Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 14, 1990                   TAG: 9007140041
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RIVERS HOPES TO RUN DEEP FOR HOKIES

In the fall, Rivers will try to grab some passes for Hokies football coach Frank Beamer.

Rivers, whose scholarship must count against the football team's limit even if he plays football and basketball, said Friday that Beamer has welcomed him to the football team.

Two football grants became available when a pair of Tech recruits failed to qualify under the NCAA's Proposition 48 requirements for freshman eligibility. Tech does not admit Prop 48 non-qualifiers.

E.C. Glass High School linebacker Chip Ferguson, who had committed to Tech in January, said Thursday that he failed to qualify under Prop 48 and decided to attend Norfolk State. Two sources at Tech said Mike Tennant, a linebacker from Glen Mills School in Glen Mills, Pa., also did not meet Prop 48 requirements.

Stacy Henley, a receiver from Potomac (Md.) High School who committed to Tech before he qualified academically, has met Prop 48 guidelines and is eligible to play in the fall.

"He told me I got the scholarship," said Rivers, a 6-foot-5, 211-pounder who was a highly touted wide receiver at Berkeley High School in Moncks Corner, S.C. "I'm looking forward to it, looking to have fun."

Beamer could not be reached for comment Friday. But he said recently he thinks Rivers, who will be a junior in the fall, can learn to play wide receiver again without too much trouble.

Rivers said he doesn't expect to start at the top of the depth chart. Tech has two returning starters, Marcus Mickel and Nick Cullen, at wide receiver in addition to tested backup Bo Campbell and second-year players such as Michael Sturdivant, DeWayne Knight and Kevin Bennett. It's likely Beamer would use Rivers in certain situations, such as for alley-oop passes when Tech is near the goal line.

"I kind of expect myself to probably start from scratch," said Rivers, who said he is supposed to receive his Hokies playbook Friday - about 3 1/2 weeks before summer workouts begin. "They want to get me started ahead of everyone else."

In basketball, Rivers made the Metro Conference all-rookie team in 1989, and last season he averaged 6.2 points and 7.1 rebounds. The fact that his scholarship now counts as a football grant means that Allen has another grant available.