THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996 TAG: 9611020584
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 68 lines
Virginia Tech's defense today will benefit from the return of its most productive performer, the one Hokies coaches call perhaps the best football player on the team.
All-American defensive end and Lombardi Award finalist Cornell Brown? Nope, although he also will return to action at Lane Stadium against Southwestern Louisiana after missing two games with arthroscopic knee surgery.
But it's mighty mite Myron Newsome who has made such a big impression on his coaches and many lasting impressions on ball carriers. Newsome is compact and fast like a sports car, but hits like a 4X4.
``He's like a Tasmanian devil going 100 mph, that's the only speed he knows,'' Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster said.
At 5-foot-9, Newsome is the shortest starting linebacker in the Big East. He's 3 1/2 inches shy of the average height of the conference's starting linebackers.
For Newsome, there's an up side and down side to his size.
``I can hide behind my linemen so the running back doesn't see me,'' said Newsome, who came to Tech from Hampton by way of Butler County (Kan.) Community College. ``But when everyone stands up, I can't see the ball. if I were a little taller, that would help.''
Despite missing the Pittsburgh game with a sore shoulder, Newsome is still Tech's leading tackler with 51 stops in five games, including 18 against Syracuse. He ranks second on the team with three tackles for loss, and he is fifth in the Big East at 10.2 tackles per game.
Newsome compensates for Lilliputian stature with speed (clocked at 4.55 in the 40), strength (420-pound bench press, a record for Tech inside linebackers) and great vision, reaction and intensity. Watch a Tech game and No. 55 isn't hard to spot, because he's always around the ball and making plays.
``He makes the other guys on defense say, `Hey, maybe we need to play like Myron,' '' free safety Torrian Gray said.
``He's the guy you notice on every snap,'' Foster said.
Folks in the NFL notice him, but it's also hard not to notice his shortcoming.
``Several people have inquired about him,'' Foster said. ``But his lack of size is going to hurt him. If he were 6-2, there'd be no question he'd be a high-round draft pick. Hopefully, somebody will give him a chance.''
Newsome is known around Tech primarily for how quiet he is off the field and how intense he is on it.
``I don't express myself too much,'' Newsome said. ``I've never been a big talker. It just doesn't come naturally.''
The intensity does. Practice or games - doesn't matter - Newsome is going to go all-out.
``I was always told to play every play like it's your last play,'' Newsome said. ``You never know when you'll end up getting hurt.''
That precept was instilled in Newsome by his position coach at Butler County, Tom Matukewicz, who calls him ``probably the best tackler I've ever seen.''
Matukewicz was a player at Butler whose career ended abruptly when he returned an interception for a touchdown, then blew out a knee doing a celebration dance.
``I always told guys `You never know when your last down of football is,' '' said Matukewicz, now an assistant coach at Fort Hays State in Kansas. ``That's the difference between Saturday and Sunday players. Those Sunday players play every down like it's their last.''
In that regard, Newsome measures up - even if he doesn't measure what he'd like to. by CNB