Al Groh was on a roll there for awhile. A Grohl, if you will.
For three straight years the Virginia coach secured the commitment of the No. 1 ranked football recruit in the state. In 2002, it was linebacker Ahmad Brooks. Then came cornerback Phillip Brown in 2003. The next year it was linebacker Olu Hall.
But for the second straight season Groh has failed to nab the state's top prize. In fact, Groh wasn't able to secure any of the top eight recruits on the Charlottesville Daily Progress Gold List or the Roanoke Times Top 40. To make things even worse, the top three on both of these lists are wide receivers. That's right -- three of the top receivers in the nation were here in Groh's backyard and he couldn't manage to land a single one of them. So not only will the Cavaliers have an inexperienced quarterback under center in 2006, he'll have Virginia's same old mediocre receiving corps to throw to.
I don't know much about the intricacies of recruiting, but failing to land any of these three athletes at a position where the Cavaliers need all the help they can get has to be a massive disappointment for the program. Deyon Williams can't hold on to the ball and none of Virginia's other current wideouts can consistently get open.
Consensus No. 1 Percy Harvin, a 6-foot 185-pounder from Landstown in Virginia Beach, will be taking his 4.3 40-yard dash speed to Gainesville to play for Florida and he will be bringing his high school teammate Damon McDaniel (6'0", 195 pounds, 4.5 40-yard dash) down there with him. McDaniel is ranked No. 2 by the Progress and No. 4 by the Times.
Ranked No. 3 by the Progress and No. 6 by the Times, 6-foot-3-inch, 205-pound Chris Bell from Granby in Norfolk was considering coming to Charlottesville. He watched the Cavaliers knock off undefeated Florida State on an official visit, but was unhappy with his U.Va. experience as a whole and committed to Penn State soon afterwards. Bell has speed (4.5 40-yard dash) to go along with his size, and should be an asset for the Nittany Lions.
Another talented receiver, No. 12/13 Brandon Caleb, played his high school ball only 40 minutes southwest of Charlottesville in Fluvanna County. The 6-foot-2-inch 190-pounder suited up for Fork Union Military Academy and was clocked at 4.5 in the 40-yard dash.
I was lucky enough to see Caleb play in person three times this season and was amazed at his ability to pull down almost anything thrown in his general direction. Add his breakaway speed and ability to avoid tacklers to the mix and you can imagine how dangerous a threat he could be for the Cavaliers.
On top of his football skill set, Caleb has won multiple state championships in track and field. In May 2005, he took first place in the 100 high hurdles, 300 intermediate hurdles, the long jump and the triple jump, where he set a state record with a jump of 46 feet, 4-1/4 inches. I'm not a scout by any means, but I saw enough to be very disappointed when I heard the news that Caleb will be playing for Oklahoma next season.
It doesn't stop there. There are even more receivers in the top 10 on these lists that chose to sign elsewhere. Hargrave's Vidal Hazelton (6'3", 200 pounds, 4.5 40-yard dash) is heading to USC. Brent Vinson (6'1", 185 lbs., 4.4 40-yard dash), another tidewater talent from Phoebus, will be playing for Tennessee.
It seems like the Virginia coaching staff really dropped the ball on this one by not trying to solve the problem of, well, dropped balls.
Groh did land defensive end Sean Gottschalk, who is ranked No. 9 by the Progress and No. 13 by the Times. With a name like Sean, he is destined for greatness in the world of Virginia sports. We already have superstars in basketball (Sean Singletary), baseball (Sean Doolittle) and sports writing (that guy with the curly hair and the beard who looks nothing like his photo in the paper) sharing his first name and Gottschalk will be joining the ranks of the elite soon enough. Once he earns a starting position, we'll let him start coming to the meetings.
Gottschalk's inevitable rise to greatness notwithstanding, 2006 will likely be remembered for the recruits that Groh couldn't sign rather than the ones he actually did.
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