ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240018
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
HARD WORK and believing in himself has paid off for Virginia Tech's ``other'' defensive end.
He's gone from an unrecruited walk-on to a starter for one of the nation's best football programs.
Is Virginia Tech defensive end Danny Wheel on a roll, or what?
"No doubt about it, I've come a long way,'' Wheel said. "I think what I've done is show everybody if you go out and work hard, you can earn a scholarship, and you can play in front of 50,000 people on Saturdays if you want.''
The 6-foot-3, 245-pound redshirt junior from Williamsburg quickly has become a big Wheel for Tech. Wheel leads the Hokies in quarterback hurries (10), has two sacks and two other tackles for loss.
All this from someone who had made exactly five tackles in his college career before this season. Talk about a Wheel deal.
"I knew I could play; I just needed somebody to give me a shot,'' Wheel said. "I think I've proven a point here: A guy who really wants to play can work hard and take it to another level.''
Wheel, thanks to a productive summer in the weight room and a superb preseason camp, won the starting end position opposite All-American Cornell Brown.
"Danny's a guy who has hung around,'' said Charley Wiles, Hokies defensive line coach.
"He has worked hard to get bigger and stronger, and he can run. Danny had to really work hard because I think he realizes his limitations and that nothing is going to come easy.''
Certainly, nobody can accuse Wheel of taking the easy road. Coming out of Lafayette High School, Wheel might as well have been a flat tire. Playing for a high school team that was a combined 1-19 his last two years, Wheel never got a sniff of attention from college recruiters.
"Playing for a losing team like that, you can do a lot of good things but a lot of scouts aren't going to come see you,'' Wheel reasoned. "I made 95 tackles and had eight sacks my senior year, I was 6-2 and 220, so I thought I could play on the college level.''
Nobody else did, though. Wheel received recruiting letters from VMI and Hampton University, but never received a college scholarship offer.
When Wheel showed up in Blacksburg in the fall of 1993, his first order of business included another team - Tech's Corps of Cadets.
"I only got accepted here because I wanted to be in the military,'' Wheel said. "I was accepted in the Corps of Cadets, so I packed my stuff and came on.''
Wheel was handed his Corps uniform, which he still wears to class everyday. But he kept thinking about another uniform. One with numbers on it.
``I was talking with [former Tech player] William Boatwright one day, and I told him I wanted to play football,'' Wheel said. ``William brought me over to meet Coach [John] Ballein [Tech's recruiting coordinator]. Ballein told me to make a tape, and I did. Then one day he told me to get my equipment and get ready to go.''
Wheel toiled on Tech's junior varsity team in 1993, then was promoted to the main squad the following season. He eventually was redshirted, which gave him an extra year to get faster and stronger, not to mention a chance to turn some coaches' heads.
"When I came here I saw some players they had and I knew right then I could play on this level,'' Wheel said. "It was frustrating they were on scholarship and I wasn't, but it also made me work harder. At that point, I figured it was up to me to show the coaches I had a little bit more than everybody else and that I really wanted to play football.''
Wheel's work ethic paid off. Tech coach Frank Beamer called Wheel into his office one day last August to notify him that he was going to placed on scholarship.
"I walked out of [Beamer's] office and ran somewhere to call my mom and dad,'' Wheel recalled. "My dad didn't believe me, my mom was crying. It was nice because they were paying for my school, and, suddenly, I'm getting a scholarship. It took a load off my back and their back.''
Looking back, Wheel said being a walk-on turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
"While getting a scholarship out of high school would have been nice for myself and my parents, I think the way things happened made everything more worth it,'' Wheel said.
"Being a walk-on, I think, makes you work harder than everybody else to show people you can play.''
Wheel, who splits some of his time with fellow walk-on, redshirt freshman John Engelberger, enjoyed his coming-out party against Rutgers, posting a pair of sacks.
Wheel said he can still hear the roar of approval from the Lane Stadium fans ringing in his ears from that glorious Saturday.
"When I made those sacks, I really proved to everybody in the stands that I'm a good football player,'' he said.
"To see my dad cheering for me in the stands that day, knowing that I had talked to him every night, telling him how hard I had worked and how I can't wait for my chance and when I finally got my chance, I did something special with it. That's what really made me feel good.''
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. Virginia Tech defensive end Danny Wheelby CNBkeeps busy, pulling down Rutgers' T.J. Spizzo (left) while sacking
Mike Stephans during a Tech victory this season at Lane Stadium.
color.