Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 3, 1995 TAG: 9511030060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
After catching Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb's act on film this week, Virginia Tech's J.C. Price joined a growing chorus line within the Big East Football Conference.
``He's definitely for real,'' Price said. ``I can't believe he's only a freshman.''
Neither can anybody else. Maybe somebody should check this guy's ID. Redshirt freshmen aren't supposed to be this good.
But so far, McNabb has been nothing short of McGreat for 20th-ranked Syracuse (6-1), which visits Tech (6-2) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday (WSET Channel 13) in a battle for the Big East lead.
Through seven college games, McNabb's numbers are from a place where few 18-year-old quarterbacks have ever gone.
Check these Joe Montana-like passing figures: 79-of-127 (.622), 1,404 yards, 10 touchdowns and three interceptions.
McNabb's passing efficiency rating of 176.33 ranks second in the country behind Ohio State senior Bobby Hoying. By comparison, McNabb's rating is 12 points higher than the Syracuse school-record number posted by Heisman Trophy runner-up Don McPherson in 1987.
And if McNabb can't throw the football, so what. No big deal. The elusive freshman just turns on the jets and takes off on the ground. He has scrambled for 227 yards and a touchdown.
``He's a runner, a thrower, he can do it all. The guy is something else,'' said Tech coach Frank Beamer, whose Hokies somehow must defuse McNabb's explosiveness.
Of course, people at Syracuse expected big things from McNabb when the Orange beat out Nebraska for the Parade All-American from Chicago's Mount Carmel High School. Few could have expected these kinds of dividends this quickly, however.
``Donovan has played better than we could have imagined him doing,'' said Paul Pasqualoni, Syracuse's coach.
``His numbers aside, the thing I've probably been most impressed with is his decision-making. He hasn't made a whole lot of mistakes, which is what you generally worry about with a young quarterback. He's exercised great judgment.''
With McNabb, the words ``poised'' and ``freshman'' in the same sentence no longer qualify as an oxymoron.
``I try to limit all the mistakes and I try to make big plays,'' he said. ``I know I'm going to mess up a little bit, but I clap it off. I talk to the team and tell them I'm going to pick it up and make something happen.''
The calculating youngster obviously played the percentages before choosing to play in the Carrier Dome. That's the main reason he's not toting a sideline clipboard in Lincoln, Neb., these days.
``I was recruited by Illinois, Texas and Oklahoma, but it really came down to Nebraska and Syracuse and where I could see myself playing in a year,'' McNabb said. ``It was wide-open here at Syracuse, and Nebraska had Tommie Frazier. I felt I would have sit out two years there and then maybe have to prove myself to the coaches.''
After taking a redshirt year watching senior Kevin Mason lead the Syracuse offense, McNabb emerged from a three-way battle to win the team's starting quarterback job a few days before the Orange's season opener at North Carolina.
``I went into every practice saying, `I'm going to get better,''' McNabb said. ``I wanted to prove to the coaches each day that I was making myself better, as well as the team. I guess the coaches saw that and they had enough heart to go with me. When the coaches made that decision, all that was left for me to do was to prove them right.''
Consider it done. The calm and collected freshman, with his penchant for making the big play, has been the chief fuel behind a young Syracuse team's success.
``It wasn't like we were so experienced elsewhere on offense that our quarterback just had to hand off,'' said George DeLeone, the Orangemen's offensive coordinator. ``It's been a season in which our quarterback has had to make plays, and thank God he has.''
Making plays. That's what Donovan McNabb does best.
``I had dreams of stepping in there and making big plays happen,'' McNabb said. ``It's something you just have to get out there and do. I've been doing it since high school.''
After Syracuse concludes its season with a bowl trip, McNabb won't be done playing. He will join Jim Boeheim's Orange basketball team.
``From what I hear, they're very excited for me to come back,'' said McNabb, who also was redshirted in basketball last season. ``They want me to step in at the two-guard position and maybe play a lot.''
Another Charlie Ward in the making? Ward, of course, was a two-sport star at Florida State in the early 1990s. And guess what? Both played quarterback and guard.
``I watched Charlie Ward do both while I was in high school and I really admired him,'' McNabb said. ``The way I look at it, he set the tone for me playing both sports. I love playing both sports, but not too many get the opportunity.''
Especially as an 18-year-old redshirt freshman.
The scary thought of seeing McNabb through 1998 is just dawning on opposing Big East coaches.
After watching McNabb run up 356 yards total offense on his West Virginia team in SU's 22-0 victory on Oct.21, Mountaineers coach Don Nehlen was asked to assess the freshman's play.
``I see only one weakness with him,'' Nehlen said deadpan. ``The worst thing about him is that he has three more years to play.''
by CNB