Ahmad Brooks. Michael Johnson. Um, Peter Lalich. Do Virginia fans really miss all those days when Al Groh was still that heat in the streets and VIrginia could crack the top 20's of most recruiting rankings? Well, it sure made Signing Day much more fun, as the past couple of years have seen UVA bank solid, if not unexciting classes filled with linemen on both ends and likely a solid tight end prospect.2009 has been, well, not too much different, however, over the past couple of weeks there had been speculation that mountainous man Morgan Moses, a 6'7", 343 lb. masher from Richmond could be a key pickup for Virginia. On the one hand, you have UVA's reputation as an OL factory, with D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Branden Albert and most likely Eugene Monroe becoming top-15 NFL picks over the past few years. On the other, you have concerns that Moses may not qualify academically for Virginia (especially after the decommittal of Alex Owah, who qualified under NCAA standards, but not UVA's) and a head-to-head competition with the ascendant UNC program.
Well, score one for Groh, as Moses, the #3 run blocker according to Rivals, is going to keep things in state for the Hoos. It might seem like a weird thing to get excited about, considering that Virginia is moving to a spread offense or some facsimile of it with their personnel, but beating out UNC and Tennessee shows that there's still potency in Groh's recruiting.
FanHouse takes you into the belly of the college football beast that is recruiting. We'll be around before, during and after Signing Day '09.
