The Roanoke Times from Roanoke, Virginia • 22

Xhe Roanoke Times lul'i yl Heels wantp be in step with Beamer 'BLACKSBURG rank Beamer going to Alabama No surprise There XHowever you can turn up the Hokie hysteria a few notches North Carolina has a football coaching vacancy and guess listening? Beamer say he leaving ionVirginia lech tor EJama the 1 ide is JACK BOGACZYK in a blitz package over Butch Davis but if Davis declines this bear of a job could end up with Jackie Sherrill of Mississippi State or Gary Darnell of Western Michigan Beamer also say he is lis tening to Carolina Then he say he listening either Asked if he or anyone representing had been contacted by UNC or a of the school Beamer picked through pronouns leaving oth read between the lines have not talked with Dick Bad Beamer said deliberately I not been contacted by him I have jfdesire to leave Virginia Pressed further Beamer repeated his reference to Baddour and added not been officially contacted by anyone from North Carolina My total efforts right now are getting this team ready to play Beamer been contacted His4gent South Carolina based Craig iKelley has A source close to Beamer 'Confirmed that The same source speaking about ItheBeamer to Alabama possibilities 10 ago said then of Beamer job that he always has thought was really a good one was Carolina thought ililtt for a long time" n'H'Who knew that with a 6 5 record afiu three finishing wins the Tar Heels yvould dump Carl Torbush? Who knew there eventually would be a cruel irony tenure? It began with a 42 8 pasting of the Hokies in the 1997 Ga tor Bowl The reality is that going to take more than double the $450000 annual package Torbush had for Carolina to get the coach it wants a Jim Donnan from Georgia or a Beamer That said the Tar Heels have it 86 Tech athletic director Jim Weaver is working on a 25 percent boost for Beamer to a $1 million annual pack age That will be as high as al ma mater can go financially says Weav er who worried about Beamer bolting for but considers Caroli interest legitimate and imposing Weaver be surprised if Bad dour calls for permission to speak to Beamer but he will be shocked if it oc curs before Monday with the 82nd Tech UVa game Saturday night a rivalry that should maybe be played at the Virginia Employment Commission considering the interest in Beamer and UVa coach George forthcoming decision on whether to re tire after the season The potential of losing Beamer an alumnus to an ACC school would really frost Tekkies Weaver knows he let that happen or he will be tarred and heeled by Hokies everywhere Weaver concedes Beamer and Caro lina the man and the school are a good match Weaver said most people in his business look upon UNC as the summate referring to the blend of academics with a deep athletic program with tradition facilities fi nances and conference affiliation Only hours after Torbush was dumped Monday one Hokie mouth piece already was worrying that Beam erin baby blue could recruit Rich flg)nd and Tidewater as he does now to 'a School much closer than Blacksburg happened before Bill Dooley lifted on Virginia recruits before he from UNC to the side lihe in 1978 aUNC and Tech have a two game tootball series scheduled in 2004 and RA So maybe it comes to this for the Hokies and Beamer: Jr sPlYou can pay him now or play him later Jack Bogaczyk can be reached at 981 3124 or jackbroanokecom Sports SCOREBOARDB8 HOKIES HURTING ON BOARDS B9 IN THE REGIONB10 EXPRESS POUNDS NAILERS B10 Sports newsonline or the latest 4 sports news and scores go online at' Joanoketlmeicoa WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 22 2 000 PAGEr B6 Ife WkM IEh 'v: iMM oWaasjife A r' xi' I iA' 'X 1 Wr JT'W' a ylNMk 'C Ns aa': Wfc A Av cX JaGfllg 'A 1 Af' jv A g'T PHOTO (Vl'KTKSY VIRGINIA Brad Barnes has started 21 of 22 games since being named Virginia's starting right tackle in the 1999 opener at North Carolina Virginia tackle Brad Barnes has worked hard for his position Earning the start Barnes has been called for just one holding penalty in each of his two years as a starter By DOUG DOUGHTY THE ROANOKE TIMES CHARLOTTESVILLE Two years ago when he joined his teammates in cele bration at Virginia Lane Stadium Virginia offensive lineman Brad Barnes know how to feel The Cavaliers had overcome a 22 point third quarter deficit to beat the Hok ies 36 32 but Barnes played Nor did he get on the field one month later when the Cavaliers fell to Georgia 35 33 in the Peach Bowl huge is the way Barnes de scribed it this week After a redshirt season in 1996 Bar nes play enough to receive a letter after either of the next two seasons leav had to make the decision whether I wanted to be a good football player or whether I would be a BRAD BARNES VIRGINIA RIGHT TACKLE ing him at a crossroads in the spring of 1999 thought not going to work out never going to work he said That was a harsh assessment for a player who was