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Al Groh described Wednesday as a day of “excitement” for the program. |
The Virginia football team slugged its way through a challenging 2006 season. Ultimately, the Cavaliers finished with a 5-7 record and frustration brewed in Wahoo nation. Among the biggest concerns that grew during the “rebuilding” season? Losing recruits from what appeared to be a strong class on paper. Turns out, all the hand wringing was for naught.
National Signing Day rolled along with little surprises for the Cavaliers, who inked 24 recruits to letters of intent. The only lost commitments proved to be Romale Tucker and Vincent Hill , both of whom weren’t viewed as solid verbals anyway.
“This was a fun day for us. To take part in the enthusiasm and the excitement that is part of the life of these 24 young men and their families and to hear the energy come over the phone and how excited they were about it, that was a lot of fun to take part in,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “On the official day, you get reminded of what a big day it is for so many of these kids to officially say that they’re a Virginia Cavalier. It was a lot of fun to take part in that with them.”
The class ranked among the top 30 in the nation according to most recruiting services. Among the 24 signees are seven 4-star recruits (per Rivals), eight offensive/defensive linemen, eight receivers/defensive backs, and one quarterback.
All of that looks good on paper, particularly because Virginia addressed some key areas of need. Plus, the 2007 signees represent the second straight class that should help upgrade the overall athletic versatility and speed of the program. Beyond key qualities like those ingredients, Groh said he didn’t pick out things like sleepers of the class.
“I don’t really relate it too much to any particular ratings because we really pay limited attention to those things. The only ratings that count are the ones that we put on our board and obviously every player that we take, we see a real purpose for them,” Groh said. “In our eyes, they’re all beautiful and they all have a very high rating and a real purpose for why we brought them in here.”
So where did the 2007 class rank on Groh’s board? The Cavalier coach wasn’t sure exactly where to place the class, but he couldn’t hide his excitement in talking about the recruits (make sure to check out player capsules and further analysis on the EDGE later this week). He probably should be excited. It is arguably the best class of Groh’s tenure, at least in terms of top to bottom quality. Plus, unlike last year when UVa lost several recruits to academic complications, Groh has “every expectation” that all 24 members of this group will join the fold by August.
Of course, that doesn’t mean they’ll be jumping into game action immediately. In fact, few of the incoming freshmen will probably play at all next season, though someone like defensive lineman Nick Jenkins could follow the path of Nate Collins , the lone true freshmen to see action in 2006.
The reason for that appears to be a philosophical switch in terms of redshirting.
While the coaching staff still adheres to the “when they’re ready, we’re ready” theory of playing time, there apparently has been a shift toward building depth through patience in regard to redshirting true freshmen. The change means that many, if not most, contributing players will have had at least one year to learn the ropes at Virginia before seeing the field. As long as injuries, academics, or some other unforeseen circumstances don’t disrupt the pattern, that should allow the Hoos to start stockpiling not just talent, but system experience on the depth chart.
“There’s always two things going on within a program simultaneously and that’s the outside acquisition of talent – that became official today, but that process goes on literally almost every day of the year – and then there’s the development of talent,” Groh said. “Whatever rate each particular player develops determines when we’re going to use them and we’re certainly open to that as we have been in the past, but it gives us the opportunity to best structure the developmental plan for each particular player for both his long-term best interests and the best interests of the team while also taking into account the immediacy of trying to win every game every year.”
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