Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 21, 1995 TAG: 9509210012
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
``All I ever heard him say was `Yes sir,' or `No sir,''' Indians coach David Crist said.
Now that he's a senior, Hunt isn't as stingy with the spoken word as he once was. He still tends to get to the point in a hurry, though.
As little time as he wastes in that regard, not much compares to the haste with which he can read an opposing play from his free safety position, target a ball carrier, and arrive to make a tackle.
``He just has an uncanny ability to distinguish between a pass or a run with the snap of the ball,'' Crist said. ``He makes many of his tackles either 2 or 3 yards from the line of scrimmage. That's pretty good when you consider he's lining up between 10 and 15 yards from the line of scrimmage.''
Just depends on whether Hunt expects the enemy to run or throw.
``If they're not going to throw it much, I'll move up and play more like a linebacker, '' he said. ``Against Giles [an 18-14 loss the first week of the season] I was playing way back so I could see the play better. Giles is so tricky.''
Not that Hunt gets tricked much. You don't make 126 tackles, as he did during the 1994 season, by being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Those bone-jarring numbers earned the applause of the Virginia High School Coaches Association, which voted him to its All-State team.
One of the VHSCA members, Crist, accords Hunt quite a compliment by mentioning him in the same discussion as former Indian safety Jerome Trussell, the defensive center fielder on Blacksburg's 1989 Group AA Division 4 championship team.
``Both of them have very quick feet, although I think Steven is faster,'' Crist said. ``And both of them are great kids, so team oriented. You never heard `I' out of Jerome and you never hear it out of Steven.
``Steven always has done exactly what we've asked him to do and never expressed any displeasure at doing it.''
For the past two years, Hunt regularly has been asked to take on new responsibilities. Last year, his assignment was to step in at tailback when Tony Wheeler hurt himself early in the season. This year, orders came to move from running back to wide receiver, where Hunt played as a sophomore.
The move to receiver was prompted by an injury to the Indians' top pass catcher, Rick Edwards, who went down last week in practice with a broken foot. Edwards will be out a minimum of six weeks.
``I do miss running back, but you take less of a beating at wide receiver,'' Hunt said. ``There's more running at wide receiver. Every play, you're running 20 yards, so you get tired.''
Tired is not an adjective you hear much in connection with Hunt, especially on defense. Hunt distinguished himself in Blacksburg's first two games.
``In the Salem game [a 14-5 loss Sept.8], he had just about as good a game as a safety can have,'' Blacksburg assistant coach Vaughn Phipps said. ``Thirteen tackles and an interception. And that's as a true free safety, not a strong safety who lines up a lot closer to the line of scrimmage like a linebacker.
``Steven comes up fast and he doesn't just hit the ball carrier, he nails him. I know on a lot of those tackles, they must have been looking up and wondering how in the world he could get there that quick.''
Allow Hunt to respond to that one.
``Basically, I know the situation and I know what teams like to do in certain situations from the scouting reports we have. That, and I watch a lot of film. When the play starts, I try to read two players at all time so I can be secure in what I'm reading and I'll have less of a chance of getting fooled.''
Really the only ones getting fooled these days are the ones who think Hunt appears to be too removed from the action to make a play. hey'll know when he arrives by all the racket being made, though. The clatter and pop of his shoulder pad colliding with its intended target indicate Hunt rarely lives in silence any more.
by CNB