Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 7, 1993 TAG: 9301070085
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Doug Doughty Staff writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
EX-TECH QB PROSPECT TO ENROLL AT DIVISION II SCHOOL
Fred Lassiter, once a promising quarterback prospect for Virginia Tech, will enroll next week at Elizabeth City (N.C.) State.Lassiter, viewed last spring as a challenger to Maurice DeShazo, left Tech during the summer for what he later indicated were academic reasons.
"I told Fred when [he left Tech], which broke my heart, that we wouldn't say anything for six months," said Tommy Reamon, Lassiter's guardian and former coach at Manor High School in Portsmouth. "There were a lot of issues involved."
Reamon said Lassiter never considered transferring to East Carolina, a program with which he has been linked in recent days. For one thing, Lassiter would not have been eligible at East Carolina until 1994, his fourth year out of high school.
Lassiter can play next fall at Elizabeth City State, a Division II program, where he will have three years' eligibility.
Reamon said before Christmas that Lassiter had given some thought to returning to Tech, "but we were looking for a smaller environment academically, preferably closer to home."
Lassiter originally was to have joined his older brother, Kwamie, at Tech. Kwamie Lassiter signed with the Hokies in 1991 out of Butler (Kan.) Community College but failed to meet Tech academic requirements and surfaced at Kansas, where he was an All-Big Eight defensive back this past season.
"If the deal had worked and Kwamie had gone to Tech, I feel Fred never would have left or been in position to leave," said Reamon, in his second year at Ferguson High in Newport News.
Reamon said he had no problems with Tech, although he expressed disappointment at the departure of Hokies assistant Keith Jones, who recruited the Hampton Roads area. Tech head coach Frank Beamer called to explain staff changes to Reamon, who said wide receiver Linwood DeBrew and return specialist Jevon Jackson remain high on the Hokies.
\ MORRIS UPDATE: J.T. Morris, waiting to hear if and under what conditions he will receive a release from Penn State, will not enroll at another Division I-A program until the fall. Morris, a former high school All-America running back at Heritage in Lynchburg, will be allowed five paid recruiting visits.
\ RECRUITING: Maryland has received an oral commitment from running back Chaney Milner from Episcopal High School in Alexandria. Milner, rated one of the top 25 prospects in Virginia by the Roanoke Times & World-News, played in only three games before undergoing reconstructive knee surgery.
The Terrapins also landed Ron White, a 6-foot-6 1/2, 280-pound offensive tackle from Fredericktown, Pa., who was selected second-team All-USA by USA Today. He chose Maryland over Penn State.
Fork Union Academy coach John Shuman says Virginia is a favorite of 6-4, 195-pound quarterback Derrick Byrd, originally from Fredericksburg. Shuman says he thinks Byrd is better than North Carolina quarterback Mike Thomas, who played at Fork Union in 1991.
Shuman says Virginia Tech is in good shape with wide receiver Shawn Scales, one of the few Division I-A prospects in what has been a relatively down year at Fork Union. Scales played running back, quarterback and receiver at Woodbridge High School.
\ ACC HOOPS: Clemson, which took a 9-0 record into Wednesday night's basketball game at Duke, could be the surprise team in the ACC. An easy early season schedule has helped, but it hasn't hurt that the Tigers are shooting 70.7 percent on free throws, up from an ACC-low 59.7 percent last season.
Junior forward Antonio Lang returned to action for Duke this week despite a puncture of the sinus cavity that caused him to miss the Blue Devils' game with Boston University. Lang realized the extent of the injury when he attempted to blow his nose after Duke's game in the Rainbow Classic and his nose started bleeding.
\ SHOOTING BRICKS: Former Virginia center Olden Polynice, expected to be sidelined 4-6 weeks with a broken right hand, was shooting 28-of-73 (38.4 percent) on free throws at the time of his injury. That is the NBA low for players with more than 20 attempts.
\ SAY WHAT?: Washington Post reporter Steven Goff, who wrote a story on budding private-school power Prospect Hall of Frederick, Md., says Curtis Staples told him he transferred to Prospect Hall from Patrick Henry partly at the recommendation of former PH star George Lynch. Lynch played for Prospect Hall coach Stu Vetter before signing with North Carolina.
\ RECUPERATING: Emory & Henry assistant basketball coach Robert Lineburg, a former player at Radford High School and Roanoke College, helped direct the Wasps (8-0) to the championship of the Marietta (Ohio) Shriners' Tournament after head coach Bob Johnson underwent an emergency appendectomy.
\ BACK IN ACTION: Former Cave Spring standout Anthony Cummings scored 49 points and 26 rebounds in his first three games after becoming eligible for Lynchburg College of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Cummings transferred from Louisburg (N.C.) College to Virginia Commonwealth, where he never played because of a problem with his hours.
\ ANOTHER EX-KNIGHT: Cave Spring alumnus Mike Fayed, who scored a career-high 14 points Saturday for Winthrop at Virginia, had 15 on Monday night in a 101-93 victory at Central Connecticut. Fayed had not played at University Hall in Charlottesville since he was a seventh-grader at then-UVa coach Terry Holland's camp.
\ SHRINKING MAROONS: Roanoke College freshman Lori Boyd from Floyd has been lost for the basketball season with a knee injury. The Maroons (4-0 ODAC, 7-1 overall) are down to nine able-bodied players, two of them over 5-8, and start four players who were guards in 1991-92. C4 C1 NOTEBOOK Notebook