About Beating Georgia Tech, we will discuss ... wait, Kris Wright is on the phone ... I'll be right back ... "Hi, Kris. What? I am only supposed to be writing 10 Things? But what if ... well, I could ... not paying me by the word for a 165,253 article? Well, okay, I understand. Got it." As I was saying, in this week's edition of 10 Things ...

Hoos Aim To Refocus for NCSU
It didn't take long. Just minutes after the Virginia football team finished celebrating its 24-21 victory over No. 12 Georgia Tech with fans on the field Saturday, the key question to date for the 2011 season was lobbed to coach Mike London. How can this time be different than last season's 24-19 upset of then-No. 22 Miami? It's a question that was repeated at Monday's weekly press gathering and one that likely will be the theme of the week leading up to the game with NC State this Saturday.

Greg's Game Report 2011: Georgia Tech
On the top of my note pad Saturday night I wrote 'all three phase for four quarters.' The Hoos weren't perfect but certainly, considering the opponent, Saturday's win over Georgia Tech qualifies as a complete game. Facing one of the top five offenses in the land and the first team in the NCAA to become bowl eligible for the 2011 season, winning required solid play across all three operations. That's exactly what the Cavaliers got.

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