Two more UVa players arrested

Rachanna Dixit / The Daily Progress
Published: July 28, 2008

Two University of Virginia football players were arrested during the wee hours Saturday at a downtown Charlottesville nightclub, after admitting to stealing beer from a cooler, authorities said.

Junior offensive lineman Will Barker and redshirt freshman lineman Dave Roberts were picked up at Club 216 on Water Street at 3:45 a.m. Saturday. Both face larceny charges. Roberts, 19, is additionally being charged with being a minor in possession of alcohol and with using a fake ID.

Barker, 21, is expected to be a starter on the offensive line after being named a second-team freshman all-American by the Sporting News in 2006.

The incident is the latest in a string of pains for the Cavaliers, just weeks after UVa quarterback Peter Todd Lalich, 20, was charged with underage possession of alcohol.

2008 has been a rough year for the team. In January, the team announced that four of its players - including two starters - were no longer enrolled at UVa. Sources at the time told The Daily Progress that academic reasons were behind the dismissals. The four were sophomore quarterback Jameel Sewell, junior cornerback Chris Cook, redshirt freshman wide receiver Chris Dalton and redshirt freshman linebacker Darnell Carter.

The next month, cornerback Mike Brown was arrested and accused of stealing stereo equipment and trying to sell it on eBay. Brown appeared in Charlottesville General District Court July 24, where he waived his right to a preliminary hearing. The case will be heard by a grand jury in August.

In April, redshirt freshman J’Courtney Rydell Williams was arrested on a credit card theft charge. He pleaded guilty in May, receiving a sentence of four days in jail. Head coach Al Groh removed him from the team shortly after his arrest.

Lalich’s case was continued until July 21, 2009, after appearing in Charlottesville General District Court last week. If he stays out of trouble, the charges will be dropped at that point.