FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- It was more than four years ago when Eddie Royal showed up at Virginia Tech on a recruiting visit, but he can still hear the words of Hokies coach Frank Beamer like they were spoken yesterday.

"Coach Beamer was preaching to me, 'do the right thing, on and off the field, and you'll have success,' " Royal recalled. "I tried to follow what he said and everything has worked out for me."

No one can argue that one.

In fact, Royal has been so proficient at doing things the right way at Tech that fellow wide-receiver sidekick Justin Harper has labeled him "Mr. Perfect."

"Eddie, he just seems so perfect in every way," Harper said.

"You just don't see too much go wrong with Eddie anywhere. He's not a big, off-the-field-issue guy. In the classroom, he's always been good, he just got his degree.

"He's a good man. Great personality. ... I couldn't tell you a time he lied to me. A straight-up guy who's down to earth and just a real person with you."

And, oh, by the way, the guy's a real player, too. The 5-foot-10, 180-pound dynamo from Herndon, Va., has been quite a "Royal" pain to a slew of Hokies foes the past four seasons.

Just check the numbers. Royal heads into his college finale -- No. 5 Tech's clash with No. 8 Kansas in Thursday's Orange Bowl -- as the ACC's all-time leading punt returner (1,295 yards) and has an outside shot at becoming the Hokies' career leader in pass receptions.

His 118 career catches rank fourth on the list, one behind fellow senior wideout Josh Morgan, and eight short of current Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Ernest Wilford, the school's all-time leader.

In addition to his 12 career TD receptions and three punt returns for scores, Royal has scored two TDs on flanker reverses.

Not enough? Well, he also has thrown for a touchdown, catching a lateral pass from quarterback Sean Glennon and then hitting tight end Sam Wheeler of Blacksburg for a 53-yard scoring strike in last year's Chick-fil-A Bowl.

"It's hard to find a guy who is capable of doing so many different things to make big plays that can turn a football game," Beamer said. "Eddie Royal has been exactly what we thought he'd be when he decided to come join us at Virginia Tech. I'll never forget watching the tape from his high school career. On about every play, the guy was scoring a touchdown, and we're talking plays from all over the field."

Royal, the Group AAA player of the year in Virginia in 2003 when he and Glennon led Westfield High to a state title, impressed Beamer & Co. immediately upon his arrival on campus.

When the Hokies faced No. 1-ranked Southern California in their 2004 season opener in Landover, Md., there stood Royal as Tech's primary return man on the game's opening kickoff in front of 91,000-plus fans.

"The first play of my freshman year, the first play of the season for us, the No. 1 team in the country," a grinning Royal recalled.

"I had a pretty good return. I said to myself, 'I can do this, I can keep up with these guys,' and that's when my confidence started to build.

"A lot of people say I looked nervous on TV because they put the camera right in my face, but I wasn't nervous at all. I was ready to go out there and prove to everybody that I could play with these guys."

He hasn't stopped since.

"I expected a lot from myself when I got here," said Royal, who long ago won over the media that covers the Hokies with his introspective and loquacious interviews.

"Graduating off the field, that was a big thing for me. I wanted to make sure I finished up the right way."

Now he's got one more game left in a Tech uniform before heading to what appears to be a sure-shot NFL career.

"A win over Kansas ... that's all I want," Royal said.

That would be perfect.