The Virginia football career of once-prized recruit J'Courtney Williams is over before it started.

Minutes before a scheduled teleconference Wednesday with head coach Al Groh, UVa sent out a news release saying that Groh would not discuss the Williams situation but offered the following statement:

"J'Courtney's time here has unfortunately been marked by issues which fall below the line of what is acceptable to us," Groh said. "Therefore, he will no longer be a member of our program."

By midafternoon Wednesday, he no longer was listed on the roster that appears on UVa's Web site.

Williams appeared in Albemarle County General District Court on Tuesday, where he was charged with one count of credit card theft and one count of credit card fraud.

A fellow defendant, Lester Spellman III, was charged with two counts of credit card fraud in connection with the March 10 theft of a wallet from Virginia's Aquatics and Fitness Center.

Williams already was on probation after being arrested Feb. 25 and charged with possession of marijuana.

Williams was rated the No. 3 linebacker in the nation by SuperPrep after his senior year at Christchurch School in 2006. He was redshirted by the Cavaliers as a freshman last season and subsequently underwent surgery on both shoulders.

Williams was the second Virginia player to be charged with larceny since the end of the 2007 season. The other, Mike Brown, has been suspended from team activities but has not been dropped from the roster.

"It's unsettling, yes," said Groh when asked about the arrests collectively.

"Everybody within the organization is disturbed by one misstep, so it just causes everybody to be that much more watchful [after] two unfortunate incidents.

"Any miscue that we have, whether it's community issues or internal issues, we always address and reinforce immediately. We would hope the players have a pretty clear understanding of what the value system is and what we expect here."