Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 26, 1990 TAG: 9007260012
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Doug Doughty
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
While Sparrow was leading Woodrow Wilson High of Portsmouth to an undefeated record and the Division 5 state championship, Lassiter was toiling in relative obscurity across town at Manor High School.
Sparrow enters his senior year with glossy statistics, including nearly 4,800 yards in career passing offense and 48 touchdowns. Lassiter is coming off a junior year in which he passed for 1,100 yards and six touchdowns for Manor, which was 4-6.
Yet, at least one rival coach has said he "would almost take Lassiter [over Sparrow] because of his versatility."
Manor coach Tommy Reamon, who played seven seasons in the World Football League and National Football League, makes no secret of his feelings on the matter.
"Lassiter is a passer; Sparrow is a thrower," Reamon said. "I've been around the best and there's no question who can go further. Lassiter is the spitting image of Shawn Moore, Tony Rice and Major Harris. He has a tremendous instinct, when he is in trouble, of knowing what to do with the ball."
Before coming to Tech this week, Lassiter had been to camps at Clemson, Tennessee and North Carolina. "And, at all three," Reamon said, "Lassiter was one of the best quarterbacks - if not the best quarterback."
Lassiter is not related to Virginia Tech wide receiver Greg Lassiter, but Reamon's son, Dwayne Knight, is a redshirt freshman wide receiver for the Hokies. Reamon said Fred Lassiter (6 feet 2 1/2, 185 pounds) is interested in Tech, Oklahoma, Clemson, Tennessee, North Carolina, West Virginia and Syracuse. Penn State and Notre Dame are interested in him as an athlete.
"He's a Division I prospect as a wide receiver or defensive back, too," said Reamon, who is Lassiter's guardian. "He plays man-to-man [in the secondary] whenever we need him."
Reamon said Lassiter has scored better than 700 on the Scholastic Aptitude Test, as required for freshman eligibility. Reamon denied that Lassiter would not visit any of the same schools as Sparrow, as has been rumored, but Lassiter has not shown great interest in Virginia, believed to be one of the early leaders for Sparrow.
Ray Savage, a Kodak All-American and All-ACC football selection for Virginia in 1989, was released by the Los Angeles Rams, who said he did not pass his physical. Savage, a defensive end, was selected in the eighth round of the free-agent draft.
Wake Forest backup quarterback Dale Earnhardt was given a jersey, No. 3, to match the stock car of his namesake, the driver. Earnhardt, the football player, is a non-scholarship player. Another walk-on quarterback for the Deacons, Jim Kemp from Bethesda, Md., is the son of former professional quarterback and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp.
North Carolina football coach Mack Brown designated 6-foot-7 Todd Burnett, a rising junior from Lake Braddock High in Burke, Va., as the Tar Heels' No. 1 quarterback at the end of spring drills. . . . Mike Mooney, a starting offensive tackle for Georgia Tech, stands 6-7 and weighs 344.
Memphis State basketball signee Anfernee Hardaway, who at one point was considered the No. 1 prospect in the country, failed to meet Proposition 48 guidelines for freshman eligibility.
Other prominent recruits who will not be eligible include Dwayne Morton and Anthony Cade with Louisville, Mike Smith and Robert Phelps of Providence, Luther Wright with Seton Hall, Jamie Brandon with Illinois, Darrin Hancock with Nevada-Las Vegas and Lee Green with St. John's.
Cade, Brandon, Morton and Wright were ranked among the top 10 prospects in the country by recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons. Hardaway, Hancock, Smith and Phelps were in the Top 20.
Louisville has lost three of its six basketball signees to Prop 48, with a fourth likely to follow. All will enroll at Louisville except for Cade, from Oak Hill Academy, who will attend Sullivan Junior College in Louisville. Also, Cardinals' junior Jerome Harmon will miss at least the first semester after being dismissed for academic reasons.
Virginia Commonwealth basketball signee Johnny Walker reportedly has not met requirements for his associate's degree at Chipola (Fla.) Junior College and may end up at Florida, his original destination out of high school. . . . Maurice Sanders, second-leading rebounder for Marshall in 1989-90, transferred to Texas A&M after the Thundering Herd was placed on probation.
West Virginia wrapped up its basketball recruiting year by signing 6-8, 225-pound Ricky Robinson from Roselle, N.J. Robinson signed with Rutgers in 1989 but surfaced at Canterbury (Conn.) Prep when he did not meet Proposition 48 guidelines for freshman eligibility. Robinson did not play at Canterbury for "disciplinary reasons."
N.C. State, which enters the 1990-91 season with eight scholarship basketball players, has added 6-1 walk-on guard Adam Fletcher from Raleigh, N.C. New coach Les Robinson was reluctant to offer any scholarships because of a school-imposed 12-scholarship limit for the next two years.
"We're really at 11 because Jamie Knox is injured," said Robinson, who signed only one late recruit, Marc Lewis. "If I had 15 scholarships, I'd have signed three guys, but you don't want to take a pig in a poke. We lose only two players next year, so why delay the rebuilding process? We're sort of in a Catch 22."
Radford native Ritchie Davis, a former Hampden-Sydney football player, has joined the staff at VMI as a part-time assistant with responsibilities for the secondary. Davis most recently was on the staff at Fork Union Military Academy. . . . One-time Virginia Tech linebacker Chris Cosh has joined the staff at Nevada-Las Vegas.
Ferrum College's baseball team finished second in Division III in pitching with a 2.72 earned-run average and fielding percentage at .968. All-American Heath Burcher was third in home runs (14) and RBI (45). Junior reliever Scott Clawson was fourth in ERA at 1.29.
Sue Tyler, who coached Maryland teams to NCAA championships in women's lacrosse and field hockey, has been appointed interim athletic director at the school. Tyler, 43, has been acting associate athletic director under Lew Perkins, who left to become the AD at Connecticut.
by CNB