THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 1, 1995 TAG: 9511010580
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb loves to watch NFL games on television to pick up pointers.
But he doesn't study how Dan Marino reads defenses or Steve Young delivers the sideline route.
``Most of the quarterbacks in the NFL don't do too much on the run,'' McNabb said. ``I watch the running backs and the moves they put on people because we run the option. I watch Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders and try to simulate that in the game.''
Virginia Tech will give chase to McNabb Saturday at Lane Stadium (3:30 p.m., WVEC) in a game that could go a long way toward deciding the Big East title. The Hokies (6-2, 4-1 Big East) will have to devise a way to slow McNabb, an 18-year-old redshirt freshman who has led the Orangemen (6-1, 3-0) to a No. 20 national ranking.
McNabb is second nationally in passing efficiency with a 176.3 rating. The NCAA passing efficiency record for a freshman is 148.0 by Florida's Kerwin Bell in 1984.
The only player to finish a season with a higher rating than McNabb's 176.3 was Brigham Young's Jim McMahon, who set the NCAA record of 176.9 in 1980, the second year passing efficiency was kept.
If McNabb wins the passing efficiency title, he will be the first freshman to do so. He is the lone freshman ranked among the top 50 nationally in passing efficiency or total offense, in which he is 23rd.
``He's probably the biggest threat we're going to see this year from the quarterback position,'' said Virginia Tech rover Torrian Gray.
McNabb is a threat to run and pass. There is sentiment that he's more effective when flushed from the pocket or rolling out.
McNabb said he has no preference between throwing on the run or in the pocket.
``I've made big plays on the run, but I think I've been overlooked as a dropback passer,'' said McNabb, who chose Syracuse over Nebraska.
Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said there were a couple of plays in Syracuse's West Virginia game in which McNabb was on the verge of being sacked and scrambled away to make something happen.
``He turns it into a touchdown once and a couple of long plays,'' Beamer said. ``When you're back there and it should be a 10-yard sack and all of a sudden it's a touchdown, that's a heck of a difference in the game. That's what he has the ability to do.''
McNabb has ability galore. He is a basketball player who redshirted last year but could see significant playing time for the Orangemen this season, according to Syracuse quarterback coach Kevin Rogers. McNabb is a 6-foot-2 combination point guard/shooting guard with great leaping ability.
At Mt. Carmel High School in suburban Chicago - where McNabb was a teammate of Illinois All-American linebacker Simeon Rice - McNabb ran track as well. Rice said one day McNabb decided on a lark to try the high jump, and promptly leaped 6-4.
Rice, a likely NFL first-round draft pick, said McNabb has God-given athletic ability that enables him to avert tacklers and make something out of nothing.
``He runs too damn much for me,'' Rice told a Syracuse newspaper last month. ``I want more of a target.''
Syracuse coaches had no idea they had a quarterback who could be on target to set the NCAA passing efficiency record when the season began. They only knew McNabb was a great athlete.
What they've got from McNabb is great production.
Although he's had fewer attempts, completions and touchdown passes than the other top five quarterbacks in passing efficiency, McNabb's interception percentage of 2.36 is the lowest of the five. He has completed 62 percent of his passes, and his 227 yards rushing is more than any other quarterback rated in the nation's top 30 in total offense.
``He makes outstanding decisions and exercises great judgment,'' Orangemen coach Paul Pasqualoni said.
``That's something you never know until a guy's in the game. He has done better than we could have imagined he would do.''
Rogers said Saturday will be McNabb's biggest test. Virginia Tech's defense - ranked first nationally against the rush, third in scoring defense and ninth in total defense - puts tremendous pressure on a quarterback.
But Rogers, a William and Mary graduate who coached at Virginia Beach's Bayside High School in the mid 1970s, has confidence McNabb can handle the pressure. He's done it with aplomb all season. And the best thing is, with three years left McNabb is far from a finished product.
``This kid could be a household name in college sports one day because of the football and basketball combination,'' Rogers said. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Donovan McNabb, an 18-year-old redshirt freshman, has led Syracuse
(6-1) to a No. 20 national ranking.
Donovan McNabb says he has no preference between throwing on the run
or from the pocket.
Graphic
McNabb by the numbers by CNB