College football’s National Letter of Intent Day was held yesterday, and Virginia coach Al Groh officially announced his 2009 recruiting class, totaling 25 student-athletes.
Headlining the class is 6-foot-7, 330-pound offensive lineman Morgan Moses of Meadowbrook High School in Richmond. Moses is listed as the nation’s No. 5 offensive tackle, according to rivals.com, and was a “Parade” and “SuperPrep” All-American.
Groh noted that the program’s geographical proximity to Moses helped build the player-coach relationship early on in the process, something he said was “the single most important thing” in recruiting.
Another big snag for the Cavaliers was wide receiver Tim Smith from Oscar Smith High School in Chesapeake, Va. Smith is listed as the No. 38 wide receiver in the nation on rivals.com but is ranked as high as No. 14 by “SuperPrep.”
Other four-star players that the Cavaliers picked up include offensive lineman Oday Aboushi (Staten Island, N.Y.), quarterback Quintin Hunter (Orange County High School in Orange, Va.) and running back Dominique Wallace (Chancellor High School in Fredericksburg, Va.).
“It’s a class that makes us a lot taller on both sides of the ball,” Groh said, mentioning the number of 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-7 players signed this year. “It’s a class that makes a lot faster. Speed on the edges has not been a cornerstone of Virginia teams long before we were here. This class brings cumulatively, more speed here than has been the case, and we certainly intend to take advantage of that.”
Groh also noted the importance the late Admissions Dean John Blackburn had in putting together the strong class.
“A collaborative effort by the late Jack Blackburn and his successor, Greg Roberts, and the admissions office [helped in putting the class together],” Groh said. “Dean Blackburn, as you all know, passed away a few weeks ago and right up to the very end performed with courage and dedication to his task and passed that responsibility on to Greg Roberts, who followed up with it. We had maybe the greatest level of collaboration we’ve ever had with [the admissions office].”
Sixteen out of the 25 recruits hail from Virginia, an increase from last season’s signings. Groh also noted the importance of having assistant head coach Bob Pruett on his staff; Pruett was the head coach at Marshall for nine years and has “probably one of the more well-known names in the state of Virginia.”
—compiled by Aaron Perryman
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