Friday, December 09, 2005
College scuttlebutt doesn’t avoid FUMA, Hargrave coaches
Hokies, Cavs both entertain prospects
Doug Doughty
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Fork Union postgraduate football coach John Shuman said that he had a dream Thursday night that Al Groh had offered him a job on Virginia’s football staff.
“If VMI doesn’t want me, maybe Al would take me,” Shuman said. “I’d be the best assistant he ever had. And, I wouldn’t have to move.”
Besides, if Shuman took a college job, his new employer might have the inside track on son Mark Shuman, a 6-foot-5, 210-pound eighth-grader.
“He makes his JV debut this afternoon at 4 o’clock,” Shuman said. “I’m projecting 12 points and five blocks. Who knows, we might be turning pro next year. What’s that league they have in Roanoke, the NBDL?”
Shuman said he was interviewed for the VMI position when Cal McCombs was hired in 1998 but looks back on it as “a token interview.” McCombs was fired earlier this month.
“They had an Army guy, Jim Shuck,” Shuman said. “Then, they had an Air Force guy [Cal McCombs]. Isn’t it about time for a VMI guy? Only one guy can turn it around and that’s me.”
It should be noted that, when Shuman talks, a lot of the time he has tongue in cheek.
Among the names being mentioned in connection with the VMI job are Jim Reid, a former head coach at Richmond and Massachusetts, and Jeff Durden, a former VMI assistant who has been the offensive coordinator at James Madison for the past two seasons.
There also has been talk about Bill Stewart, who was the VMI coach from 1994-96 and directed the a 1995 offense that was the highest-scoring in Keydets’ history. Stewart resigned after he was accused of making a racially insensitive remark, but he has resurrected his career as quarterbacks coach and kicking-game coordinator at BCS-bound West Virginia.
“He’s a good one,” Shuman said.
Shuman’s counterpart at Hargrave Military Academy, gregarious Robert Prunty, also has been mentioned as a possible college coaching candidate. There is reason to believe that Prunty has caught the attention of UVa’s Groh, who has at least four positions to fill.
Prunty and Shuman had scouting combines on back-to-back days this week and attracted big crowds Monday and Tuesday despite the threat of snow.
Head coaches Rich Brooks of Kentucky and Ted Roof of Duke were among the spectators at Hargrave, where top prospects include wide receiver Vidal Hazelton from Staten Island, N.Y., and 6-foot, 225-pound running back Keiland Williams from Lafayette, La.
Virginia Tech has extended a scholarship offer to Williams, but LSU is going to be hard to beat for his services.
Southern Cal is in good shape with Hazelton, who will be at Penn State this weekend on an official visit. Also headed to Penn State for a visit this weekend is Harrisburg, Pa., running back LeSean McCoy, with whom Hazelton bonded during a trip to Tech earlier in the fall.
Prunty maintained that Hazelton is wide-open and is still considering Virginia.
“That’s what he says,” said Prunty, who indicated that Hazelton met with UVa assistants this week.
Virginia also is hot on the trail of a coveted Fork Union wide receiver, Jacoby Ford, from West Palm Beach, Fla. Shuman said that Virginia receivers coach John Garrett was in Ford’s home Thursday night, an indication that Garrett, who normally stays in the office, has hit the road following the departure of four UVa assistants.
The Cavaliers were expected to have five prospects on campus this weekend, including another receiver target, Bayonne, N.J.’s highly regarded Kenny Britt; teammates Bruce Campbell and James Nixon from Hyde Leardership High School in New Haven, Conn., and wide receiver Brent Vinson from Phoebus High School in Hampton. Campbell, a defensive lineman, is considered one of the top prospects in New England.
Rivals.com is reporting that Vinson will announce his college decision Monday, which doesn’t look too good for Virginia, considering that his recruiter for Virginia, Danny Rocco, was one of the assistant coaches who left UVa. Vinson has expressed interest in Virginia throughout the process, but every top Phoebus player has gone to Tech in recent years.
This will be the big weekend of the pre-Christmas period for Tech, which was in Jacksonville, Fla., last Saturday for the ACC championship game against Miami and did not have any prospects on campus last weekend.
Uncommitted visitors to Blacksburg this weekend will include defensive end John Graves from Richmond’s Meadowbrook High School; Highland Springs linebacker Jarrell Miller, and Carteret, N.J., defensive lineman Jason Adjepong. Former Hampton wide receiver Todd Nolen, a 2005 signee who has spent the fall at Fork Union Military Academy, also is scheduled to be in Blacksburg, along with committed Sanford, Fla., defensive end Budd Thacker.
Preseason All-American Drew Gloster, a wide receiver from Good Counsel High School in Wheaton, Md., was at Tech on Thursday and will be at Maryland this weekend. The Hokies have been his stated leader since the summer but Maryland has tried to sell him on the H-back role played by first-team All-ACC selection Vernon Davis.
The Hokies suffered a recruiting setback Thursday when Suitland, Md., linebacker and Tech target Navorro Bowman said he would enroll at Penn State in January. A possible Virginia casualty, previously committed Wayne, Pa., linebacker Mark Herzlich, will be at Boston College this weekend on an unofficial visit.
