ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
HAMPTON NATIVE Sean Hamlet may play for the Seminoles, but his heart still belongs to his home state and the Virginia Cavaliers.
If Virginia beats Florida State on Saturday, Seminoles strong safety Sean Hamlet will have more proof of something he's been telling his teammates for five years.
Contrary to popular Floridian belief, they do play football in Virginia.
``They claim we don't play any kind of football up there,'' Hamlet, a Hampton native and the only Virginian on FSU's roster, said this week from Tallahassee, Fla. ``When I first came here, I had to earn a lot of respect.''
Virginia seemed to earn the Seminoles' respect last year with a 33-28 victory in Charlottesville that snapped FSU's 29-game win streak since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1992. Early odds on this weekend's meeting in Tallahassee don't reflect any gains the Cavaliers have made on the Seminoles. Florida State is a 17-point favorite.
``I tried to show them we're ranked No.16 right now,'' Hamlet said.
Pardon his personal pronouns. Virginia is No.16. His team, Florida State, is No. 2.
But it's obvious Hamlet, a senior, hasn't forgotten what he left when he went to college in 1992. The state of Virginia still is on his mind. Rated the No. 4 prospect in the state in 1991 by the Roanoke Times & World-News as a high school senior, Hamlet chose the Seminoles over Virginia Tech because he ``really wanted to get away from home.'' He still has many friends on the Hokies' roster and knows Virginia quarterback Aaron Brooks and offensive tackle Robert Hunt from pee wee football.
Neither Brooks nor Hunt had the chance to join Hamlet at Florida State. Recruiting the Tidewater area is not high on the Seminoles' priority list.
``It's tough because Virginia's sitting right up the road,'' said FSU assistant head coach Chuck Amato, who recruited Hamlet. ``And years ago, North Carolina just dominated the place. We don't go and canvas everywhere.''
Amato has been back only once since, to see Allen Iverson, who he described as a Charlie Ward-type. Iverson also was being pursued by Florida State's basketball program.
Even though he bears a scarlet ``V'' on his chest, Hamlet has gained the respect of his peers at Florida State. He calls the alignments for Amato's defense, and always has done what his coaches have asked, like losing 18 pounds from a 6-foot, 215-pound frame that had begun to slow him last season.
He's also become a three-year starter in the Seminole secondary.
``I don't know if I could ask for more,'' Hamlet said. ``It's a feat to do that with so much talent coming in every year.''
If he could go back, he would have asked not to have to lose to Virginia in his home state with more family and friends than usual in the stands. That made the loss, sealed when all-America running back Warrick Dunn was stopped just short of the end zone on the game's final play, more difficult for Hamlet to handle.
``We shouldn't have let it get to that point,'' Hamlet said. ``Coach Amato always says `Don't put the outcome in the hands of the officials.' If they say we didn't get in, we didn't get in.''
When Hamlet takes his last shot at Virginia this week, he'd like to have an outcome like the last time he faced Brooks. Hamlet was a senior at Hampton and Brooks was a sophomore quarterback at Ferguson High School in Newport News.
``They cut the game short because we were beating them so bad,'' Hamlet said.
That would fit the context of Florida State's history against ACC teams. Hamlet has tried to tell his fellow Seminoles that Virginia is different, both out of pride in his state and out of concern for his team.
``For years living there I could sense they were putting it together,'' Hamlet said. ``I really thought Virginia should have been undefeated coming into [last year's] game. They pretty much had a couple of those games in their hands.
``They're always tough now, but you never know which team's going to show up.''
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Hamletby CNB