Cavalier Corner

February 2015

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game (at home against William & Mary) as well as the team's ACC slate. Virginia is set to host Syracuse, Duke, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, while traveling to Louisville, Miami, UNC and Pitt. UCLA finished the year with a 10-3 record and was No. 10 in the Associated Press top 25 after beating Kansas State 40-35 in the Alamo Bowl. The Fighting Irish, meanwhile, beat LSU 31-28 in the Mu- sic City Bowl, giving them an 8-5 record. Boise State capped a 12-2 season with a 38-30 win over Arizona in the Fiesta Bowl and fin- ished the year at No. 16 in the AP poll. I n a d d i t i o n t o t h e strength of UVa's non-con- ference slate, the opponents in 2015 include the No. 8 (Georgia Tech) and No. 24 (Louisville) ranked teams in the final AP poll of the season. The Cavaliers will return a lot of talent next season, including the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year in safety Quin Blanding and one of the deepest wide receiving corps in the league. Blanding was named a Freshman All-American by 247Sports, ESPN.com, the Football Writers Association of America, Phil Steele, Scout.com, Sporting News and USA Today, plus was tabbed as the National Defensive Rookie of the Year by Scout.com, after finishing the regular season No. 2 in the ACC and No. 17 in the nation with 10.3 tackles per game (123 stops). London said the Wahoos have to produce more in the red zone and the offense has to be able to run the ball with more consistency in order for the team to take another step forward. "It's going to be a challenging schedule, but we dealt with the ACC's toughest schedule the past two years," London said. "We are confident in our players and our players are confident in each other. We know we have the players and the pieces to improve." Two of the newest pieces will be newly hired assistant coaches Dave Borbely and Chris Beatty. After former offensive line coach Scott Wachenheim took the head coaching job at VMI in the offseason and tight ends coach Tom O'Brien decided to retire, London had two open posi- tions on his staff to fill. He went out and hired Borbely to coach the offen- sive line following stints at Stanford, Notre Dame, Louisville and UVa (under Al Groh). London also was able to bring in Beatty, who previously coached at Wis- consin, Vanderbilt and Il- linois. He'll coach the running backs while Larry Lewis, who coached running backs in addition to being the special teams coordinator for the past two years, will move to tight ends this spring. "I think both of these are great hires for the Uni- versity of Virginia," London said, "because they both understand the story of Virginia. Borbs was here previously and he understands the culture and the state. "And Chris, he's such a dynamic coach and recruiter and someone that frankly we've had to go up against on the recruiting trail for far too long. He understands the in-state recruiting side, and I also think he'll bring a lot to our offensive meetings." ◆ 2015 UVA FOOTBALL SCHEDULE Home Team (2014 Record/Bowl) Sept. 12 Notre Dame (8‑5/Music City) Sept. 26 Boise State (12‑2/Fiesta) TBD William & Mary (7‑5) TBD Duke (9‑4/Sun) TBD Georgia Tech (11‑3/Orange) TBD Syracuse (3‑9) TBD Virginia Tech (7‑6/Military) Away (2014 Record/Bowl) Sept. 5 UCLA (10‑3/Alamo) TBD Louisville (9‑4/Belk) TBD Miami (6‑7/Independence) TBD North Carolina (6‑7/Quick Lane) TBD Pittsburgh (6‑7/Armed Forces)

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