Thursday, May 04, 2006
Questions abound as academic year ends
It’s a numbers game for football, men’s basketball coaches
Doug Doughty
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Before directing the readers to Notebook Plus for the remainder of the summer, I must confess that there are some loose ends that remain untied as the Virginia sports year comes to a close.
For one thing, it would be interesting to know who’s going to be on the UVa men’s basketball roster at the end of the summer.
It’s safe to say that signees Will Harris and Jamil Tucker will join Ryan Pettinella, a transfer from Pennsylvania by the way of Cincinnati and Monroe (N.Y.) Community College, but who else?
With those three, Virginia will have 11 players on scholarship, a number that will not change with the addition of Andy Burns, a 6-foot-8 walk-on from Bishop Ireton in Alexandria.
There has been talk of Burns sitting out the 2006-2007 season as a redshirt, but if anything happens to centers Jason Cain, Tunji Soroye or Pettinella, the Cavaliers might need him. Of course, they got through the 2005-2006 with two post players – Cain and Soroye – so three should be enough.
It is amusing to think that Virginia spent most of the year trying to stay under the 13-scholarship limit and now the Cavaliers have two scholarships to give.
They probably could get 6-foot-5 Nigerian Solomon Tat to sign right now – both sides, seemingly, are agreeable – but it wouldn’t mean anything if Tat’s visa isn’t extended.
While a letter-of-intent would bind Tat to Virginia, that doesn’t concern the Cavaliers. UVa has been unwavering to Tat and Tat has been unwavering to UVa, but, if he is required to return to Nigeria, that isn’t going to matter.
Tat, who has gone to school and played basketball in Stockbridge, Ga., was one of three players who committed to the Cavaliers during the fall. One of them, 6-8 Johnnie Lett from Mobile, Ala., actually signed with UVa.
Lett still may meet NCAA eligibility guidelines but he has agreed to go to Hargrave Military Academy for a year before moving to Charlottesville. UVa made the same overtures to 6-8 fall recruit Andy Ogide from Dallas, Ga., but Ogide, a 3.8 student, decommitted and signed with Mississippi.
If Virginia had its choice, the last two scholarships would be filled by Tat and 6-foot McDonald’s All-American Scotty Reynolds from Herndon High School. Reynolds was released from the letter-of-intent he signed with Oklahoma before Sooners’ coach Kelvin Sampson went to Indiana, but it is expected that Reynolds will end up at LSU.
Virginia was involved for a time with Ben Uzoh, a 6-2 combination guard from San Antonio, Texas, who signed Sunday with Tulsa. Uzoh visited Tulsa, Wichita State and Creighton but also had UVa and Oklahoma on his list.
It is possible that there could be a late addition to UVa’s roster – and not just Tat – but the number of quality prospects is dwindling.
AS FOR FOOTBALL, the magic number in recruiting this year is 14, as in “UVa can sign only 14 players,” but I don’t believe it.
Those calculations may have been based on the fact that Virginia has so few seniors, but scholarships always open up – at UVa, at Virginia Tech, anywhere.
At the end of spring practice, Virginia had 60 scholarship players in good standing, with 24 recruits on the way. Throw in four players suspended prior to the 2005 season – Ron Morton, D.J. Bell, Philip Brown and Chris Johnson – and that makes 88.
Add safety Tony Franklin, left off the spring-practice roster, and that makes 89. Franklin is very iffy after a one-game, in-season suspension and a later marijuana arrest, but head coach Al Groh hasn’t entirely closed the door on him.
Obviously, Virginia will be down to 85 scholarships by the start of the season. It has no choice. But the number “89” includes only nine seniors (Marcus Hamilton, Michael Johnson, Christian Olsen, Jeff Schrad, Jason Snelling, Fontel Mines, Gordie Sammis, Deyon Williams and possibly Franklin). What about 2007?
For the sake of argument, let’s say Virginia gets down to 85, which it will. With the departure of nine seniors, the Cavaliers would be at 76 and could sign only nine players for 2007. Where does the number “14” come from?
First of all, not all of the 24 recruits are going to qualify. The best guess is that 6-8 of Virginia’s signees might have to go to prep school, but eventually the Cavaliers would hope to sign them again, or would they?
There’s been speculation already that Winston-Salem quarterback O.C. Wardlow will re-open his recruiting now that Virginia has taken a commitment from West Springfield QB Peter Lalich, but who else will opt out?
My guess is that the remaining scholarships will come from various sources. It would be a surprise if Morton and Bell return this year and Brown and Chris Johnson are no lock. Walk-ons Mike Robertson and Ben Parziale probably would not return for a fifth season of eligibility in 2007 and there are other variables, such as the academic difficulties that caused three players to miss spring practice altogether.
In the end, there should be plenty of scholarships. Wherever the number “14” came from, it could not have included the 2006 recruits who may have to spend a year in prep school.
BY THE TIME this column resumes in August, the start of the school will be around the corner and, one way or another, the numbers will add up to 85 and 13.
