Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9502100011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWIGHT FOXX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
VMI running back Thomas Haskins and Virginia Tech defensive end Cornell Brown are history-makers.
Haskins has been named the Division I state offensive player of the year by the Roanoke Times & World-News and Brown is the Division I state defensive player of the year.
This is the first in the 14 years the newspaper has selected an all-state college football team in which the offensive and defensive players of the year have both been sophomores.
Juniors ruled the All-Division II-III top honors. Norfolk State quarterback Aaron Sparrow is the first Spartan to be named offensive player of the year and Hugh Hunter is the third consecutive Hampton lineman - following Chris Williams and Steve Brannon - to be the defensive player of the year.
Haskins scored 11 touchdowns and led the Southern Conference with 1,509 yards - a VMI single-season rushing record.
A 5-foot-8, 173-pounder, Haskins is the second Division I sophomore to be named offensive player of the year, joining former Virginia Tech place-kicker Chris Kinzer (1986). The only other Keydets to earn the honor were Floyd Allen (1980) and Mark Stock (1988).
Haskins rushed for 200 yards or more in three games and had four other games of 100 yards or more. He had the top three rushing efforts in the Southern Conference in 1994 and owns four of the top five rushing performances in VMI history.
He also averaged 30.9 yards on 15 kickoff returns and had more than 2,000 all-purpose yards this season.
``This summer, I prepared for this season,'' Haskins said. ``I ran every day, Monday through Friday. My work ethic was unbelievable. I was lifting and running every day. You don't achieve your goals during the season; you achieve your goals in the off-season.''
Haskins says he doesn't concern himself with statistics during the season - his relatives do that for him. He admits he had a great year, but isn't satisfied and already is preparing for 1995. He's now competing in the 50- and 200-meter runs on VMI's track team and has been timed at 4.43 seconds for 40 yards.
Brown is another winner who's not completely satisfied.
``I still feel like I have something to prove,'' said Brown, the Hokies' 6-foot-2, 230-pound defensive end from Lynchburg. ``I only got second-team All-Big East and I feel I had just as good a year as the guys who made first-team.''
Brown had 20 tackles for loss, including 11 sacks, and 35 quarterback hurries to help Virginia Tech to an 8-3 record with a defense second only to Miami in the Big East.
Brown's strength is his quickness. He's light for a Division I defensive end who regularly faces 300-pound tackles.
``Derrick Thomas and L.T. [Lawrence Taylor] were undersized at their position [outside linebacker], but they beat their guys,'' Brown said. ``I'm undersized, but I try to use my speed as much as possible.''
Brown is looking for exposure when Virginia Tech meets Tennessee (7-4) in the Gator Bowl on Dec.30.
``I want to get national recognition for myself and the team,'' Brown said. ``We want to prove in the bowl game that we're a lot better than what we showed in our last game [a 42-23 loss to Virginia].''
Brown edged last year's winner, Virginia defensive tackle Mike Frederick, for this year's honor. Frederick is one of 13 underclassmen to be named Division I offensive or defensive player of the year, but only three - Bruce Smith (1983-84), Shawn Moore (1989-90) and Chris Slade (1991-92) - have won two years in a row.
Frederick, UVa punter Will Brice, Cavaliers' linebacker Randy Neal, Virginia Tech wide receiver Antonio Freeman and Richmond defensive back Maurice Glenn are repeat first-team all-state players.
In Division II-III, Sparrow and Hunter edged out teammates to win player-of-the-year honors. Sparrow and his favorite target, James Roe, may have been the best pass-catch duo at any level of college football in 1994.
In helping Norfolk State to a 7-3 record, Sparrow set school records for pass attempts (361), completions (216), passing yards (3,212), total offense (3,152), completion percentage (59.8) and touchdown passes (31).
In a 50-48 win over Winston-Salem State, Sparrow was 26-for-43 for 516 yards and seven touchdown passes.
``Everything was clicking. It was just one of those days,'' Sparrow said. ``I just did what I was supposed to do.''
Hunter is among 11 Hampton players on the Division II-III team. The 6-3, 270-pound defensive end set a school single-season mark with 19 quarterback sacks.
He was also in on 63 tackles - third on the team - and had 27 tackles for a loss despite facing constant double- and triple-teams.
``If you look at the kid, he's about 270-275 pounds and he's very quick,'' Hampton coach Joe Taylor said. ``He uses the swim technique very well. If he wasn't getting held, it might have been 30 [sacks] instead of [19].''
Hunter edged teammate John Meredith for the award. Ironically, Meredith, the team's leading tackler for the second consecutive year, won the CIAA Defensive Player of the Year honors.
``I had a little bit to do with it,'' Taylor said. ``Meredith has been an All-American for three years in junior college and here. Meredith made a few more tackles; that's the only reason.''
Hampton defensive back Melvin Crawford and Virginia Union tight end Stacy Graves made the first team for the third consecutive year. The two players are the only three-time first-team selections in either Division I or Division II-III.
Virginia Union running back Bobby Phillips was a first-team choice for the second consecutive year after making the second team in 1992. Hampden-Syndey defensive lineman Chad Wheeling from Salem was selected to the second team for the third time.
by CNB