One of the state’s premier football prospects, Hargrave Military Academy quarterback Kevin Newsome, rejoined the ranks of the uncommitted after informing Michigan that he will consider other schools.

Newsome had made an oral commitment to the Wolverines in April, when he was still enrolled at Western Branch High School in Chesapeake.

Newsome has not ruled out the possibility that he could sign with the Wolverines, according to comments made by his father to rivals.com.

Michigan has a commitment from another quarterback, Shavodrick Beaver from Wichita Falls, Texas, but Beaver is not rated as highly as Newsome.

Both are SuperPrep preseason All-Americans, but Beaver was rated 25th out of 26 quarterbacks chosen and Newsome was seventh.

The No. 10 quarterback on that list, Tate Forcier from San Diego, has a visit to Michigan scheduled for Aug. 29.

Virginia Tech was the first school to offer Newsome a scholarship and was considered the team to beat early in the process. Look for the Hokies, who have not taken a quarterback for 2009, to make another push for Newsome.

>> Tech and Virginia each has a commitment from a preseason SuperPrep All-America back, George Washington High School’s David Wilson for the Hokies and Chancellor’s Dominique Wallace for the Cavaliers. They were rated the Nos. 6 and 7 prospects in the state.

>> Spectators at Virginia’s open football practice Saturday could see Sherando High School quarterback Ross Metheny shadowing offensive coordinator Mike Groh as the offense ran plays against the defense. Metheny committed to the Cavaliers on March 30 and also was a regular at spring practices.

>> Hargrave’s preseason roster includes Sawyer Russell, a 6-foot-4, 310-pound offensive lineman from James River who finished a close second in the discus and fourth in the shot put in the Group A meet. Russell was a first-team, All-Pioneer District selection in football.

In basketball
Ex-Virginia basketball player Will Harris has decided to transfer to Albany, the Cavaliers’ opponent in the first round of the 2007 NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Harris played against the Great Danes, who slipped to 15-15 last year after setting a school record with 23 wins during the 2006-07 season.

>> One day after taking an oral commitment from Darien Brothers, a 6-foot-3 point guard from Benedictine High School, Richmond added a shooting guard, 6-3 Greg Robbins from Ardmore, Pa. Last season’s Group AAA player of year, Kecoughtan’s Ricardo Ratliffe, is going to Central Florida Community College.

Roster ravaged
Virginia lost its top-rated baseball prospect, Unionville, Pa., slugger, Pete Hissey, when he signed with the Boston Red Sox hours before Friday night’s deadline. Hissey, a fourth-round pick, received a $1 million bonus.

Hissey was one of two UVa recruits who decided to bypass college, and the Cavaliers also lost four underclassmen, including home run leader Jeremy Farrell, inadvertently omitted from a previous list. Also gone are 2008 juniors David Adams, Greg Miclat and Jacob Thompson.

Hissey received a higher bonus than all but one of the five Red Sox draft picks selected ahead of him . UVa also lost its top 2006 signee, first baseman Ryan Khalish, to the Red Sox.

Connections
J.P. Smith, the University of Tennessee freshman who was beaten by Virginia’s Somdev Devvarman in the NCAA tennis championship, is the same John-Patrick Smith who committed to Radford in the fall of 2006 but never signed with the Highlanders. Radford coach Mike Anderson said he had not asked for a letter-of-intent in 12 seasons as Radford coach and did not push for one from Smith, an Australian who had been ranked as high as sixth in the world among juniors.

Tracking Tincher
James River High School and Virginia Tech graduate Angela Tincher went 12-11 with National Pro Fastpitch’s Akron Racers, whose season ended last weekend. Tincher had a league-high 157 strikeouts in 131 2/3 innings, and she ranked second in the league with a 2.03 ERA and tied for second in wins. Akron finished fifth in the six-team league at 19-29.

Touching base
Salem High School graduate Katie Guynn enters her senior year at Wellesley (Mass.) College with the rare distinction of being a team captain in two sports, soccer and swimming. Presumably, academics also takes some of her time at Wellesley, a women’s college that is rated among the top four liberal arts schools in the country by U.S. News and World Report.