Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 3, 1990 TAG: 9006030066
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Not that he wanted to.
"I can score," said the 6-foot-3 guard, "but I'll take a defensive assignment before I'll take an offensive assignment."
To Corker's future coach, Frankie Allen, that attitude is bliss. And Allen has seen Corker at work. In one state tournament game, Allen said, Corker stifled Southwest High's Reginald Manuel, brother of former Kentucky player Eric Manuel.
"He really just locked him up pretty good," Allen said. "He has real good quickness and really plays hard-nosed, tough defense."
Corker, from Columbia High School in Decatur, Ga., is one-fourth of Allen's third recruiting class, which includes 6-2 guard Jay Purcell from Blacksburg High and 7-0 Erik Wilson from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College. The Hokies also have received a commitment from 6-9 Johnny Tooley, who said he will transfer to Tech from Arkansas-Little Rock and be eligible in 1991-92.
Few Tech fans celebrated when Corker signed in November, mainly because Corker wasn't a highly publicized prep player with a long list of honors. And Tech wasn't about to give Corker a billboard.
"He didn't get exposure because he didn't go to that many camps - partly because I kind of discouraged him [from going], to my advantage," said Tech assistant coach Tic Price, who recruited Corker. "I knew if everybody saw him, they would be involved with him."
Price added, with tongue in cheek: "I thought he needed to work in the summer."
Price said Corker went to a McDonald's camp in Asheville, N.C., and that was it. Corker said he didn't make the summer rounds because he didn't have the money to pay for the trips and camp fees, but said it wouldn't have mattered if other schools came after him. Once he visited Tech, he said, he didn't set foot on another campus.
That was partly because he had known Price since his sophomore year, when Price recruited Corker's teammate Michael Curry for Tennessee-Chattanooga. The more Price saw, the more he liked. Then, when Allen hired Price at Tech . . .
"I just went all-out after him," Price said. "I probably put more time in than anybody."
After Corker signed, he got some publicity. He helped lead Columbia to a 27-5 season that ended with a loss in the state championship game, and he finished the season with averages of 18.1 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists. Included in his hot state tournament stretch was a 24-point, 10-rebound, 14-assist game, and he helped Columbia to a No. 2 ranking in the state at season's end. He was named first-team all-state by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and he was one of 12 on a Georgia 18-under AAU team that played against a Soviet squad in May.
"The talent was there, and it went on and blossomed," Allen said.
Corker said when Columbia entered the playoffs, he knew he had to score more than he had during the regular season.
"Basically, I knew what I could do," he said. "I didn't think anybody in the state could stop me straight-up, man-to-man."
Indeed, he scored more. But an 18-point effort in the 7-AAAA regional championship game wasn't enough to beat Southside of Atlanta, which also beat Columbia for the state title and finished the season as the state's top-ranked team.
Corker said he shot poorly in the regional game, and Columbia coach Phil McCrary said his team hit only 37 percent of its field-goal attempts. Still, it led by four with about a minute left, only to lose the lead and the regional title. A photo of Corker taken after the game shows a teary-eyed player and a teary-eyed mother with a consoling arm around her son.
No doubt Brenda Corker has had practice in such situations. Another son, Yusuf, will be a freshman on the Naval Academy's team next year, and a third son, Wallace, will finish his career at Columbia High next year.
"She's my inspiration; she keeps me going," Corker said. "If it wasn't for her staying on me, telling me to keep faith in God, never give up, I wouldn't be where I am today."
McCrary describes Corker as a workaholic. That work ethic might come in handy at Tech, where he may be asked to play both guard positions. Corker, though, said he expects to play mostly at point guard, which suits him just fine.
"I like the point because the point has control, and when it comes down to it, the ball always goes through him," Corker said. "The point guard controls the game, and sometimes even controls the players."
by CNB