Hokies fans hope Whitaker starts making noise again
By PAUL WHITE, The Virginian-Pilot
© November 29, 2002

The phone calls between Ronyell Whitaker and the grandmother who raised him since he was 13 come every couple of days, and they always start out the same way.
“How’ve you been, Ron-yell?” Novella Whitaker asks

“I’m good,” the Virginia Tech cornerback replies.

“You’re what?”

“I’m great, grandma.”

“That’s what I want to hear.”

In terms of getting a window on Whitaker’s feelings these days, this will have to suffice. For in an upset infinitely greater than Tech’s 21-18 loss to West Virginia last week, the former Lake Taylor High star heads into the final home game of his Tech career Saturday against Virginia having not uttered a single public comment all season.

This from a guy who, throughout most of his Virginia Tech career, had never seen a microphone he wouldn’t speak into, or a reporter he couldn’t charm. A guy whose storytelling skills, wit and disarming candor made ESPN The Magazine dub him college football’s best trash talker at the start of the 2001 season.

But just before the 2002 campaign kicked off, the fifth-year senior cornerback drew a two-game suspension — his second suspension as a Hokie — for an unspecified team rules violation and was prohibited from talking to the media. The suspension passed, but the muzzle remained in place, by mutual agreement of Hokies coach Frank Beamer and Whitaker himself.

“Ronyell’s at his best when he just concentrates on football and schoolwork,” Beamer said.

In mid-August, the school released a statement in which Whitaker apologized to his teammates, coaches and Hokies fans for his transgression.

Those were the last words Hokie Nation received from the charismatic Whitaker. Thus, there have been no quotes from the fifth-year senior about the crucial personal-foul penalty that was a turning point in Tech’s 28-21 loss to Pittsburgh on Nov. 2. No fiery words about how the Hokies plan to snap their current three-game losing streak against the resurgent Cavaliers. And no comments about his play, which has been uneven at times this season.

A third-team All-American a year ago, the 5-foot-9, 200-pound Whitaker may not even earn an all-conference nod this time. And the perception that his performance has slipped a notch has some Tech fans wondering whether being suspended and silenced has had a negative effect.

But those close to him say he’s still, in Novella Whitaker’s words, “the same ol’ Ronyell.” The guy who still revs up his teammates with pregame rhetoric and is viewed by them as an emotional leader. The guy whose off-campus apartment still serves as the preferred meeting place for his fellow Hokies. And the guy who’s still looked upon with reverence by his own family.

“He’ll be the first one in our family to graduate from college,” Novella Whitaker said of Ronyell, who is on track to complete work for his degree in physical education next month. “It’ll feel great to walk on the field with him Saturday. But I can’t imagine how I’ll feel when I’m there to see him graduate.

And while Hokies fans have been deprived of Whitaker’s wit and wisdom, it’s been on full display at Blacksburg Elementary School, where he has often appeared this fall as a substitute physical education teacher.

“I’ve seen him teach, and he’s like this real cool substitute we used to have,” said Whitaker’s brother, Antwoine, who is in his third year at Tidewater Community College. “He’s up there with his Hokie shirt and Hokie pants, and the kids just flock to him.”

The irony of Whitaker, who has admitted to clowning his way through high school, now being responsible for teaching others wasn’t lost on Antwoine.

“I never imagined it. I was like, ‘That’s my brother?’\u2009” said Antwoine, who credited his brother with inspiring him to pursue college. “But you know he always gave me direction and helped me make it. Now he’s a man. He’s ‘The Man.’\u2009”

Of course, Hokies fans, while comforted by the idea of Whitaker doing well in school, are probably more concerned with how he performs on the field Saturday.

Whitaker forced a fumble on his third play after coming off suspension, but his defensive statistics are down across the board from a year ago. Furthermore, the personal foul penalty against Pittsburgh made him an easy target for Tech fans’ wrath.

Beamer has called Whitaker’s play “good.” But when it comes to this player, Tech fans are not unlike Ronyell’s grandmother. They don’t want good. They want great.

Antwoine Whitaker believes that his older brother is ready to deliver, that Ronyell will close out his Lane Stadium career in the same fashion he began his enigmatic senior season — by making an impact play in a Tech victory.

