Over the weekend, former Virginia star Chris Long agreed to a contract extension with the St. Louis Rams. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the deal “is believed to be north of $10 million a year, and the guaranteed money could be $20 million-plus.” The extension runs for four years through 2016.
Long told The Associated Press and others that he wants to be part of a turnaround in St. Louis, which is 12-52 since 2008.
“It’s huge for me,” Long told the AP. “You like to know where you stand and I feel really good about obviously their commitment to me. When it turns around, I want to be a part of it.”
Beyond that, Long deflected talk of his contract back to his team, telling the Post-Dispatch “It’s good to talk about [the extension] because I’m excited to be here for five more years. I’m excited about the future. But otherwise, we’ve got a bunch of guys working really hard out here, for the same goals and to win a championship. And that’s what we’re focused on. I don’t want it to be about me. It’s about us. And I’m just very lucky and appreciative.”
Long has posted 21.5 sacks over the past two seasons with 8.5 in 2010 and 13 more in 2011.
Hoo-Tube Video Of The Day
The Afternoon Break includes a daily video. It seems appropriate to go with Chris Long this time.
The basketball board is discussing potential recruiting targets here and here. There’s also this thread on a recent Sports Illustrated blurb on the Hoos.
This portion of the break looks at TheSabre.com’s favorite Twitter retweet of the day. Follow @thesabre.
Today’s retweet is from former UVa and U.S. National Team standout Angela Hucles (follow @angelahucles). Hucles remains the Virginia women’s soccer leader in goals, game-winning goals, and total points. She won two gold medals with Team USA and scored four goals during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
@angelahucles: Just finished last match for the 1st time announcing. Amazing experience, fun, and educational! Love opening w/Olympics!Thanks @nbcolympics
The Demon Deacons finished the 2011 season with an appearance in the Music City Bowl, their first bowl appearance since 2008. The Deacs lost that game 32-17 to Mississippi to finish 6-7 overall, but with a 5-3 mark in the ACC.
The 2012 season brings 19 committed recruits. They will join Wake’s returnees. Junior quarterback Tanner Price is back for another season, as are junior running back Josh Harris and junior wide receiver Michael Campanaro. Nose guard Nikita Whitlock returns as well.
March 6 marked the first spring training day for the Demon Deacs. Coach Grobe commented in short by saying, “I like the energy …”. Two weeks later Wake had its first spring scrimmage where Coach Grobe commented, “I think we’ve improved quite a bit from the first day of practice when we didn’t look very good. It’s going to take time before these guys are really comfortable. We’ve got guys who like to play, who like to get after it but they’re just making too many mistakes right now and you can’t do that up front. We just play against too many good people. You want to get to the point where when they beat us, they beat us physically and not because we didn’t block the right guy.” Campanaro had 10 catches for 116 yards. Price threw 17 for 30 and 169 yards. In a stellar defensive play, Kevin Johnson had an interception tip that was picked up by Whitlock, who ran the ball 87 yards for a touchdown. Sophomore QB Patrick Thompson looked sharp as did rushers Orville Reynolds and Tyler Jackson.
The Deacons’ second scrimmage saw lots of offensive action from individuals. Sophomore wide receiver Brandon Terry caught a 61-yard pass from Price. Freshmen Pat Long threw a 58-yard pass to Matt James and Thompson ran 16 yards for a touchdown. Defensively, Daniel Vogelsang (sophomore) managed to pick up a fumble and run it 41 yards back. “We had a couple of good individual performances but that’s typical spring scrimmage. Everybody played, everybody got plenty of reps. [We were] not real consistent but there were a lot of good things,” Grobe said.
BB&T Field held the final intra-squad scrimmage where the white scored 14 unanswered points for the win over black 21-10. Jimmy Newman kicked a 41-yard field goal. Price threw an interception pass to A.J. Marshall, who returned the ball for 58 yards to lock down the win. Defensively, Brandon Chubb recorded 9 tackles while Riley Haynes had 4 tackles.
