Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9408020043
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
So he asked Tech team doctors to do something about his sore left shoulder, even if it meant surgery. It did, and Dr. Marc Siegel, the team surgeon, said he shaved some bursal tissue Tuesday in the joint of DeShazo's non-throwing shoulder to relieve what Siegel called chronic bursitis.
Siegel said that had DeShazo felt the same discomfort during the season, he could have played. But DeShazo, the Big East Conference's highest-rated returning quarterback, the focus of a Tech publicity push and the player most responsible for following up the Hokies' Top 25 finish in '93, apparently wants no distractions heading into the '94 season.
``I think he was kind of getting a little nervous,'' Siegel said. ``He wants to go into the season feeling as good about himself as possible.''
On that count, DeShazo said the outpatient arthroscopic surgery worked. He was out of a sling and throwing a football by Friday.
``It's better,'' said DeShazo, who traced the pain to last year's Boston College game but couldn't pinpoint the injury. ``I don't remember exactly what happened. I don't have a clue.''
DeShazo led Tech to a No.22 final ranking last year, throwing for 2,080 yards, a school season-record 22 touchdowns and only seven interceptions.
PARKER MOVE: Marcus Parker rushed for nearly 4,000 yards as a Salem High School running back, but the Hokies plan to use him at fullback with the idea he can play as a freshman.
Parker, at 5 feet 10 and 190 pounds, is the same height but much lighter than Hokies starting fullback Brian Edmonds (229 pounds) and is smaller than former Spartan Shane Miles (6-1, 232). At tailback, however, Parker would be in a traffic jam with 1,000-yard rusher Dwayne Thomas, Tommy Edwards (357 yards, nine touchdowns), Ranall White (333 yards) and newcomer Ken Oxendine.
Running backs coach Billy Hite said Parker would fit at fullback physically and ``the way his makeup is'' and would compete with Miles for the No.2 spot. One-time backup Rafael Williams is being moved to defense.
``I think I have a good selling point for [Parker],'' Hite said, referring to the playing-time possibility.
CASUALTIES: Tech football reserves Lenarick Thomas, Jon Scott and Mike Hodges are academic casualties and no longer are with the Hokies, sources say. Thomas, a linebacker and brother of Tech tailback Dwayne Thomas, had two tackles as a sophomore last year. Scott, from Brookville High School in Lynchburg, didn't figure in the picture at rover. Hodges, who tore a leg muscle in '92 and was redshirted in '93, could have seen time this year. He had 175 yards and a touchdown on 37 carries in '92.
LOST HIS JOB: Former Tech offensive lineman Chris Barry, who had signed a free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Eagles, was waived by the NFL team last week.
JIM JACKSON BACK? Forward Jim Jackson, who had surgery on his back last March, has not been cleared to play five-on-five basketball and is not scheduled for another examination until Sept.1, a month and a half before practice starts. Jackson averaged 12.1 points per game as a sophomore while starting 22 of 28 games.
TRAVELERS: Tech men's basketball coach Bill Foster went to Russia with the U.S. Goodwill Games team, and assistant Bobby Hussey went to Greece to scout for Foster. In early August, Tech restricted-earnings coach Dean Keener is off to Australia for 16 days - on vacation.
At the Final Four in Charlotte last March, Keener won a trip to Australia through a travel agency raffle. While there, he will stay with college roommate Derek Rucker, Davidson's all-time leading scorer, who is playing professionally in New Castle. Keener said Rucker has gotten him a seat on the team plane on a cross-continent flight to Perth, on Australia's West Coast, which will give him two coast-to-coast flights - New York to Los Angeles being the other - within a few days of each other.
by CNB