ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 4, 1996 TAG: 9604040049
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: College Notebook
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
Spring games against the alumni no longer are the norm in college football, but neither, for that matter, is VMI.
``I don't know of a soul that's still doing this,'' said Keydets coach Bill Stewart, whose varsity will entertain the alumni at 2 p.m. Saturday. ``The word `unique' keeps coming up.''
Maryland had a full-contact varsity-alumni game for three years, but it became too lopsided. The Terrapins' varsity and alumni will meet this year in a game of flag football.
``We're not talking about flag football,'' Stewart wrote in a letter to the alumni.
Stewart said the alumni had received commitments from 35 prospective players by Wednesday afternoon and were expecting as many as 45. He was prepared to loan varsity players to the alumni.
``Now it looks like they'll have two full teams,'' Stewart said. ``They're coming out of the woodwork.''
Fork Union Military Academy coach John Shuman, an offensive tackle at VMI from 1976-79, will serve as player-coach for the alumni.
``I'm feeling pretty quick,'' said Shuman, who weighs 240, down 5 pounds from his VMI playing weight. ``I may line up at tight end or at defensive tackle. One of the stipulations was that I would get to hit [Fork Union alumnus] Thomas Haskins.''
The alumni quarterback will be Kelly Raber, who directed the last Keydets team to post a winning record, 6-3-1 in 1981.
``One guy called me and said, `Can I bring my own helmet?''' Stewart said. ``I asked him, `What kind of helmet do you have?' He said, `Well, it doesn't have a face bar.' They will use the same equipment as our players. We don't want anybody hurt, and nobody will play four quarters.
``What we're basically doing is re-acquainting old friends and making new friends. You know, I have never been to an alumni reception during the season. As soon as one game is over, I'm starting to get ready for the next one.''
VMI SIGNEES: Matt Walton, a first-team All-Group AAA wide receiver from Lee-Davis High School in Mechanicsville, is one of 17 signees to be announced by VMI this weekend. He will join Lee-Davis quarterback Robbie Chenault, whose commitment to VMI was reported early in the winter.
The Keydets placed a priority on receivers and signed three ranked among the top 100 prospects in the state by The Roanoke Times - Walton, Kenny Crawford from Hampton and Michael Berry from William Byrd High School.
Another wideout, sleeper Brandon Matheny from Holston, is the tallest of the group, at 6-3 and 180 pounds. The Keydets stayed closer to home than usual, with 12 players from Virginia, one from Maryland, one from West Virginia and one from Tennessee by way of Fork Union.
HOOPS RECRUITING: Virginia will entertain 6-9 Kris Hunter from Tallahassee, Fla., and Florida A&M High School this weekend. The spring signing period begins Wednesday. ... Maryland has received an oral commitment from 6-7 Laron Cephas from Sanford High School in Hockessin, Del.
BAD INFORMATION: Florida State sources say sophomore basketball player Corey Louis is considering legal action against the New York Daily News, which reported Monday that Louis was under investigation for drug-dealing.
``All you need to know about that is it's false,'' said Florida State coach Pat Kennedy, who had a similar response to another sentence in the story, which suggested the NCAA was looking into possible violations in the Seminoles' program.
Kennedy, doing radio commentary at the Final Four, was a hot topic in New York because of his interest in the St.John's vacancy. Kennedy, who met Saturday with school officials, speculated Bradley coach Jim Molinari is the front-runner.
COACHING HOTLINE: Long Beach State coach Seth Greenberg was hired Wednesday at South Florida on the strength of recommendations from Virginia Tech coach Bill Foster and Virginia athletic director and former coach Terry Holland, both of whom he served as an assistant. South Florida's athletic director, Paul Griffin, is a former AD and men's lacrosse coach at Roanoke College.
The name of Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson, a North Carolina native, continues to come up in reports surrounding the vacancy at North Carolina State. Tulane coach Perry Clark told reporters as late as this past weekend that he had not been contacted about the position.
NON-REVENUE: Radford University gymnast Wendy Davis, a sophomore from Virginia Beach, won the individual championship at the state meet this past weekend. Davis had a score of 38.500 in the all-around competition to break the school record of 38.425 held by former Cave Spring High School standout Christie Epperly.
Davis, who finished third last year, was Radford's first state champion since Becky Bowery in 1991. Another Highlanders representative, junior Dawn Turpin from Radford High School, took sixth in the all-around competition featuring gymnasts from Radford, James Madison and William and Mary.
VMI has two of the leading scorers in NCAA Division I men's lacrosse in attackmen Rob Worrell and Joe Brockman. Worrell was leading the country in scoring after three weeks, but Brockman, with 27 goals and 16 assists, has taken over the team scoring lead.
The Keydets, who are 4-3 despite losing two games by a combined three goals, will serve as host for the second year in a row to the Star City Lacrosse Classic. The Keydets will play Virginia Tech at 7 p.m. April 26 at the River's Edge Complex in Roanoke.
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