Virginias top player names leader

Hampton (Va.) Phoebus cornerback Phillip Brown has been one tough guy to reach over the last three months. Now that we've tracked him down, he's named his leader.

"Right now I'm leaning toward Virginia," said the 5-foot-11, 185-pound cornerback, ranked as the No. 1 player in the state of Virginia. "They've been recruiting me the hardest over the last few months and I really get along well with my recruiting coach, coach (Mike) London. He's from Hampton and he and I talk about everything, not just football. He's a cool guy."

Brown had long favored Virginia Tech, but now he's a Cavalier lean.

"My mom really likes coach London as well and she loves the academics at Virginia and academic support," he said. "She's always liked Virginia. I'm not ruling out Tech or anyone else until I take my visits."

Brown goes to Maryland this weekend for his first official visit and then has either Clemson or NC State the next weekend.

"I'm trying to schedule NC State and then maybe take Clemson later," he said. "After that weekend I have UVA on Jan. 17 and then I have Tech on Jan. 24. That same weekend is a test weekend as well so I'll probably take it after I take my test and go from Saturday to Monday if I can. I also have West Virginia set for Jan. 31 but I might take either Clemson or NC State or not take that one at all. I won't announce until Signing Day, but I could commit a few weeks before then."

Brown's teammate, linebacker Xavier Adibi, has long been considered a Virginia Tech lean. Wouldn't the duo want to continue their winning ways together?

"We have to do what's right for each of us and we know that," he said. "Xa isn't looking at Virginia at all, so if we ened up going to school together it would be at Tech or Maryland probably. But that's not something we talk about. We're each doing our own thing."