THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 17, 1995 TAG: 9511170348
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
If there's one thing Thomas Haskins has learned in three years at VMI, it's the concept of delayed gratification.
You take your lumps as a first-year ``rat'', but the payoff for most of those who stick it out are palpable increases in discipline, self-confidence and maturity, not to mention eventual entry into one of the tightest and most helpful networks of alumni anywhere.
``You have to have some tough times before you can enjoy the good times,'' Haskins said.
For Haskins, it's been that way on the football field as well. An All-Region running back at Highland Springs High in suburban Richmond, Haskins was considered too small to play Division I ball. And his academic record was shaky to boot.
Haskins took his medicine and enrolled at Fork Union Military Academy for a year of prep school.
When he left Fork Union, his academic credentials shored up, the recruiters were still skeptical. Only VMI offered Haskins a Division I scholarship.
It turned out to be one of the best moves the Keydet coaching staff has ever made. Only a junior, Haskins has broken nearly every VMI rushing record: career, single season and single game.
Heading into Saturday's Oyster Bowl contest against Georgia Southern at Foreman Field, Haskins has run for 1,461 yards, more than any back in the state, at any level. He also has 17 touchdowns. This is after running for 1,509 yards and 11 touchdowns last year.
Haskins needs just six yards to break Floyd Allen's career rushing mark of 3,559 yards. He has 11 200-yard games, including a school-record 266 against Tennessee-Chattanooga on Sept. 16. Haskins ran for 250 yards against The Citadel in last year's Oyster Bowl.
The 5-foot-8, 172-pound Haskins carried the ball 258 times a year ago, and the plan this year was to diversify the offense and not rely on him so heavily. But with one game to go, Haskins has 230 carries. At 6.4 yards per carry, who can blame VMI coach Bill Stewart?
``We like showcasing him,'' Stewart said. ``He's our number one back and we don't make any bones about that.''
Haskins is fast, elusive, and more durable than a 172-pound back has a right to be. ``He's gonna play his steady game,'' Stewart said. ``But he's a better person than he is player.''
Haskins was not a bad fellow in high school, but said he was ``basically not interested'' in school work. VMI was a literal wake-up call. Reveille at dawn, and all that.
``It's like night and day, two different people,'' he said. ``Other people can see the change, but it's nice when you can see it in yourself.''
Haskins, an international relations major, said he thinks about the schools that passed on him coming out of high school.
``It just thrills me to know those guys could have had me, but I'm in a situation where I'm here to stay,'' he said.
He's got another year to stay. That means one more off-season to run track, lift weights, get quicker, stronger, faster.
``That,'' Haskins says, without a hint of immodesty, ``is the scary part.'' ILLUSTRATION: VMI PHOTO
Only a junior running back, Thomas Haskins has broken nearly every
VMI rushing record: career, single season and single game.
by CNB