Associated Press

Virginia coach Mike London intends to have a pro-style offense and 4-3 defense.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Given the lackluster showing that preceded Virginia's coaching change, nobody could have blamed new man Mike London for commissioning a spring housecleaning.

Maybe London is waiting for the spring thaw, but there were relatively few surprises on a revised 91-player football roster released by the Cavaliers on Friday. The Cavaliers begin spring practice on March 15, concluding with the spring game on April 10.

UVa has known for two months that two-year starting center Jack Shields has decided not to play as a graduate student in 2010, and the only other scholarship casualties were offensive lineman Billy Cuffee and defensive lineman Buddy Ruff, neither of whom played in 2009.

London did not mention Cuffee and Ruff by name but indicated there were two players who had not met academic requirements. There was no evidence of players bailing out after a 3-9 season and it does not appear as if the new staff has run anybody off.

One of London's first orders of business after taking the job was to talk to each player and apparently he liked what he heard "or maybe it was vice versa," said London, who was head coach at Richmond for two years before returning to UVa, where he previously had served as defensive coordinator.

"Maybe they liked what they heard prior to me coming in. Having been here is a benefit. If the players know who you are and what you stand for, the players are the best people to say, 'Know what? I think something special can happen here.' "

The Cavaliers didn't lose any underclassmen to the NFL Draft, as they had on a fairly regular basis. London, hired Dec. 7, learned early in his tenure that talented cornerback Ras-I Dowling would be returning for his senior year.

"He's the biggest recruit we had in the 2010 class," London said. "He was a five-star signee. He's emerging as a team leader. I've told everybody that we need to promote him nationally because he's that good."

Virginia loses its top four rushers, including quarterback Jameel Sewell, although 2009 back-up Marc Verica started nine games in 2008. Under new offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, UVa will employ a pro-style attack that may suit Verica better than last year's spread.

"Being an older guy and having played the position, he sees this is as a new lease on life and we welcome that," London said. "We're going back to the things that he can do well. We're excited about him and I know he's excited about being a leader on this team."

Virginia played a 3-4 defense under London's predecessor, Al Groh, but London's base defense at Richmond was a 4-3 and that's what new defensive coordinator Jim Reid prefers.

Cam Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 260-pounder who will be a junior, started the last 10 games of the 2009 season as an outside linebacker. Johnson will move to defensive end on the side opposite two-year starter Matt Conrath, who is coming off foot surgery.

"I think Cam relishes the opportunity to put his hands on the ground and come off the edge," London said. "It goes back to Mother Nature saying, 'You're going to be a big man.'

"He welcomes the change; he welcomes the opportunity to start there from day one. He's one of the players on defense that we're looking for big things from."

Another young player that has London excited is 6-6, 310-pound Oday Aboushi, a sophomore offensive tackle. Aboushi backed up Landon Bradley on the left side; now, Aboushi could move to the right side and take over for four-year starter Will Barker.

"I'm just going to go out on a limb and say he's [Aboushi] going to be really, really good," London said. "He's got the skills to be the left tackle [or] right tackle. He's going to be in the mix to be one of the five."

The biggest question mark on the offensive line has to be center, where Shields started 23 of the past 24 games. Shields played 689 plays last year and back-up Anthony Mihota played 25, although he did start in the 2008 finale at Virginia Tech.

"Anthony Mihota is the next guy," London said. "There's no place to go to get another center. I feel, skill-level wise, that we have the guys who can step in."

n UVa officials say the Cavaliers will hold an intra-squad scrimmage at 1:30 p.m. on March 27 at Old Dominion University's Foreman Field. The Charlottesville school says it worked with ODU to hold its final open-to-public practice in Norfolk in an attempt to foster good will in the region.

London called the venture an experiment and said that if it is successful the Cavaliers might target other venues around the state in future years.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.