This afternoon’s lead item comes courtesy of infrequent UVa Insider contributor Jeff Jones.

Jones, a former standout player and head coach of the UVa men’s basketball team, recently was named head coach at Old Dominion after 13 seasons as the head coach at American University.

I had e-mailed Jones to let him know that North Cross School coach Bill Hodges, one of his fellow coaches in a college all-star game several years back, had tendered his resignation for health reasons. Read more »

According to rivals.com, three-star offensive lineman Alec Eberle from Atlee High School in Mechanicsville had offers from Maryland, Connecticut and Old Dominion before he committed to Florida State on Wednesday.

Eberle (6 foot 4, 270 pounds) becomes the 13^th junior from Virginia to commit to a Football Bowl Subdivision program – six to Virginia Tech, three to Virginia and one each to Florida State, North Carolina, Notre Dame and Tennessee.

Eberle was rated the No. 1 offensive lineman at an April camp in Richmond that was put on by Rivals. He was rated the No. 24 prospect among juniors in the annual Top 25 package published by The Roanoke Times last Christmas.

Eberle was a second-team All-Metro selection by The Richmond Times-Dispatch but would have had 20 offers had he waited, Atlee coach Roscoe Johnson told Eric Kolenich of the Times-Dispatch this week.

NO SOONER did Miami sophomore Shane Larkin go public with his plans to turn pro than the Hurricanes were linked with another point guard, transfer Angel Rodriguez from Kansas State.

Rodriguez, who averaged 11.4 points and 5.2 assists last season, comes from the south Florida area and reportedly will seek instant eligibility because of his need to deal with a family situation.

Rodriguez, whose family is from Puerto Rico, went to high school in Miami, where he caught the eye of former Wildcats coach Frank Martin, a Miami native who won two state championships at Miami Senior High School.

GONE AFTER one year at Georgetown is 6-10, 205-pound Branden Bolden, a Sumter, S.C., product who played for the Miller School outside Charlottesville as a junior in 2010-2011.

Bolden spent his final year of high school at Quality Education Academy in Winston-Salem, N.C., before heading to Georgetown, where he played in four games this season (for a total of five minutes).

NEBRASKA IS the school I’m hearing most prominently in connection with Paul Jesperson, who has requested a release from Virginia after starting 33 of 35 games last season.

(I mention that stat because virtual full-time starters don’t usually transfer, but I’m not saying it’s a bad decision by Jesperson, whose future playing time was unlikely to approach his 25.7 minutes per game this past season).

Nebraska is a rebuilding program that finished 15-18 this past season under first-year head coach Tim Miles. Presumably, Jesperson would be unable to play until 2014-2015, when he would have two years of remaining eligibility.

Schools looking at Jesperson would have to be intrigued by his 40 3-point field goals. The Cornhuskers had only two players last year who had more than 14 field goals and both would be gone by the time Jesperson would be eligible.

TRANSFERRING after one season at Southern Methodist is Blaise Mbargorba, a 6-foot-11, 210 freshman from the Peddie School in Hightstown, N.J.

Mbargorba, who was redshirted by coach Larry Brown this year, took an official visit to Virginia Tech in the fall of 2011. He also visited Vanderbilt and had a total of 16 Division I offers, according to rivals.com.

Mbargorba was one of three 2011 SMU signees who decided to transfer. The Mustangs were 15-17 in Brown’s first year.

ALSO TRANSFERRING is Jamal Ferguson, who played in 14 games and for a total of 65 minutes this past season for a 26-9 Marquette team.

Ferguson is a 6-4 freshman guard from Maury High School in Norfolk. Enjoying a more prominent role for the Golden Eagles was another Virginian, 6-8, 290-pound junior Divante Gardner from Kings Fork High School in Suffolk.

Gardner was Marquette’s second-leading scorer (11.9 ppg) and third-leading rebounder. More impressively, he attempted 176 free throws and converted 83.5 percent.

Gardner, who did not make a single start, was named Big East Sixth Man of the Year.

In contemplating today’s on-line column, I decided to review my notes from a one-on-one interview with Tony Bennett and see what I missed.

