Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 17, 1994 TAG: 9411170093
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
George DelRicco is limping. He got hurt early against Rutgers last Saturday. Never mind that he had 17 tackles; one ankle swelled up after the game, and on Sunday a knee joined the complaint chorus.
Virginia Tech's coaching staff understands.
``I guess George is ready,'' linebackers coach Bud Foster said. ``He's hurt.''
That DelRicco, a junior, has become No.14 -ranked Tech's play-with-pain mogul is less a head-scratcher than his impact on the Hokies' defense. Other than his pedigree - the Maryland native played his last high school season at DeMatha, a name that is a sprinkle of magical dust to recruiters - there was little clue he'd become Tech's second-leading tackler over the last three years.
``I think [recruiting's] a little bit of a wacky business, and George DelRicco probably proves it,'' said Frank Beamer, Tech's coach.
Consider: DelRicco's 1991 incoming class included nine Roanoke Times & World-News Top 25 players (at the time the most Tech had gotten in one year), including quarterback Fred Lassiter and current Tech starters Hank Coleman and Lawrence Lewis. Out-of-state headliners were Florida's Dwayne Thomas and Jermaine Holmes, and West Virginia's Joel Chapman (no longer with the team).
Marylander J.C. Price was a Washington Post second-team All-Metro choice and starts for Tech.
DelRicco was DeMatha's most valuable player, but when he dropped 20 pounds to wrestle at 189 pounds at DuVal High School as a junior, the recruiters may have thinned, too.
DelRicco, who said he switched to DeMatha to get more football exposure, canceled recruiting visits to East Carolina, Boston College (where he was lost in the turnover of a new coaching staff) and Division I-AA Villanova.
``I thought I was a strong recruit,'' DelRicco said. ``I wouldn't say I was No.1 on anybody's list, which I wasn't.''
Tech just did what it always does, relying on assistant coach Billy Hite's connection with DeMatha and coach Bill McGregor, who urged Tech to take DelRicco.
``If Billy says we should take him, we take him,'' Beamer said.
After a redshirt year and one year as a backup, DelRicco started 10 of 12 games last year and had 103 tackles, 11 for losses (tying for the lead in the Big East). He has a team-high 115 tackles this year.
He paid for it. He thought he'd play as a freshman. Then he practiced and thought, ``That might not be true.''
He remembers his redshirt year as an ordeal fending off linemen Jim Pyne, Eugene Chung, William Boatwright and fullback Phil Bryant. The first two are in the NFL; the latter two have been in NFL camps.
``I got dinged around,'' DelRicco said. ``They made me a little tougher.''
He's layered on his own feistiness, temper and conscience-less play. He grew up the youngest of three boys; his brother Ronnie is 13 years older, and Michael is 11 years older.
``I always had to make up for being smaller and weaker,'' DelRicco said. ``I was always kind of the youngest kid in the neighborhood. We would play tackle football in the yard, and they would let me play with 'em. Everybody would take it easy on me except my brother Michael. He would kind of rough me up, make me cry.''
Perhaps Michael should have been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct; his brother knows the feeling.
George occasionally boils over, as he did last year when he stood yards from Virginia kicker Kyle Kirkeide before a third-quarter field-goal attempt and kept screaming at Kirkeide that he was going to miss.
Flag. Ball to the 3. Cavs go for it. Torrian Gray and DelRicco combine to stop Jerrod Washington. Tech wins 20-17.
Against Rutgers, DelRicco scrapped with tight end Marco Battaglia and was flagged, giving Rutgers a first-and-goal at the 9 with two seconds left in the half. Michael Williams blocked a Rutgers field-goal attempt.
``Usually, I try to control myself,'' DelRicco said. ``But last weekend was uncalled for. He had a good hit on me, a real good hit. I stepped out of line there.''
He also wrote a letter of apology to Rutgers coach Doug Graber, on defensive coordinator Phil Elmassian's suggestion. No one at Tech, however, wants to hose down DelRicco too much.
``I'm not playing crazy,'' DelRicco said. ``I play intense.''
That's part of why he's been effective despite playing with injuries to his shoulder and wrist, among other things.
``In between the whistles, you don't really feel anything. At least I don't,'' he said. ``I'd say I would sacrifice my body a little. I don't respect my body too much out there.''
Foster praises DelRicco's work and dedication to the game, mindful that DelRicco is not huge (6 feet 1, 220 pounds) or searingly fast (4.66-second 40-yard dash).
``He has to play that way and work that way to be able to play that way on Saturday,'' Foster said. ``Some people in that position don't understand that.''
DelRicco, Foster says, is strong and ``rarely stays blocked.'' His pass coverage skills may be his weakest point.
``We've talked a lot about becoming a complete linebacker,'' Foster said. ``Last year, he was just a run guy, he'd flow around and make tackles.''
Come to think of it, though, that last word is pretty darn attractive to DelRicco.
``When I committed here, I was looking through the football guide at the career tackle leaders,'' DelRicco said. ``I said, I want to be the leading tackler on the team.''
He won't break Rick Razzano's career mark of 634 from 1974-77. DelRicco has 249 (senior Ken Brown has 288). But DelRicco's 115 stops this year are the most for a Hokie since Scott Hill's 177 in 1987.
by CNB