If there was a connection between the Washington Redskins and Virginia Tech, Jeron Gouveia didn't know about it.

Gouveia, son of former Redskins linebacker Kurt Gouveia, was one of two football prospects to make oral commitments to the Hokies on Wednesday.

Gouveia, rated the No. 7 junior in Virginia last year by The Roanoke Times, joins 6-foot-3, 231-pound Stafford High School linebacker Jake Johnson in the Hokies' 2008 recruiting class.

Johnson also had an offer from Maryland and had drawn the attention of Virginia, West Virginia and Connecticut. According to rivals.com, he had 125 tackles as a junior, including 27 for loss.

Stanford had preceded Tech in making an offer to Gouveia, named first-team All-Group AAA and second-team All-Metro after his junior year at Stone Bridge High School.

"I've always been a Tech fan and I think they knew that," said Gouveia, whose sister, Ariel, will enroll at Tech this fall as a freshman. "I heard about the offer [Tuesday] at school. They contacted my coach at 4 p.m., then I talked to my parents and called back with my verbal."

Gouveia will become the sixth son of a Washington Redskins player to go through the Tech program. Ex-'Skins offensive lineman Russ Grimm had two sons walk on at Tech and tight end Don Warren had three sons receive scholarships from the Hokies.

"I don't know a whole lot about that," said Gouveia, who noted that his biological father is no longer in the home.

Gouveia has an older brother, Landon, who plays for Catawba (N.C.) College after transferring from Hawaii. Landon Gouveia is 5-7, while Jeron is a more strapping 6-2, 185.

Jeron Gouveia played mostly safety as a junior at Stone Bridge but also logged playing time at linebacker.

"I run the ball, catch the ball, throw the ball," said Gouveia, who has been timed in 4.6 seconds for 40 yards by a laser, which generally yields slower times than a stopwatch.

Gouveia said he has been to Tech only twice for games. He had planned to attend the Hokies' spring game until it was canceled in the aftermath of the April 16 shootings.

"It didn't make me hesitate in making a decision," he said. "If anything, it made everyone stronger down there."

Cavalier breakthrough

Former Virginia shortstop Mark Reynolds made his major-league debut May 16 for the Arizona Diamondbacks and is hitting .420 after his first 50 at-bats.

Friday night, Reynolds went into his last at-bat against Houston needing a double to hit for the cycle. Instead, Reynolds hit his second home run, wrapping up a 5-for-5 night.

At UVa, it was Reynolds' presence at short that prompted then-coach Dennis Womack to move future first-round draft pick Ryan Zimmerman to third. Reynolds has played third base exclusively for Arizona, which called him up from Double-A Mobile to replace injured Chad Tracy.

Reynolds, 23, is one of three ex-Cavaliers in the major leagues, along with Zimmerman and Boston reliever Javier Lopez.

Recruiting

Brandon Jennings, starting point guard as a junior for the Oak Hill Academy team that finished No. 1 in the country, has made an oral commitment to Arizona after earlier decommiting to Southern California. Oak Hill players have not been known for their decommits, although senior Alex Legion signed with Kentucky this spring after being released from a letter-of-intent signed with Michigan before Tommy Amaker was fired.

Lacroix returns to the game

An opportunity to pay tribute to his late college golf coach led Roanoke's Brandon Lacroix to play in last week's Durham Amateur, where he shot a final-round 70 for a 5-under-par total of 208 and a four-shot victory at Hillandale Golf Course.

It was Lacroix's first tournament victory since his college days at Duke, where he played for Rod Myers, who died March 30 after a battle with leukemia. Lacroix, who turned pro after his Duke graduation in 2001, subsequently took a job as a financial analyst and recently regained his amateur status. He is scheduled to play in the Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame tournament next week.

Local update

Former Jefferson Forest teammates Eddie Pinigis and Stevie Ray Lloyd, were among the 2007 Liberty University co-captains announced at the Flames' spring game. Lloyd, a linebacker, began his college career at Virginia Tech and Pinigis, an offensive tackle, played for Virginia. ... Liberty was ranked 25th in Division I-AA by Lindy's College Football annual.