Today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch waxes analytic about the fact that Al Groh and the rest of the UVA football recruiting team is doing way better on signing players from within Virginia for the 2009 season than they did in 2008. As the T-D explains, only three of 18 players who signed with the Cavaliers in February were from Virginia high schools. Looking ahead to the next signing day in February 2009, the Cavs have commitments from nine Virginia-based players and two others, for a total of 11. Deep Run defensive end/tight end Jake Snyder is the latest to join the roster; he committed to Virginia yesterday.
If anyone’s counting (and lots of people are), this bump in recruiting by UVA also represents a win of sorts compared with Virginia Tech, which has only one committed recruit for 2009.
Groh told the T-D that he hasn’t changed his approach this year; rather, it’s just that the pool of players in Virginia varies from year to year, and the class of 2009 happens to have more players "who fit our model." He explained, "We have a model on what we think is necessary in players to fit into this environment and be successful in all phases, and we always want to start with Virginia players that fit our model." The T-D also credits new defensive coordinator Bob Pruett for good ambassadorship to the Tidewater region, plus Groh’s surprising success in the 2007 season and the fact that Tech has little scholarship money to spare after signing 31 players in 2008.
He’d love to sign up tons of Virginia players, says Al Groh, but it’s not always possible. For 2009, at least, the in-state pool is plentiful.