Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 11, 1993 TAG: 9311110048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
... Can run and throw ... School's single-season touchdown pass leader ... one of the nation's top-ranked passers ... Likes adult movies.
Well, he does like adult movies, but no, you won't find him hanging with Pee Wee Herman. The kind DeShazo likes expose something different: His competition in the Big East Conference.
"I'm the infant, and they're the adults," Tech's junior quarterback said of several senior passers in the Big East. "I'm the youngest of 'em all. I try to compete with each of 'em."
That means the video-watching for which he is noted hasn't prepared him only for opposing defenses.
To DeShazo, guys like Boston College's Glenn Foley, Syracuse's Marvin Graves and West Virginia's Jake Kelchner are box-office draws.
"I watch each quarterback," he says. "Some things I do better, some things I don't do as well. I watch how they look off [receivers]; I watch how they carry themselves.
"Marvin, he's got the chill. He's laid back. Foley's hyper. Kelchner's a running back. [Miami's Frank] Costa, he's in a good system. [Ryan] Collins will be one to reckon with. [Rutgers' Bryan Fortay and Ray Lucas], they're a good combination... they don't really gripe and go at each other's throat."
And DeShazo? He's the nation's second-rated passer (behind Kelchner), in control of the highest-scoring offense in Tech history.
And he's very little like he was last year. When he wanted to be let loose, Tech was holding him back and the Hokies were losing. He had suitcases full of worries: reading defenses, escaping pressure and the like. This year, he checked that baggage on a one-way flight, destination unknown.
"Fun," he said. "The game is fun again. There's not a lot of pressure on you now. You know the system. If guys come off the weak corner, you just look at him [and say], `Come on.' When they bring the blitz, you've got to like it. [The coaches] give me a lot of leeway here."
DeShazo can be a clown-around guy on game day, but he has some vinegar in him, too. He remembers standing on the sideline Saturday at BC when the Eagles' first play, from their 9-yard-line, was a 37-yard pass.
"[Foley] looked right at [our] sideline and he gritted his teeth and said, `Bring it on,' " said DeShazo, who said he did the same thing after throwing a go-ahead touchdown pass to Steve Sanders against West Virginia this season. "I just laughed. I remember myself doing it. You've got to be [cocky]. All it takes is a bad day and everybody thinks you're garbage. And it's fun to see a quarterback get hyper, too."
DeShazo's ascent this year has been at full speed. Pegged as the next Shawn Moore when he arrived at Tech, he finished his first year as a starter ranked next-to-last in the Big East in passing efficiency as Tech went 2-8-1.
When he passed for 853 yards in the last four games in 1992, Tech's coaches could see it coming. So could DeShazo, because he knew how much he had learned.
"Last year, I think, still bothers me," he said, referring to his exclusion from preseason discussion of the Big East's best. "They didn't think I was going to do as well. I said, `Oh, well, we'll see what they think after this year.' "
The data:
His 20 touchdown passes are the most in a season by a Hokie quarterback, and he's the only Tech passer to have thrown for four touchdowns in a game twice (Maryland and Temple this year). He's most happy about his completion percentage, up to 57.1 from 47.5.
Tech's 335 points with two games left are 30 more points than the next-best total. DeShazo, passing and running, has accounted for 138 points.
The Hokies have gained 500 or more total yards five times this year and should break the school's single-season mark for total yards (they need 292 more). DeShazo probably will finish this season fourth on Tech's total offense chart and passing yardage chart.
He also has rushed for 276 yards (before subtracting 168 yards lost, most on sacks). Beamer has called him the best triple-option quarterback in the country. Syracuse's Graves is a pretty good runner and passer, too, which makes Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni a credible source on option quarterbacks.
"Maurice DeShazo is making big, big plays," Pasqualoni said. "He may be the finest option quarterback we've seen. He's so big and strong and can really throw the ball as he scrambles or rolls."
And from Boston College coach Tom Coughlin: "You hope you have the ability to pressure and contain him. You'd like to get somebody in front of him [on rollouts]. But if he doesn't do it that way, he has the ability to keep the ball on the option and break the corner that way."
Last year, DeShazo would bolt out of the pocket at the first hint of pressure and more often than not wouldn't throw. This year, he said, he tries to live by offensive coordinator Rickey Bustle's mantra: "Throw it like a man."
"He knows what I can do," DeShazo said.
There may be more surprises. The former Bassett High School star always could improvise; he's become more dangerous because he finally knows the playbook.
"I'll probably have to do more than I was asked to do [against BC] yet to come," DeShazo said. "Things just didn't go well [at BC]. Sometimes we ran a play, a player went the wrong way, and you've just got to make something happen."
Keywords:
FOOTBALL
by CNB