
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 16, 1994                   TAG: 9412160050
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

UVA'S THE TICKET FOR DE

Virginia got a rare commitment from a season ticket-holder when defensive end Travis Griffith from R.E. Lee High School in Staunton announced he will sign a letter of intent to play football for the Cavaliers.

``I've kind of known that's where I was going to go for a while,'' said Griffith, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound defensive end. ``I've been going over there for games for as long as I can remember.''

Griffith, a unanimous All-Region II choice, took official visits to UVa and North Carolina State and canceled a trip to Virginia Tech. North Carolina and Syracuse were in contact with him until this week.

Griffith, rated one of the top 15 prospects in Virginia by SuperPrep magazine, possesses the kind of power and speed that enabled him to finish third in the state in the shot put last year and run a leg on the Leemen's 400-meter relay team.

Griffith has run 40 yards in 4.68 seconds and has lifted 330 pounds in the bench press and more than 400 in the squat. His best throw in the shot put is 54 feet, 61/2 inches.

Griffith, whose father, Mike, was an All-America lineman for Emory & Henry in the late 1960s, is the eighth player to give an oral commitment to the Cavaliers.

by CNB