Friday, May 11, 2012
Redshirt for UVa’s Watford recommended by ex-coach
Who are the best transfers ever to play for Tech?
Doug Doughty
Doug Doughty's College Notebook Plus is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Fridays.
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As mentioned in an earlier column, news that Virginia was the destination of transfer quarterback Phillip Sims was followed almost immediately by a text from Roanoke radio host Greg Roberts.
Three of them, in fact.
“I’d like to see the look on Mike Smith’s face right now!” Roberts’ first text read.
Smith is the head coach at Hampton High School, alma mater of David Watford, Virginia’s backup quarterback as a true freshman this past season and a potential rival of Sims in the future.
I told Roberts, if Smith was true to earlier comments, he might welcome the redshirting prospects that Sims’ arrival might provide. Smith had told me as far back as Watford’s senior year at Hampton in 2010-11 that Watford probably would benefit from a year of seasoning.
“Mike London and I talked about that the other day,” Smith said this week, “and we kind of agreed that should have been done [in 2011]. It wasn’t that David wasn’t tough. He had to grow up mentally and physically and he’s done that. He’s a tremendous kid.”
If Sims is eligible this season, a longshot in my mind but still a possibility, Watford conceivably could sit out the 2012 season and return as a redshirt sophomore in 2013.
“He should be redshirted this coming year if he doesn’t start,” Smith continued.
It’s hard to see that happening if Sims is ineligible. If Sims can’t play this year and Watford were to pursue a redshirt, who would that leave as the backup to starter Michael Rocco?
It would have to be Greyson Lambert, but you’d think the Cavaliers would want to redshirt him.
Of course, somebody could transfer at some point. Smith doesn’t think it would be Watford.
“I don’t think he’d leave Marques,” said Smith, referring to UVa grad assistant and former quarterback Marques Hagans, with whom Watford is related.
Smith can be grudging with his praise of some rivals, but not Sims.
“The guy’s pretty good that’s coming in there now,” Smith said. “I heard this rumor before David went up there a year ago. I wouldn’t say it was orchestrated, but the seed had been planted. Word had got back to me from across the water somewhere.”
WHILE THERE HAS BEEN a proliferation of transfers on the Division I basketball scene, transfers are far less frequent at the FBS football level.
However, Virginia Tech also has a transfer from a Southeastern Conference program, and he’ll be eligible this fall. Offensive lineman Brent Benedict, who began his college career at Georgia, is seen as a potential starter for the Hokies this coming season.
I asked Roberts about the most prominent players to transfer to Tech, having written a similar story on the Cavaliers for my UVa Insider earlier in the week. The two names he gave me were running back Lamont Pegues, who began his career at Clemson, and Kevin McCadam, who originally was recruited by Colorado State as a quarterback.
McCadam actually came to Tech as a defensive back from Grossmont (Calif.) Community College, having returned to his native West Coast following the death of his father. McCadam was a fifth-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons in 2002 and spent four seasons with the Falcons and one with the Carolina Panthers.
McCadam currently is coordinator of strength and conditioning for the West Virginia football team, having served in that area at Tech from 2008-10.
Pegues enrolled at Tech in 1996, becoming eligible to play for the Hokies in 1997. He split time with Shyrone Stith for much of his career.
I tried to pick the brain of ex-Virginia Tech football reporter Randy King, and he couldn’t remember the Hokies having a transfer quarterback, but I can’t imagine it’s that uncommon. Dominique Davis, after playing for Boston College in its 2008 ACC title game matchup with Virginia Tech, faced the Hokies again two years later for East Carolina.
So, I’m getting ready to finish the column and King suggests I call longtime Tech director of football operations, Dr. John Ballein. Ballein immediately questions the choice of McCadam, saying McCadam never really played at Colorado State.
And, then it comes to him:
Cam Young, a one-time Salem High School sensation, transferred to Virginia Tech from North Carolina State. “That’s a good one,” said Ballein, giving his stamp of approval to Young’s career.
Young started six games in 1989 before breaking his arm in a gruesome injury at UVa’s Scott Stadium.
If he reads this column, and he just might, he won’t be happy that both King and Roberts forgot about him.
