DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9711020300

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STEVE CARLSON

                                            LENGTH:   66 lines

VIRGINIA TECH REPORT

BLACKSBURG - With receivers falling like dominoes around Virginia Tech's program, Ike Charlton got the chance this week to do something he had hoped to do in a college football game.

Cover receivers and play receiver.

Charlton, a redshirt freshman from Orlando, played both split end and cornerback Saturday during the Hokies' 37-0 victory over Alabama-Birmingham. Charlton is listed as a backup cornerback, but this week Tech began working him as a receiver. Shawn Scales, Michael Stuewe, Angelo Harrison and Robert Wimberly were all out with injuries.

Charlton - who turned in the fastest 40 time on the team this spring at 4.33 - said he approached Tech coach Frank Beamer about the prospect of playing both ways on Monday and was told the coaches were already thinking about it.

By Monday afternoon, he was a two-way man.

Longtime Tech sports information director Dave Smith could not recall a Hokie playing on both sides of the ball since Mickey Fitzgerald played tight end and defensive line in the same game in the late 1970s.

``It felt good,'' Charlton said. ``That's my dream, to play both ways.''

He said he played about 25 snaps at cornerback and 15 at split end. Charlton caught one pass for six yards, bobbled another one that hit him right in the numbers and was then picked off by a UAB player, ran 16 yards on a reverse and had one tackle on defense.

Beamer said Charlton will continue to work at receiver even as some of the injured players return. Charlton, who also plays on special teams, said cornerback is still his preferred position.

``I'd rather hit than be hit,'' Charlton said.

Hokies exploring a game with Nebraska next year

Virginia Tech is looking into the possibility of a series with Nebraska beginning next season. Houston pulled out of a home-and-home with the Cornhuskers, who Tech lost to in the Orange Bowl last season.

``I just had one preliminary conversation last week,'' Tech athletic director Jim Weaver said. ``We have a full schedule next year and would have to get cooperation from someone else to make a move and a lot of things would have to happen.''

The Hokies' non-conference schedule next year includes Virginia and East Carolina at home and Cincinnati and UAB on the road.

By the way, No. 1 Nebraska rolled over rival Oklahoma on Saturday 69-7.

Clark's injury against W.Va. kept him sidelined

Tech quarterback Al Clark sprained his left knee last week at West Virginia, an injury that, at first, was not expected to keep him out of Saturday's game.

``We really expected him to play,'' Beamer said. ``We thought he'd be back. The swelling started going down, it just didn't go down quite fast enough. There's some soreness right there on the bone. He's been checked out, there's nothing torn in there.''

Beamer said Clark wasn't ruled out until Saturday, but redshirt freshman Nick Sorensen said he was told all week he was going to be the starter. Sorensen completed 7 of 15 passes for 84 yards, threw a touchdown pass and two interceptions and ran for 65 yards on eight carries.

``Under the pressure he was in and how he handled himself, I thought he did a great job,'' Beamer said.

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