Thursday, November 16, 2006
Radford's King living dream with Hokies
Randy King
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BLACKSBURG -- Radford's Scott King is far from most talented player on Virginia Tech's football team. That's OK, he says. After all, he says, no one on the entire roster can touch him when it comes to being a Hokies' fan.
"Oh, man, even my first two years on the scout team ... I was up in the stands during games going crazy!" King says.
"As a kid, I used to come to Lane Stadium for games all the time. Even back then, I felt that even the harder I screamed, the more I put into it, the better the turnout of the game.
"And I think that's how everybody feels. It's the whole program, the fans, the coaches, it's everybody giving their best effort to win a ball game. And that's exciting."
His fervor for Tech football has become even more intense now that he's become a contributing member on the team. Although some may consider it a small role, King is the snapper on the Hokies' field-goal operation.
Talk about some successful operators. Tech place-kicker hasn't missed a field goal all season, going a perfect 14-for-14 through 10 games. While Pace gets 99 percent of the credit, he's quick to acknowledge the snapping work of King and the soft hands of his holder, Nic Schmitt of Salem.
"Coach Beamer says it always starts with the snapper and it's true," Pace said. "Because if King doesn't get the snap where Nick can put it down, then I'm never going to get to it.
"King has stepped in and done a great job. I've never seen him snap one bad."
When informed of Pace's words, King immediately began to pound his hand on the wooden bench in which he was sitting.
"Got to knock on that bench," said King, laughing.
"When is the last time I've had a bad snap? Probably in high school when [current Emory & Henry kicker] Trey Mitchell used to jump my hide all the time."
King said he didn't even realize it when Pace broke the school record for most consecutive field goals made last Saturday against Kent State.
"I had no idea," said King, laughing. "Then, all of a sudden, after the game, Coach Beamer said that Brandon had set the school record. So he's at 19 now? Wow!
"It's exciting to be part of that operation. But there's really no pressure on me. I'm just doing the same thing I've done so many times ... thousands of times, really."
King basically did it all for Norm Lineburg's Bobcats, playing linebacker, fullback, punter and snapping on field goals. He was a second-team Group AA linebacker his senior year in 2003. He an all-region first baseman on the Bobcats' baseball team, plus set records for the shot and discus at Radford.
When he made the short haul to Tech in the fall of 2004, King no longer was a big fish in a little pond. It was just the opposite for the walk-on.
"I was a recruited walk-on ... yeah, Coach [Billy] Hite came over to the high school one day," King said. "I think I was recruited as a fullback. I came in and I was a little slow, so they quickly moved me to defensive line.
"I came in at about 245, 250 pounds, so I wasn't big enough at the time. I needed a lot of muscle and strength, and sure enough, Coach [Mike] Gentry [Hokies strength and conditioning guru] put it on me. He got my strength way up there. So now I'm looking at about 270 and everything has gone way up.
"Then the snapping thing just came down. And it was just a perfect fit. I'm big enough for the field-goal position. I'm not exactly the fastest guy on the field, so I don't have to move at all. I've just got to snap that ball."
King said he realized that if he could refine the art of long snapping a football -- 7 yards to the holder for placement kicks, and 15 yards to the punter -- that it would likely be his best chance of ever getting on the field at Tech. Fifth-year senior Nick Leeson of Abingdon handles the long snaps on punts.
"I was told that a long time ago, plus Radford has had a lot of snappers here," King said. "Especially, Ken Keister [1999-2003], whom I look up to. He worked here for three solid years snapping for field goals and punts.
"One day he invited me up to a snapping camp in Chicago. We went to that together and ever since we've been working with one or another off and on as he kept trying to get into the NFL. He's the most solid snapper I've ever seen. Guys who are strictly snappers can and they do, but it's few [who make the NFL]. Most of time they take a linebacker or a tight end try to make them snap."
King said he'll never forget this year's Sept. 2 season opener against Northeastern in Lane. He got to life a life-long dream that Saturday afternoon.
"I came in thinking that if I ran out of the tunnel one time in my career, then that would be enough for me," King said. "I'm so grateful to be a part of it. And [the snapping] has been even more of a blessing. It has been amazing."
King is the third member of his family to play football at Tech. His father, Bill King Sr., played a little bit for Tech in the late 1950s, and his oldest brother, Bill "Skipper" King Jr., was a two letterman at fullback for the Hokies in 1975-76.
"All that just makes this even more special," King said.
King keeps in close contact with his family and old friends back in Radford. Like everyone else back home, he loves the legendary Lineburg who coached his final game for the Bobcats last Friday.
"It was cool to see him go out with a victory," King said. "I was at the hotel with the team in Roanoke getting ready for Kent State and couldn't get to the game.
"If I had to wrap Coach Lineburg up, I would just say he has a great attitude, he's a great motivator, somebody I've never had a problem going out there and working for. And I see the same thing with Coach Beamer. They both encourage, they motivate you, they pull the best out of you."
King is so grateful to be part of a big-time Division I-A program that he doesn't care if Beamer chooses to ever put him on scholarship or not.
"I tell you what, man, I'm lucky enough to be able to afford college," he said. "So if they want to give the scholarship to somebody else they can ... if they wouldn't be able to go to college otherwise, do it, you know."
Now that's a real fan.