After Wake Forest was predicted to finish fourth in the Atlantic Division just ahead of Maryland and Boston College, Coach Grobe said, “I’m disappointed, because I always like to be picked last. The year we won the ACC we were picked last. We just want to be able to look back at the end of the year and feel like we proved we were better than people thought.” Wake opens its season on Sept. 1 against Liberty. Other games include UNC (Sept. 8), Florida State (Sept. 15), Army (Sept. 22), UVa (Oct. 20), Clemson (Oct. 25), NC State (Nov. 10), Notre Dame (Nov. 17), and Vanderbilt (Nov. 24).
Virginia Tech made it all the way to the ACC Championship game against Clemson and wanted to take its revenge against the Tigers for an earlier season loss 23-3. The Hokes lost the championship title 38-10, however, and then fell to Michigan in the Sugar Bowl 23-20 in OT. Still VT went 11-3 overall and 7-1 in the ACC. The media has predicted Tech as the favorite to win the ACC Coastal Division again. Coach Frank Beamer enters his 25th year at Virginia Tech with those expectations in tow.
Virginia Tech loses its All-ACC Player of the Year running back David Wilson, who was drafted to the New York Giants. Hokie teammate Jayron Hosley was drafted to the Giants as well and wide receiver Danny Coale went to the Dallas Cowboys. Altogether the team lost eight of its starting players, including four from the offensive line. VT still has junior quarterback Logan Thomas to celebrate, though. Marcus Davis will be returning to the receiving corps; All-ACC end James Gayle, J.R. Collins, brothers Derrick and Antoine Hopkins, and Kyle Fuller are all back as well.
In another scrimmage game at Lane Stadium, Thomas highlighted the outing with 4 touchdowns passes. Kris Harley made 4 tackles and 2 sacks to lead the defense. “Overall, I thought our scrimmage was good,” coach Frank Beamer said. “I think we’re going to be able to go back and look at this and make a determination on some guys who are ready to play in the GT game [the season opener] and some guys who aren’t ready to play. And then we’ll look at some freshmen and see if they can help.” Thomas completed 9 of 23 passes for 91 yards, but had several passes dropped. Tailback Michael Holes led with 89 yards on 8 carries. Defensively, Detrick Bonner posted 6 tackles and forced an interception, while Antone Exum had an interception and a touchdown when Fuller blocked a punt and Exum picked up the ball for a 60-yard touchdown. Return.
The official spring game was cancelled due to thunderstorms. Still, Beamer said, “I think we’ve had a good spring practice, and I think we’ve seen good improvement.” Spring awards included the following: Michael Holmes and Ronny Vandyke (top newcomers), Logan Thomas and Luther Maddy (MVP spring training), and David Wang and Alonzo Tweedy (coaches’ awards).
Virginia Tech opens up its season against Georgia Tech on Sept. 3. Other games include Pitt (Sept. 15), Cincinnati (Sept. 29), UNC (Oct. 6), Clemson (Oct. 20), Miami (Nov. 1), Florida State (Nov. 8), and UVa (Nov. 24).
The Virginia football practice facility continues to make progress. Here’s a picture that was posted on Facebook by Hoo’s in the ‘Ville. Like the page to keep up with the UVa program in the community.
Hoo-Tube Video Of The Day
The Afternoon Break includes a daily video. This Friday, the 2012 Olympics open in London so this week The Afternoon Break is featuring Dawn Staley in the video section. Staley, who was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in early June, is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (1996, 2000, 2004) and she carried the flag for the USA in the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympics.
Break Links
The folks over at Virginia Sports TV tweeted about hype songs for HooVision this fall so we started a thread. Join in!
This portion of the break looks at TheSabre.com’s favorite Twitter retweet of the day. Follow @thesabre.
Today’s retweet is from UVa field hockey player Paige Selenski (follow @paigeselenski), who is a member of the U.S. Field Hockey Team at the Olympics! The USA opens play on Sunday at 4:15 p.m. ET against Germany. Make sure to check out Selenski (No. 20) and fellow Hoo Michelle Vittesse (No. 9) in action in London. Here’s the field hockey schedule from NBC. Fans can also read this recent article on Selenski. Here’s a list of UVa athletes in London as well.
