ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9602010016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: COLLEGE NOTEBOOK
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
Eric Webb, the Timesland co-offensive player of the year in 1994, has accepted a grant-in-aid to play football at Middle Tennessee State.
Middle Tennessee also expects to land Webb's teammate at Pulaski County High School and Fork Union Military Academy, Jon Lilly.
Fork Union coach John Shuman said Webb has qualified for freshman eligibility and apparently turned down an offer from Temple, which both he and Lilly visited. Virginia Tech also had been in contact with Lilly.
``They called him two days ago and said to take the other offer,'' Shuman said. ``I'm not sure he'll do anything until Tech officially tells him `no,' but I'd say it's 95 percent that he'll sign with Middle.''
Lilly, listed by Fork Union at 6 feet 3 and 245 pounds, is projected as a defensive lineman. Webb (6-1, 240) is viewed as a fullback by Middle Tennessee State, which is making the move from Division I-AA to I-A.
STILL MARCHING: Patrick McDowell, a two-time All-Tidewater selection at First Colonial High School in Virginia Beach, is one of two Fork Union defensive linemen to make oral commitments to VMI.
McDowell (6-21/2, 245) will be joined by 6-21/2, 255-pound Brian Hensley, originally from Cincinnati. Shuman, a VMI alumnus, says the Keydets also are involved with 6-4, 265-pound Brian Cook, a Charlottesville product who has turned down North Carolina State.
MILTON UPDATE: Raypheal Milton, the Timesland co-offensive player of the year with Webb in '94, has accepted an offer from NCAA Division II power Carson-Newman. Milton, projected as a defensive back in college, played at Hargrave Military Academy this past season after a distinguished career at Giles High School.
Hargrave coach Joe Freeland said Wednesday that James Madison has received an oral commitment from 6-3, 215-pound linebacker Jeremy Shelton. Shelton played at George Wythe High School, where he made All-Region C and second-team All-Group A in 1994.
STEELE A STEAL? Giles linebacker Brandon Steele, this year's Timesland defensive player of the year, is one of a select group invited to try out for Penn State's team as a walk-on. Steele already had been accepted by Penn State, with plans to major in engineering, when the coaches requested film of him.
HIGHLANDER TO VMI: Eric East, a three-sport standout at Glenvar High School, has signed a letter-of-intent to play baseball for VMI. East was named Timesland Sizzlin' Sophomore of the Year in 1994, when he started at shortstop on the Highlanders' Group A championship team.
East, a three-time All-Pioneer District selection in baseball, had a team-high .451 batting average last summer for his American Legion squad. East also played football for the Highlanders and was an All-Region C selection in 1994, when he rushed for more than 1,200 yards.
LOCAL UPDATE: Monica Cabbler, a University of Florida senior from Roanoke, ranks second in the Southeastern Conference in the triple jump. Cabbler, a graduate of William Fleming High School, is a ``provisional'' qualifier for the NCAA indoor championships.
Shannon Yopp, a 5-11 sophomore from Northside High School, has had double-doubles in five of her past six games and is averaging 13.2 points and 10.4 rebounds for Averett College. Another ex-Viking, freshman Staci Byrd, has played in 14 of 15 games for Averett.
IN THE ODAC: Old Dominion Athletic Conference statistical leaders include Roanoke College junior Jon Maher from Blacksburg (rebounding), Emory & Henry sophomore Jason Light from Floyd (field-goal percentage), Roanoke College junior Derek Bryant from Franklin County (3-point percentage) and Emory & Henry senior Kevin Alexander from Christiansburg (steals and assists).
Hollins sophomore Amy Worley, a Blacksburg product, is fourth among ODAC women in scoring (17.4) and second in rebounding (10.9).
CROWD FIGURES: Emory & Henry ranked second in Division III in football attendance this fall with an average crowd of 5,563 for home game. That was 1,000 fans per game more than Division I-A Temple, whose average crowd of 4,406 was down 11,116 from 1994.
Hampden-Sydney (which also outdrew Temple) and Randolph-Macon ranked 4-5 in Division III in attendance and helped the ODAC lead the NCAA in attendance for the seventh year in a row.
PRICED OUT? Virginia athletic director Terry Holland has named assistant strength coach Barry Johnson as the interim successor to Eric Fears, who was head UVa strength coach for little more than 18 months before leaving for Georgia.
Insiders say Fears received a raise of more than $15,000 from Georgia, where one of the assistant athletic directors is Dick Bestwick, who was Fears' football coach at Virginia and earlier had hired Fears at South Carolina.
Holland said he was concerned by what he perceives as ``cherry-picking'' by athletic programs with bigger budgets than UVa. ``We don't want to become a training ground for other schools,'' Holland said, ``but we have a reputation for strong academics, and people feel they can buy our people.''
LENGTH: Medium: 92 linesby CNB