Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 30, 1993 TAG: 9310010059
SECTION: HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
Underwood conveys this trademark with his every move on a football field. At a recent practice, he went about each of his appointed tasks gravely, no horsing around. From job to job, he ran, not walked, arriving resolutely with his dark brow in a studiously straight line.
Getting a few minutes with this quarterback and kicker is no easy assignment, either.
"How long do you need him?" Radford coach Norman Lineburg wanted to know with a frown. "I need him for just about everything we're doing out here."
Radford needs him, and Underwood regards that as a high calling. When he could shake free for a few minutes, he arrived for a conversation straight of spine and erect of chin. The helmet never comes off; the chin strap remains firmly in place.
A young man with a purpose.
"He's very, very serious about what he does," assistant coach Wayne Frye said. "That isn't to say that he's boring - he's a well-rounded kid - but you never see him smiling either during a game or during practice."
Others have observed this trait. One is younger brother Kelly Underwood, a starting defensive lineman as a sophomore for the Bobcats.
"He's nice sometimes and sometimes he's not," Kelly said. "Some days, he just gets mad. He likes for things to go right. In practice, he likes things to be run the way they're supposed to be run every time."
Underwood hadn't had much cause for levity coming into this season. Going 1-9, as the Bobcats did in 1992, is no laughing matter, especially at proud Radford.
Underwood had it rough, no two ways about it. Not only was he a first-year signal-caller on a lackluster team, but he was banged up.
"He hurt his shoulder in our scrimmage against Brookville, and he wasn't able to throw well until almost the end of the season," Lineburg said. "He didn't throw at all during practice."
That didn't keep him out of the lineup, though.
"He showed a lot of courage," Lineburg said.
Underwood brushed off suggestions of his own heroism.
"It really wasn't that bad," he said. "Once the shoulder started healing, I got a shot to help with the pain. Still, the shoulder was sore all the time. I got used to it, though.
"I think the coaches worried about me hurting it again more than I did.
"I don't like for something little to slow me up or slow up the team."
Most people wouldn't have called an injured throwing shoulder something little, but Underwood had other concerns.
"He went through a lot last year," a source familiar with the team said on condition he not be identified.
Radford had player problems last year that it's rarely had before. Not only was the team losing, but many of the players had assumed a poisonous outlook. Underwood was not among them.
"He took a lot of [pressure] on his shoulders," the source said. "It wasn't his fault that we were losing. But he thought, `I'm the quarterback. I'm supposed to turn this thing around.' "
Underwood did bounce back, though, playing splendidly in the last game of the year. Radford lost to Graham but remained in the game all the way.
Radford has been much better this year, and Underwood says it's because of an attitude reversal.
"Everybody wants to turn this thing around," he said.
Underwood's career has been a monument to versatility. In addition to playing quarterback, he also punts and place-kicks. As a sophomore, he was an All-New River District cornerback on a team that was a state Group AA Division 3 semifinalist. He injured a shoulder while he was playing safety in the preseason scrimmage last year.
That was his last official defensive act for the Bobcats. The risk of reinjury and his loss as a quarterback was too much for Radford's coaches to stomach.
"I miss defense," he said. "As a sophomore, that was one of my favorite things to do, play defense."
Lineburg will never say never about Underwood's chances of playing defense again.
"We'd prefer he didn't," Lineburg said.
Underwood has made tremendous progress considering that he's played organized football only since eighth grade. Before that, he had played soccer and basketball.
"I wanted to see what football was like," he said. "I'd always liked it - I came to the games and everything - but I had never played it."
As quick study and a good athlete, Underwood was a worthy package.
"He wants to get better," Frye said. "He'll come to [coaches] and ask what he can do to get better."
He's been plenty good in Radford's first four games. Passing, he has completed 37 of 60 with one interception (.616 completion percentage) for 458 yards and five touchdowns. As a punter, he has a 39.1-yard average. He has scored two touchdowns, made 12 point-after kicks and added a field goal.
Underwood, a soccer-style kicker, frequently booms kickoffs into the end zone and is said to have range approaching 50 yards for a field goal. Underwood has never kicked one that far in a game, but he has had few chances, especially last year. He's considered a Division I-A prospect as a kicker and as a punter.
"We're interested in him doing both for us," one recruiter said. "You don't see somebody doing both very often. It would be a real plus because you get two positions in one player."
Sounds like a good deal. Two positions, one player. The intensity is a bonus thrown in.
by CNB