Virginia Recruiting Breakdown
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LAST SEASON: 7-5 with a 34-31 victory over Minnesota in the Music City Bowl.
TOP PLAYERS LOST: QB Marques Hagans, OT D'Brickashaw Ferguson, RB Wali Lundy, LB Kai Parham, DE Brennan Schmidt.
NEEDS ADDRESSED: The Cavaliers bolstered their defensive front seven of the future and might have found themselves a quarterback, as well.
BEST IN CLASS: Keith Payne, from Oakton High in Oak Hill, Va., was one of the top running backs in the mid-Atlantic region, running for 2,059 yards and 26 touchdowns and leading his team to its first state championship. Payne, 6 feet 2 and 213 pounds, had scholarship offers from Clemson, Boston College, Maryland and Penn State and could help replace Lundy immediately.
SLEEPER: Tight end-linebacker Jack Shields, from Boston College High in Duxbury, Mass., didn't receive much interest from major Division I-A programs -- his only other official visit was to Vanderbilt. But he is versatile with a good pedigree -- his father, Jack Shields, played middle linebacker at Notre Dame, 1979-82.
TWO WHO GOT AWAY: Brent Carter, from Pottstown, Pa., and Kordell Young, from West Pepford, N.J., were ranked among the top 25 running back prospects in the country by Rivals.com and reneged on verbal commitments to the Cavaliers. Carter signed with Penn State; Young chose Rutgers.
COACH AL GROH: "We had some important, specific purposes that we tried to address from the start. Inside linebacker was one of those spots that we needed a number of talented players. The secondary, particularly at the safety positions, is an area we targeted, along with defensive end."
-- Mark Schlabach
| Name | POS. | HT. | WT. | HOME TOWN (SCHOOL) |
| Rico Bell | DB | 5-10 | 181 | Charlotte (Vance) |
| John Bivens | LB | 6-2 | 210 | Disputanta, Va. (Prince George) |
| B.J. Cabbell | OL | 6-6 | 295 | Roseland, Va. (Nelson County) |
| Darnell Carter | LB | 6-3 | 223 | Englewood, N.J. (Dwight Morrow) |
| Asa Chapman | DL | 6-5 | 330 | Orange, Va. (Orange County) |
| Nate Collins | DL | 6-2 | 258 | Port Chester, N.Y. (King & Low-Heywood Thomas) |
| Billy Cuffee | OL | 6-5 | 320 | Chesapeake, Va. (Deep Creek) |
| Chris Dalton | WR | 6-2 | 164 | Statesville, N.C. (West Iredell) |
| John-Kevin Dolce | LB | 6-2 | 220 | Bayshore, N.Y. (St. Anthony's) |
| Ras-I Dowling | WR/DB | 6-2 | 180 | Chesapeake, Va. (Deep Creek) |
| DeAndre Filer | DB | 5-10 | 168 | Chesapeake, Va. (Indian River) |
| Sean Gottschalk | DL | 6-4 | 256 | Richmond (Deep Run) |
| Raynard Horne | RB/S | 6-0 | 200 | Baltimore (Overlea Senior) |
| George Johnson | LB/TE | 6-5 | 215 | Glassboro, N.J. (Glassboro) |
| Matt Leemhuis | DB | 6-1 | 187 | Bethesda (Winston Churchill) |
| Mike Parker | DB | 6-2 | 192 | Orlando (Edgewater) |
| Keith Payne | RB | 6-3 | 195 | Oak Hill, Va. (Oakton) |
| Almondo Sewell | LB/FB | 6-1 | 235 | Trenton, N.J. (Trenton Central) |
| Jack Shields | TE/LB | 6-5 | 254 | Duxbury, Mass. (Boston College HS) |
| Gavin Smith | DL | 6-2 | 270 | Raleigh, N.C. (Wakefield) |
| Joe Torchia | TE/DE | 6-5 | 234 | Cold Spring, N.Y. (Queen of Peace) |
| Marc Verica | QB | 6-2 | 186 | Lansdowne, Pa. (Monsignor Bonner) |
| O.C. Wardlow | QB | 6-0 | 170 | Winston-Salem, N.C. (Mount Tabor) |
| Trey Womack | DB/WR | 5-11 | 162 | Springfield, Pa. (Malvern Prep) |
