THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 10, 1994 TAG: 9411100745
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 156 lines
Gentlemen, the meeting of the Aaron Sparrow/James Roe Mutual Admiration Society, otherwise known as SparRoe, will come to order.
First on our agenda, the Division II All-American team. The problem: Norfolk State, which won't make the playoffs, is not likely to get more than one player on the team. Both of you have had record-breaking years. The question: Who's the All-American?
Yes, Mr. Sparrow?
``It's him. I mean, it's not just this year we're talking about. He's been sensational for three years.''
Mr. Roe, an objection?
``It's him, of course. He's getting me the ball, and he's not just getting it to me, he's getting it to everybody.''
Aaron Sparrow and James Roe met at the Virginia High School All-Star Game in 1991. Sparrow was a Parade All-American quarterback from Wilson High. Roe, a wide receiver from Henrico High, was an All-State pick and the Richmond Times-Dispatch's metro player of the year.
That week, both players sensed a chemistry.
``There was just something between us,'' Roe said. ``I felt it all during the game. I even noticed it during practice.''
It was after practice, however, that the players really got acquainted. Sparrow, who had signed with Virginia but didn't qualify academically and instead chose Norfolk State, would talk to Roe after practice about playing for the Spartans.
Roe had been offered a scholarship by Syracuse but, like Sparrow, didn't qualify academically. So the coaches at Syracuse persuaded him to attend Butler County Community College in Kansas.
Then Sparrow came along.
``He gave me something to think about,'' Roe said. ``Norfolk State was a lot closer to home. I talked to my parents, and they felt like that would be the best place for me.''
It seems Mom and Dad were right. In three years, Roe has broken virtually every Norfolk State receiving record. This year, he's caught 65 passes for 1,287 yards and 14 touchdowns in just nine games.
All of those passes have come from Sparrow, who's been rewriting the NSU record book himself.
``There's just something between me and him,'' Sparrow said. ``It just happens. A lot.''
It happened 10 times last week against Lane College for 164 yards. It happened 10 times against Hampton for 203 yards. All season, it's been Roe deep, Roe over the middle, Roe on timing patterns, Roe coming back to the ball.
``He has the best hands I've ever seen,'' Sparrow said. ``And he's a big target.''
At 6-foot-2 and about 185 pounds, Roe's a bigger target than he was last year. ``I guess you could say I'm a little stronger,'' he said. ``I kind of took the weights a little more seriously this summer.
``I don't know, last year I just didn't feel like myself. I was dropping more passes than usual.''
Not than anyone noticed. Roe caught 52 passes for 916 yards last season, both records at the time. It was a year that had former coach Archie Cooley comparing Roe to Jerry Rice, whom Cooley had coached at Mississippi Valley State.
``Dropped passes? I can't remember when he dropped a pass,'' Sparrow said.
Roe's drops are events, they happen so rarely.
``When the ball is up for grabs, nine times out of 10 he's going to come down with it,'' Spartans coach Darnell Moore said.
Against Winston-Salem State, Roe outleaped a defender in the end zone like a basketball player going over an opponent's back for a rebound. Only he did it cleanly and came away with a 49-yard touchdown catch.
``He's just got great athleticism,'' said Hampton coach Joe Taylor. ``He can stop and jump almost instantaneously.''
Roe's leaping ability helped him become an All-Metro basketball player at Henrico. He developed his hands just tossing the football - to himself.
``I was an only child, and I played a lot by myself,'' he said.
There are many who think Roe, a junior, could be playing on Sundays in a couple of years. Moore said at least one NFL scout has told him Roe probably will be drafted, unusual for a Division II player.
After the Hampton game, Terrance Warren of the Seattle Seahawks, a Hampton alum, sought out Roe on the field and told him he has a future in the league.
``I think about it,'' Roe said, ``then I tell myself: Stay on earth.''
AS FOR SPARROW, he couldn't help but keep his feet on the ground last season. He'd been grounded.
Sparrow threw for 1,553 yards as a freshman, but last year, under Cooley, he spent a year in the football equivalent of Siberia.
Cooley questioned Sparrow's throwing mechanics and his ability to read defenses. Sparrow bridled under Cooley's old-school brand of discipline.
With three weeks to go in the season, Sparrow left the team, accusing Cooley of verbal abuse and unfair treatment. He returned a couple of days later but didn't play. He talked about transferring after the season.
Instead it was Cooley who left, resigning under pressure in May. He was replaced by Moore, who had coached Sparrow at Wilson.
Now a junior, Sparrow has about as much interest in talking about last season as he does in being sacked by a 300-pound tackle with bad breath.
``It's still lingering in the back of my mind,'' he said. ``But that's in the past.''
While in high school, Sparrow was considered on a par with fellow All-Americans Heath Shuler (now with the Washington Redskins) and Eric Zeier (Georgia's Heisman Trophy hopeful). But last season he found himself as Division II backup.
One person who never doubted Sparrow's ability was Moore, who was an assistant coach under Cooley.
``I think a lot of people had doubts about him, but I never wavered,'' Moore said. ``He's had the kind of year I thought he could.''
Under Moore, Aaron Sparrow has again become Airin' Sparrow. Consider:
Until this season, the Norfolk State single-game passing-yardage record was 335 yards. This season, Sparrow has averaged 321 yards per game and has gone over 400 twice, including a 516-yard, seven-touchdown performance against Winston-Salem State.
Sparrow has put up big numbers despite being on the run most of the season - he's been sacked 29 times. But on at least twice as many occasions he's left defenders grabbing at air. Against Elizabeth City State, Sparrow, pursued by a defender, stumbled, planted his free hand on the turf and literally did a cartwheel at midfield. He popped up and threw the ball for a 40-yard completion.
``That's no average quarterback,'' Hampton defensive end Hugh Hunter said after chasing Sparrow for four quarters. ``If he were in Division I, he'd be Charlie Ward.''
Sparrow said the difference between last year and this one is not the Norfolk State offense - which is similar to the one he ran at Wilson High. It's simply a matter of confidence.
``I have a lot of confidence,'' he said. ``It built up over the summer, when I was throwing by myself. I'd throw the ball when there was nobody there to catch it. It just started to build up.''
It peaked during the Winston-Salem State game, when Sparrow led the Spartans to two touchdowns in the final 2:42 for a come-from-behind, 50-48 victory. And it's shown no signs of dipping since.
``He's back to his old self,'' Roe said. ``You can see that. You can see it in his eyes.''
At 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds, Sparrow can hum the ball with the best of them. But he's also displayed a good touch and an uncanny ability to throw on the run.
Moore said he thinks the biggest difference in Sparrow this year is that he's been allowed to play through mistakes. Last year, a couple of bad plays were likely to land Sparrow on the bench.
``When you are allowed to play and make mistakes, you can try things out there, you've got that freedom,'' Moore said. ``I get on him about things. But he knows he's going to be going back in the game.''
Like Roe, Sparrow keeps thoughts of a professional career in the back of his mind.
``You might catch someone's eyes, you never know,'' he said. ``I've just got to keep it up.''
Sparrow and Roe have caught a lot of eyes this season. If one or the other isn't named an All-American this year, they say they aren't worried.
There's always next year. ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photos by LAWRENCE JACKSON
Quarterback Aaron Sparrow
Wide Receiver James Roe
by CNB