“He’s really up for this game, and you’re going to see a lot of hitting from him,” Antwoine said. “I just know he’s going to come through.”
 

Jones living out American dream

"There's fewer people to notice, but you still are every bit as competitive," says Jeff Jones, who brings his American team to Virginia Tech tonight.

By MARK BERMAN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Jeff Jones will once again be coaching against Virginia Tech tonight.

    Only this time, he won't be with the Virginia men's basketball team. He'll be coaching American.

    Jones returned to the national spotlight last season by guiding the Eagles to the Patriot League regular-season title. Being in a lower-profile conference has not dampened his passion for coaching.

    "There's fewer people to notice, but you still are every bit as competitive," Jones said in a phone interview from his Washington office. "What goes on on the court is the same. You still have to play defense, you still have to take care of the basketball, you still have to get good shots.

    "The travel is a little bit different, the budgets are different, the location is different, but the part that I'm in this for, there's no difference at all."

    Jones, in his third season at American (0-2), faced Tech many times as a player and coach at UVa, although never at Cassell Coliseum, site of tonight's game. This is the first time he's squared off with UVa's big rival since taking the Eagles job, and he's not all that excited about it.

    "I never really bought in too much to the, you know - it obviously was a big rivalry for the fans, but I knew whether it was [former Tech coaches] Charlie Moir or Frankie Allen or Bobby Hussey or Bill Foster, I knew all those guys and liked those guys," Jones, 42, said. "And certainly now being in this situation, it's much different. And quite honestly with Ricky being there, it's not a fun game."

    Tech coach Ricky Stokes was one of Jones' UVa teammates and assistants. The $32,000 game guarantee from Tech was too good to pass up.

    "These are the kind of games I certainly would rather not play, when there's a friend that you share a lot of history with down at the other end," Jones said, but "Ricky and I did the scheduling. For a program at our level, there's some economic realities that we have to deal with. Playing the guarantee games are part of our landscape."

    The Eagles won only seven games in 2000-01, which was Jones' first season at AU and the school's last season in the Colonial Athletic Association. Their move to the Patriot League, a less arduous conference with high academic standards, was a great success. The Eagles claimed their first league crown since 1960, when they won the Division II Mason-Dixon Conference.

    American went 18-12, its first winning season in 11 years. The 11-game improvement from the previous year was the second-biggest turnaround in Division I last season. The Eagles even beat Florida State, becoming the first Patriot League team to upset an ACC foe.

    "The first year here was very difficult on a number of different fronts, and we had to fight a lot of different things, but we brought in a group of kids that understood what it took to be successful," Jones said. "Eventually we did turn the corner and experience that success, and it was a great feeling.

    "It will be an even better feeling if we can kind of build on last year's success."

    Jones experienced the cruel nature of life in a one-bid league, though. The Eagles lost to Holy Cross in the title game of the Patriot League tournament, failing to snare the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid. Unlike in some of his years at UVa, Jones' team did not receive an at-large bid.

    "It really is something - the emphasis, the emotion, the stress, the strain that surrounds the postseason conference tournament" in a league like the Patriot, said Jones.

    Jones, who lives with his second wife in Arlington, has taken a liking to the Washington area.

    "This is the first time I've lived in a big city, and it's been great," said Jones, an Owensboro, Ky., native. "D.C. is a lot of fun. There's a lot of interesting things to do."

    Jones was 146-104 in eight seasons as Virginia's coach. He steered UVa to five NCAA berths, including the final eight in 1995, and to the 1992 NIT crown. However, with his program plagued by several player arrests, Jones resigned under pressure in 1998 after his second losing season in three years. A year later, the NCAA penalized UVa for recruiting violations that occurred under Jones' watch.

    Does Jones miss coaching in one of the nation's elite conferences?

    "Every stage in life has got pluses and minuses," he said. "Certainly being at that level, there's a lot of positive things. But I tend to try to focus on what we have here, and I'm very happy here."

    AU athletic director Tom George certainly hopes so.

