Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 28, 1994 TAG: 9404280037
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Doug Doughty
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Shawn Browne, a 6-foot-6 1/2 forward, will sign with the Hokies today after a recruiting campaign that intensified by the day. Remarkably, hardly anybody knew he existed a year ago.
"I remember coach [Michael] Byrnes getting a phone call on a Thursday," said Scott Shepherd, assistant coach at Hargrave Military in Chatham. "It was a last-minute deal. Shawn rode all the way down here on the bus and arrived the next Sunday, one day before the start of classes."
Browne averaged 15.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.1 blocked shots for Hargrave, which played some of the nation's premier prep-school programs en route to a 25-5 finish.
"He's a straight-out athlete with a lot of raw ability," Shepherd said. "He's only been playing basketball for two or three years, but he's a great, great athlete."
Browne's final choice came down to Tech, Duquesne, St. Bonaventure and Florida. He also was contacted by Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin among others.
Browne, originally from St. Vincent, has not yet qualified academically for a Division I scholarship but is expected to meet the test score required by the NCAA.
He is the Hokies' third signee, joining guard Myron Guillory and post man Keefe Mathews, another spring recruit. Unless a player transfers, Tech has one scholarship at its disposal, which it is likely to offer North Carolina-Asheville transfer David Jackson for at least the 1994-95 season.
\ BELLAIRS' FIRST SIGNEE: VMI's first signee under new basketball coach Bart Bellairs is Nate Shiflett, an athletic 6-5 swingman from Charlotte (N.C.) Christian School, where he played under former North Carolina and Philadelphia 76ers standout Bobby Jones.
Shiflett, who also attracted the interest of Indiana State and North Carolina-Wilmington, was on the recruiting list of former Keydets' coach Joe Cantafio and his staff. Assistant Ramon Williams, retained by Bellairs, continued to pursue Shiflett during the transition.
Shiflett averaged 16.3 points and 6.7 rebounds as a senior, when he was named first-team All-North Carolina Independent. He also led his team in steals, with 80, and was praised by Jones as "an explosive player with excellent range."
\ NEW HIGHLANDER: Mike Petin, a 6-7 forward who played sparingly at North Carolina-Wilmington, has decided to transfer to Radford and will have two years of eligibility beginning with the 1995-96 season.
Petin (pronounced Pete-in) averaged 15.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and three blocked shots in 1991-92 as a senior at Meadowbrook High in Richmond. He played 54 minutes as a freshman at UNC-W and even less this past season, when he had a total of three points and three rebounds.
\ TRANSFERS GALORE: Every day brings word of more Division I players eager to transfer. New additions to the list include Florida State's Maurice Robinson and Jon Kerner, and Maryland's Nick Bosnic.
Robinson, a 6-7 sophomore who is expected to land at Oklahoma State, started the first 22 games for the Seminoles but was relegated to the bench when coach Pat Kennedy went to a four-guard lineup at the end of the season.
Shun Sheffield will leave Tennessee, where he averaged 9.8 points and 3.9 rebounds as a junior. . . . Sidney Coles, younger brother of former Virginia Tech star Bimbo Coles, has decided to leave Memphis State. . . . Kevin Connors, originally from Richmond, is leaving LaSalle.
\ ACC SIGNEES: Wake Forest has taken another step toward fortifying its backcourt by signing 6-5 Steven Goolsby, a national top 100 player from Marietta, Ga. The Deacons also landed 6-8 Antonio Johnson from Niceville, Ala.
Rodney Elliott, frontcourt partner of Virginia signee Norman Nolan at Dunbar High in Baltimore, has decided to play for Maryland. . . . Greg Buckner, a guard from Hopkinsville, Ky., who signed with Providence in the fall, has been given a release to join ex-Friars coach Rick Barnes at Clemson.
Georgia Tech has signed 6-6 Matt Harpring, named Mr. Georgia Basketball after averaging 24.7 points for state champion Marist High of Atlanta. . . . Florida State's lone spring recruit was 6-2 Avery Curry, a former all-state guard from Tallahassee, Fla., who was at New Hampton (N.H.) Prep this past season.
\ WEST ON STUMP: Tommy West, who became the first football coach in Division I-A history to direct a team to a bowl victory without having been on the staff during the regular-season, was in Lynchburg on Wednesday night to address a group of Clemson boosters.
Clemson was also the first ACC team to receive a bowl bid despite ranking last in the conference in total offense and scoring, one reason that the Tigers declined to give former coach Ken Hatfield the contract extension he wanted.
"It won't have to be third-and-12 for us to throw the ball," West, previously the head coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga, said earlier this spring. "That will be the biggest change offensively, throwing the ball when people don't expect it. We can't be afraid to throw on first down."
West said that junior college transfer Dwayne Morgan, who was on campus at Virginia when he was rejected for admission, definitely will start at guard for the Tigers this season. "What a gift!" West said.
\ BIRTH OF A SERIES: Emory & Henry and Clinch Valley will be playing next year in football, at least partly because Clinch Valley's golf coach was ill one day and athletic director Carroll Dale accompanied the Highland Cavaliers to a match against the Wasps.
While on the course with Emory & Henry golf coach Lou Wacker, also the Wasps' athletic director and football coach, Dale learned the schools' football programs were looking for a game on the same date.
by CNB