Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993 TAG: 9309020011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
It was a question and answer that Cornell Brown, if reputation becomes reality, could immortalize.
A few days before Virginia Tech's football opener, coach Frank Beamer was asked if defensive end P.J. Preston's unexpected departure left the Hokies "stuck" starting Brown, a freshman.
"I wouldn't say `stuck,' now," Beamer said. "He's probably the least of our worries. I think he's a great player and he'll perform very well."
Brown, 6 feet 2 and 225 pounds, adorned with a high school All-America tag and an apparent gift for playing the game, will join free safety Antonio Banks as the first true freshmen to start on defense for Tech since Mike Faulkner in 1975. Banks has been in school since January; Brown arrived in August with his class.
Brown's biggest fear? Messing up on the first play Saturday against Bowling Green at Lane Stadium. Otherwise, he seems unaffected. As Preston continued missing practice because of an undiagnosed illness, Brown refused to anoint himself the starter - even though he had been No. 2 behind Preston on the depth chart. He still doesn't think of himself as No. 1.
"Come this Saturday, that'll be the real shock," Brown said.
Brown said he thinks he will have a good year "because I'll be playing against a lot of guys that'll be underestimating me. I figure they'll say, `Well, a freshman coming in, he'll be timid and everything.' "
If that happens, Brown's brother Reuben said, it will be Tech's opponents who are shocked. Reuben Brown, a starting offensive tackle for Pittsburgh, said his brother is one of the best players he's ever seen.
"That's not just because he's my brother. I've seen the guy play," Reuben said.
Both graduated from E.C. Glass High School in Lynchburg, and both were recruited as defensive players. Cornell arrived at Tech as a linebacker, but when the upperclassmen reported, he moved to end.
He fits the mold in Tech's new 4-3 defense: light, but strong and fast. Although ends coach Rod Sharpless says Brown gives Tech "depth" - a description usually reserved for third-teamers - those who know Brown say he won't be overwhelmed.
One sign of Brown's self-confidence: He went against his mother's wishes that he sign a letter of intent to attend Virginia.
"He's very independent," Oglessa Brown said. "He's not the one saying, `Go jump off the bridge.' He says, `I'm not going. You go.' "
Says Cornell: "I listen. But when it comes down to it, I make up my own mind."
Brown is an analyzer, his mother and brother said. Though Cornell claims to benefit from Reuben's experience and tips, Oglessa says Cornell is more the student of the game.
Reuben says Cornell looks up to him, but he offers a different story about who helps whom.
"He's more cerebral," said Reuben, a senior. "He catches things - if something happens one time, he's on it the next time and knows what to do. I'm from the old school: Run in there and hit people as long and as hard as you can.
"When I was in high school and he was in ninth grade, he was watching me play [from the sideline]. He would say, `I think you can get a sack if you run this move on this guy.' It worked a lot of times."
Cornell doesn't reserve advice only for family. Oglessa said he would spread wisdom - and encouragement - among teammates at E.C. Glass, sometimes calling fellow Hilltoppers on Friday afternoons to holler pep talks across the wires.
He admits with a laugh that he has become known as a locker-room joker at Tech, where his new teammates swear he's the real thing. Brown said he hasn't relied only on enthusiasm and athletic ability.
"I think it's probably technique," he said, when asked why he has been effective. "At this level, power is different, and speed, everybody has speed."
Starting tackle Chris Barry sees something unusual in Brown.
"He plays like he's had experience at this level," Barry said.
Brown certainly doesn't sound intimidated going into his first collegiate game.
"The first play and everything, I'll be a little scared," he said. "After that, it'll all go away. It'll be just like I've been playing for three years."
If he plays well at Tech, it won't be long before hangers-on come around - which is exactly what Reuben worries about. Reuben recently was reinstated to Pitt's team after a tumultuous off-season in which he and a teammate were charged with selling crack cocaine; the charges were dropped. Later in the spring, Brown was involved in an incident at a Pittsburgh restaurant; he later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct and received six months' probation.
Along with advising his brother to play hard, go to class and graduate, Reuben has another message.
"Watch out for the people he hangs around with," Reuben said. "Everyone wants to be your friend, everyone wants to be nice to you, and you can't see further than that. Take a little time, watch out [who your friends are]. It could come back and haunt you."
Said Cornell: "I keep that in my head. I'm just taking care of my business."
Cornell's job probably will include lining up opposite Reuben when Pitt and Tech play Sept. 11 in Pittsburgh. Oglessa Brown is renting a van for about nine people to make the trip. Cornell and Reuben, whose relationship includes plenty of friendly trash-talking, gleefully look forward to the meeting.
"I'm sure it's going to be some fireworks out there," Reuben said. "It's not going to be like one of those brother deals where I'll take it easy on him."
"It's going to be wild," Cornell said. "I'm sure he'll have some stuff he hasn't shown me yet."
by CNB