    "Jeff brings an element of old-school professionalism that is I think rare and would be incredibly difficult to replace," George said. "He's really building something sort of special here that hasn't been here in a long time, and I think he sort of relishes the idea of taking the team to the [NCAA] Tournament for the first time, and I sort of think he likes the fact that ... it's not the same microscope with alumni and the press that is in power-conference Division I."

    Jones has found some advantages to coaching at a lower-profile school.

    "At the upper levels, the head coach's time is really kind of divided," he said. "There's the fund-raising, the alumni relations, the media responsibilities. ... Here, you've got those things, just not as much. So I am able to focus more on our basketball team."

    "He's very prepared every day ... whether it's getting ready for practice or it's getting ready for our next game or it's getting ready for a lift," said assistant coach Ryan Odom, son of South Carolina coach Dave Odom. "Whatever it is, he has it planned."

    George was impressed when he saw Jones working on catch-and-shoot drills with a little-used walk-on about a week before the Patriot League tournament.

    "That had nothing to do with winning the tournament. That had only to do with doing things the right way and for that young man's individual development," George said. "He is a coach that is in the style of collegiate coach that is mentor, teacher, surrogate parent, as opposed to some of the new breed of coaches that would be more PR, media impresarios."

    "I still believe in a good, old-fashioned, blue-collar work ethic and trying to get the most out of ourselves each and every day," Jones said.

Elton's greatest hits rock the house
Road to end zone often paved by Brown
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Nov 29, 2002

CHARLOTTESVILLE Wali Lundy caught Matt Schaub's screen pass and turned upfield at about the Maryland 20-yard line. Between Lundy and the end zone waited two Terrapins. But Virginia's first-year tailback had an escort: a 6-6, 320-pound behemoth who loves to leave defenders strewn in his wake.

With one arm, sophomore guard Elton Brown shooed away the first Terp as one might a gnat. He slammed into the second one near the goal line, and Lundy scooted untouched into the end zone to stretch unranked Virginia's lead over then-No. 18 Maryland to 27 points at Scott Stadium last weekend.

Announcing the game for ESPN2, former NFL great Chris Spielman raved about Brown's blocks. His teammates appreciate No. 61, too.

"I see Big E out there, I want to stop and let him take on everybody instead of me," Lundy said. "He's a house. Anybody want to take him on, I let'em."

Entering last weekend's game, Brown hadn't played since Oct. 26.

"I was anxious to get back out and hit somebody," he said. "There are some things I still need to clean up, but I had a pretty good day's work."

In all-ACC balloting, Brown missed making the second team by one vote. Perhaps that's because he missed two games and most of another with a stress fracture in his right foot. Whatever the reason, the slight doesn't diminish Brown's value to Virginia (8-4). He's becoming known for what a Roanoke reporter last week called "Elton moments" - plays on which he flattens defenders.

"He had quite a few 'Elton moments' last night," Virginia coach Al Groh said Sunday. "There were some explosions where Elton was."

Asked to describe what he sees in opponents' eyes as he bears down on them in the open field, Brown said, "By the time I look in your eyes, it's too late. I don't think you can get out of the way then."

In U.Va. athletics, there are two Elton Browns. They're classmates and cousins, and people still get them mixed up, but each is forging his own identity.

Elton Eugene Brown Jr., 19, is a 6-9, 270-pound basketball player. He's a graduate of Warwick High in Newport News.

Elton Gillett Brown, 20, is the son of the former Robin Brown, whose brother is Elton Eugene Brown Sr. The football Elton was an all-Peninsula District pick at Newport News' Heritage High in 1999, then transferred to Hampton High for his senior year. Because of a suspension stemming from his involvement in a December 1999 fight, Brown played only two games for the Crabbers in 2000.

He arrived at Virginia carrying 347 pounds, about 25 more than his coaches wanted. Even so, Groh loved Brown's potential, and as the pounds came off, Brown's playing time increased. With four games left last season, Brown took over at right guard, becoming the first true freshman to start on U.Va.'s offensive line in 18 years.

Brown played basketball in high school, and it shows. Even on a sore foot - Brown left the Maryland game in the third quarter but said he'll be fine for tomorrow's showdown with Virginia Tech - he moves remarkably well for a man his size.

"He definitely can run," Lundy said. "He's one of those rare linemen."

