Virginia blazing recruiting trail after subpar ’08 class

By Chris Preston  |   Monday, June 30, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Virginia Cavaliers
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The 2009 recruiting class head coach Al Groh and his assistants are putting together has to be an encouraging sign for fans of Virginia football. The 18 commitments by the end of June should come as no surprise, as Groh has a history of locking up recruits early and often. But the fact that 10 of those 18 commitments are in-state recruits is a nice bounce-back for a Wahoo staff much-maligned after the disastrous results with its 2008 recruiting class.

Only four of the Cavaliers' 18-player 2008 recruiting group hailed from Virginia. That might not matter if the Hoos were poaching top-tier talents from other parts of the country, but the fact that their ’08 class was ranked 61st in the country by Rivals.com – the lowest ranking in Groh’s seven years on the job – reveals just how crucial winning the in-state recruiting battles in a football-rich state like Virginia truly is.

To gain a better understanding of just how putrid Virginia’s performance with in-state recruits was with the ’08 class, one needs not look any further than the rival Hokies. Virginia Tech hauled in a 31-player class (ranked 18th in the country by Rivals) made up of 24 native Virginians. Of Rivals’ top 30 2008 prospects in Virginia, 17 of them signed with the Hokies. Just one – Klinton Ruff – signed with Virginia, equal to the number hauled in by out-of-state ACC brethren Maryland, North Carolina and N.C. State. Clearly, Tech’s dominance on the field in recent years – winning the last four Commonwealth Cups by a combined 126-45 score – has affected how high schoolers who live in the state perceive the two schools.

So the fact that Groh has already more than doubled his ’08 in-state intake by convincing 10 Virginians in the Class of ’09 to commit thus far is a major relief for those Wahoo faithful who were no doubt concerned that last year’s class was the beginning of a disturbing trend. Considering the lopsided nature of the Virginia-Virginia Tech rivalry in recent years, it is no surprise that the results on the field have had a trickle-down effect on in-state recruiting. But for the state’s preeminent public school to attract only four recruits from its entire home state and lose out on several prospects to inferior or equal out-of-state programs like Maryland, Carolina, and N.C. State and was an embarrassment.

Luckily for Virginia, it also appears to be an aberration. As evidenced by the growing number of NFL players the Hoos have produced in the Groh era (with 2008 first-round selections Chris Long and Branden Albert joining the likes of D’Brickashaw Ferguson, Ahmad Brooks, Alvin Pearman and Heath Miller), recruiting – in-state or otherwise – has rarely been a major problem under Groh. Its ’07 class was ranked 32nd nationally by Rivals and included 13 Virginia high schoolers, so the paltry ’08 class really came out of nowhere. More importantly, it appears Groh and company have righted the ship.
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