With SabreMail on a holiday hiatus, “This Week In Recruiting” makes a Good Ol’ Blog appearance. What’s going on in the world of Virginia recruiting? Who is the most recent commitment? What is new with A.J. Price? What did basketball recruit Sylven Landesberg do in recent tournament? Check out the weekly update.

Football recruiting …

First of all, I want to wish everyone a safe and happy New Year!!! Now, back to the recruiting trail …

Virginia finished off 2007 in style with a commitment from one of the top in-state juniors in Harrisonburg running back Alex Owah. Owah, a 5-11, 170-pound back, chose the Hoos over offers from Virginia Tech and James Madison.

One of the most productive running backs in the state over the past two seasons, Owah rushed for more than 2,000 as a sophomore in 2006 and for 1,854 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2007. Very fast, he ran two sub-4.5 40s at respective National Underclassmen Combines earlier this year.

Owah’s commitment is a great start for the Hoos in 2009 recruiting, as the talented prospect is very likely a Top 15 player in the state … perhaps Top 10. Several other in-state juniors Virginia is in good shape with right now are Deep Run DE/TE Jake Snyder and Stone Bridge DL/TE Zach Thompson, both of whom have already been offered by the staff.

Meanwhile, Virginia has 16 verbal commitments in the fold for the 2008 recruiting class. There isn’t much more room, but several top prospects remain high on Virginia New Year’s wish list. Topping the list is 6-7, 275-pound offensive tackle R.J. Mattes. The Robinson (Concord, N.C.) standout, son of former Virginia star lineman Ron Mattes, has taken official visits to North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Virginia. He plans to make official visits to Clemson (01/11) and South Carolina (01/18), respectively, and plans to make a commitment soon after. Mattes has always been one of Virginia’s top overall targets and remains so heading into the New Year.

(more…)

Rattling Chris Long’s cage?

Knowing that Long plays [relentlessly], some coaches have chosen to draw up special plans for him during games. Double and triple teams toward Long have been normal sights during UVa games this season. Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said he doesn’t have any special scheme prepared for the All-American star, though.

“They move him around so there’s no real special game plan,” Leach said. “Just go out and play sound, play well, have good technique, and do it consistently.”

As many have discussed, including me, maybe Leach understands that his quick passing offensive scheme is already the perfect way to “neutralize” Long. However, Chris Long is still a player that will hurt an offense if he’s treated like a regular ol’ nobody. If he only has to beat one man to reach the Texas Tech quarterback, the window of throwing opportunity will be quite small indeed.

Regardless of whether Leach is right or not — isn’t this bulletin board material? He doesn’t think his team needs any unique game plan for the most dominant defensive lineman in the country? He may be right in thinking this, but not in saying this out loud. The coaching staff should print that quote up and paste it to Long’s locker immediately.

“It’s definitely nicer than Boise.” — Jon Copper, on the Gator Bowl.

ACC Now has a quick update heading into today’s contests. The ACC is 2-1 with five games left, and three of those games will be finished by the time you pop the bubbly tonight.

• Georgia Tech vs. Fresno State in the Blue Turf Bowl, 2 p.m. (ESPN2)
• Florida State vs. Kentucky in the Music City Suspension Bowl, 4 p.m. (ESPN)
• Clemson vs. Auburn in the Chick-fil-A Who Travels Best Bowl, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)

So, your morning hangover could come with a either a dominating 5-1 conference showing or a worrisome 2-4 hole.

The Hoos win in another sloppy Singletary-is-ill game, 78-70. The key word for Dave Leitao: inconsistency. Paul has the recap here. Aside from picking up their 10th win, the only other good news was the return of Solomon Tat and Tunji Soroye to the line-up.

This team better get their act together: “Though Virginia managed a win against Hartford despite playing below par, the Cavaliers’ schedule becomes much more demanding from this point forward, as the team travels to Xavier on Jan. 3 before going to Duke a week later to kick off conference play.”

