I learned two very important lessons last week:
1. Never ever count out any team called the Patriots, especially when they're playing a bowl game that oozes "Go America!"
2. Flash your Super Bowl ring enough times and you just might be able to attract a national college football championship to Charlottesville.
This past week, Al Groh passed his first true test with flying colors by convincing three of the state's top four recruits that orange and blue should be staples in their Saturday afternoon wardrobes. He lured USA Today defensive player of the year Ahmad Brooks and highly-regarded linebacker Kai Parham away from traditional powers like Tennessee, Florida State and Virginia Tech, and coaxed running back Michael Johnson Jr. away from the waiting arms of Miami and Michigan State.
Four-star prospect Wali Lundy would have headlined the class a few years ago, but he merely was the garnish on Groh's five-star recruiting piece de resistance.
Brooks, Parham, Johnson and Lundy are the latest additions to an already-impressive recruiting list. These future Virginia football players posses a great mix of size, speed and athleticism.
Groh has assembled the best Virginia recruiting class in recent memory - perhaps even the best class in Virginia football history - in his first year as coach. Every major recruiting analyst in the country rates Virginia's class in its top 10. Brooks, Parham and Johnson became the first ever five-star high school prospects to sign a letter of intent with the Cavaliers.
Wow.
George Welsh may have brought Virginia football from its Duke-like depths to national respectability, but Groh is set to take the Cavaliers to the next level. If Groh continues to flex his recruiting muscles and draws talent like Brooks, Parham and Johnson to Virginia every year, a national football championship will not be far behind.
Groh's signing day successes also are the latest addition to a new chapter in Virginia school history. This chapter, however, has nothing to do with tackles, sacks, rushing yards or touchdowns. Over my four years at the University, I have watched Pete Gillen rebuild the men's basketball program into a national contender and inspire hundreds of students to camp out in Hooville. The Aquatic & Fitness Center was the state-of-the-art athletics facility in 1998, but Scott Stadium has been remodeled since. Plans for a new baseball stadium and basketball arena have been approved, making Virginia athletics more prominent than ever.
Unfortunately, I also have seen the University slip from its No. 1 spot in the U.S. News & World Report rankings for public universities to No. 2 behind Berkeley.
Academically and athletically, the University resembled Berkeley when I matriculated. As I prepare to graduate, I believe that my school may be turning into Michigan.
Although I love sports as much as the next student, I fear the University may be beginning to compromise its academic excellence for athletic distinction. Virginia has not, to be sure, lowered its academic standards to attract highly-skilled athletes this year. Parham scored an 1100 on his SAT and has medical school aspirations. But as more and more emphasis is placed on winning championships on the field, there may be more and more pressure to taper the University's academic expectations so that it can compete with schools like Florida State, Tennessee and Virginia Tech.
I would love to see the Cavaliers hoist championship banner after championship banner into stadium rafters. But the University should not forget that it is an academic institution first and a sports haven second.
The day, however, rightfully belongs to Al Groh and his outstanding football recruiting class. Be sure to thank them for me after their bowl game on Jan. 1, 2006.
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