ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: COLLEGE NOTEBOOK
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
Mike Berry, who made first-team All-Group AA as a punter and wide receiver, has elected to sign with VMI as a place-kicker.
William Byrd High School coach Jeff Highfill confirmed Wednesday that Berry had picked the Keydets over East Tennessee State and Carson-Newman. North Carolina State and James Madison invited Berry to try out for their football teams as a non-scholarship player.
Berry, a three-year all-state selection in soccer, did not try out for football until his junior year. He made first-team all-state in 1994 as a punter and this past season as a wide receiver, when he had 38 receptions for 713 yards and eight touchdowns.
Berry, a 5-foot-11, 170-pounder, also returned two interceptions for touchdowns and led the Blue Ridge District in scoring with 92 points. He kicked five field goals, converted 23 of 24 extra points and reached the end zone on 26 of 33 kickoffs.
``They've signed him as a place-kicker,'' said Highfill, also the Byrd boys' soccer coach, ``but, with his speed [4.5 seconds for 40 yards] and athletic ability, I wouldn't be surprised to see him play another position by the end of his career.
``He was our big-play guy. He has a great vertical jump, hands and speed. You keep coming back to the fact that he's only played two years of football.''
TOP 25 UPDATE: Defensive tackle Brent Mueller, from Robinson High School in Fairfax, may be the only player in Virginia who takes all five of his visits. Mueller, rated the No.2 prospect in the state by the Roanoke Times, said Georgia Tech would rate the edge - based on academics - if everything is equal after his other visits to Washington, Miami, Nebraska and Auburn.
Tech and UVa are considered the favorites for two players among the eight uncommitted prospects on The Top 25, defensive tackle Carl Bradley from E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg (Tech) and defensive back Cedric Warren from Green Run High in Virginia Beach (UVa).
Tech is in the final two, with Maryland, for Group AAA player of the year Damone Boone, a running back from West Springfield. Academics could be a concern for Boone and Deon Dyer, who has narrowed his choices to Tech, North Carolina and Maryland. Dyer rushed for 301 yards in a playoff loss to eventual Division 5 state champion Hampton.
Big-time wide receiver Plaxico Burress from Green Run is likely to sign with Florida if he qualifies and Michigan State if he does not. ... There are unconfirmed reports that N.C. State has an oral commitment from linebacker Tramayne Simmons from Ferguson High in Newport News and that Stanford will get lineman Dorean Kass from McLean High.
OVERLOOKED: West Virginia has received an oral commitment from Dwayne Potts, a 6-foot, 190-pound defensive back from Norview High School in Norfolk. In an obvious oversight, Potts was not ranked among the top 100 prospects in Virginia by The Roanoke Times.
COACHING CAROUSEL: Duke offensive coordinator John Zernhelt, who began his coaching career at Ferrum College, has joined the staff at South Carolina. That does not reflect on the Duke situation so much as the six-figure salaries that some programs are now paying position coaches.
A-10 FROSTED: Atlantic 10 men's basketball coaches were fuming over Arizona's decision not to travel to St. Joseph's for a Saturday game, allegedly because of weather conditions, although it was sunny and 40 when the call was made Friday.
``That's terrible,'' Temple coach John Chaney said. ``We should blast the NCAA if nothing is done to Arizona. Coaches who do that kind of thing need to be kicked in the a--. If it happened to me, I'd be on my way to Arizona to kick somebody's a--.''
``I said, `What? Is he out shoveling snow,''' St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli said of his efforts to contact Arizona coach Lute Olson. ``If we'd lost by 15 or 20 [to Massachusetts, which beat the Hawks 94-89], they'd minivanned to play this game. That's clearly the reason they didn't come and nobody will ever change my mind.''
EYE-OPENING TRIP: Among the teams stranded by the weather was Winthrop College, whose only dining choice in Baltimore was a strip-tease joint. ``We had dinner there, we had breakfast there, we had lunch there,'' coach Dan Kinney said. ``There was nothing [else] open.''
IDEA PLANTED: Virginia guard Harold Deane, hailed for calling a team meeting prior to the Cavaliers' basketball game with Duke, may have to share the credit. Coach Jeff Jones, on his weekly call-in show Monday, said he told Deane that a players-only meeting might be a good idea.
LARUE A MARVEL: The legend of Wake Forest guard Rusty LaRue only grows. LaRue, the first ACC athlete in 42 years to participate in football, basketball and baseball, will soon add fatherhood to his list of responsibilities.
LaRue's wife, Tammy, is due Sunday. However, if she does not go into labor by Saturday, LaRue will board the Deacons' bus in expectation of playing Sunday against Clemson. Coach Dave Odom said he has urged LaRue to leave the team for as long as he needs, but LaRue said he has prepared for all possibilities.
LaRue, a computer science major, has a 3.3 cumulative grade-point average. He had a perfect 4.0 during the first semester, when, on one Saturday, he broke an NCAA passing record during the afternoon, and then played basketball for the Deacons in an exhibition game that night.
IN THE ODAC: Lynchburg College basketball player Kelly Fackler, a junior from Collinsville, had 14 steals - one shy of the Division III record - last Thursday in a 56-54 victory over Washington and Lee. Fackler hit the game-winning free throws after her last steal with 10 seconds left.
Cam Dyer's 41-point outburst Saturday night against Randolph-Macon represented the second-highest scoring game by a Washington and Lee men's basketball player. Jay Handlan had 66 points for W&L against Furman in 1951. Lewis-Gale Domino's Classic, upset the No.1-ranked team in Division III, Rowan, 81-68.
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