2005 Football Captains Named

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April 23, 2005

Charlottesville, Va. – Virginia head football coach Al Groh announced prior to the team’s annual spring festival that Tony Franklin, Marques Hagans, Wali Lundy and Brennan Schmidt were selected by their teammates to be captains of the 2005 Cavalier football squad.

Hagans, a senior quarterback from Hampton, Va., enters his second season as the team’s starting quarterback and is the leading returning QB in the ACC. He led the team to eight victories last fall, tied for the most in school history by a first-time starter, and threw for 2024 yards.

Lundy, also a rising senior tailback from Willingboro, N.J., is seventh in school history with 2619 yards rushing. He also holds the modern day school record with 41 career touchdowns.

Schmidt, a senior defensive end from McLean, Va., will serve as a captain for the second year in a row, UVa’s first two-year captain since LB Byron Thweatt in 1999-2000. Schmidt has started all 39 games in his career, the longest streak of starts by a Virginia defensive player in more than 10 years. His 224 career tackles are tops among active Cavaliers.

Franklin, a junior from Cleveland, Ohio, has started 18 games at cornerback in his career, more than the combined total of the defensive backs on this year’s roster. He led ACC cornerbacks with 78 tackles last season, the most ever by a UVa cornerback.

Groh also announced OT Brad Butler, a senior from Lynchburg, Va., and LB Jon Copper, a redshirt freshman from Roanoke, Va., as the winners of the Rock Weir Award as the most improved players during spring practice.