ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 27, 1996 TAG: 9612270062
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MIAMI
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
THE CAVALIERS' running back finishes his stellar college career tonight in the Carquest Bowl against Miami.
To get some idea of exactly how far Tiki Barber has come in his college football career, it helps to go back to the 1993 Carquest Bowl.
Barber was a true freshman that year, a player with such little chance of playing time that he sat on the bench in the second half and watched the big-screen TV atop the Joe Robbie Stadium scoreboard.
The Cavaliers played in a bowl game the next year and Barber wasn't much more of a factor. After missing the last regular-season game with a fractured shoulder blade, he carried three times for 18 yards and returned one kickoff in the Independence Bowl.
At that point, midway through his college career, it was reasonable to wonder if Barber would ever become a starter. For one thing, he was playing behind Kevin Brooks and Brooks had one more year.
Then-UVa assistant Ken Mack, at a preseason media day, was the first person to suggest that Barber could wrest the job from Brooks. However, no one can say what would have happened if Brooks had not suffered a pulled groin muscle.
``I think, if he had been healthy, he easily would have started ahead of me,'' said Barber, who had rushed for 591 yards in 1994. ``I assumed I was going to be the back-up until a week and a half before the Michigan game.''
Even when Barber went 81 yards for a touchdown against the Wolverines, nobody could have guessed that he would make a corresponding dash through the UVa record books. For one thing, he had to leave the Michigan game with a bruised shoulder.
That was the last time Barber had to come out of a game with an injury. Although Brooks started the next three games, Barber proved over the next 11/2 seasons that, among other things, he may be the most durable back ever to play for the Cavaliers.
At a school where nobody had ever carried the ball more than 223 times in a season, Barber had 265 attempts last season and 250 this year. He had 651 carries in his career, breaking the record of 648 held by Tommy Vigorito.
Most of Barber's carries were between the tackles - or, at least, started between the tackles. Few thought that was an offensive philosophy that suited Barber when he arrived at Virginia in the fall of 1993 as a 5-foot-9, 180-pounder.
``That was the knock against me,'' said Barber, who, with his twin brother, Ronde, had enjoyed a celebrated career at Cave Spring High School in Roanoke. ``People said I was too small, that I couldn't take the pounding.
``The way our offense is structured, it's up the middle, up the middle, getting the tough yardage and eventually it will break. If you are durable enough to do that, great things will happen for you.''
In the last 20 years, only one ACC player, Barber, has rushed for as many as 1,360 yards in a season and he has done it twice. Moreover, Barber is the only player in ACC history to rush for 1,300 yards or more in back-to-back seasons.
That might not have been possible if Barber had not added 15 pounds after his sophomore year, effectively ending his dreams of becoming a world-class trackman. Another turning point had occurred earlier that season, during a practice.
``That was the year I got in a fight with [head coach] George [Welsh] and he kicked me off the field,'' Barber said. ``He was always yelling at me about the way I was running. One time I just snapped and yelled back.
``I think he realized what I could be and I think that's why he was always on me. I used to run like I did in high school. I always wanted to run to the sidelines. I never wanted to do the things that Virginia tailbacks have to do.''
There has been no greater supporter of Barber than Welsh, who has been unfairly criticized for not pushing Barber for the Heisman Trophy. Nobody - not Shawn Moore, not Herman Moore, not Terry Kirby - has been praised more.
``Is anybody else in the country doing what he's doing?'' Welsh asked after a 31-24 loss to Florida State. ``I don't think so. I mean this very sincerely and I haven't said this maybe ever in my career: He deserves serious consideration for that award.''
In the three games Virginia played against Bowl Alliance teams, Barber rushed for 162 yards against Virginia Tech, 150 yards against Florida State and 121 yards and three touchdowns against Texas. His totals against Tech and FSU were the highest against those teams this season.
``He's a durable player who will be a classic all-purpose back in the NFL,'' said Texas coach John Mackovic, who has an extensive NFL background. ``He'll be just like Emmitt Smith because he'll block, run and catch - whatever's needed.''
Barber scored touchdowns on his first three carries against Texas. Each run was as dazzling as its predecessor and, days later, Welsh was shaking his head and telling the media, ``I don't know how he does it?''
``I've wondered that myself,'' said Barber when told about Welsh's comments. ``What I've decided is, I run scared. I always have. I'll hit people if I have to. I can do it now. But, I don't like getting hit.
``I don't do what you would expect. Sometimes, I'll make the right cut. Sometimes, I won't and it will work out. There was one in the Texas game - I guess it was the second touchdown - when I didn't know what the hell I was doing.
``I was just trying to get away from people. The last spin move was totally luck. I didn't say, `I'm going to spin right here.' I just let my body go where it wanted to go.''
Barber was disappointed that he did not receive enough votes for the Heisman Trophy to be invited to New York. However, his postseason plate was full in more ways than one.
A two-time academic All-American, he received a $10,000 postgraduate scholarship from the College Football Hall of Fame. He also received the Dudley Award as the state player of the year and was named ACC player of the year.
``I didn't expect that at all,'' Barber said. ``I knew I've had a good year, but some of the other guys up there, like [Florida State's Peter Boulware] had great years. I mean, Boulware led the country in sacks.''
All Barber did was lead the ACC in rushing and gain as many yards in three years as the previous record-holder, Terry Kirby, did in four. Going by records and awards, Barber is the best Virginia running back in at least the last 50 years.
``It's not my job to do that,'' he said of comparisons with backs like Kirby, Barry Word, Frank Quayle and others. ``I can do it numerically. As far as subjectively, that's what you guys [in the media] do.''
It's hard to make a case for anyone else.
LENGTH: Long : 128 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN Staff 1. Virginia's Tiki Barber is the onlyby CNBplayer in ACC history to run for 1,300 yards in back-to-back
seasons. color. 2. AP< Tiki Barber is all smiles at media day for
the Carquest Bowl at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. Barber will wrap
up his stellar career at Virginia in tonight's game against the
Miami Hurricanes. KEYWORDS: FOOTBALL