So, as I promised below, I gave this issue of Long pressuring Harrell some more thought. Here’s the issue:

Texas Tech’s spread offense hardly ever calls for Harrell to make anything more than a three-step drop when he passes. That, combined with a starting offensive line that averages 331 pounds, negates teams with strong pass rushes.

The Red Raiders have allowed only 15 sacks this season, the third-fewest in the NCAA Bowl Subdivision. Long had 14 sacks and Virginia had 39, tied for sixth in the Bowl Subdivision.

Will that matter, if [Texas Tech quarterback Graham] Harrell gets rid of the ball before even the fastest defensive end can get to him?

That’s a good question. As I advised on my Q&A at DoubleT (link through here), the best way to neutralize Long’s pass rushing is to get rid of the ball before he can wreck havoc in the backfield. Unfortunately for the Hoos, it appears that the Texas Tech offensive system is exactly geared for quick passes (and are helped by an innovative offensive line layout). So, how does Long (or any Hoos hoping to pressure Harrell) have an impact?

1. First of all, there’s always the “coverage sack” — where the defensive backs and linebackers cover the receivers well enough to make Harrell wait longer than usual to pass, giving Long and Co. time to converge. Given the porous nature of the Virginia secondary this year, I’d be surprised if this type of sack comes into play.

2. More importantly, maybe the Hoos can employ a “pick and rush” move. In other words, one of the other DLs crosses over to pick off the offensive lineman tasked with holding up Long, giving him a straight line to rush toward the quarterback. With the gaps in the offensive line formation, perhaps the other linemen wouldn’t get over to help in time. Long would still have to move quickly to reach Harrell in time, but an effective use of this stunt would at least allow the Hoo rush to avoid being slowed down by the Red Raider linemen.

3. Finally, the secondary blitz might be an option. This call would use the speediest defensive players to beat the quick pass while using the gaps or the edges of the OL to avoid the pass protection. But some dangers here: vacating a part of the zone would give Harrell an open receiver. Plus, to get there in time before the quick pass, the defensive back might need to rush up to the line well before the snap, selling out the blitz and giving Harrell time to plan for the soft spot in the zone. Secondary blitzes from Harrell’s blind side (if he has one) might help mitigate the risks, but the risks remain.

Hopefully, Groh and Co. used the last month to solve this problem (and spent more than the dozen minutes I spent musing about it). Needless to say, the ability to pressure Harrell will be a critical determining factor in this game.

That’s the only excuse for the DC Hoos not organizing anything:

Gator Bowl: Virginia (9-3) vs. Texas Tech (8-4), January 1 at 1 pm

Texas Tech: Finn MacCool’s Irish Publick House, 713 Eighth St., SE; 202-547-7100; Metro: Eastern Market.
Texas Tech supporters may be outnumbered in the nation’s capital, but you’ll have no problem finding a sea of scarlet and black at Finn MacCool’s, where a few dozen Red Raiders fans watch every game on a giant 106-inch HD projection screen. Specials include $10 domestic pitchers and $5 appetizers.

Virginia: Despite Virginia’s being, um, right here, we couldn’t find any leads on this game. If you know something we don’t, please put it in the comments section.

Will looks into the Wahoo’s future:

This is one of those situations where the Cavs won’t be able to stop the Red Raiders, but only hope to contain them. But if Chris Long can get into the backfield, he could help disrupt this vaunted offense. And with the Cavs knack for the dramatics, this shouldn’t be much different. The Cavs offense will keep things close to the vest offensively, and will do just enough to win. Virginia wins, 28-27.

But the question is: Despite how hard Long works, will he get to Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell in time to make a difference? I’m going to give that issue some more time later today. For now, click through to read Will’s entire preview of the Gator and previews for the remaining ACC bowl games.

Remember that factoid about Staton Jobe? WaPo has a nice profile of our Wahoo in a Red Raider family.

He asks the key question weighing on most of our minds: “how can the Hoos possibly stop the nation’s #1 passing attack sans our top secondary player?”