THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190555
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 95 lines
Darren Sharper was tooling around the William and Mary campus in his Deion Sanders jersey one day last week.
Appropriate attire, it turns out.
A few days later, Sharper was in his Deion Sanders' mode. The Tribe's free safety played both ways, making eight tackles and catching three passes in William and Mary's 40-21 win over VMI at Zable Stadium.
Sharper also returned five punts and recovered a fumble. But who was counting?
Not head coach Jimmye Laycock.
``I ain't gonna wear him out,'' Laycock drawled when asked if he was concerned about tiring his best defensive player.
Sharper has worn out opposing offenses for more than three years now with size and speed not often seen at the Division I-AA level.
``There are not many defensive backs in the country at our level who have the kind of skills he has,'' said Russ Huesman, the Tribe's defensive coordinator. ``And that's not just me saying that.''
No, a pair of Division I-AA All-American plaques say it. So do the 14 interceptions Sharper made the past two seasons. And the NFL scouts who stop by to look at him.
Sharper is much sharper than your average I-AA defensive back. To get where he wants to go, he has to be.
``NFL teams tend to slot you,'' Sharper said. ``To show them I can play, I have to dominate at this level. I have to stand out on every play.''
He usually does. Sharper is not bragging when he says he's faster than most of the receivers he covers. At 6-foot-2 and 208 pounds, he's bigger and stronger than most of them, too.
Sharper's physical advantages allow him to make gambles most other safeties can't get away with.
``I don't like to react, I like to anticipate,'' he says. ``To some people, that's taking a risk. To me, I know what's going to happen.
``If I'm wrong, I've just got to make up, and catch up somehow.''
Sharper has the kind of ``recovery'' speed scouts look for in an NFL safety, and that's one of the reasons he could be playing on Sundays next year. He would be the first Tribe defensive back to make it since Mark Kelso, who played for Buffalo from 1986-1993.
Sharper's speed is also the main reason Laycock decided to use him both ways. Sharper's three catches went for 24 yards Saturday.
``He gives us another dimension out there,'' Laycock said. ``He's somebody people have to think twice about single-covering.''
All of which leads to the question: How did he slip out of Virginia's hands, especially since his brother Jamie was already playing for the Cavaliers?
Sharper was recruited by Virginia, but not hard. Coach George Welsh has since said the Cavaliers made a mistake by not offering him a scholarship.
Sharper has no hard feelings. Virginia was not the only I-A school to recruit him, then back off.
``You can't really blame them,'' he said.
Sharper was a high school quarterback and free safety who was a couple inches shorter and about 20 pounds lighter than he is now.
``He wasn't any knockout,'' Huesman said. ``At free safety, you really had to look to see him doing anything.''
Jamie, a year older, had been the classic blue-chipper. He urged Darren to make his own decision. And Darren, truth be known, was eager to get out of his brother's shadow.
So instead of walking on at Virginia, Sharper enrolled at William and Mary. He didn't waste time making an impression.
It happened one day at practice, when the team was scheduled to dress in the Zable Stadium locker room and then head across campus to practice on an artificial turf field.
The tradition was for the team to walk over. Sharper rode his bike.
``He had his helmet on and everything,'' said offensive tackle Josh Beyer. ``We kidded him about that for two years.''
Huesman said Sharper was a bit too carefree.
``Right now, he's a great worker,'' Huesman said. ``Way above average. When he first got here, he was way below average.
``One thing Mark Kelso had was intensity. Darren's a hard worker, but he's not in the Kelso category yet.''
Sharper definitely has a mellow side, and teammates say he works overtime burnishing the Sharper Image. Told that Sharper lists his hobbies as playing the piano and writing poetry, Josh Whipple, who rooms with Sharper on the road, had to laugh.
``I think Darren's trying to come across as being very suave,'' Whipple said.
But Sharper really does play jazz and ragtime piano.
``I just don't let everybody on the football team know it.''
And he does use poetry to express his feelings, ``especially if I'm writing to a young lady,'' he says.
Right now, Sharper's feeling pretty good about his future, both at William and Mary and beyond. He and his brother, an All-American candidate at linebacker, talk a lot about playing in the NFL next year.
Maybe then, Sharper could get that jersey autographed. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by HUY NGUYEN, The Virginian-Pilot
A two-time All-American at safety, Darren Sharper is also playing
wide receiver for the Tribe this season. by CNB