@paigeselenski: Trying to contain my excitement. Opening ceremonies are so soon!!!! #olympics#london2012
The Virginia men’s basketball team is scheduled for a foreign tour of games next month. The Hoos will play five games from August 6-16 in Belgium, France, and The Netherlands.
The schedule follows.
Aug. 8 and Aug. 9, 8 p.m. (2 p.m. ET), vs. Netherlands B team in Amsterdam.
Aug. 11, 7:30 p.m. (1:30 p.m. ET), vs. club team Gembo in Belgium.
Aug. 13 and 14, 7 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) vs. AMW Team France in Paris.
The Afternoon Break includes a daily video. This Friday, the 2012 Olympics open in London so this week The Afternoon Break is featuring Dawn Staley in the video section. Staley, who was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in early June, is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (1996, 2000, 2004) and she carried the flag for the USA in the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympics.
This portion of the break looks at TheSabre.com’s favorite Twitter retweet of the day. Follow @thesabre.
Today’s retweet is from UVa’s Twitter feed (follow @UVA). The Sabre’s Corner message board was a whirlwind of discussion during the BOV/President Sullivan events of the summer. This Tweet talks about plans to document the story.
@UVA: 17 Days that Shook UVA — Library, Course Aim to Preserve Event for Historic Record. http://bit.ly/PxITjY
The Wolfpack’s 2011 season went 4-4 in the ACC and 8-5 overall. The ACC wins came against UVa (28-14), UNC (13-0), Clemson (37-13) and Maryland (56-41). NC State went to the Belk Bowl and topped Louisville (31-24). Led by coach Tom O’Brien since 2007, NCSU will be looking to do better this season.
Several key players stepped away from the Pack; five were drafted into the NFL. Wide receiver T.J. Graham went to the Buffalo Bills. Linebacker Terrell Manning went to Green Bay. Linebacker Audie Cole went to the Minnesota Vikings. Defensive ends J.R. Sweezy and Markus Kuhn went to the Seattle Seahawks and the New York Giants, respectively.
Still, many key players return for the 2012 season. That includes senior quarterback Mike Glennon and senior running back James Washington. Many of the returning players have been named to various watch lists. Junior cornerback David Amerson and Glennon are the most often recognized on those lists.
Spring training means basics, O’Brien says. Coach O’Brien also put his Wolfpack through a “judgment day workout” to develop leaders and bond his team together. “I think that the biggest thing our players take from this is for each man to realize that the guy on his left and the guy on his right is more important than he is, to realize that to be successful as individuals, they have to help their teammates be successful,” O’Brien said about his motives for administering a Marine program to his team.
For the past two years, the UNC football program has been under a thick raincloud of an NCAA investigation. Just before the season, the Heels dismissed coach Butch Davis. The 2011 season ended with a 7-6 overall record and a 3-5 record within the ACC. Interim coach Everett Withers led the Tar Heel to a promising start with a 5-1 run in the first 6 games, but the season slowed from there. Carolina went to the Independence Bowl and lost to the Missouri Tigers (24-41). The school also elected not to appeal NCAA sanctions that were announced in March.
Yet, as always, when one door closes another opens, and out of that door stepped a new head coach: Larry Fedora from the University of Southern Mississippi. “When people ask how many you think you’re going to win, I don’t know any other way to look at it than when we step out on the field and put that Carolina blue on, we’re going to expect to win,” Fedora said. Fedora brought nine new coaching assistants with him. Most of the new staff includes coaches who assisted him at Southern Miss. UNC’s newbie coaches include: Dan Disch as Defensive Coordinator, Dave Duggan as defensive assistant and Special Teams Coordinator, Deke Adams as defensive line coach, Blake Anderson as QB coach and Offensive Coordinator, Walt Bell as tight ends coach, and Chris Kapilovic as offensive line coach. The remaining two coaches are wide receiver coach Gunter Brewer, who previously worked as offensive coordinator at UNC from 2000-04, and Vic Koenning as assistant head coach of defense. Randy Jordan was later announced as running back coach.
