Highly touted basketball recruit Kyrie Irving isn’t coming to Virginia (he narrowed his list to Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Seton Hall and Connecticut). Still, he liked Coach Bennett. Irving had this to say in a recent interview with High School Hoop (Dime Magazine):

High School Hoop: Throughout the process what coach had the best personality?

Irving: Probably, Coach [Tony] Bennett at Virginia. I think it’s because he’s young, but he’s got a really good personality.

Read the full interview with Irving, who had a big AAU summer, here.

Some will claim the recent decision to drop callers from the weekly football radio show is because Coach Groh is afraid to take calls from fans. I don’t believe it is. I believe it’s in part to prevent fans from damaging the program with ill-advised comments that can be heard from just about anywhere in the world. When you get right down to it, the coaches show is there for one simple purpose, to build support and exposure for the program, particularly in the eyes of recruits and their families, but also to help attract new fans, donors and season ticket holders. It is not about opening up the coach, live and on the air, to mean-spirited comments and accusations of poor coaching.

The call-in segment of the show in recent years has been disgusting and not becoming of the UVa fan base. Even if the coach isn’t doing a great job, there’s a certain level of respect that should be given when asking a question or providing a comment. It’s not like Coach Groh isn’t trying to win. The guy eats, sleeps and lives football. While critical or thought provoking questions might be acceptable, many of critical comments were well below the belt. Why should UVa pay for that?

Maybe this is the best thing for all. The new format subtracts the jackass factor from the equation and prevents the boring, ‘Great job this week’ comments that do nothing but fill up air time. But it does allow for write-in questions and comments that can be read aloud. I don’t need to hear four different people say or ask the same thing. Give me just one intelligent comment and question pertaining to an area, answer it, and then move on.

Is this censorship? Hardly. This is a show produced and paid for by UVa. They make the rules and they know the score. Plus, there are plenty of other venting posts for fans who want to have their voices heard: online forums such as the ones on this site, and other on-air talk shows like Best Seat in the House and the new Hoos Talking show that begins the first week of September.

For now, asking the tough questions directly to the coach is reserved for the media. But don’t blame Virginia. As fans, we had our chance and we blew it. Now we have this. If Virginia fans want their voice heard directly, fans will have to rely on sending emails, attending special functions like VAF socials, or speaking their minds through monetary means (donations, ticket purchases, etc.).

The days of open mike night for Cavalier football fans are over, at least when the show is a paid program by the University of Virginia. Can’t say I blame them.

With 15 days remaining until the Virginia football team kicks off the 2009 season, some of the position battles on the depth chart are starting to sort themselves out. No quarterback isn’t one of them – at least not one of them that Al Groh gave any hints on. After a scrimmage on Saturday, however, the coaching staff will spend the majority of the day Sunday working out evaulations of the various positions on the team in order to prepare for the final two weeks of preseason practice. That doesn’t mean there’ll be some big announcement next week about “starters” and such, but the team is starting to take shape in preparation for the opener.

For example, some of the spots on the special teams units are becoming more clear with final auditions coming in this Saturday’s scrimmage.

“After Thursday’s big special teams practice, a lot of positions have come to solidify themselves. We’ll have quite a few more plays tomorrow [at Saturday's scrimmage practice] and that will be the final determinant,” Groh said. “We’re doing some things specifically to have a final audition, the final competition for some of those spots.”

Also of note in terms of depth chart discussion: several true freshmen are likely to be on the list at various positions and will likely see time this season. Groh didn’t provide any clues as to who those players may be, but the top two candidates figure to be Will Hill (defensive end) and Tim Smith (receiver) due to the depth needed at those spots. Other candidates could be athletes and speed merchants like Perry Jones, Corey Lillard, LoVante Battle, Quintin Hunter, Laroy Reynolds, and Javanti Sparrow due the potential value they could bring to special teams units.

“There’s a pretty good-sized list that I would anticipate are going to help us this year, at least at this stage with two weeks to go,” Groh said. “They’re showing they certainly could solidly put themselves in the mix.”

Former Virginia baseball stars Ryan Zimmerman and Mark Reynolds are hammering the baseball at the Major League level these days. After Friday night’s game where their teams faced each other, in fact, the duo had posted the most homers of any alumni combo in the Majors with 58 home runs. Hat tip to The Washington Post’s Zach Berman for publishing that cool stat in this notebook!

Reynolds has 11 home runs in his last 13 games.