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To clarify an earlier post, all six of UVa's captains were selected at the same time. The complete information on all six players can be found a few posts below this one.

Defensive end Nate Collins said on a teleconference that ended several minutes ago that he will serve as one of the captains for Virginia's football team this fall.

The other captains -- six in all -- will be quarterback Vic Hall, offensive tackle Will Barker, cornerback Chris Cook, outside linebacker Denzell Burrell and outside linebacker Aaron Clark.

Hall also served as one of the UVa co-captains in 2008.

Clark, from Rockbridge County High School, was successful in his appeal for a fifth season of eligibility after he suffered a season-ending knee injury against Southern California in the 2008 opener.

During his news conference on Thursday, head coach Al Groh said the reason the Cavaliers have four defensive captains is the result of one of the closest votes he had ever seen.

Of the six captains, five are fifth-year seniors. The sixth -- Collins -- is a fourth-year senior.

-- DOUG DOUGHTY

From The Associated Press,
The USA Today preseason football coaches' poll was released today, and it reaffirms that Virginia Tech will have one of the most challenging schedules Division I football this fall.
Defending national champion Florida tops the coaches' poll, receiving 53 of 59 first-place votes. The Hokies, who finished 14th in last year's coaches' poll, begin this season ranked seventh. Four of their opponents, Alabama (fifth), Georgia Tech (15th), North Carolina (20th) and Nebraska (22nd) are also ranked.
It's the most teams on Tech's preseason schedule ranked in the top 25 since 2004 (No. 1 Southern Cal, No. 5 Miami, No. 11 West Virginia, No. 17 Maryland and No. 19 Virginia). The Hokies, in their first season in the ACC that year, went 4-1 in those games.
Texas was second in the poll released Friday, followed by Oklahoma, Southern California, Alabama, Ohio State, Virginia Tech, Penn State, LSU and Mississippi.
Texas had four first-place votes, and Oklahoma and Southern California each had one.
There were no Big East teams in the preseason top-25. Meanwhile. Four schools that are not in conferences that receive automatic bids to BCS bowl games -- Brigham Young, Texas Christian, Utah and Boise State, were ranked between 16th and 24th.

Virginia did not receive any preseason votes.

Here's the Poll:

1. Florida

2. Texas

3. Oklahoma

4. Southern California

5. Alabama

6. Ohio State

7. Virginia Tech

8. Penn State

9. LSU

10. Mississippi

11. Oklahoma State

12. California

13. Georgia

14. Oregon

15. Georgia Tech

16. Boise State

17. TCU

18. Utah

19. Florida State

20. North Carolina

21. Iowa

22. Nebraska

23. Notre Dame

24. Brigham Young

25. Oregon State

Virginia Tech's football team was by far the most popular choice to win the ACC Coastal Division, as well as its fourth overall conference title in five seasons. This according to the 87 media members in attendance at the ACC Football Kickoff in Greensboro, N.C.

78 of the 87 voters predicted Tech would win the ACC Coastal. The other nine first-place votes went to Georgia Tech. Virginia was picked to finish fifth.

In the Atlantic Division, Florida State received 56 first-place votes. However, 69 of the 87 voters went on to pick Tech as the winner of the Dec. 5 championship game, which will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

Here are the full results:

Atlantic Division
1. Florida State (56 first-place votes)
2. Clemson (14)
3. N.C. State (10)
4. Wake Forest (7)
5. Maryland
6. Boston College

Coastal Division
1. Virginia Tech (78)
2. Georgia Tech (9)
3. North Carolina
4. Miami
5. Virginia
6. Duke

ACC Championship game winner: Virginia Tech (69 votes); Florida State and Georgia Tech (7), Clemson and N.C. State (2).

Preseason player of the year
1. Jonathan Dwyer, Georgia Tech (39 votes)
2. C.J. Spiller, Clemson (28)
3. Russell Wilson, N.C. State (16)
One vote apiece: Vic Hall (UVa), Tyrod Taylor (Va. Tech), Christian Ponder (FSU), Riley Skinner (Wake).

Roanoke Times assistant sports editor and University of Virginia beat writer Doug Doughty celebrated his 35th anniversary with the newspaper on July 15. Here's a brief tribute to Doug, who was the man of honor at a surprise reception this week.

-- Steve Hemphill

Efforts by first-year Virginia assistant Chad Wilt to recruit in Florida paid dividends Monday with an oral commitment from Pablo Alvarez, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound defensive back and wide receiver from Belen Jesuit School in Miami.

Six other Division I-A schools had made offers to Alvarez, who took an unofficial visit to Virginia last weekend. He picked the Cavaliers over Duke, Iowa and Northwestern.

Alvarez, the sixth player to commit to UVa for 2010,  is ranked nationally in the 300-meter intermediate hurdles and has a 22.01 clocking in the 200. The Cavaliers have only scholarship player from Florida on their roster, cornerback Mike Parker, who will be a junior this coming season.

-- DOUG DOUGHTY

The decision by Virginia football player Andrew Devlin to transfer to Pittsburgh caused me to wonder about the frequency of such a move.

I couldn’t remember the last time that the Cavaliers lost a player who was projected to receive playing time, was in good shape academically and did not have any known legal problems. Read more »

A couple anecdotes from Tony Bennett’s introductory news conference that did not appear in The Roanoke Times – or a lot of other papers, from what I could tell – involved his namesake, 82-year-old singer and pitchman Tony Bennett.

The singer is best known for the 1962 hit, “I left my heart in San Francisco.”

“Funny story about that,” said Tony Bennett, the new Virginia men’s basketball coach, who previously Read more »

While the public perception of new Virginia men's basketball coach Tony Bennett seems to rise by the minute, two questions will persist until the Cavaliers start playing games next season.

One concerns Bennett's ability to recruit, particularly in the state of Virginia, given his background in the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest. And, that might not be answered for several years.

The other involves style of play.  Bennett's last team at Washington State finished first in Division I in scoring defense this season but the Cougars were 314th in total offense. Read more »

I don't know where else this is being reported and don't have the time to check, but a person in the know advises me that American University assistant Jason Williford has been in Charlottesville today to discuss a position on Tony Bennett's new Virginia basketball staff.

Williford, a former UVa player from the Richmond area, has more of a school and in-state connection than anybody on the Bennett staff, which will include associate head coach and former Liberty head coach Ritchie McKay and Bennett's former Washington State aide, Ron Sanchez.

As of 7:30 p.m., my source had not heard if an offer had been made to Williford.