Virginia seniors Oday Aboushi and Steve Greer have named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference Preseason Team in voting conducted by the media at the annual ACC Football Kickoff. Aboushi, who lines up at offensive tackle, and Greer, who lines up at middle linebacker, are two of the 25 players selected to the preseason team. Both players were named second-team All-ACC after the 2011 season.
The latest news is part of what has been a honor-heavy preseason for the two players. Aboushi, who has started 25 straight games at UVa, received preseason All-American recognition courtesy of Athlon Sports and landed a spot on the Outland Trophy watch list. Greer, who led Virginia in tackles a year ago, made the watch lists for the Nagurski Trophy, the Lombardi Award, and the Lott IMPACT Trophy.
The Afternoon Break includes a daily video. This Friday, the 2012 Olympics open in London so this week The Afternoon Break is featuring Dawn Staley in the video section. Staley, who was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in early June, is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (1996, 2000, 2004) and she carried the flag for the USA in the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympics.
Assuming Barber does start the game, the big question becomes at which position. The Buccaneers moved Barber to a starting safety role this spring due to depth issues there and they would like to keep him in that spot, but the Tampa Tribune’s Ira Kaufman speculates that Eric Wright’s recent arrest could send Barber back to corner early in the season.
Regardless, Barber deserves some recognition from UVa and NFL fans as one of the best players to ever come out of the Virginia program. The five-time Pro Bowler has recorded 43 career interceptions and 27 career sacks, the only player in NFL history to reach that 40-25 milestone. He has posted 1,337 tackles in his career (second in Tampa Bay history). He also has scored 11 touchdowns on defensive take-aways, a number that puts him fifth in NFL history. As for the 199 consecutive starts to date, that’s the longest by any cornerback in league history and his 224 consecutive games played ties him for the second-longest streak for a defensive player since 1970.
Hoo-Tube Video Of The Day
The Afternoon Break includes a daily video. This Friday, the 2012 Olympics open in London so this week The Afternoon Break is featuring Dawn Staley in the video section. Staley, who was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in early June, is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (1996, 2000, 2004) and she carried the flag for the USA in the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympics.
This portion of the break looks at TheSabre.com’s favorite Twitter retweet of the day. Follow @thesabre.
Today’s retweet is from Ken Clausen (follow @KClausen27), former Virginia lacrosse player. He’s congratulating former Cavalier teammate Adam Ghitelman on his new role at Harvard (read more here).
@KClausen27: Congrats to my man @aghitelman8 on his promotion to Assistant Coach at Harvard. Harvard’s got a keeper!
At the ACC Football Kickoff in Greensboro, a poll of nearly 100 media members picked Virginia to finish fourth in the Coastal Division this season. The media pegged the following order for the division: Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech, UNC, UVa, Miami, and Duke.
On the other side of the ledger, Florida State is favored to win the Atlantic Division. Here’s the media’s order: FSU, clemson, NC State, Wake Forest, Boston College, and Maryland.
The media likes Florida State as the overwhelming pick to win the ACC Championship in 2012. FSU’s 60 votes to win the title were more than all other teams combined. The media also tabbed Clemson’s Sammy Watkins as the preseason Player of the Year. Watkins was arrested in the offseason on drug charges and Tiger coach Dabo Swinney said earlier this summer that Watkins likely will miss game time as a result. “Is there a chance he doesn’t miss any time? Probably not,” Swinney said earlier this summer.
Virginia fans interested in ACC Football Kickoff news definitely should read this update from Jeff White at VirginiaSports.com.
Hoo-Tube Video Of The Day
The Afternoon Break includes a daily video. This Friday, the 2012 Olympics open in London so this week The Afternoon Break is featuring Dawn Staley in the video section. Staley, who was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in early June, is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (1996, 2000, 2004) and she carried the flag for the USA in the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympics.
Break Links
The EDGE board has two threads going on commit Malcolm Cook. Check them out here and here. There’s also this great thread on incoming QB Matt Johns.
