Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 1, 1995 TAG: 9510020116
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: PITTSBURGH LENGTH: Medium
Frank Beamer, however, can't go very far down his roster without mentioning Harrison among players to have had big hands - literally - in turning around the Hokies' fortunes.
Tech's offense was going nowhere - again - Saturday afternoon on the Pitt Stadium artificial turf until Harrison blocked a Panthers' punt early in the third quarter.
Three plays later, the Hokies not only were finally on the scoreboard, they were in the game. That's a place Harrison - a fourth-string flanker - is surprised to be.
``Really, I thought they'd redshirt me this season,'' he said.
Not sitting out the Spotsylvania High and Hargrave Military Academy product may be one of Beamer's best coaching moves in a season the Hokies leveled at 2-2 with a 26-16 triumph over the crumbling Panthers.
Harrison blocked a punt that led to a field goal in Tech's upset of Miami last weekend. Then, after his first block of a Nate Cochran punt led to an awakening and a touchdown for the Hokies, he snuffed another Pitt punt early in the fourth quarter.
Tech trailed 16-10 and had only 201 yards of offense in three quarters when Harrison repeated his rejection notice. He was voted the Wes Worsham player of the game by his teammates.
Presumably, they didn't need high SAT scores to determine this.
In the fourth quarter alone, the Hokies not only completed two of the 10 longest passes in school history in a four-minute span, but they also had 224 yards.
Harrison doesn't seem as amazed at his three blocks in two games as he is that the Panthers didn't stop him from doing it.
Sure, the Hokies flipped sides on their called return, from last week, ``but then we went back to what we did against Miami and it worked,'' Beamer said.
``I'm just doing what they [Beamer and assistant Terry Strock, who handles the punt-return unit] coach us to do,'' Harrison said. ``It's return left or return right, and I just hope people don't start picking up what we're doing.''
Even if foes figured out the scheme, it's likely Beamer and his staff - led by special teams coach and co-defensive coordinator Bud Foster - would make an adjustment.
They've altered the approach of so many feet, they'd fit in at a podiatrists' convention. Beamer and Foster lectured on punt blocking at this summer's American Football Coaches Association convention.
It isn't like they spoke on something they've never seen. Tech has blocked some kind of kick in five straight Big East games, and now has six blocked kicks already this season.
That equals last year's season total. In Beamer's 94 games and eight-plus years as the coach at his alma mater, his teams have blocked 20 punts, 15 field-goal tries and 11 point-after attempts.
``It's just that anybody who comes free is supposed to go get it,'' Harrison said of the personal block party that deflated Pitt along with injuries to Panther offensive stars Billy West and Dietrich Jells. ``I just wanted to give the team a spark. We needed something.''
He may be only 19, but he didn't have to go to Pitt's Cathedral of Learning looming over the stadium's rim to get the right idea.
Tech appeared ready to fumble away the season's high hopes, rekindled by the victory over Miami. The Hokies were one half from 1-3 and two weeks from the start of basketball practice for the 25-win, defending NIT champions.
Instead, they rallied to win from a halftime deficit for the first time since November 1990, when they outscored N.C. State 13-0 in the second half of a 20-16 triumph.
Tech had been 0-15 in games it trailed at halftime since then.
Harrison's blocking wasn't the only thing really special about the special teams. Struggling place-kicker Atle Larsen was perfect on four field goals, too.
``Angelo has kind of got that knack,'' Beamer said of the 6-foot-2 rookie. ``He's got a long body, those long arms, and he has great speed. He's a guy who's not afraid, and it takes all of those things to be a great punt blocker and he's on his way to being a pretty good one.''
It's not that Harrison has a lot of experience either in taking his position as the second-from-the-end of the line in the punt return team.
``I never blocked a punt in high school or at Hargrave,'' he said. ``I was returning them. I hope maybe they'll let me do that here one day, too.''
Maybe so. But in Beamer's program, he already may be the best in a long line of blockheads.
by CNB