THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 28, 1995 TAG: 9508280120
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 101 lines
When Kenny McDaniel was 12, his mother died of bone marrow cancer.
Orphaned - his father was killed almost a dozen years earlier in Vietnam - McDaniel began to bounce around the South living with relatives.
First to Baton Rouge, La. Then back to Richmond when he was 16.
So his latest move from left tackle to left guard - a mere three feet or so - doesn't seem like such a big thing.
``Besides,'' McDaniel, 21, said, ``I can adapt to any situation.''
How well he adapts could be key to the Spartans' success this season.
Last year, the Spartans were as one-dimensional as a football team can be. Over 86 percent of Norfolk State's yards came through the air.
This year, the hope is for more balance.
If Norfolk State can run successfully, opponents won't wear a look McDaniel grew accustomed to last season: ears pinned back, motors revving.
``The defensive linemen we faced just got down in their stances ready to go,'' McDaniel, a fifth-year senior, said. ``They knew we were going to throw the ball and that all they had to worry about was rushing the quarterback. It can't be that way this year. We've got to make people conscious of everything.
``People already fear that we can pass. When they fear that we can run, then they won't know what to do.''
The established fear factor comes in the form of Division II All-American candidates Aaron Sparrow and James Roe. Sparrow threw for 3,212 yards and 31 touchdowns last season; Roe caught 77 passes for 1,454 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Both have been named to the preseason All-CIAA team.
McDaniel is also a preseason All-CIAA pick, but not at guard.
He was selected at left tackle. It's a position he loves to play, and as a lefthanded blocker, plays very well. Left tackles are responsible for protecting a quarterback's blind side in the pocket.
``You're on an island out there by yourself,'' he said. ``It's just you and him. If he beats you, that's you.''
At guard, where he will be when the Spartans host Virginia State in their season opener Saturday night, McDaniel will be more involved in run blocking, be it trapping or pulling on sweeps. And with excellent foot speed for his size - McDaniel runs a 5.1 in the 40-yard dash - he has the most promise of any of the Spartans' linemen.
McDaniel was a coveted two-way lineman his senior year at Lee-Davis High. North Carolina, Maryland, Indiana, Pitt and Tennessee all recruited him heavily. But after making first-team all-state on both sides of the ball, McDaniel didn't meet the academic requirements for NCAA freshman eligibility.
His high school coaches advised him to attend a junior college for two years, then transfer to a Division I school. McDaniel decided he'd moved enough.
``I wanted to go somewhere that wasn't too far away but wasn't too close,'' McDaniel said. ``Mainly I wanted to go somewhere I could stay for awhile, somewhere where I could settle in and try to make my own path.''
He's done just that, but change has followed him wherever he goes. He was recruited by Willard Bailey, weathered the Archie Cooley regime and now follows the direction of second-year Spartans head coach Darnell Moore.
When he arrived at Norfolk State, he was initially expected to play defensive end. But an offensive line depleted by injuries led him to the other side of the ball, where he's remained ever since.
Some things, however, never change.
``He plays offensive line with a defensive player's mentality,'' Moore says. ``He'll run 25 yards just to put a hit on somebody.''
Moore added that McDaniel displays a maturity and work ethic that could well be the result of his circumstances. And McDaniel admits feeling he had to be the ``man of the family'' when his mother died, leaving behind three children.
``He has a lot of independence,'' Moore said. ``Some guys you have to lead by the hand. With Kenny, you've got someone who can go out and do it on his own.''
``Everything I have right now I had to get on my own,'' said McDaniel, who has a younger brother and sister living in Richmond. ``My car, my clothes. I had to pay for it all myself.''
Making it tougher are NCAA rules preventing scholarship athletes from holding down jobs during the school year. McDaniel's summers have thus been spent laboring on various loading docks. As he said, ``Car insurance and loan payments cost real money.''
Teammate Stanley Edmonds said McDaniel has taught him to cherish his family.
``He gets serious about things most of us take for granted,'' said Edmonds, a fellow offensive lineman who roomed with McDaniel last year. ``I'd say something like, `I don't want to go home this weekend.' He'd say, `Come on man, let's go.' And he'd go home with me to see my family. He always tells me I should see my parents as much as I can and shouldn't take them for granted because you never know what the future holds.''
Edmonds, however, envisions a future where Kenny McDaniel suits up on Sundays, not Saturdays. That might not be too far-fetched. NFL scouts have been visiting Norfolk State's preseason practices with regularity and McDaniel has been one of their focal points.
It could well be that this latest move has improved McDaniel's professional stock. ILLUSTRATION: Color staff photo by Bill Tiernan
Orphaned as a child, the lineman shifts from a tackle to guard - a
switch that may figure in the Spartans' success
by CNB