Varina High School wide receiver Bobby Smith, a first-team All-Richmond Metro selection, made a football commitment to Virginia on Saturday.
Smith, a 6-foot-5, 195-pounder, had 52 receptions for 1,004 yards and 13 touchdowns this past season and also was named first-team All-Central Region.
Smith originally had committed to Division I-AA Delaware before the Cavaliers talked to him about spending the 2009 season at Fork Union Military Academy. Read more »
All-Tidewater place-kicker Drew Jarrett from Cox High School in Virginia Beach said Friday that he has narrowed his college choices to Virginia Tech, James Madison and Virginia.
Of the three, only Division I-AA James Madison has offered a scholarship -- a full scholarship, according to Jarrett.
"It [means] a lot," Jarrett said. "Of course, I want to play Single-A ball. So, that's the only thing that weighs that down a little bit, I guess, but it's a really great program." Read more »
Virginia Tech has received an oral commitment from Lanford Collins, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound defensive end from Brooke Point High School in Stafford County.
Collins, rated the No. 11 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times, picked the Hokies over Virginia and Penn State.
UVA INSIDER FOR JAN. 28
After failing to get in touch with two would-be sources for recruiting material, I’m going to start off this week’s column with a random thought.
Is it time for UVa men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao to take another look at Jeff Jones?
In case you missed it, Jones got on the floor for the final 26 seconds in the first half Jan. 20 against Maryland but did not play again in an 84-78 UVa loss. Read more »
Virginia men's basketball coach Dave Leitao said on his radio show Monday night that an off-court matter was the reason that Jamil Tucker did not play Saturday until UVa trailed 18-5 against Florida State. Tucker was coming off a career-high 21 point outing at Maryland.
"Me not putting him in the game was a detriment to me, a detriment to him and, more important, a detriment to the group," Leitao said. "We had a talk about it and I took action."
The following Virginia and Virginia Tech football recruits have been named to SuperPrep's 287-member All-America team:
VIRGINIA
Dominique Wallace -- No. 2 fullback in the country
Tim Smith -- No. 14 wide receiver in the country
VIRGINIA TECH
Logan Thomas -- No. 1 tight end in the country
David Wilson -- No. 5 running back in the country
DeAntree Rhodes -- No. 48 defensive lineman in the country
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia has shown it can come back from double-digit deficits on the road this season in a victory at Georgia Tech and narrow losses at Maryland and Virginia Tech, but the Cavaliers have not distinguished themselves at John Paul Jones Arena.
Florida State led by 20 points or more in both halves before beating the Cavaliers 73-62. Virginia (7-9 overall, 1-5 ACC) missed 18 of its first 19 shots from the field and shot 3-for-22 in the first half.
Florida State (16-4, 3-2) got a team-high 21 points from Toney Douglas, whose four-point play with 12:48 left took away much of UVa's momentum after it had closed to 44-31. Freshman Sylven Landesberg was 14-for-14 from the free-throw line for UVa and led all scorers with 24 points.
A JPJ crowd of 10,981 let loose its frustration on UVa coach Dave Leitao in the first half and he waqs questioned by the media for letting 69 seconds go off the clock without fouling after the Cavaliers scored with 2:31 to cut the deficit to 71-57.
OK, it was men's swimming, but 13th-ranked UVa needed to come from behind to defeat No. 14 North Carolina on Saturday afternoon in Charlottesville, 156-144.
UVa led by three points going into the final event, the 400 freestyle relay but trailed going into the third leg, when sophomore Scott Robison gave UVa a lead it would not relinquish. Robison, who earlier had won the 50- and 100-yard freestyle events, is from Charlotte, N.C.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say it might be the most entertaining sporting event in Charlottesville today.
Guard Sergio Render, a three-year starter for Virginia Tech's football team, will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder next Friday in Blacksburg.
Render, a rising senior with strong NFL potential, will miss the Hokies' spring practice period that runs from April 1-25. He is expected back full for the start of Tech's preseason camp in August.
-- RANDY KING