“Don’t forget about Darion,” Bennett cautioned me midway through our session.

Yes, in a state-of-the-program story that appeared in print Tuesday, I did forget Darion Atkins.

In summing up the Cavaliers’ 23-12 season, I mentioned the injuries that sidelined Malcolm Brogdon for the entire season and Jontel Evans for most of the pre-conference schedule, but I left out Atkins, who missed nine of the last 19 games.

During one early season stretch, Atkins (6 foot 8, 222 pounds) played more than 30 minutes in four consecutive games, including a 35-minute outing at Wisconsin, where he had 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in one of UVa’s most impressive victories of the season (and certainly its most impressive road victory).

Not long after that, Atkins started experiencing shin splints. He later was diagnosed with a stress reaction, which raised concerns that a stress fracture might result. It never did, but only once after Jan. 12 did he play as many 10 minutes in a game, that coming in an 11-minute stint against Miami.

Atkins’ absence allowed more playing time for 6-11 freshman Mike Tobey, but then Tobey came down with mononucleosis and missed five games, although both were unavailable at the same time for only one game, a 78-41 home romp over Clemson.

How many games could Virginia won with an able-bodied Atkins? How many more games did the Cavaliers need to win? If they’d won as many as one more regular-season game, they would have made the NCAA Tournament.

BUT, WHEN BENNETT was saying not to forget Atkins, I don’t think he was talking about the 2012-2013 season. I think he was referring to next year and the kind of physical inside play that struck him when he watched the NCAA Tournament

In our sit-down, Bennett as much as promised that the Cavaliers will be more physical next year. Much of that will come from the availability of two players who sat out this year and will be sophomores in 2013-2014, Malcolm Brodgon (6-5, 215) and Anthony Gill (6-8, 229).

“We do know that Anthony Gill can contribute,” Bennett said. “He did it at South Carolina as a freshman, even though they weren’t great. We saw what Malcolm did for us on a good team [in 2012-2013]. Those two have proved it and I think that’s going to make us a better.”

A Bennett quote on Gill that I didn’t use earlier this week:

“He’s just kind of a junkyard dog,” Bennett said. “He could probably [defend] a four, to a five, to a three. He’s very versatile.”

The looming presence of Brogdon and Gill probably had something to do with sophomore Paul Jesperson electing to transfer after starting 33 of 35 games this past season.

If Jesperson had continued to start, who wouldn’t have started in 2013-2014?

Consider these six names: Joe Harris, Akil Mitchell, Justin Anderson, Tobey, Brogdon and Gill.

One of those players won’t start next year and don’t assume Tobey will be the odd man out. Tobey started only two of the 32 games in which he played last year but his two longest outings of the season were in the last two games – 18 minutes against St. John’s and 24 minutes against Iowa.

It’s hard to identify a UVa player with more of an upside.

No offense to the other new members of the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame who will be inducted this weekend in Portsmouth, but I’ve got a special place in my heart for one of this year’s picks, Frankie Allen.

I never saw Allen during his playing days at Roanoke College, 1967-71, but one of my earliest memories as a paid sportswriter is from the 1973-74 school year, when the Charlottesville Daily Progress sent me to Fredericksburg to cover an Albemarle-Stafford boys’ basketball game.

Allen was the head coach at Albemarle and I still remember mentioning something in my lead paragraph about the road to Stafford leading me past a palm readers’ establishment. I’m not sure how I worked that into my story, but I don’t doubt that it was contrived.

As the first male African-American student at Roanoke College, Allen was a pioneer but he never wore that distinction on his sleeve. He was always quick with a laugh, as well as a knife and fork, a couple of passions that we share.

Allen hasn’t posted winning records at all of his stops but the fact that he’s been the head coach at four Division I basketball programs (Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Howard and Maryland-Eastern Show) shows the regard in which he’s held as a person.

I continue to promise him that I’ll make it up to UMES one of these days – not just for the basketball. With Frankie, I know the eating will be good.

