THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 10, 1996 TAG: 9609100434
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: 69 lines
Normally calm and emotionless, Virginia tailback Tiki Barber surprised teammates Saturday night by rushing to embrace true freshman Thomas Jones after Jones scored his first college touchdown.
``I was happy for him, but I was almost proud of him, too,'' Barber said.
Jones told Barber when he came for a recruiting visit last year that Barber was someone he admired and wanted to be like.
``He said he wanted to come here and let me teach him some things so that he would be like me,'' said Barber, who has taken the freshman under his wing.
So far, Jones is off to a good start. He broke free for a 57-yard run on his first carry, and scored his first touchdown a few seconds later on a 4-yard run.
``He is on his way. Next year, he is going to be the guy to watch,'' Barber said.
UNSELFISH: Maybe Barber is too unselfish to win the Heisman Trophy.
The first two times he ran the ball from the line of scrimmage in Saturday's 55-21 win over Central Michigan, he raced for touchdowns. But he carried the ball only 14 more times the rest of the game and was in on only one series in the second half, finishing with 147 yards rushing.
Barber bruised his shin but said it would not have been a problem if the coaches had put him back in the game.
``I think I could have gone over 200 yards, and that's what it takes to get the national exposure. But the coaches did the right thing,'' Barber said. ``We needed to let Jones and Anthony Southern get some playing time because we might need them later in the season.
``I know I can play at this level, and I didn't want take time away from them just to go back in to pad my statistics.''
QUICK DRIVES: Of the four touchdowns scored by the offense Saturday, the longest took just 3:34.
The shortest drive lasted only eight seconds - on Barber's first touchdown run.
BUTKUS CANDIDATES: James Farrior and Jamie Sharper are among 65 players named to the initial list of candidates for the 1996 Butkus Award, presented annually to the nation's top linebacker.
Only eight other schools have at least two linebackers on the list, which will be trimmed to 10 on Oct. 17.
ELIGIBLE: Kevin Coffey, a freshman wide receiver/defensive back from East Cleveland, Ohio, finally has entered U.Va. after a lengthy battle with the NCAA clearinghouse, which approves all scholarships.
Coach George Welsh said Coffey entered school last week and would join the team next week.
``If he had not been approved when he was, I don't think he would have got in school this semester,'' Welsh said.
Welsh said Coffey's family hired an attorney to convince the NCAA that Coffey, who had attended a private school, qualified academically for a scholarship.
INJURIES: Matt Link, a backup center, will be out for the next three weeks with a dislocated elbow.
Starting safety Joe Williams of Chesapeake is expected to play Saturday against Maryland. A groin injury sidelined Williams the entire second half of the Central Michigan game.
IT'S A RECORD: The NCAA is adopting Virginia's streak of intercepting at least one pass in its last 30 games as a record.
The NCAA previously had not listed it as a record because statistics from all other schools were not available to verify it.
During the streak, 16 different Cavaliers have intercepted a total of 67 passes. Ronde Barber has a streak-high 12 thefts.
FAN-TASTIC: A record 25,509 season tickets have been sold, breaking the mark of 24,514 set in 1992. Only 1,200 tickets remain for Saturday's ACC season-opener against Maryland. by CNB