Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 1, 1993 TAG: 9304010046
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HOKIES LOSE 2 ON DEFENSE, GAIN A FULLBACK
Clippings from Virginia Tech spring football practice:One-time starting defensive end Billy Swarm is off the team, as is promising defensive tackle Joel Chapman; and former Salem High School standout Shaine Miles has a new position - fullback.
The details:
Swarm was 10th on the team in tackles last year with 48 and had three of Tech's 33 sacks. Tech coach Frank Beamer said so long to Swarm after the 6-foot-3, 234-pounder missed two workouts.
"He wasn't sure he wanted to play," Beamer said. "He missed a practice and a weight workout, and at that point he thought he'd like to come back. I told him he was no longer on the team."
Beamer said he will recommend that Tech not renew Swarm's scholarship. Swarm would have been a junior and may have started at defensive end this fall. Swarm said he posted a 3.1 grade-point average last semester and wants to walk with his graduating class; besides, he said, he'd grown football-weary.
"If I were to stay on the team, I'd probably hurt them more," he said. "I want to see them do good."
Swarm said he had met with Beamer and asked for time to decide whether to play; Beamer told him if he missed the next scheduled practice, that would constitute his decision. Swarm missed it, and "the next day, he said I had made my decision."
Lack of discipline in Tech's program was an issue at the end of the Hokies' 2-8-1 season last year, but Swarm may have been the first example of a change.
"He didn't give me that much time," Swarm said. "But I knew, with the new coaching staff, he's pretty much going to draw the line with all the guys."
Chapman, a 6-4, 281-pound sophomore-to-be who had nine tackles in limited action last year, left the team for reasons mostly academic.
"I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels," he said. "More or less, I wasn't a good student to begin with, and football really wasn't helping. . . . It's best for me to work on my academics."
Chapman, whose playing time probably would have increased this fall, said he'll probably transfer to a more affordable school closer to his Charleston, W.Va., home.
Miles, the 1991 Group AA defensive player of the year as a linebacker, moved to fullback about three practices ago, Beamer said. Senior Mike Hodges is a question mark after surgery for a torn thigh muscle last fall, and Beamer wanted to spruce up a position currently headed by former walk-on Joe Swarm (Billy's brother).
"He's got some punch there and he's got some size," Beamer said of 6-1, 217-pound Miles. "He'll pick up the position well. He's caught our eye a couple times."
Miles was a linebacker at Salem and played tight end on offense.
Other player moves include J.C. Price from defensive end to tackle, Hank Coleman from linebacker to defensive end (Swarm's old spot) and Bill Conaty, who redshirted last year, from center to tackle. Price, who missed three games with an ankle injury last year, showed he could be one of Tech's most effective linemen.
"We need to be strong [at tackle] for everything else to fall into place," Beamer said.
\ THE DEFENSE: Beamer likes the aggressiveness shown by his defensive players, who are learning a 4-3 scheme after years of wide-tackle-six sets. The moves of Hank Coleman and Lawrence Lewis to what the Hokies call a "stud end" is part of Tech's attempt to get faster. Coleman, technically one of the four down linemen, is 6-1 and 231 pounds and runs a 4.57-second 40-yard dash; Lewis is 6-1, 223 with a 4.7 40 time.
"We're really playing with two down linemen, five linebackers and four secondary guys," Beamer said. "You get a lot of speed on the field. You really notice that as we go to the ball. You get better speed, and you don't have as many long plays against you."
As expected, Beamer and new defensive coordinator Phil Elmassian have moved P.J. Preston from linebacker to free safety, Ken Brown from outside to inside linebacker and Stacy Henley from cornerback to strong safety. "That's looking good right now," Beamer said.
\ TAILBACKS: Departed Vaughn Hebron and Tony Kennedy likely will be replaced by Dwayne Thomas and redshirt freshman Tommy Edwards from Radford, although Beamer said former walk-on Ranall White was playing well and Ken Landrum of Lynchburg "probably had his best scrimmage [Tuesday] since he's been here."
\ ETC: Tech has eight more scheduled practices before its spring game, 7 p.m. April 17. . . . Center Jim Pyne missed Tuesday's scrimmage with a pulled hamstring. . . . Hodges, guard Mike Bianchin (shoulder) and cornerback William Yarborough (shoulder) will miss spring practice.