Allen is one of three inductees with Tech ties, along with radio voice Bill Roth and former football star Cornell Brown, but when you look at all the inductees – including ex-Richmond basketball coach Dick Tarrant, ex-James Madison and stock car pioneer Leonard Wood – it’s obvious there’s no shortage of good candidates.

Also making the hall this year were 12-year National Football League offensive lineman Robert Pratt and former Olympic sprinter Lawrence Burton, a first-round NFL draft pick.

IT’S UNLIKELY THAT and Virginia Tech football fans have heard the last of Alex Figueroa, a Virginian and former first-team Washington Post All-Metro selection who enrolled at Miami for the second semester.

Figueroa, a 6-foot-3, 231-pound linebacker, is a 2012 graduate of Brooke Pointe High School in Stafford who was injured in last summer’s Virginia High School Coaches’ Association all-star game.

Figueroa had signed with Shepherd University, a Division II program in Shepherdstown, W.Va., one of the few scholarship programs to recruit him when it appeared he would not meet NCAA eligibility standards.

As the result of a shoulder injury, Figueroa, who apparently had made tremendous academic strides in his final semester at Brooke Point, did not enroll immediately at Shepherd. Fork Union Military Academy coach John Shuman said the injury would have prevented Figueroa from playing in the fall, but that he had talked about enrolling at FUMA in January.

I swear that I also heard something about Figueroa coming to Division III Ferrum at one point.

Shuman said today that Miami had received a tip about Figueroa and that Hurricanes’ secondary coach Paul Williams had stopped by Fork Union to inquire about him.

“He’s not here,” said Shuman, who knew enough about Figueroa as a player that he recommended him as an ACC-caliber talent. And, said Shuman, it happened that Figueroa had made an 80-point jump in the SAT.

So, how’s Figueroa progressing at Miami, where he enrolled in January?

“YOU KNOW, I KEPT WAITING for him to hit a wall, whether it was in the offseason program, whether it was with his heights, whether it was academics [or] missing something,” Miami coach Al Golden said in an ACC coaches’ teleconference Thursday.

“I just kept waiting for him to hit a wall and he never did. He’s a mature kid, obviously. His parents are Marine. [He’s a] very disciplined young man, very competitive, very tough.”

Figueroa runs well and Golden sees him getting up to 250 pounds.

“We’ve kind of thrown away the freshman tag because he doesn’t act like it at all,” Golden said. “Basically, he started from the first practice to the last and did the same in the off-season program.

“He’s on a mission right now. We’re going to let him continue to grow and do his thing.”

While you wouldn’t normally think to compare All-ACC offensive lineman and likely NFL pick Oday Aboushi to his one-time UVa teammate, walk-on center Jackson Matteo, they do have one thing in common.

Both ended up at Virginia after decommitting to another school, Aboushi to Boston College and Matteo to Temple.

What are you thinking if you’re Temple? Matteo turned down a scholarship offer to Temple in exchange for a preferred walk-on spot at UVa. Then, two years later, linebacker-fullback Connor Wingo-Reaves pulled out of a commitment to Temple and signed with UVa this winter.

If you’re the Owls, maybe you’re a little more careful in recruiting Virginians, although they did get a find a couple years back in quarterback Chris Coyer from Oakton.

The Matteo situation just doesn’t make sense because he was the object of a small-scale recruiting battle between UVa and Virginia Tech in the days leading up to signing day in 2012.

If he was good enough to have UVa and Tech pursuing him and he’s now good enough to go into summer ball as the Cavaliers’ No. 1 center for 2013, why was Temple the only school to offer him a grant.

Plus, it’s not like he’s a squatty, 6-foot-1, 250-pounder. He’s 6-5 and a winter in the weight room has got him up to 295 pounds, but that could have happened a lot of places.

FOR YEARS, I have kept a list of players who have decommitted to UVa, of which the most prominent was Ronald Curry (North Carolina) in 1998. Since then, the biggest has been Mark Herzlich (Boston College) in 2006.

Other than that, it’s a list of mostly forgettable players. How about wide receiver Tyree Watkins, who backed out of a UVa commitment in 2009 and signed with Duke? He lasted for a while in Durham, N.C., but with little distinction and now he’s gone.

