DATE: Saturday, September 13, 1997          TAG: 9709130676

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                   LENGTH:   72 lines

HERE'S ONE CAVALIER LOOKING FORWARD TO RICHMOND GAME AFTER FOUR YEARS ON ON THE BENCH, U.VA. PUNTER ANXIOUS TO PLAY AGAINST ANYONE.

There will be no nationally-ranked opponent or ESPN cameras in Scott Stadium today, but Virginia's Frank Rotella doesn't care.

After waiting four years to get in his kicks, the first-year graduate student is as excited about playing Division I-AA Richmond as he was for last week's opener against Auburn.

``I've waited a long time to get this opportunity and I'm enjoying it,'' said Rotella, a punter from Upper Saddle River, N.J.

``I wouldn't have come back for grad school if not for the chance to play. It's been a goal of mine.''

Rotella is not bitter because he had to wait so long to punt for the Cavaliers.

For the last three years he played behind Will Brice, whom many considered the best punter in college football.

``I had a lot of friends telling me I should transfer to another school where I could play sooner,'' Rotella said.

``I enjoyed being a student at Virginia too much to do that. Besides, if you are going to back up anyone, it might as well be the best in the country.''

Brice and Rotella became close friends and each passed on advice to the other.

``I wasn't getting into many games, but I learned a lot from Will, and he's still helping me,'' Rotella said.

``We talk on the phone often and he tells me some of the tips that he's picked up playing in the NFL.''

But even when Brice, who now punts for the St. Louis Rams, graduated last spring, there was no guarantee Rotella would replace him.

The Cavaliers had signed Mike Abrams, an all-state punter from South Carolina who had a 74-yard punt during the state playoffs.

Rotella won the starting job in preseason camp and Abrams probably will be red-shirted.

``I just figured if it was meant to be for me to play, then it was meant to be,'' Rotella said.

``That was my little philosophy along the way, you know. Thank God, it was meant to be and I ended up getting the spot.''

Punting was one of the question marks facing Virginia coming into the season, but Rotella punted well against Auburn.

He averaged 36.6 yards despite intentionally dumping a couple of short ones near Auburn's goal line.

``I am not worried about average. I just want to help the team however I can,'' he said.

Coach George Welsh said he's seen improvement in Rotella.

``He is better than he was, but the main thing is for him stay consistent,'' Welsh said.

Welsh's only criticism of Rotella in the Auburn game was a punt that rolled off his foot and headed out of bounds prematurely.

``I sensed the rush coming in from my right side and I just wanted to get the ball away because we were deep in our area and I ended up hooking the ball a little bit,'' Rotella recalled.

``We were on the left hash-mark, so it didn't have much room and it went out of bounds. It's just something you have to learn from.''

Welsh is hoping all of his players learned and improved from the 28-17 loss to a more experienced Auburn team.

While Richmond is not in the class of Auburn, Welsh said the Cavaliers have to respect the 2-0 Spiders.

``They are a veteran team and have a couple of players on defense that we would like to have,'' Welsh said.

He isn't sure what to expect from the Spiders offensively since he only has the film of their opening win against Colgate.

``They ran a lot of option last year, but no option at all against Colgate and I don't know what they did against UMass,'' Welsh said.

Virginia offensively will try to improve on a running game that netted only 93 yards against Auburn.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu