Senior Cornerback
Marcus Hamilton
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A Look Back
Virginia registered its fourth straight winning season under the tutelage of head coach Al Groh finishing 7-5 overall and 3-5 in the ACC, good for fifth place in the Coastal Division … went a perfect 4-0 in non-league play including a 34-31 win over Minnesota in the 2005 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl – their fourth consecutive bowl appearance and third bowl win in the last four years … the Cavaliers garnered three first-team All-ACC honorees including LB Kai Parham, who ranked fifth in the league in tackles averaging 8.6 per game.
Who’s Gone
The Cavaliers lose 11 starters (5 offense, 5 defense, 1 specialist) with 343 career starts, including PK Connor Hughes, TB Wali Lundy and All-American OT D’Brickashaw Ferguson … Hughes and Lundy finished fifth and eighth on the all-time ACC career scoring list with 332 and 312 points, respectively … Lundy scored a team-high 11 touchdowns, while leading the Cavalier ground attack with 574 rushing yards in 2005 … dating back to his freshman season in 2002, Brennan Schmidt was the only Cavalier to start every game at defensive end, a span of 51 games.
A Look Ahead
Virginia enters the 2006 season with an experienced defensive squad returning six starters, who combined for 54 starts a season ago … six offensive starters return as well as the top two wide outs from last season in seniors Deyon Williams and Fontel Mines, who combined for 1,112 yards receiving and nine touchdowns … Williams ranked in the top four in the ACC in both receptions per game (5.00) and receiving yards per game (67.4) as a junior … the secondary boasts four players who have each started at least four games including CB Marcus Hamilton, who led the ACC with six interceptions.
Numbers
5.6 - Senior TB Michael Johnson is averaging 5.6 yards per carry for his career ... has rushed for 781 yards on 139 attempts.
5.9 - Senior RB Jason Snelling is averaging 5.9 yards per carry for his career … has rushed for 552 yards on 93 career attempts.
6 - As a junior last season, Marcus Hamilton led the ACC with six interceptions. marking the second time in the last three years, and 11th overall, that a Cavalier has led the league in interceptions ... has 10 career interceptions.
7.5 - Tackles for loss by DE Chris Long as a sophomore in 2005 ... was sixth on the team in tackles (46) and third in tackles for losses.
25 – With a win over Minnesota in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl, the Cavaliers appeared in their fourth straight bowl game for just the second time in school history … Virginia is one of 25 schools to have competed in consecutive bowl games over the last four seasons.
59 - In a win against Temple in 2005, head coach Al Groh reached the 35-win plateau at Virginia … it took Groh just 59 games to reach the milestone, the second-fastest to 35 wins in school history … Art Guepe (1946-1952) needed just 52 games to post 35 victories.
63.9 – Deyon Williams led the team and ranked among the top four in the ACC in receptions per game (4.83) and receiving yards (63.9) … his 58 catches and 767 receiving yards were the most by a Cavalier wide out since Billy McMullen snared 69 passes for 894 yards in 2002.
542 – Cedric Peerman tallied 542 kick return yards as q freshman in 2005, while averaging 25.8 yards per kick return, good for second in the ACC and 22nd nationally.
Named Virginia’s 38th head football coach on December 30, 2000, Al Groh owns a record of 37-26 in his four years with the Cavaliers, including a 21-19 record against ACC competition. Virginia posted back-to-back victories in the 2002 and 2003 Continental Tire Bowls, marking just the second time in school history a UVa team won consecutive bowl games. Groh has led Virginia to bowl games in four straight seasons, and was named ACC Coach of the Year in 2002 after guiding the Cavaliers to a 9-5 record, a second place finish in the ACC with a 6-2 mark and a 48-22 Continental Tire Bowl victory over 15th-ranked West Virginia. Prior to his arrival in Charlottesville, Groh was head coach of the NFL’s New York Jets, where he posted a 9-7 mark in his only year at the helm. He was the Jets’ linebackers coach for three seasons (1997-99) before being named head coach. Prior to his tenure with the Jets, Groh was an assistant coach under Bill Parcells with the New England Patriots from 1993 to 1996. He spent the 1992 season as defensive coordinator and linebackers coach on Bill Belichick’s staff with the Cleveland Browns. Groh joined the New York Giants’ staff in 1989, coaching the Giants’ linebackers from 1989 to 1990, and was defensive coordinator in 1991. He got his first taste of NFL coaching when he joined the Atlanta Falcons as special teams and tight ends coach in 1987. His first collegiate head coaching assignment was at Wake Forest from 1981-86, where his teams compiled a 26-40 overall record. At the time, he was the second-winningest coach in school history. He began his coaching career at Albemarle High School in Charlottesville in 1967. The following year, he moved to Tom Cahill’s staff at Army where he was the defensive coach for the plebe squad and worked with Parcells for the first time in his career. He returned to Virginia in 1970 to serve as the head coach of the freshman team and as the defensive line coach through the 1972 season. From 1973 to 1977 he served as an assistant at North Carolina. He joined Parcells at Air Force in 1978 as defensive coordinator before moving to Texas Tech in 1980 as defensive coordinator.
