Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 27, 1994 TAG: 9408180017
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
UVa has lost four players with remaining eligibility, including Antonio Prosise, a former Group A player of the year. Prosise, redshirted as a freshman in 1993, was the No.3 tailback in the spring.
Offensive lineman Greg Powell was another academic victim, as were wide receivers Andre Gilbert and walk-on Tommy Vaughan, who had 17 receptions in three spring scrimmages.
Sources said Prosise will be in school in the fall and that the others are eligible to return at a later date.
Gilbert started one game - when UVa opened in a three-receiver set against Clemson - but finished the season with only one reception. Powell, a converted tight end, spent most of the season on the Cavaliers' two-deep roster.
In Powell's absence, UVa is down to three full-time tackles, including redshirt freshman Doug Karczewski. The prospective starters are Chris Harrison, trying to return from a fractured leg that cost him the entire 1993 season, and converted defensive end Jason Augustino.
The shortage of tailbacks has raised questions about UVa's decision not to recruit Salem High School's Marcus Parker. Virginia Tech signed signed Parker and Group AAA player of the year Ken Oxendine, a tailback from Thomas Dale High School in Chester who was one of UVa's chief targets.
``We turned down some outstanding tailbacks,'' said Ken Mack, the UVa assistant coach who works with the running backs. ``Coming out of the summer, I felt I had built up a good rapport [with Oxendine] and felt we had a lot to offer. Call it a mistake if you want, but I wanted to put all of my eggs in one basket.''
Mack said his No.3 tailback going into the fall will be 5-foot-8, 174-pound recruit Terrence Wilkins, who averaged more than 10 yards per carry last year at Bishop O'Connell High School in Arlington. All three of UVa's tailbacks are under 6 feet and 200 pounds.
``I've been very fortunate to have had some big guys,'' said Mack, who has coached UVa's running backs since 1982, ``but, as you look around college football and even the NFL, you'll see a lot of the scatback types.''
FREDERICK UPDATE: Head coach George Welsh seemed encouraged by reports he is getting on defensive end Mike Frederick, who last year led the ACC in tackles for losses but could not complete spring practice because of a back injury.
``I'm a little concerned, [but] I think he can play,'' Welsh said. ``He has a compressed disk. I don't think it can get worse, but I'm not sure if it's going to get better. This isn't something new.''
STAPLES ON RISE: Basketball signee Curtis Staples from Roanoke and Oak Hill Academy was ninth in recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons' final rating of the Class of 1994, moving up from 21st after his junior year and 18th after the fall.
It was no fault of Staples' that UVa's class, ranked fourth by Gibbons after the fall, fell to 35th in his final report. Chase Metheney, a 7-3 center who was ranked 57th by Gibbons in the fall, did not make Gibbons' final 250.
RECRUITING: Virginia has focussed much of its in-state attention on a pair of academically minded big men, 6-10 Cal Bowdler from Warsaw and 6-8 Reggie Bassette from Highland Springs.
Bowdler averaged 16 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks as a junior at Rappahannock, a Group A program with 232 students. Bowdler, whose late father was a UVa alumnus, is the first Division I prospect to come out of the program in coach Ken Blackley's 25 seasons.
``This is one of the great stories of my lifetime,'' said Blackley, who stepped down as coach after the 1993-94 season. ``He was the worst player on the team as an eighth-grader and couldn't play even a little bit, but last year he kind of blossomed.''
UVA IN MOVIES: Andy Scheinman is the director of the movie ``Little Big League,'' for which his brother and fellow former UVa tennis player, Adam, is the screenwriter. Former Cavaliers football player Brian Bodison has an acting role in the movie, as does one-time UVa broadcaster John Gordon.
ODDS AND ENDS: George Allen is one of two former UVa football players who are state governors, Allen in Virginia and Brerton Jones in Kentucky. Jones lettered as an end in 1958-59 and Allen played quarterback in 1972-73. ... Seven of the nine fifth-year players on Virginia's football team have a bachelor's degree. ... Greg McLellan, one of Virginia's starting defensive backs last season, failed a physical exam with the Dallas Cowboys, with whom he had signed as a free agent.
by CNB