Some of the other recent names: Caleb Porzell (Maryland), Vince Hill (Temple), Corey Lewis (Illinois), Ugochukwu Uzodinna (Illinois). Where are they now?

I HAVEN’T KEPT a list of players who have committed or signed with Virginia after committing somewhere else and would welcome the readers’ contributions to that cause.

I do know that there were three members of Mike London’s first recruiting class in 2010 who first had committed to other schools: quarterback Michael Rocco (Louisville), tight end Jake McGee (Richmond) and cornerback Drequan Hoskey (Richmond).

McGee and Hoskey both are listed as prospective 2013 starters and Rocco started 21 of 26 games the past two seasons before seeking a release and transferring to Richmond.

Other decommits on the Cavs’ roster include Wingo-Reeves, tight end Mario Nixon (Virginia Tech) and offensive lineman Eric Tetlow (Wake).

I don’t think the object should be how many committed players can you swipe from other schools, but as long as the practice continues, you don’t want to lose more than you get.

DIVISION I-A FOOTBALL COMMITMENTS FROM VIRGINIA FOR 2014 (10)

VIRGINIA TECH (4) – Xavier Burke, Vincent Mihota, C.J. Reavis, Marshawn Williams

VIRGINIA (3) – Quin Blanding, J.J. Jackson, Steven Moss

NORTH CAROLINA (1) – Caleb Henderson

NOTRE DAME (1) – Greer Martini

TENNESSEE (1) – Coleman Thomas

I can’t say I was expecting a news release from Hargrave Military Academy on Friday, but I wasn’t shocked.

Hargrave announced that it is disbanding its postgraduate football program, which has produced a host of Division I football recruits, more than a few of whom have gone on to the NFL. Read more »

Spectactors at Virginia’s spring game earlier this month got a sneak peak at the leadership council that UVa has established for the upcoming football season.

What I’ve been told is that the 13 players below will be taking the place of permanent game captains and that UVa will have game captains that could change from game to game.

So, following  is a list of the players with their positions and 2013-2014 year in school. I would not read too much into quarterback Phillip Sims not being on a list that includes fellow competitors David Watford and Greyson Lambert because there appears to an effort to include all four of the upper classes.

There are two representatives in their fifth year at UVa, five in their fourth year, four in their third year and two in their second year. There are also six offensive players, five defensive players and two specialists:

Luke Bowanko — fifth-year senior center

Matt Fortin — fourth-year junior long snapper

Anthony Harris — third-year junior safety

Darius Jennings — third-year junior wide receiver

Greyson Lambert — second-year freshman quarterback

Morgan Moses — fourth-year senior offensive tackle

Tre Nicholson — third-year junior cornerback

Kevin Parks — fourth-year junior tailback

Jake Snyder — fifth-year senior defensive end

Alec Vozenilek — fourth-year  junior punter

Will Wahee — second-year freshman cornerback

Rijo Walker — fourth-year senior safety

David Watford — third-year sophomore quarterback

Paul Jesperson Leaving Virginia Basketball Program

Sophomore guard to transfer after two seasons

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia men’s basketball head coach Tony Bennett announced Monday (April 15) that sophomore guard Paul Jesperson (Merrill, Wis.) is leaving the Cavaliers’ program.

“Paul has decided to leave the Virginia basketball program and transfer to another school,” Bennett said. “We’d like to thank him for the past two seasons and wish him well in the future.”

The 6-6 Jesperson averaged 3.5 points and 1.7 rebounds in 56 career games at Virginia. He started 33 of 35 games in 2012-13, averaging 4.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. Jesperson tallied a career-high 12 points in Virginia’s 80-69 win at Maryland on Feb. 10.

“I would really like to thank my coaches, teammates and all of my supporters for the opportunity I had at UVa,” Jesperson said.

“They made my time here unforgettable and I’m extremely grateful for that. I wish them the best and I’m looking forward to continuing my college career at my new school.”

On the same week that Hylton High School quarterback Travon McMillian  trimmed his list of possible college destinations, the state’s top-rated QB prospect removed himself from the market.

