Courtesy of University of Virginia

Virginia's Darren Childs (center) takes down North Carolina's Shaun Draughn on Saturday, one of his 10 tackles.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia football fans might have guessed that Darren Childs would be a late-bloomer.

After all, he didn't sign with the Cavaliers until April 2005, more than two months after national letter-of-intent day.

Better a late-bloomer than a no-bloomer.

Childs couldn't have blossomed at a better time for Virginia, registering 10 tackles -- nine unassisted -- in the Cavaliers' 16-13 overtime victory over North Carolina.

"I just felt part of the brotherhood out there," Childs said. "It was the biggest game of my life. No question."

Childs, a 6-foot-1, 233-pound linebacker, was pressed into service when 34-game starter Antonio Appleby sprained his right ankle on UVa's first defensive series.

"I didn't know [Childs] had come into the game," said Jon Copper, who has played next to Appleby for three years. "I looked over beside me and he was there."

To that point, Childs had been on the field for five plays all season. He played two plays as a redshirt freshman in 2006 and three plays as a sophomore in 2007.

He was in for 60 plays Saturday.

"It took a while to notice he was out there," UVa linebacker Clint Sintim said. "I wasn't really paying attention. I turned and did a double-take and I was like, 'What happened, what happened?'

"Then, I figured out that Antonio had hurt his ankle. I really didn't have to tell [Childs] much because, by that time, he probably had six tackles. He stepped up tremendously."

One week earlier, Childs' mother had flown east from California to visit and watch the Cavaliers against East Carolina. Darren never got in the game.

She stayed in Charlottesville for a couple days and had not returned to the West Coast when a relative found her in an airport and said Darren had entered the game.

"It's really hard to explain the feeling," Childs said. "I hadn't really played in 3¹₂ years. That was the last time I played an actual full game."

Between the excitement and the aches and pains, Childs admittedly had trouble sleeping earlier this week.

Childs' family lives in San Diego, and he grew up 15 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border in an area where it wasn't smart to go out at night, he said. He was attracted to the lifestyle in Virginia and has relatives in Caroline County.

He never considered leaving, "but it's hard to sit out," he said. "I wanted to help. I wanted to contribute. I just concentrated on being patient."

Patience had been a virtue during the recruiting process, when he was recruited by a Utah team that had gone 11-0 during the regular season and had become the first team from outside the Bowl Championship Series to get a BCS bowl bid.

Unfortunately for Childs, the Utes changed coaches after Urban Meyer was hired to replace Ron Zook at Florida. Childs slipped through the cracks.

"I knew something was going to come up," he said.

Virginia rarely ventures into California to recruit, but the Cavaliers had a pair of linebacker recruits decommit late in the process, and they held a door open for a worthy linebacker.

Childs' name popped up on a list compiled by one of the coaches at his high school, Mission Bay, who operated a placement service.

Childs doesn't know what looms in the future. Players with his modest experience frequently are not invited back for a fifth year, but Appleby and Copper are seniors and no one has been promised their spots.

Groh doesn't want to talk about 2009, not with a visit to Georgia Tech on the agenda this week. But that brings up another matter. What if Appleby can't go this week?

The Cavaliers certainly feel better about using Childs than they would have a week ago.

"A hundred times better," Sintim said. "If Appleby can't go, that's unfortunate, but I have the utmost faith in Darren Childs."