THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 24, 1996 TAG: 9604240558
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
James Roe sat in his Atlantic City hotel room and waited. And waited. And waited some more until he finally got the phone call of his life - the Baltimore Ravens had selected him in Sunday's NFL draft.
``In a way, I was (getting impatient) but I did get the chance to be drafted so I have to make the best of it,'' said Roe, a wide receiver from Norfolk State who was taken in the sixth round.
Roe will begin his bid to make the team at this weekend's mini-camp. The Ravens, formerly the Cleveland Browns, had a subpar year from their wide receivers last season.
Baltimore, sixth in AFC receiving yards last season, was led by running back Earnest Byner in receptions (61).
Free-agent signee Andre Rison, a four-time Pro Bowler with the Atlanta Falcons, had 47 receptions, a career low.
Roe, a Richmond native, was last year's recipient of the Eddie Robinson Award as the best player at an historically black school. He set Division II records for consecutive games with a touchdown (15), career games with a touchdown (26) and career yards (4,468). The Division II All-American finished with 46 career touchdowns.
Roe's numbers and his image as a hard worker and team player had the Ravens interested long before Sunday's selection.
``I knew Baltimore wanted him all along,'' Norfolk State coach Darnell Moore said. ``When they were in Cleveland, they came to watch him four times as a junior because they thought he was a senior then.''
Two factors dropped Roe from early projections as a third- or fourth-round pick to the sixth round: his speed and the Division II competition. But Moore, who said Roe recently was clocked at 4.47 in a Washington Redskin workout, believes the question marks will be erased once Roe steps on the field.
``(He's) somebody that comes to play at every practice,'' Moore said. ``There's a difference in coming to practice to practice. He comes to play.''
All Roe wants is an opportunity to prove himself.
``I get a chance to go,'' Roe said. ``That's always been a dream of mine.'' ILLUSTRATION: Wide receiver James Roe will begin his bid to make the Baltimore
team at this weekend's mini-camp.
by CNB