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

DATE: FRIDAY, January 22, 1993                   TAG: 9301220142
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: From staff reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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LINEMAN COMMITS TO UVA

Matt Link, a 6-foot-5, 255-pound offensive lineman from Tampa, Fla., has given Virginia its sixth football commitment from a player weighing 250 or more.

Link, who made the all-county team in a 22-county area, played offensive tackle and was the deep snapper at Chamberlain High School. He canceled trips to Florida State and Purdue.

"I've been coaching 33 years, [and] I've coached in college," coach Billy Turner said, "and he's as good a kid as Florida and Florida State will sign. I would say he'll be a starter."

Another Virginia target, quarterback Jeff Forde from Staten Island, N.Y., is expected to announce his decision today. Forde, who threw for 54 touchdowns in his career at Curtis High School, has narrowed his choice to UVa, Georgia Tech and Wisconsin.

In other college news:

VMI running backs coach Andre Powell has left the institute to take a similar position at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston. Powell is a 1988 graduate of Indiana and served one year at VMI. Before his stint in Lexington, he served one year at Army and one year each at South Carolina and Indiana as a graduate assistant.

Virginia athletic director Jim Copeland was a no-show Thursday night at a public meeting in Roanoke, disappointing contributors who had driven from as far away as Bluefield.

Copeland, scheduled to discuss a proposed basketball seating plan, was unable to attend because of icy weather conditions on Afton Mountain on Interstate 64. The meeting will be held at a later date.

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