Groh picks up a recruit
Intensity of U.Va. coach pulls Herzlich to join the Cavaliers

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Perennial NCAA power Johns Hopkins offered Mark Herzlich a lacrosse scholarship, but he wants to play football in college. He plans to do so at the University of Virginia.

Herzlich, a 6-4, 245-pound linebacker from Conestoga High in Berwyn, Pa., near Philadelphia, committed to U.Va. this week. The rising 12th-grader chose Virginia over Boston College and also had scholarship offers from North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Duke and Army.
U.Va. and BC were "pretty much neck and neck," Herzlich said Monday night, but he found coach Al Groh's intensity appealing and liked the warmer weather in the South.
Conestoga plays a 5-2 defense that is similar to U.Va.'s 3-4 scheme. Herzlich, who made 145 tackles as a junior, is projected to play inside linebacker at Virginia. He's the sixth player to commit to the Cavaliers for 2006.
Herzlich, who carries a 4.5 grade-point average and scored 1,320 on the SAT, said he grew up watching Marquis Weeks star for Conestoga. Weeks started at safety for U.Va. as a graduate student in 2004. - Jeff White
Richmond Times-Dispatch