Cavaliers win the Battle for Phoebus defender

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Published: May 27, 2008

Virginia’s recruiting struggles in the football talent-rich 757 area code have been well-documented in recent years, but perhaps the trend is changing.

At least that is what observers would tend to believe if the past couple of days are any indication.

When LoVante’ Battle, a speedy defensive star from Phoebus High School, announced his verbal commitment to Virginia on Tuesday, it marked the second player from the state’s Tidewater region to pledge allegiance to the Cavaliers in a two-day span. Oscar Smith linebacker/safety Perry Jones committed to UVa on Memorial Day.

“LoVante’ was the best kept secret in the state,” Phoebus coach Bill Dee told The Daily Progress on Tuesday. “He’s a heck of an athlete. He’s one of the fastest kids I’ve ever coached and he’s an intelligent player. Virginia is getting a heck of a player.””

Of equal importance, the Cavaliers are getting a 757 player. At the end of last December’s Gator Bowl, there were only six players on Virginia’s roster that hailed from the Tidewater hotbed: two from Chesapeake; two from Virginia Beach; one from Hampton; and one from Newport News.

Battle, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound linebacker/safety, said that Jones’ commitment to the Cavaliers the day before inspired him to follow suit.

“I didn’t want [Jones] to be the lone ‘757’ player on the early commitment list,” Battle said in a telephone interview en route to his cousin’s graduation ceremony in Georgia. “”We are from the same neighborhood and we are two good teams that play each other every year. [Virginia] will probably have me at safety as well [where Jones is projected to play], so hopefully, we’ll have a good experience together in the secondary at Virginia.”

Battle, who is one of the state’s top sprinters, has been timed at 10.79 seconds in the 100 and 21.9 in the 200. His official 40-yard dash time is listed at 4.45.

But there’s more to this prospect than speed alone. He packs a punch, too.

“He flies around and plays reckless football, like a heat seeking missile,” Dee said. “He’s physical enough to play the isolations, but fast enough to play the perimeter and get to the drops.

“With his speed, LoVante’ could play corner, but he wants to hit people, so I’d say he’s probably a strong safety,” said Dee, who has turned out numerous Division I-A prospects during his reign as coach of the Phantoms. “He’s intelligent, too. We run a lot of coverages here and he is great at adjusting to them.”

While Virginia’s academics standards have cost the program some prospects over the years, those requirements worked in the Cavaliers’ favor in the battle for Battle, whom Dee said carries a 3.4 GPA.

“LoVante’ has always been concerned about his academics, and had a lot of high interest from a lot of different schools,” the coach said. “When we sat down and talked, I asked him that if offered, where would he most like to go and he said it would be Virginia.”

The Cavaliers offered Battle last Friday and he committed Tuesday.

Duke, Syracuse, East Carolina, Marshall, N.C. State, William & Mary and Norfolk State had shown strong interest in the speedster, while Stanford and Illinois had started to jump on the Battle bandwagon.

“Virginia got ahead of everybody and offered him and it just so happened that Virginia was his school,” Dee said. “He was off the radar a little because of some of the other prospects on our team. In my opinion, he’s very underrated. You look at his tape and you can match it up against anybody.”

Dee noted that most of the recruiters didn’t realize that Battle was also a track star, so when they discovered that fact — plus looked at his tapes and saw his grades — interest in the player skyrocketed.

“A lot of people really loved him on film,” Dee said.

Battle, who said Virginia was the first program he fell in love with, said he was intrigued by the school’s architectural design program, in which he intends to major.

“I took art all my life and my grandma used to take me to buildings and new houses, real big houses, and I just liked the design of them and how a house was built,” Battle said. “I did some research on that and found out that Virginia really has a nice program.”

Battle said he became concerned last season, when he was a second-team All-Peninsula District selection, that his teammates were receiving recruiting letters and he wasn’t. When the Cavaliers entered his picture, he became ecstatic.

“It’s my favorite school and close to home, and has my major of choice,” he said.

Football is a big part of it, too, though.

While Dee played Battle at tight end and flex tight end to help stretch opposing defenses, he also used him on end-around plays (five rushes, three touchdowns). But his game is defense.

“He’s definitely a threat on offense, but he’s so important to our defense,” the Phoebus coach said. “He was our leading tackler at inside linebacker where he had over 140 tackles as a junior last season.”

Battle said he learned all he needed to about the basics of football from his aunt when he was just a little kid.

“My strength is speed, technique and hitting,” he said. “My aunt always told me to either bring the pain or get the pain. I don’t want the pain.”

Battle is UVa’s 10th overall commitment and the eighth from the commonwealth of Virginia.