The Virginia football program signed 18 players to letters-of-intent yesterday, marking an end to the 2003-2004 recruiting season. Coach Al Groh and his staff signed five players projected to play in the defensive backfield, an area the Cavaliers focused on.
"I think there's some real good talent at those spots," Groh said. "We made that a major target position for us."
Cornerback Phillip Brown and safety Nate Lyles headline the crop of defensive backs. Brown graduated from Phoebus High School in Hampton, Virginia in 2002, but did not qualify to play in college until this past winter. He spent the last year at Hargrave Military Academy, where he garnered praise as the No. 1 junior college cornerback in the nation.
"The great thing about Phillip is that he can't wait to get here and he can't wait to get on the corner," Groh said. "He's got all the skills and he's also got that corner mentality."
Lyles, a Chicago native, chose Virginia over Notre Dame late last week. He made eight interceptions and 78 tackles as a senior at Hubbard High School, and was recognized as the No. 25 safety prospect in the nation by recruiting analyst Tom Lemming.
"He's got legit speed," Groh said. "He's a real contact player. He's a very versatile kid and an excellent academic student."
One area of need where Virginia had little success was at the wide receiver position. Virginia went down to the wire with a number of top receiver prospects, but was not able to gain any commitments. Groh pointed out the fact that the Cavaliers faced stiff competition for these prospects and chose to focus on the fact that Virginia has risen to a new level of recruiting prominence.
"It's like we finally got to the Miss America pageant," Groh said. "We made it out of the state competition, and made it to the final eight. But we didn't come away with the crown."
Once again, Groh and company pulled in a strong corps of linebackers. Virginia gained commitments from Charlottesville native Devonta Brown, as well as Northern Virginia natives Olu Hall and Clint Sintim. The Rivals recruiting service ranked Hall as the number one player in Virginia.
"He's another terrific outside linebacker prospect," Groh said of Hall, who he said he hopes will follow in the mold of Darryl Blackstock and Vince Redd. With Hall and Sintim, "we should have our bookends at outside linebacker for quite a while."
Groh also expressed high hopes for Brown at the inside linebacker spot.
"I'm really enthused about Devonta," he said. "This is a big strong player who can really run."
Compared to Groh's first two classes, this year's class does not have the same star power. Virginia has had top 10 classes each of the last two years, and this year's class will break that trend. Still, Groh and his staff view this year's class as a success.
"We're very pleased at the talent level coming in, especially at the positions we targeted," Groh said. "There were some premium players we went right to the finish line with, but we got nipped at the photo finish. That's the course we chose to pursue. We were able to do that because there's a lot of young talent on our team and we didn't need to recruit for the immediacy."
Before Groh headed up to the reception celebrating the end of the recruiting season, he reminded reporters that the recruiting game never stops.
"When the clock strikes midnight tonight, the clock officially starts for the next class," he said.
Read More
Virginia baseball falters, drops series to NC State
By Jacob Tisdale | YesterdayVirginia dropped a crucial ACC series, endangering a top seed in the conference tournament.
Women’s lacrosse upset in season-ending defeat against Florida
By Matthew Ryeom | YesterdayThe Cavaliers kept it close until the fourth quarter, where they ultimately came up short.
No. 6 men’s lacrosse trumps Saint Joseph’s 17-11 as Cormier breaks NCAA scoring record
By Ben Istvan | YesterdayThe Cavaliers snapped their four-game losing streak with a comfortable win over the Hawks.
