Carter Brown welcomed a phone call he received last Thursday from the University of North Carolina, but not nearly as much as the one he got on the eve of signing day.

Brown, recruited by the Tar Heels as a senior at Glenvar High School, chose to attend Valley Forge (Pa.) Military Academy in order to prepare himself for the jump to Division I-A.

Then, after carrying four times for 98 yards and a touchdown in his first game for Valley Forge, Brown suffered a torn ACL before he could finish another game.

"I was kind of lost," he said, "kind of depressed."

Carolina had not offered him a scholarship out of high school, but he was academically qualified and could have gone as a "preferred" walk-on.

Contact was spotty until the Tar Heels called in early February and said the walk-on spot was still his.

As a senior at Glenvar, Brown (5 foot 7, 215 pounds) rushed for 1,802 yards and scored 26 touchdowns. He was a first-team All-Timesland and first-team All-Group A selection.

Brown was not on Carolina's original 105-man preseason roster, but, when another player left, Brown got the call Thursday. He was in Chapel Hill, N.C., by Friday.

With his arrival, there are now 10 players from Roanoke Valley high schools who are on preseason Division I-A rosters.

"My only goal is to contribute as needed," Brown said.

>> The word out of preseason camp at Illinois is that William Fleming graduate Dere Hicks has been running with the first-team defense at cornerback. Like Brown, Hicks took a postgraduate season at Valley Forge.

>> Former Fleming assistant coach Larry Bishop, now at Glenvar, says that ex-Colonels standout Darryl Gresham remains enrolled at Florida and is working toward regaining his spot on the Gators' football team. Gresham left the program shortly after Florida captured the national championship.

>> Seventh-year Virginia coach Al Groh on freshman long snapper Danny Aiken from Cave Spring: "We're impressed with what Danny's done. As had been our expectation, he's got the most velocity on the ball coming back that we've had since we've been here."

Change of scenery

Corey Snell, a first-team All-Timesland selection for Hidden Valley in 2005, has accepted a partial basketball scholarship from Virginia State.

Snell began his college career at Shepherd College, a Division II program in Shepherdstown, W.Va., but was injured in the seventh game of the 2005-06 season.

Snell spent last season with the Virginia Heat, a travel team directed by former Bassett High School coach Jason Niblett that played prep schools and junior colleges. Snell hopes to get an extra year of eligibility as the result of his 2005-06 injury; that would give him three seasons at Division II Virginia State.

>> Tony Spradlin, a first-team All-Group AA wide receiver for Salem's 2005 state championship team, has transferred from Concord University, a Division II program in Athens, W.Va., to Division III Christopher Newport.

Spradlin also made first-team All-Timesland in 2005, when he had 44 receptions for 857 yards and seven touchdowns. He had nine catches for Concord.

More recruiting

Chris Spinner, one of the stars of Liberty High School's 2003 Division 3 state championship team, has transferred to Liberty University from Tennessee-Martin.

Spinner, a 6-2, 256-pound redshirt junior, is projected as a linebacker by the Flames.

Spinner is one of three former Minutemen on the Flames' roster, along with linebacker Ian Childress and 6-5, 250-pound tight end Chris Luck, who is entering his third season as a starter.

Connections

R.J. Mattes, who might be the top offensive lineman on Virginia's recruiting board, is the son of former Cavaliers' defensive lineman Ron Mattes.

One of the marquee players of Virginia's first bowl team, Ron Mattes played with Seattle, Chicago and Indianapolis during a seven-year NFL career.

R.J. Mattes, a 6-7, 283-pounder from Robinson High School in Concord, N.C., has the Cavaliers in a final five that includes North Carolina, N.C. State, South Carolina and Clemson. N.C. State head coach Tom O'Brien was a UVa assistant when Ron Mattes was at Virginia.

Local update

One-time William Fleming standout Calvin "C.J." Bannister has been in the Canadian Football League since signing with the Calgary on June 10.

Bannister, who originally went to camp with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent, returned a missed field goal 110 yards in his first Stampeders scrimmage and quickly moved into the starting lineup.

Bannister, who played at Hampton University from 2003-06, was rated the best one-on-one defender to come out of the Division I-AA ranks by the NFL Draft Report.