ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 13, 1997 TAG: 9704140149
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY THE ROANOKE TIMES
Hokies quarterback Jim Druckenmiller is attracting the most attention from the NFL.
A record number of football players from Virginia Tech and Virginia could be selected April 19-20 in the NFL draft and still leave room for some disappointed teammates.
At least nine players from each school have been mentioned in predraft publications. Tech and UVa both could have first-round picks for the first time since 1992, when offensive linemen Ray Roberts from UVa and Eugene Chung from Tech went 10th and 13th, respectively.
That also was the year in which a record five Tech players were drafted. Virginia's high was four in 1991.
Since then, the draft has been cut from 12 to seven rounds, which makes the interest in the state's two NCAA Division I-A football teams more unprecedented.
It isn't every year a coach like the Miami Dolphins' Jimmy Johnson brings his whole staff to Charlottesville or that Johnson and Mike Ditka, new coach of the New Orleans Saints, comes to Blacksburg in the same week.
Now that the Saints have signed free-agent quarterback Heath Shuler, they aren't likely to draft Tech's Jim Druckenmiller. There still seems to be little question Druckenmiller will be the first quarterback selected.
At Virginia, the question is which of the Cavaliers' outside linebackers will go first, James Farrior or Jamie Sharper. No two UVa players have been drafted in the first round in the same year, which is a strong possibility April 19.
There was speculation during the winter that ACC player of the year Tiki Barber of Virginia might be selected in the first round, but the stock of Barber and his twin brother, Ronde, dropped after the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis.
The Barbers, national-caliber track athletes at Cave Spring High School, could not crack 4.5 seconds for 40 yards at the combine. Tiki Barber recently had a 4.37 clocking with Tampa Bay head coach Tony Dungy in attendance.
Ronde Barber, who passed up his final season of college eligibility to test the NFL waters, is projected as the third-to-last pick in the sixth round by draft analyst Mel Kiper in his latest update.
Joel Buchsbaum, writing for College and Pro Newsweekly, projects both Barbers as second-round picks.
When Seattle traded quarterback Rick Mirer to Chicago, Druckenmiller emerged as a Seahawks target. Then Seattle signed 40-year-old Warren Moon as a back-up for John Friesz.
Arizona is a possibility for Druckenmiller with the ninth pick, but it's more likely he will go to Atlanta, which picks 11th. Surprisingly, Gordon Forbes of USA Today wrote this week that Druckenmiller was an early- to mid-second round pick.
Tech's only previous first-round choices have been Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Bruce Smith, the first pick overall in the 1985 draft, and Chung.
Almost all of the forecasters agree free safety Torrian Gray will be the second Tech player picked, most likely in the third round. However, there is a wide range of opinion on Hokies tight end Bryan Jennings.
``He just didn't get as many opportunities in the passing game as you might expect, which is why he remains a bit of an enigma,'' said Kiper, quoting a scout.
Jennings was listed as the No.4 tight end by USA Today, but was 18th among tight ends in Kiper's ratings. USA Today had Tech's Jay Hagood ninth among offensive tackles, but Kiper had him 26th.
Kiper listed Hagood and Jennings among his 30 most-overrated players, along with Ronde Barber.
``At the college level, Barber took a lot of chances in coverage, many of which resulted in picks that swung the momentum in his team's favor,'' Kiper wrote. ``In the NFL, though, his lack of size, top-drawer recovery speed and superior leaping ability will cause him problems.''
Kiper rates Barber behind UVa's other cornerback, Joe Rowe, who did not start until his fifth year. Along the same lines, the pros seem to prefer 6-7 1/2, 268-pound Jon Harris over the Cavaliers' other defensive end, Duane Ashman, who had much better numbers.
And then, there's Farrior. He might go in the first 15 picks, but never made first-team All-ACC.
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshots) Druckenmiller, Tiki Barber. color. Graphics:by CNB2 maps by RT. 1. UVA draft hopefuls. 2. Va. Tech draft hopefuls. KEYWORDS: MGR