Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 7, 1991 TAG: 9103070139
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Doug Doughty
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Crittenden, the leading all-time scorer for Tech's soccer team, will report for the start of spring football practice March 30.
Crittenden, a junior, has two years of football eligibility. He will get a look at wide receiver, defensive back and place-kicker.
"A lot of people don't think I'll be out there," said Crittenden, who played running back at Annandale High School, where soccer was a spring sport. "But I'm serious."
Crittenden is so serious that he is willing to give up his final year of soccer eligibility if he makes the football team. Tech's football staff is so serious that it is willing to commit a scholarship.
The moment Crittenden starts practicing football, he counts against the scholarship limit in that sport.
"Ray has always had a desire to play a sport where he has a pro future," Tech soccer coach Jerry Cheynet.
"I think it's important that he get it out of his system. If he makes it, it's his gain and my loss. If he doesn't make it, he'll be a happy camper in soccer. I'd rather have him do it now than come to me in August."
Cheynet said there is a possibility that, if Crittenden impresses the Tech football staff as a kicker only, he could play both sports next fall.
Crittenden set a record when he scored 15 goals for Tech's soccer team in 1988, and he has 31 goals for his career. He has good size at 6 feet 2 and 180 pounds, and he ran 40 yards in 4.42 seconds Tuesday when pro scouts were in Blacksburg.
Crittenden made Tech's basketball team as a walk-on in 1988-89, when he scored a total of four points in four games.
"I thought soccer was my first love," Crittenden said. "It's what I played when I was growing up, but the opportunities in soccer will be there regardless of what I do in college. People told me I had a future in football, and now I guess we'll find out."
\ P.J. Preston, an outside linebacker from Martinsville, was the fastest of eight Tech football players who were clocked at less than 4.5 seconds for the 40. The 6-2 Preston, who played this past season at 210 pounds, ran a 4.32.
Walk-ons Scott Jones, a cornerback from Virginia High in Bristol, and Cedrick Reynolds, a wide receiver from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., were timed in 4.4 seconds. Two of Tech's faster players, wide receiver Marcus Mickel and free safety Damien Russell, did not run.
Radford graduate Wooster Pack, who played inside linebacker this past season, will move to a down position - defensive end - when the Hokies begin spring practice March 30. Dwayne Knight, a wide receiver, is switching to outside linebacker.
\ When the pro scouts were at Virginia last week, All-America wide receiver Herman Moore dispelled any questions about his speed when he ran times ranging from 4.43 to 4.52 in the 40. Moore, a former ACC high-jump champion, also soared 41 inches in the standing vertical jump. The machine that tests leaping ability doesn't go beyond 40 inches.
\ Virginia's top football signee, quarterback Aaron Sparrow from Woodrow Wilson High in Portsmouth, did not meet Proposition 48 guidelines for freshman eligibility when he took the Scholastic Aptitude Test for the second time.
"I still have another opportunity to take the SAT," Sparrow said. "I did much better the second time than I did the first time. I'm getting close and I still think I will make it."
Actually, the SAT will be given three more times this year - March 16, May 4 and June 1. UVa is waiting on Sparrow and linebacker Al Shirley from George Washington High in Danville, and Tech is waiting on three recruits - Trenton Bass, Fred Lassiter and Tewon Stevens. Shirley and two of the Tech signees are said to be at 690.
The minimum NCAA requirement is 700.
\ Oak Hill Academy center Ben Davis, a McDonald's and Parade All-American, will be eligible to play basketball at Kansas after making 700 on the SAT in January. Teammate Junior Burrough, a UVa signee, is just shy of 700 and will take the test next week at his home in Charlotte, N.C.
Burrough did not make either the McDonald's or Parade All-America teams even though he will be rated among the top 15 prospects in the country by Bob Gibbons, considered the nation's foremost recruiting analyst.
"I think it is the most gross of all injustices that Junior is not on those teams," Gibbons said. "It just reinforces one of my pet peeves, which is, if you don't fork over $300 and go to various camps, you're not going to be recognized."
It is more likely that the people who pick the All-America teams were unwilling to select three players from one school. Davis and Oak Hill guard Cory Alexander each made the Parade and McDonald's teams.
\ Washington and Lee track coach Norris Aldredge has received the Cormack Award, which annually recognizes a collegiate coach in Virginia for his or her contribution to the sport.
The award is named for Walt Cormack, who coached track at VMI for 30 years. Under Aldredge, a Natural Bridge native, W&L has not finished lower than second in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference since 1984.
by CNB