Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 5, 1993 TAG: 9310050141
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JIM DUCIBELLA LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Medium
Too few members of the NFL scouting brain trust thought Kirby would come this far this fast. They watched him during his senior year at the University of Virginia and saw hands that were too hard, eyes that were too weak and an upright running style that made his body too large a target.
He began 1992 as a legitimate Heisman Trophy candidate, but by the time the boys with the stopwatches were finished dissecting him, he was given a 60 percent chance of making an NFL roster.
Although they had major questions at running back, the Dolphins and coach Don Shula waited until the third round to select Kirby.
"It was tough," Kirby said recently, the closest thing to an admission of bitterness he'll make. "I was definitely upset. There's no way possible I should have been down there that low. But I am happy in the situation I'm in."
Kirby doesn't say exactly when he switched from being a guy who was a Steelers fan because it aggravated his friends at Tabb High School to a bona fide Miami fan. He does say that it was long before draft day. "I looked at the Dolphins as the No. 1 situation for me, and it was where I hoped to go. I liked the way they used their running backs and with Bobby [Humphrey] out with a knee situation, I thought it was a place I could do the things I'm capable of doing."
Early this season, that's catch passes out of the backfield and block like a bulldozer, with an occasional run from scrimmage on first and second down.
Against Buffalo on Sept. 25, Kirby got his first start. He caught six passes for 91 yards and rushed nine times for 31 yards.
Entering Monday's game against the Washington Redskins, Kirby was second to Irving Fryar on the Dolphins with 14 catches for 143 yards. He was third in rushing with 14 carries for 34 yards, a none-too-spectacular 2.4-yard average that is upsetting to no one.
"He's been excellent from the moment he stepped in here," Shula said. "We liked him coming out of college, and when he was still there in the third round, we thought we just had to take him. We're glad we did."
Shula told Kirby that his immediate future was as a third-down receiving back. He also told the rookie that his performance would determine how much or how little he played.
"From the get-go, they pretty much started working me," Kirby said. "There's been no big adjustment period. This is the big league where I want to be, and it's up to me how long I'm going to stay."
In the South Florida media, much has been made of Kirby's background. That he was among the most recruited high school football players in the country five years ago. That he was so revered as an athlete in high school that there are two streets named in his honor. That the Virginia state legislature held a "Terry Kirby" Day.
And that so many people could have been so completely wrong about his prospects in pro football.
Kirby handles it humbly. After all, he need only look at the baseball career of older brother Wayne, who played a decade in the minor leagues before getting a look with the Cleveland Indians, to know just how lucky he has been.
"What I am going through now is tough, but it's nothing compared to what Wayne went through," Terry says.
There is admiration in Terry Kirby's voice when he speaks of his brother. Maybe that's why he corrects those who ask him about the two streets named for him back home.
"It's really only one," he says. "The other one's for the family."
by CNB