Virginia received a timely commitment this week from Glen Burnie (MD) offensive lineman Ron Darden. Darden's commitment came shortly after his official visit to UVa last weekend. The news helped offset the recent decommitment from UVa by OL Randy Hand from Estero, Florida.

Darden was relatively unknown before the season began, and Rivals100.com had him listed as just a two-star recruit with no ranking at his position.

"He's only been playing football for about two years," Glen Burnie Head Football Coach Brad Wilson said. "He's 6-4, 320, and runs a 5.2 forty. He just turned 17. He's not a fat or sloppy 320, he's built like a man. He benches 370, power cleans 275, dead lifts 765 and squats 420."

Darden made great strides over the past season and improved so much that he was invited to participate in the U.S. Army All-American game in San Antonio, Texas along with fellow UVa recruits Ahmad Brooks, Kai Parham, Kwakou Robinson and Maurice Stovall. Schools started to take notice of Darden during his summer workouts in Maryland, but not many top schools got a close look at him in time to make a move.

"We have a junior combine here in Maryland every spring," Coach Wilson said. "When I sent all of my juniors there, the guy that stood out, mainly because of his size, was Ron. Then, when he ran the forty - for someone that big to run the time that he did, was pretty impressive. He went to a Maryland summer camp and did well, and they offered him right there."

While Darden has played only two years of high school football, he has improved greatly and become a versatile player, especially for his size.

"He played both ways for us," Coach Wilson added. "At this point in his football career, I believe he is a better offensive lineman. We played him at offensive guard. We run the shotgun 90 percent of the time. He pulls and traps. Two years ago, before he started playing football, he was quiet and to himself. I guess that was because of his size. Over the last couple of years, he's become more of a vocal person - a little more outgoing - he's showed some leadership qualities. Those things have just gotten better over the last couple of years. He has excellent feet for a big guy. That's one of the first things that colleges coaches have noticed when they've watched him on film."

Randy Hand, who has yet to make an official decision on which college he will choose, was a likely starter for next year's Cavalier football squad. Can UVa count on Darden to fill the same roll if Hand decides to go elsewhere?

"If he improves like he has over the last couple of years, he's going to be something special," Wilson said. "I would say that if he goes in gung ho and wants to contribute right away, then there's no reason why he can't."

One of the great things about this recent commitment for UVa is his academic status. Darden is a school-first kid.

"Ron is an academic person. He has above a 4.0 GPA. He's one of those kids that has done it the right way," Coach Wilson said. "Grades have always been first, and that's a reflection of his GPA. This day and age, some kids don't do it that way. They want the on the field stuff, and they worry about the grades later. It should be the reverse, and Ron has done that."

Panic City

Last weekend's big recruiting visit seemed to be a disappointment to most everyone but the UVa staff. Sources say that the recruiting weekend went better than expected, yet many fans seemed upset when no commitments came during, or immediately after, that weekend.

Still, nothing has really changed for most of the high profile Virginia targets in the last month or so. Marcus Vick is still considering Virginia Tech, mainly because of the situation at quarterback and the potential for early playing time. Jonathan Lewis committed to Virginia Tech yesterday, but that came as no surprise to most, since he said he was leaning there all along, and his older brother Kevin is currently on the team.

The rest of the bunch hasn't really changed their tune. Michael Johnson, Jr. still likes UVa and Miami, but most believe that he's already made his decision to attend UVa. Marcus Hamilton still likes UVa, and has flirted with committing on several occasions. Maryland interests him as well, and he's thinking about taking another visit before deciding. Maurice Stovall, who had taken an earlier official visit to UVa, still considers the Cavaliers in his top two along with Notre Dame. Stovall eliminated Michigan from consideration this week. Kai Parham is deciding between UVa and Tennessee. Brandon Snow, a player who wasn't even considering UVa at the beginning of the season, is now looking seriously at UVa. Ahmad Brooks has apparently narrowed his choices to UVa and Tennessee, although Virginia Tech might still have a shot at him. Antwan Stewart apparently has all but recommitted to the Hoos in light of his efforts to recruit several other players during his official visit.

Virginia has also secured official visits from wide receivers Mario Raley and Brian Clark. Raley is a four-star recruit and listed 17th nationally at his position by Rivals100.com. He is considered the best skill position player in the state of North Carolina. Clark is a three-star recruit out of Tampa, Florida. Both players will be on official visits February 1st, just four days prior to national letter of intent signing day on February 6th.

Virginia beats FSU and GT

The Hoos took care of business this past week by beating Florida State at home, 91-74, and finally taking down Georgia Tech on the road, 69-65. The impressive thing about the Hoos lately is that they've won three straight games without Adam Hall, who is recovering from a foot injury he experienced in the win against UNC in Chapel Hill a couple of weeks ago. Hall is making good progress and should be ready to play against Duke or Maryland.

For news articles and links to notes and stats from these games, please see the schedule page.

When do they play again?

Virginia's next basketball contest is against VMI tonight, January 24th, at 7:30. This game is sold out and will not be televised.

UVa plays their next ACC contest at Duke this Sunday, January 27th at 8 PM. The game is going to be picked up by the Fox Sports Network. Check your local listings for further information.

You can listen to the radio broadcast locally, or if you're out of the listening area, please tune in to www.virginiasports.com or www.wina.com and listen over the Internet. See our schedule page for info on notes and stats leading up to the game.

UVa Football to auction off old equipment

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Oh, no. Who's using my screen name?

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The Corner Message Board

There's been some confusion of late on which board to post off-topic subjects. Political discussions have been the main subject of confusion. We have created several message boards on TheSabre.com for our fans to use. Most are clearly defined, like football or basketball. The Corner is the perfect place to talk about anything non-sports related, within reason. There's a chance that the American United Board will go out of service within the next few weeks and it would be a good idea if folks started moving their conversations from that board over to the The Corner. If Friday Girls is an issue for most, I can always start up an additional board just for those folks, but I'm hoping that our fans can use the Corner board for both.

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