Thursday, February 01, 2007
Cavs cut cord to Asa Chapman
What’s not to like about Jared Green?
Doug Doughty
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Wednesday brought the end to a courtship of nearly two years as Virginia defensive coordinator Mike London traveled to Fork Union Military Academy and notified defensive lineman Asa Chapman that UVa could not offer him admission at this time.
Fork Union coach John Shuman said Thursday that he expects Chapman to visit West Virginia this weekend and possibly join former Orange County teammate Bradley Starks in signing with the Mountaineers next week.
Chapman committed to the Cavaliers in the spring of 2005 and signed with UVa last February, although he was given little chance of meeting NCAA eligibility guidelines in time to enroll in August. In fact, Shuman wavered before taking Chapman, knowing that a sudden jump in Chapman’s test scores or grades might attract the attention of the NCAA.
According to Shuman, London volunteered to help place Chapman at a junior college or recommend him to the former UVa coordinators who now coach at Temple (Al Golden) and/or Kansas State (Ron Prince). West Virginia appealed to Chapman because of the Starks connection and of the flexibility it will afford him academically.
Chapman once was viewed as a prototypical nose tackle for Virginia’s 3-4 scheme, but his weight soared to 394 pounds after his arrival at Fork Union and he was listed at 6 foot 5, 388. In a late-season match-up with Hargrave Military, he was too top-heavy to keep his balance and couldn’t hold up to Texas-Tech bound Hargrave center Justin Keown.
Chapman will long be remembered at Fork Union for the day that Shuman discovered a pack of M & M’s in his helmet.
Chapman becomes the second prospective 2007 UVa nose tackle to fall out of the picture, joining Keenan Carter, who waived his final season of eligibility in applying for the NFL Draft. However, the Cavaliers won’t be hurting for nose tackles with the return of Allen Billyk, Nate Collins and Kevin Crawford, as well as the arrival of SuperPrep All-American Nick Jenkins.
With Chapman out, the Cavaliers have 25 commitments, counting linebacker Romale Tucker from Washington, D.C., but not counting wide receiver Vincent Hill from Fort Washington, Md. It has been reported that Tucker has made a second oral commitment, to Syracuse, but he was at UVa last weekend.
Hill has said he will sign with Akron if he qualifies academically; otherwise, he will enroll at Hargrave or Fork Union next summer and re-open his recruiting.
SOME READERS HAVE questioned why Virginia would take an oral commitment from a player not ranked among the state’s top 100 prospects, but that may be the fault of the person doing the rankings.
Without a doubt, Oakton High School wide receiver Jared Green flew under the radar, but how does that happen when your father is a former All-Pro cornerback?
In Green’s case, it may have happened when he transferred from Bishop O’Connell to Oakton before his junior year. Another player making a late commitment, running back Devon “Y’lou” Brown, transferred from O’Connell to Stone Bridge this year and was named Northern Region offensive player of the year before committing to Wake.
If you’re going to gamble, why not take a chance on an NFL legacy? Yet, Oakton coach Joe Thompson hesitates to call Green “a reach.”
“You’re probably asking the wrong guy about that,” Thompson said. “I think it’s a great decision. He has a phenomenal work ethic, he runs a sub-4.4 40, he’s [nearly] 6-3, he catches the ball well, he runs good routes.
“I don’t know if I’d call him a late bloomer. This summer at Penn State, he ran a 4.37 and a 4.39. He just didn’t have a large body of work.”
Thompson said Green’s transfer to Oakton was not football-motivated.
“Football was secondary, but it started to become pretty apparent that he was developing some tools that would make him very recruitable,” Thompson said. “UVa showed a commitment with the homework it did on Jared.”
His father, Darrell Green, was supportive but not pushy.
“In fact, it wasn’t till Jared went [to his father] last summer and said, ‘I’m serious about pursuing football,’ that he started working out with him,” Thompson said.
Darrell Green works out during the summers with free agents trying to make NFL teams.
“It was the first summer he and his dad really started working together [and] making football something that they would pursue permanently,” Thompson said. “He’s a great kid, great in the classroom, amazing work ethic on the practice field, very well-spoken.”
Green had 24 receptions for 475 yards and four touchdowns. He played some defense, returned kicks and covered kicks.
“He was on the field all the time for us,” Thompson said. “He’s got a real high upside. He’s going to stretch defenses. You’re going to have to cover him. He’s got a lot to offer.”
Darrell Green is a good guy to have around your program, “but he’s one of those people, who, this not all about him,” Thompson said. “It’s all about Jared. In fact, one of his main concerns is, it stays about Jared.”
If Jared Green was merely a role player in his first year at Oakton, keep in mind that Oakton won the Group AAA Division 6 state championship in 2005, beating a Landstown team that included Florida-bound Percy Harvin.
That Oakton team was led by running back Keith Payne, who redshirted this year at Virginia and hosted Green on his visit last weekend. Payne already has established himself as something of an ambassador for the UVa program.
“Is that what Keith has become?” Thompson said. “Whatever ‘it’ is, Keith has it.”
