Ex-DePaul assistant basketball coach Ramon Williams wasn't out of a job too long.

Williams, a standout player at William Fleming High School and VMI, was named to the Ohio University coaching staff on June 24.

Williams fills a vacancy created when ex-Bobcats assistant Jamaal Walker joined the staff at Arizona.

John Grove is entering his second year as the Ohio U. head coach after spending four seasons as an assistant at Ohio State. The Bobcats led the Mid-American Conference in 3-point accuracy last season.

Williams, a prolific 3-point shooter at VMI, served as an assistant at VMI and Richmond before following former Spiders boss Jerry Wainwright to DePaul.

Williams and fellow Blue Demons aide Gary DeCesare seemingly were victims of DePaul's 9-24 record this year.

Groce said in a statement released by Ohio U. that Williams "has clearly demonstrated his ability to coach, recruit and connect with student-athletes."

Williams' Chicago recruiting ties were seen as a factor in his hiring.

Recruiting

With the word last weekend that 6-foot-1, 305-pound defensive lineman Evan Hailes had committed to Penn State, seven of the top eight players on The Roanoke Times' list of the top junior football prospects in Virginia already have announced their college choice.

Four of the eight have committed to Virginia Tech, and the Hokies also were in the running for Hailes, who had 20 tackles for loss as a junior for Group AAA Division 6 state champion Oscar Smith of Portsmouth.

 Pittsburgh has taken an oral commitment from C.J. Peeler, a running back from Broad Run High School in Loudoun County. West Virginia and North Carolina also made scholarship offers to Peeler, who rushed for 1,100 yards and scored 18 touchdowns as a junior despite missing three games with a broken elbow.

Nineteen rising seniors from Virginia already have made oral commitments to Division I-A football programs, including defensive lineman A.J. Scott from Robert E. Lee in Staunton. Scott has committed to Marshall. Eleven I-A programs have taken commitments from Virginia players, but UVa is still waiting for its first.

Around the ACC

An unlikely candidate, 25-year-old ex-baseball player Dave Shinskie, has surfaced as one of the options for Boston College in its search for a starting quarterback for the 2009 season.

The Eagles' starter for most of the 2008 season, Chris Crane, was a fifth-year senior. When Crane was injured, the Eagles turned to Dominique Davis, but Davis announced he would transfer after being suspended for academic reasons.

BC's newest QB recruit is Shinskie (6-foot-4, 215 pounds), who passed for more than 6,000 yards in his career in Mount Carmel, Pa., but elected to play professional baseball after being selected by Minnesota in the fourth round of the 2003 draft. He was playing Double-A ball in Toronto's organization when he was released this year.

Boston College's string of bad luck at the quarterback position continued when Saline, Mich., signal-caller Joe Boisture, who had committed to the Eagles in March, said he had changed his mind and would sign with Michigan State in 2010.

Future Hokie shines

Virginia Tech football recruit and Group AAA championship triple-jumper David Wilson carried 12 times for 181 yards and four touchdowns as Team USA hammered France 78-0 in the American Football Junior World Championship quarterfinals in Canton, Ohio. Wilson's teammates include two Virginia signees, offensive lineman Oday Aboushi and safety Corey Lillard.

Non-revenue

Nominees for ACC men's and women's athlete of the year included discus thrower Yemi Ayeni and swimmer Mei Christensen from Virginia and hammer thrower Marcel Lomnicky and hurdler Kristi Castlin from Virginia Tech. North Carolina nominated Ty Lawson over his basketball teammate, Tyler Hansbrough.

The new baseball coach at Maryland is 29-year-old Erik Bakich, an assistant coach at Vanderbilt for the past seven seasons who was the recruiting coordinator when the Commodores had classes ranked No. 1 in the country in 2005 and No. 2 in 2008. The Terps had inquired about Radford coach Joe Raccuia, who declined an interview request.

Local update

Robbie Andrews, a VCU pitcher from Alleghany High School, has not given up a run in nine relief appearances for the Forest City (N.C.) Owls in the Coastal Plain League, which features wooden bats. Andrews has been credited with eight saves and has struck out 13 batters in 10 ¹₃ innings. Forest City is 25-3.

On the mend

John Feinstein, an accomplished sportswriter and author who served as Radford University's commencement speaker in 2008, is said to be doing well after undergoing septuple bypass earlier this week. Feinstein, an avid masters' swimmer, has spoken in Roanoke at the annual book and author dinner sponsored by the Roanoke Academy of Medicine Alliance.