Friday, August 07, 2009
Morgan Moses up in the air
Commitment to UVa solid for now
Doug Doughty
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As his University of Virginia recruiting class prepares for the start of preseason practice, the plot thickens for Parade All-America offensive tackle Morgan Moses.
Until Thursday, I had never spoken to Moses, who did not meet NCAA requirements for “initial” eligibility.
Ten days earlier, UVa head coach Al Groh had addressed the matter at the ACC Football Kickoff in Greensboro, N.C.
“Morgan will be going to Fork Union this year, which was much the expectation from the start,” Groh said. “He’s very positive about it. The family’s very positive about it.”
Groh was asked if he would have to re-recruit Moses.
“Technically, we do,” Groh said. “He says he’s pretty recruited.”
It sounded like a done deal until a poster by the name of “de-cavs” made a post on the UVa rivals.com site, cavscorner.com. De-cavs matter-of-factly wrote that Moses would be enrolling at Hargrave Military Academy.
In a subsequent phone interview, Fork Union coach John Shuman told me that Moses and his parents had visited Fork Union but had not submitted the paperwork required for enrollment.
Later that day, Hargrave coach Robert Prunty told me that he had not spoken to Moses and would be “extremely shocked” if Moses ended up at Hargrave.
WELL, ACCORDING TO MOSES, he has had a conversation with Prunty.
“That was done, like, a couple of weeks ago,” Moses said Thursday.
It didn’t seem as if Moses was trying to hide anything. When asked if he was going to Fork Union or Hargrave, he responded, “I’m not sure yet.”
Those postgraduate football teams report the same day, Aug. 17, so Moses has 10 days in which to make his decision.
Moses has one overriding concern:
“Really, I’m just trying to get out as soon as possible [and] try and get the stuff done in one semester,” said Moses, whose aim is to enroll at a Division I-A program in January.
“I think I can get it done at both.”
Moses said he remains as committed to Virginia as he was when he signed but didn’t rule out the possibility that he might re-open his recruiting.
“Not sure yet,” he said.
That could hinge on the future of Groh and his staff, who face a make-or-break season after going 5-7 in 2008.
Moses said he doesn’t want to say anything that he will have to take back later on.
WHILE SEARCHING for Moses’ quotes on my microcassette recorder, I came across some unused thoughts from Mark Bendorf, the football coach at Robinson High School in Fairfax, on the day that linebacker Brian Laiti committed to Virginia Tech.
“He’s not the kind of player who was really relishing the attention,” Bendorf said. “It’s not his nature. His feeling was, ‘after September 1, when they’re allowed to call, I’m going to come home from practice fact and I’m going to have all these messages,’ and I think he wanted to focus on his senior season and his schoolwork.
“He’s been recruited since his sophomore year. He’s been down to Blacksburg on at least three occasions. Coach [Bud] Foster, the coach who was recruiting him, was also the linebacker coach and coordinator. He’s seen the success that Cary Wade, Mike Imoh, Jon Kinzer and some of those guys [from Robinson] have had.”
Bendorf put Laiti’s speed in the 4.7 range.
“His strengths are his quickness more than his straight-ahead speed,” Bendorf said. “They’re recruiting him as an inside guy right now but that sometimes changes when you get on campus. He’s a ‘mike’ for us in a 4-3.”
A QUICK CHECK of the virginiapreps.com Web site reveals that the University of Richmond has taken an oral commitment from Andrew Brown, a 6-foot-1, 216-pound linebacker from Jefferson Forest High School in Bedford County.
Brown, a 3.8 student who attracted some Division I-A interest, had 81 tackles (including nine sacks) as a junior at Jefferson Forest, where he played defensive end. Brown picked Richmond over hometown Liberty.
WITH THAT, I’M OFF to Charlottesville for the start of UVa’s preseason practice, where the main objective is to check out who’s there and who’s not there.
I’ve been told that former starting quarterback Jameel Sewell is good to go after a year’s academic suspension, but the Cavaliers have 108 players listed on their preseason roster and only 105 can be in camp.
Groh has said that place-kicker Drew Jarrett, not on the list, will be in camp. So, that’s at least four roster players who won’t be.
Trimming the roster is a bigger deal at Virginia Tech, where there is no room for 15-20 players who participated in spring drills, although they can try out again after the start of school, when rosters can increase.
Virginia Tech’s John Ballein told me that there’s a formula for roster sizes once school begins that is based on Title IX rules. Tech can have 120 players after the start of classes.
I’ll try and get a number at Virginia, but roster size has seldom been an issue at UVa. It says something that the Cavaliers are in position to turn players away because, most years, they’ve been safely under the 105.
