Friday, October 21, 2005
Nittany Lions roar again on recruiting trail
Fork Union player “fastest in 25 years.”
Doug Doughty
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A commitment to Penn State by Virginia’s No. 3-rated prospect, Chris Bell, has only served to reinforce an opinion I had been forming for several weeks.
In recruiting, Virginia and Virginia Tech are two of the teams most likely to be affected by the Nittany Lions’ resurgence.
Certainly, the Hokies and Cavaliers aren’t alone. Three of the players who have committed to Penn State who were offered by Virginia – Bell, Aaron Maybin and Tom McEowen – also had offers from Florida.
Virginia Tech is listed as having offered Bell, although the Hokies weren’t actively recruiting him at the time of his commitment, but they would have liked Maybin, a 6-foot-3, 211-pound linebacker from Ellicott City, Md.
Scratch the Tech and UVa recruiting lists deeply enough and you’ll find Penn State linked with many of the top prospects, including some who originally were cool to the Nittany Lions.
But, don’t think that PSU wasn’t a factor in recruiting when it had four losing seasons in five years (2000-2004) under an aging coach Joe Paterno. That didn’t prevent the Nittany Lions from landing one of the nation’s premier prospects, Columbia, Md., wide receiver Derrick Williams, in time to enroll for the second semester last January.
FORK UNION MILITARY ACADEMY football coach John Shuman says he has an appointment Monday at 10 a.m., with Virginia coach Al Groh, who will take advantage of an open date to meet with FUMA wide receiver Jacoby Ford.
Shuman said that Ford “is probably our best prospect ever. Ever. This young man, Jacoby Ford, is the fastest human being I’ve seen here in 25 years. We’ve just gone through four weeks of the hardest-hitting teams we play and this kid came out with 12 touchdowns – any and every way possible.”
Ford, from Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Fla., is the younger brother of former Florida State running back Davy Ford. When Davy Ford was working out with Dallas, Cowboys’ linebacker Dexter Coakley, a Fork Union alumnus, recommended that he send younger brother to FUMA.
When Jacoby Ford went to Fork Union for a combine in May, he was timed in 4.19 seconds for 40 yards. Virginia assistants Danny Rocco and John Garrett were on hand for the workout and offered Ford on the spot.
“You should put this in the paper,” Shuman said. “Saturday afternoon we were playing and I told Jacoby, ‘Hey, when you return a punt, you can wave ‘bye’ and just keep on going and watch Florida State play Virginia. We let him go at the end of the second quarter. He was allowed to leave the game to go to UVa.”
ANOTHER OF SHUMAN’S wide receivers, Todd Nolen, signed with Virginia Tech as a senior last year at Hampton High School and remains committed to the Hokies.
“Todd Nolen is getting better every day,” Shuman said. “Same as with Biscuit [Marques Hagans] and Muffin [Curry], he had a major, major anxiety attack when he was thrown to the military in the barracks, trying to clean up.
“He had to battle through being disciplined and doing what he was told. He’s settled in and started to progress nicely. Academically, we’re waiting on scores [and] waiting on grades. He’s got a couple of catches, so, so far, we’re pleased with Todd Nolen.”
HARGRAVE MILITARY ACADEMY basketball coach Kevin Keatts said that 6-7 Tyler Smith, mentioned in a recent column as a likely Virginia visitor, will not be making a decision this fall.
“He just recently had been released from his [letter-of-intent] to Tennessee and, without being recruited this summer, he just wanted to take it a little bit slower,” Keatts said. “Until he was deemed a non-qualifier, he had to come here first and go through the clearinghouse.
Keatts said that 6-4 Stephen Kendall from Charlottesville is hearing from a range of schools from West Virginia and the Big East to mid-major programs in the Colonial Athletic Association. Kendall, who committed to UVa before the Cavaliers’ coaching change, has a 3.5 GPA and 1260 SAT that have gotten the attention of Stanford among others.
“Very bright student; he’s in the highest classes we’ve got here,” said Keatts, who said Virginia is not involved with Kendall. “I think both parties are going to move in a different direction.”
WITH ROANOKE TIMES reporter Randy King on the road, yours truly had to take over Friday when Boston College football coach Tom O’Brien did a conference call in advance of next Thursday’s game with Virginia Tech.
There was some suspicion that King ducked the conference call because he once spilled wine on O’Brien.
“Yes, he did,” O’Brien said.
There wasn’t much new since O’Brien spoke Wednesday on the ACC coaches’ teleconference, but he did have a statement on injured defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka, the preseason ACC player of the year.
Kiwanuka missed the Eagles’ game last Saturday with visiting Boston College, won by the Eagles 35-30.
“I’ve got my fingers crossed but I don’t know if he’ll make it on Thursday night,” O’Brien said.
THIS COLUMN HAS never shied away from musical topics (some readers wish it would) and neither have a lot of sports-talk programs in light of the selection of “Don’t Stop Believing” as the Chicago White Sox’ playoff theme song.
Frankly, I keep getting “Don’t Stop Believing” confused with “Don’t Stop,” the Fleetwood Mac song adopted by Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton in 1992, but that’s why I’ve got musical advisors.
Roanoke Times music critic Ralph Berrier is a former sportswriting colleague, but, while I have great respect for Berrier’s views on the New York Yankees, he’s way too bluegrass for me. Plus, he either lost – or destroyed – a rock music CD that I gave him last month.
No, for my musical conscience, I turn to former Lynchburg sports writer (during the “Golden Age” of Lynchburg sportswriting) Tim Hall. Hall, a former Bassett High School golf coach, is the deputy county administrator for Henry County.
(I don’t know why I’m reminded of the sitcom, “Green Acres,” but Hall’s title is not be confused with the position of county agent filled by Hank Kimball.).
In a recent e-mail, Hall expressed surprise that I had not listed Don Henley among the best concerts I had ever attended.
On the night before we covered the 1989 Kickoff Classic at the Meadowlands, Hall and I snuck down to Atlantic City to see Henley, whose warmup act was Edie Brickell (now Mrs. Paul Simon).
“In case you don't remember, Mary and I were on our honeymoon and I was too cheap to fully pay for a honeymoon,” Hall said, “so I used the football game to get the News and Advance to pay for part of the trip.
“You said Atlantic City was just 30 minutes from NYC - then about 90 minutes later, we were looking desperately for a gas station before that great Roanoke Times company car died on the New Jersey Turnpike.”
(“It didn't, but it was on fumes,” Hall said as a matter of clarification Friday).
But, back to “Don’t Stop Believing,” a 1981 hit by Journey.
“I'm man enough to admit that I liked Journey during the Steve Perry days and occasionally still listen to their CDs,” Hall wrote. “Surprised that the White Sox would latch onto that tune these days though. Maybe it can become the official song of the NBA, as part of their new dress code.”