rated the No 4 offensive lineman in the country by SuperPrep be fore his senior year at Tabb High School was definitely Barnes said my third and fourth year I had to make the decision whether I wanted to be a good football player or whether I would be a backup for one more year and be The Cavaliers helped make the deci sion for him when they returned him to tackle the position he played in high school He had been at guard since the first practice of his redshirt freshman year was awful sad when they told me Barnes said say I had a bad attitude but I knew rather play Nevertheless it took more than a posi tion change to turn Barnes into a contribu tor had always played basketball which kept my quickness up" Barnes said was like a big fish in a small pond but when I got to college everything was different I know what it took at this level PLEASE SEE BARNESB9 Receiver to stay another year Davis leaning way By RANDY KING THE ROANOKE TIMES BLACKSBURG Virginia Tech flanker Andre Davis may remain questionable for Satur day against Virginia but is able to offer a more concrete update on his playing status ftfr next season ive weeks after saying lie was thinking about leaving 'h year early for the NL Davis backpedaled Tuesday and la beled his return with the Hokies in 2001 as original Tec1 statement came assistant's Oct 1 7 five days on head after his monster game against West Virginia in which he scored three touchdowns three differ ent ways run pass reception and punt return in a six minute stretch of 48 20 romp In the four games since Davis has been plagued by inju ries to his left foot limiting him to three receptions for 21 yards in limited playing time That factor parlayed with some homework done qn the subject has Davis leaning strongly to spending another season in Blacksburg just think I looked at ev erything going on right now and most likely I see myself staying for next year" said Davis a junior might have a little bit to do with it but I still think that if I just got to tally better still have an op portunity to play at the neftt level and leave early with a lot of the re ceivers that are leaving this year and a lot of the linemen that are leaving this year I think 4t will be a better opportunity for me to go earlier in the draft if I stay another Davis a fleet 6 foot 1 junior from Niskayuna NY go ing to come close to his num bers from last season in which he set school marks for receiv ing yards (962) and yards per reception (275) not to men tion nine touchdowns Davis is averaging 133 yards per catch with two TDs this season He leads the nation in punt return average (22fl) and punt returns for TDs (three) left foot is hindered by a high ankle sprain which came on the heels of going to try and do all I can to play this week" Davis said personally I don't think going to lose that much sharpness Hopefully iriy conditioning will be up to still been doing a lot of stuff to keep my wind up so I go out there and look like a dead duck or REDSKINS NOTES XSSOOIA TEH PRESS i 7 Jeff George played well Monday night but he insists the Redskins have a quarterback controversy George: Week off helped prepare By JIM DUCIBELLA LIN DM A RK NE I PS SER I ICE In the depressed atmo sphere of the Redskins locker room following their 16 15 loss to Arizona on Nov 5 Washing ton quarterback Jeff George questioned how valuable the bye week would be to a club that had so much go wrong that day ollowing Monday 33 20 victory over the Super Bowl champion St Loins Rams George had no such misgivings guys had to get used to me and me to them" said George who rarelv practiced with the first team before start er Brad Johnson suffered his knee injury three weeks ago kept telling them that I need a lot of reps but I thought we needed some ortunately we had a couple of guys step up and make some plays when we needed George and the receivers spent extra time dur ing the bye week working on their timing which routes the receivers felt most comfortable running and adjusting to the in creased velocity of passes George finished with 24 completions in 34 attempts for 269 yards and three touch downs George hit James Thrash with a 1 9 yard TD pass Larry Centers with a 4 yarder and Irving ryar with a 34 yarder on which ryar raced from one sideline to the other while George stood patiently in the pocket understands that if rolling one way I re ally know who going to throw George said knew if he came across the middle and stayed with it somehow get the ball to George who team insid ers say has been one of the hardest working players on the team and has forged a ever closer relationship with Johnson deflected talk of quarterback controversy my George said win was not as big for me in terms of winning the starting job as people think They think an individual thing said all along that not about the team and one of the nice things about this team is that got two guys PLEASE SEE REDSKINSB8 A.