THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270743
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: 109 lines
Fifty-thousand screaming fans, a national television audience, game on the line . . . it doesn't sound like the ideal situation for someone who drinks Pepto-Bismol as if it were Pepsi Cola.
But Virginia Tech freshman placekicker Shayne Graham would love to step on the field to decide the outcome when the 18th-ranked Hokies play Syracuse in the Carrier Dome Saturday. Graham, an earnest 18-year-old whose personality is sometimes referred to as ``red-headed paranoia'' by his friends, has a queasy stomach but cast-iron confidence.
Graham got his first taste of major-college football pressure last week against Rutgers.
With the score tied at 14 in the second half, he booted field goals of 35, 31 and 25 yards to spark Tech to a 30-14 victory. Graham also tried a 56-yarder into the wind. It fell short, but it showed the confidence Tech coaches have in him.
It was Graham's first game at Tech's Lane Stadium, just a few miles down the road from his home in Dublin, Va.
``The feeling I had on the sideline is unparalleled to anything I've felt before,'' Graham said this week. ``It wasn't nervousness, it wasn't scared. It was like when I would run on the field, I couldn't wait to get out there and do the kick. It was like the night before Christmas, the anxiousness.''
The anxiousness plays on Graham in a different way before the game. He walks around swigging Pepto-Bismol to calm his stomach. In high school, Graham sometimes drank almost an entire bottle before kickoff. He said he's cut back because people have told him that's not good for him.
``I like the taste of it,'' Graham said.
Pat O'Morrow, Graham's kicking mentor, chuckles at the freshman's Pepto fix.
``You've gotta do whatever helps to keep your nerves down or keeps you from throwing up,'' O'Morrow said. ``He's a freshman kicking at a major school. There is a lot of pressure for him to do well.''
Graham has looked up to O'Morrow since Graham switched from soccer to soccer-style kicker. O'Morrow grew up near Graham in Radford, and kicked for Ohio State in the late 1980s. Graham's father once contacted O'Morrow when he was home from school and asked him to come work with Shayne.
Whenever he returned to Western Virginia, O'Morrow passed on kicking tips to Graham, who still studies tapes of O'Morrow kicking for Ohio State whenever he feels his stroke or technique is out of kilter.
Graham's foot turned a lot of heads at Pulaski County High, where he won the starting job midway through his freshman year and set a national high school record for career kicking points with 279. He also is second all-time in field goals made (38) and fifth in career PATs (165). Graham was a Parade All-American and second-team choice by USA Today.
Graham is Tech's first true freshman placekicker since Don Wade in 1981. Through three games, Graham is perfect on 10 point-after tries and is 4 for 5 on field goals.
``The guy is probably only going to get better,'' Tech coach Frank Beamer said. ``He has a good action on the ball. He hits it solid every time. He's in a good groove.
``As he gets more mature, I have a feeling he'll get stronger and even longer. He's a very accurate kicker. Unlike my drives, that thing stays right in the middle.''
Graham's personality could also be described as right down the middle. He doesn't rattle easily, and admits that his friends sometimes ride him about his demeanor. He likes to have fun, but says he's often the one telling friends to consider the consequences before they make decisions.
``My peers say to me all the time, `Lighten up, Shayne, don't be so serious all the time,' '' Graham said.
Graham wears a sobering reminder during games of a high school friend who committed suicide. He writes ``CAR'' in big block letters on his wrist band, the initials of the late Chrystal Raymond.
Beamer said despite the stereotype for flakiness, most good kickers are even-keeled guys like Graham.
``That's a difficult thing to do, as much pressure as gets on those situations and you're coming off the bench cold,'' Beamer said. ``You haven't been out there hitting and flopping around, and all of a sudden you come in and have to be very exact in what you do. I think it's one of the toughest things in football.''
Graham has rituals that help him perform, including a pregame relaxation and visualization technique that he said looks like ``some sort of hypnotic meditation from a Kung Fu movie or something.''
He also may be the only kicker in college football with his own personal holder. Caleb Hurd, who held for Graham for two years at Pulaski, would not be on Tech's football team if not for Graham. Hurd was coming to Tech to study engineering, and was invited to walk on as Graham's holder.
``Surprised the heck out of me,'' Hurd said. ``Everyone asks me `Is that it?' ''
Graham and Hurd are second cousins, and their teamwork by now is second nature.
``I know his timing is really fast and I have a lot of trust in him, which makes me more confident in doing my job,'' Graham said.
Graham is looking forward to working in the dome at Syracuse, devoid of wind. As for the noise, Graham said, ``sound waves don't affect your muscles.''
But they can affect your brain.
``When you're in a dome and those people are screaming, it kind of tests your poise,'' Beamer said.
And the power of your Pepto. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
COURTESY OF VA TECH SPORTS INFORMATION
Shayne Graham swigs Gatorade on the sideline. but gulps down Pepto
Bismol as if it were water before the game. He also wears a
wristband that is a sobering reminder of a high school friend who
committed suicide.
PHOTO COURTESY OF VIRGINIA TECH
Freshman placekicker Shayne Graham launches one of his three field
goals against Rutgers last Saturday. by CNB