Lake Braddock High School signalcaller Caleb Henderson, rated the No. 3 junior in Virginia by The Roanoke Times, declared that he will sign with North Carolina.

Henderson (6 foot 4, 223 pounds) didn’t have an offer from the Tar Heels until he visited Chapel Hill on Wednesday. He was to have visited Virginia Tech today and Tennessee on Saturday, according to Preston Williams’ blog on the Washington Post site this morning.

Henderson, who passed for 2,435 yards and 19 touchdowns as a junior at Lake Braddock, follows in the footsteps of another northern Virginia quarterback who has plied his trade in Chapel Hill, Bryn Renner.

Indeed, Renner, who will enter his third season as the Tar Heels’ starter, has a connection to Henderson. Renner’s father, Bill, who coached his son at West Springfield, served as the offensive coordinator at Lake Braddock after resigning as West Springfield head coach.

Virginia and Virginia Tech were among six ACC programs that made scholarship offers to Henderson, who also had offers from Boston College, Maryland and Miami. Henderson was the only pro-style quarterback offered by the Cavaliers, who could have as many as six scholarship QBs on their 2013 roster, although it appears likely that All-Tidewater QB Corwin Cutler will prep at Fork Union.

WHEN BILL RENNER returned my call today, he gave me a little more background on Henderson, who actually spent his first two years at West Potomac, where his father, Ken, was the head coach.

Ken Henderson resigned as West Potomac coach following the 2011 season and took a job coaching the defense at Lake Braddock. His son came with him, as did two West Potomac assistants, Sean Brooks and Dave Murray.

Sean Brooks had been a back-up quarterback under Renner at West Springfield, as well as a West Springfield assistant, and had installed Renner’s system at West Potomac – the same system that Lake Braddock is running now with Caleb Henderson.

Bryn Renner will wrap up his career before Henderson ever arrives on campus “but I can still go to games and watch somebody I know,” said Bill Renner, a former Virginia Tech punter who has been the coach at East Chapel Hill (N.C.) High School since 2010.

WHILE HENDERSON HAD more than 100 carries as a junior and rushed for 435 yards, McMillian (6-0, 196) is seen as more of a dual threat quarterback who possibly could play another position in college.

McMillian, who actually has more offers (14) than Henderson (nine) according to the rivals.com database, this week came out with a top five of Virginia Tech, Virginia, California, Stanford and Georgia Tech.

McMillian passed for 1,313 yards and rushed for 1,194 yards in 13 games last year, when he actually had more rushing attempts (201) than passing attempts (165). He had separate games where he passed for 200 yards and rushed for 200 yards, but was less than a 50-percent passer.

Stanford already has two scholarship quarterbacks from Virginia, Kevin Hogan and Ryan Burns, although Hogan, who lists his hometown as McLean, played at Gonzaga in Washington, D.C.

NEXT WEDNESDAY MARKS the first day of the spring signing period for college basketball and it looks as if Virginia Tech is serious about taking a sixth scholarship freshman.

Drawing the Hokies’ attention of late is Devin Wilson, a 6-4, 185-pound guard from Montour High School in McKees Rock, Pa.

West Virginia is the most prominent of nine schools who have made offers to Wilson, according to rivals.com, although it’s hard to say how current that list is, since Tech isn’t on it.

One of the reasons Wilson is available is his uncertainty over whether he wanted to play football or basketball in college. He had 71 receptions for more than 900 yards as a junior.

Wilson was at Tech on the final weekend of March and the Hokies are said to be in the mix with WVU, George Mason and St. Joe’s, where he is visiting this weekend.

TECH COACH JAMES JOHNSON told me Thursday that he would be more inclined to take a high-school kid than turn to the ever-growing list of transfer candidates.

“We had a good [transfer] last year in Adam Smith,” Johnson said of a 3-point specialist the Hokies have added from UNC-Wilmington, “but I don’t want to get anybody else’s mistakes.”

A sixth freshman might create an imbalance with the seven scholarship players Tech has in its other three classes, but there’s always a possibility that a freshman could be redshirted, Johnson said.