It attracted little attention statewide when the state's top-rated junior basketball player Deshawn Painter left Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk to play for the postgraduate team at Hargrave Military Academy.

But, when one of the state's top football prospects opted to do the same, that was news.

Kevin Newsome played quarterback for Western Branch High School in Chesapeake this past season as a junior, when he was considered one of the top two prospects in the state. He subsequently made an oral commitment to Michigan.

Newsome isn't the first player to pass up his senior year of high school to play for the Hargrave postgraduate team, "but, Kevin is the most-prized player from Virginia that we've gotten for his senior year," Hargrave coach Robert Prunty said Wednesday.

Some of the underclassmen who have come to Hargrave for their senior years include current Southern Cal wide receiver Vidal Hazelton and LSU running back Keiland Williams.

"I don't know if it's going to be a trend," Prunty said, "but, if it does, what's wrong with that? Kids do it in basketball all the time to get better."

And, of course, Hargrave has offered a second chance to players who have graduated from high school without the academic requirements to go directly to college, but that was not the case with Newsome.

"This is an honor student, the president of his junior class," Prunty said. "The kid just came to play against better competition. That's it. Nothing controversial. He gets to play against [junior-varsity teams from] Marshall, East Carolina and the University of Tennessee."

Hargrave also has had a regular series with the JV team from Virginia Tech. Former Western Branch coach Lew Johnston said this week that he didn't think Newsome's recruiting was over, which only fueled speculation that the Hokies could become a factor.

"The bottom line is, where the kid goes is his family's decision," said Prunty, who went to Chatham High School when Newsome's mother was at Gretna. "I'm here to support the family. All I know is that the kid is committed to Michigan. I have no part in the recruiting process with this kid. We have not talked about it."

>> Hargrave postgraduate basketball coach Kevin Keatts points out that two of his former players, West Virginia forward Joe Alexander and Florida post player Marreese Speights, have appeared as first-round picks in most NBA mock drafts.

Alexander, for whom Keatts found few takers in 2004, is expected to go in the first 10 picks

Touching base

Winner of the Jesse Owens Award as male athlete of the year in the Big Ten was none other than Iowa sophomore wrestler Brent Metcalf, who was redshirted as a freshman at Virginia Tech in 2005-06.

Metcalf, one of five 2005 Tech recruits to follow coach Tom Brands to Iowa, was named outstanding wrestler at the NCAA championships after capturing the 149-pound division and winning his last 35 matches to finish 35-1.

Brands led Iowa to its 23rd NCAA championship with ex-Hokies finishing first (Metcalf), second (133-pounder Joe Slaton) and third (174-pounder Jay Borschel). A fourth former Tech wrestler, 141-pounder Dan LeClere made the NCAA field but lost both matches.

More grappling

It was no surprise to hear that Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring was involved in the recruiting of two-sport Bassett standout Andrew Miller, who will sign a wrestling letter-of-intent with the Hokies for 2009, then turn to football in the spring of 2010.

Basketball was Stinespring's original choice of winter sports at the old Clifton Forge High School, "but we went up to Fort Defiance and I got dunked on twice by Dell Curry," Stinespring said. "The next winter, I was a wrestler."

Stinespring has beefed up since his Clifton Forge days, when, as an undersized heavyweight, he took second in Group A in 1981.

Going pro

Virginia's top home run hitter, Jeremy Farrell, has become the second UVa junior to sign a pro baseball contract, joining second baseman David Adams, the third-round pick of the New York Yankees. Farrell, a first baseman and son of Boston Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell, was an eighth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Camps

Ex-Virginia football player Dennis Haley, a free-agent signee by the San Francisco 49ers during the offseason, begins his camp today at Salem Stadium. Registration remains open and resumes at 8:30 this morning. New York Jets running back Musa Smith will be assisting Haley, who has other NFL players on a tentative list for the three-day session.

Former William Fleming coach John McGregor, who has been outspoken on the topic of Roanoke Valley football being overlooked by college recruiters, is one of the organizers of a clinic for coaches and players July 8-10 at The Edge Sports Performance Center in Roanoke.

The staff includes Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line coach Larry Zierlein, former St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator Bobby Jackson, and ex-East Carolina head coach John Thompson.