THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 18, 1996 TAG: 9608180182
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: 76 lines
The two University of Virginia players look at the coming season from opposite ends of the spectrum.
For Tim Sherman, a fifth-year senior quarterback who has lived in the shadows of football Saturdays, this is the opportunity to write that storybook ending.
For freshman Thomas Jones, a running back so good that coaches from Notre Dame, Alabama and Tennessee camped outside his Appalachia, Va., home, this is just the beginning, and nothing seems impossible.
``I've seen what's gone on the last four years,'' says Sherman, who is battling sophomore Aaron Brooks for the starting quarterback position.
Sherman thinks he can win the job, but he's cautious, his optimism tempered by years of carrying a clipboard.
Jones, the rookie, has been on campus exactly seven days. Unlike Sherman, he arrives with no baggage - psychological baggage, that is - and can imagine only greatness in his future.
``I just want to go ahead and get started,'' said Jones, snapping his fingers one, two, three times. ``Tiki Barber will be leaving after this year, but I still think I can still do something this season.''
Typical freshman impatience.
``When I got here,'' said Sherman, the voice of experience, ``that first week of football meetings made my head spin. I thought they were speaking a different language.''
Sherman is familiar with Jones' reputation.
``The word is he's an impact player,'' he says.
Jones holds Virginia High School League state records for yards rushing in a season (3,319), touchdowns scored in a season (49) and touchdowns scored in a career (104). Some publications rated him the No. 2 prep running back in the nation last year.
The accolades?
``After awhile,'' says Jones, ``you turn your attention to other things.''
He's listed as the third-string tailback on the preseason depth chart behind Barber, the Heisman Trophy candidate, and Anthony Southern. For now, Jones is properly modest about his aspirations.
``I'm not going to score a touchdown every play, I know that,'' he says.
When Sherman arrived unheralded four years ago, he was not required to issue any such disclaimers. The son of U.Va. receivers coach Tom Sherman was red-shirted that first season, and settled into a third-string role until clawing his way to back-up quarterback in 1995.
Last season, he took advantage of his one taste of significant action: Against Virginia Tech in the final regular season game, Sherman replaced an injured Mike Groh in the second quarter and completed eight of 10 passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns.
Now, people whose job it is to wonder about these things wonder if the quarterback job isn't Sherman's to lose.
Sherman, well-armed with an undergraduate degree in psychology, doesn't bite. ``I try not to think like that,'' he says.
The competition with Brooks, he concedes, ``is tight. One of us will have to make a move.''
About Brooks, who is from Newport News, Sherman says, ``Great arm. When he throws the ball, you know it's been thrown. And he runs like a gazelle.''
He laughs. ``The way I'm talking,'' he says, ``it sounds like I don't have a chance.''
What, then, does Sherman bring to the contest?
``I rely more on grasping the system,'' he says.
As the competition with Brooks drags out, Sherman also seems to have a good grasp of the big picture.
``I've got no regrets,'' he says. ``I've graduated. I met my fiance here. This has been a great experience, starting or not starting.''
Likely to take a different approach at U.Va. is Thomas Jones.
``I need to get adjusted,'' he says now.
But after awhile, if you're an impact player, you turn your attention to other things. Like starting, and starring. It's only a matter of when, right?
Sherman and Jones are teammates, but couldn't possess more different visions of college football.
``I've got one more chapter to write,'' Sherman says, hoping to end his story with an exclamation point.
But Jones, with all those blank pages yet to fill, must envision an epic. by CNB