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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We begin this column with the most telling statistic of the week.

In the Virginia-Virginia Tech men’s basketball game earlier this week, the Hokies’ freshmen outscored the UVa freshmen 35-5.

Maybe that was to be expected because Tech’s recruiting class was larger and more highly-rated than Virginia’s, but here’s another statistic that doesn’t bode well foe either team.

The respective sophomore classes battled to a 0-0 standoff.

NOW, TO THE NEWS of the day, which is still in the making, apparently.

As of 4:22 p.m., when I started writing a column that is promised to the website by 5 p.m., there still had not been an announcement from the University of Richmond on its new head football coach.

The Spiders haven’t even called a news conference, that I know of.

I think it’s a pretty safe assumption that UVa defensive coordinator and Spiders’ alum Mike London will be UR’s new head coach, but Internet sites are going wild with speculation.

A little bit before 11 a.m., Charlottesville television station Channel-19 reported that Virginia running backs coach Anthony Poindexter would be following London to Richmond, where he would serve as offensive coordinator.

I’m not going to be stunned by anything at this point, but I can’t see where Richmond can pay Poindexter anything close to the money he is making at Virginia, though Poindexter was at the lower end of UVa’s pay scale for a while.

Poindexter was a great defensive back for the Cavaliers but making him the defensive coordinator at this point may be a bit of a reach. Plus, what would the Spiders do with current defensive coordinator Russ Huesman, whom former coach Dave Clawson recommended as his succeesor?

Huesman can’t join Clawson at Tennessee, where he is the new offensive coordinator, so where’s Huesman going to go?

I understand, if London is the head coach, that it will be one of those operations where he will oversee the defense, a la Al Groh at Virginia. He would be the de facto defensive coordinator while Poindexter mostly worked with the defensive backs while carrying that title.

(If Virginia is able to keep Poindexter, maybe it’s time to move him to the side of the ball where he has the most experience, especially if that’s what he wants).

THE LOSS OF LONDON and possibly Poindexter would be devastating enough for Virginia even if the news hadn’t come out Thursday that four players were not enrolled for the spring semester, including two-year starting quarterback Jameel Sewell.

I don’t think there’s any question that Sewell is in academic hot water and, based on what I’ve seen over the years, I don’t think he can become eligible in time to play for the Cavaliers in 2008.

That clearly sets up Peter Lalich as the Cavaliers’ No. 1 quarterback for 2008 but he did not distinguish himself while subbing for Sewell over the second half of the season and needs to improve his focus on and off the field, according to many sources.

The only piece of good news for Virginia was the Cavaliers’ ability to get involved with Brent Burnette, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound quarterback from Maryville, Tenn., who was named state Class 4 A player of the year after passing for 3,521 yards and 38 touchdowns for the nation’s No. 5-ranked team.

Burnette, who has a 3.5 grade-point average, has led his team to a 60-0 record over the course of his career, which makes you wonder, “How is a player with these kind of credentials available at a time like this?”

Reading between the lines, Burnette does not have great foot speed, but neither does Lalich. However, if Sewell is gone for good, the Cavaliers would have to consider resinstalling the drop-back system that worked so well for Matt Schaub.

If Lalich is your starting quarterback, it makes sense to have a back-up in the same mold. If Burnette gets an offer this weekend, I can’t see him having a better opportunity elsewhere.

CAN’T SAY I WAS surprised to learn that 6-foot-8, 335-pound Virginia Tech recruit Bobby Massie, rated the No. 12 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times, has opted out of his oral commitment to the Hokies.

Massie, an Appomattox resident who attends Lynchburg Christian Academy, already had conceded that his academic situation would require him to attend prep school, in which case his letter-of-intent would not have been binding.

Other schools were going to come after him anyway – I’m not sure Georgia and Clemson ever stopped – so this takes away any of the guilt if Massie answers one of their calls.

At last count, the Hokies had close to 30 commitments, five over the NCAA limit, and wasn’t counting on Massie for 2008 anyway.

WISH I COULD DISCOURSE on some of the other topics out there, such as the possibility that UVa could woo Liberty head coach Danny Rocco if London leaves, but my deadline calls. So, too, does Saturday’s print edition.