Groh has an extensive background in the NFL, and Brown looks the part of a future high draft pick. Nagging injuries, though, have "shattered his development on a number of occasions," Groh said. "A lot of time it's just been, 'Get him ready for the game.'"

Brown has "a lot of the tools to play the position," Groh said, "but one of the projects for the offseason is to really set up a very intense program for Elton to really develop all the skills necessary to not just be a prospect, but to be a really good [NFL] player and to have a career for himself once he gets there."

Virginia has two games left this season, starting with tomorrow's regular-season finale in Blacksburg. Then comes a crucial stretch in Brown's development. He wants to produce more and more of those "Elton moments."

The foot injury "held me back from a couple things I wanted to do this year," Brown said. "I've just got to work hard and try to get better in the offseason and come back better next year."
 

Slim pickings in terms of where to go bowling
Published November 28 2002

The turkey's been devoured to a carcass, the pumpkin pie to a sliver. Welcome to Thanksgiving afternoon and the postseason football prospects for Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Slim pickin's, indeed.

Peach Bowl? Been there, done that. Tangerine Bowl? Just what Orlando needs, another tourist boondoggle.

Continental Tire Bowl? The grandson of them all. The Insight Bowl? Hey, what happened to the .com?

Virginia's most likely destinations are the Peach and Tangerine. The Cavaliers broke their postseason maiden at the 1984 Peach and have returned twice. Thousands of Virginia alumni live in suburban Atlanta, and Michael Vick's town is within driving distance for thousands more.

So what's not to like? First, there's the game's corporate sponsor. Chick-Fil-A serves a mean order of waffle fries, but it just doesn't jive with Virginia's Chardonnay-and-brie sensibilities.

Then there's game time, 7:30 p.m., New Year's Eve. Downtown Atlanta is Elvis-dead at night, leaving revelers precious little time to catch MARTA out to Buckhead before the well-embalmed Dick Clark welcomes 2003.

But the Cavaliers' alternative is the Tangerine Bowl. Excuse me, the Mazda Tangerine Bowl, recently relocated from Miami-Ft. Lauderdale. Stylish ride, the Miata. Tasty citrus, the tangerine. Other than that, yikes!

Orlando is great for kids, or adults with a rodent jones. But the game is Dec. 23, and just imagine the pre-holiday commercialization in and around Mickey's land.

Entertainment options? Good luck. The NBA's Magic is on the road the week before the bowl, and Tiger Woods' digs at nearby Isleworth are guarded like a fortress.

Why, the Tangerine doesn't even rate as the best bowl game in Orlando. That honor belongs to the Capital One Bowl, staged New Year's Day between teams from the game's most storied football conferences, the Southeastern and Big Ten.

So which is it, Virginia fans? Atlanta or Orlando? All things equal, I say Atlanta. Dinner at Dailey's, jazz in Buckhead, pre-dawn chili dogs at the Varsity. And no cartoon rodents. Only real ones.

While the Cavaliers mull fruit, the Hokies contemplate rubber and software. The inaugural Continental Tire Bowl, only 99 years younger than the venerable Rose Bowl, is Dec. 28 at Charlotte's Ericsson Stadium. The Insight Bowl, previously the Insight.com Bowl, is Dec. 26 at Phoenix's Bank One Ballpark.

Charlotte is more convenient for Virginia Tech, but Ericsson is home to some bad-to-the-bone karma. The NFL's Panthers toil there, and when last seen, they employed the quarterback Mount Rushmore of Rodney Peete, Chris Weinke and Randy Fasani in a 41-0 home loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

Plus, to be childish and vindictive, Charlotte is the former home of the NBA's Hornets, whose owners played Hampton Roads like a song to strike a more lucrative relocation deal in New Orleans.

If not Charlotte, say hello to Christmas in the desert. Enticing area Phoenix, even during summer's sauna. Great Tex-Mex cuisine, outstanding golf courses, four pro sports franchises - football's Cardinals, basketball's Suns, hockey's Coyotes and baseball's Diamondbacks.

But traveling to McCain Country isn't cheap, and such a journey is bound to confuse Santa as he delivers Bryan Randall and Nathaniel Adibi bobbleheads to good Hokies everywhere.