DATE: Friday, October 3, 1997               TAG: 9710010183

SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS     PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JAY LIDINGTON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   64 lines

NATE ANTHONY TARGETED TO BE KEY MAN IN WILSON'S OFFENSE

CALL WILSON HIGH SCHOOL receiver Nate Anthony a workhorse. He doesn't mind.

He said he'll do whatever it takes to win, whether it's catching a tough pass over the middle and getting pounded, returning kickoffs or punts, pitching in on defense or serving as long snapper in a trick offensive set nicknamed ``Stinky.''

Though his team is struggling with its focus and is 1-3 going into a matchup with a powerful Norcom squad tonight, Anthony, 18, is comfortable in his role as the go-to guy, whether it's in a crowd of defenders or on a deep route.

He knows every pass that comes his way must be caught if his team is to run the football with any success.

``Every game, I go into it thinking I've got to have a perfect game,'' Anthony said. ``I feel like I have to have a big game every game to help the team get the run open. I've got to catch the ball.''

Catch it he has. Coming into tonight's game, he is the leading pass receiver in South Hampton Roads with 18 catches for 245 yards and a touchdown. His TD came on an 18-yard pass in Wilson's season-opening 42-12 loss to Deep Creek.

Anthony caught seven balls for 130 yards in a 39-6 loss to top-ranked Western Branch, most of his catches coming on short patterns.

But beneath that cooperative exterior beats the heart of a deep threat. Anthony said he yearns to go long and score more to help the Presidents.

The Wilson coaching staff has other ideas. The coaches say Anthony's size (6-0, 175) and good hands make him a valuable short target.

``Nate has developed. He's an extraordinary athlete,'' said Wilson receivers coach Terence Green. ``We knew he had athletic ability. He has heart. He'll catch the ball in traffic and take a hit. I couldn't ask for a better job from him so far.''

``You can't be scared to go across the middle,'' Anthony said. ``If you go there, you're going to get hit anyway. If you drop it, you're getting hit for nothing.''

Anthony is the latest in a series of receivers with glitzy stats to pass through the Wilson program in recent years. The Presidents' offense is predicated on big, fast receivers who can turn a short completion into a big gain.

Monte Green, who transferred to Churchland, led the team with 426 yards receiving last year. In 1995, Darius Edwards was the big gun.

Anthony sat out football last year, concentrating instead on baseball, a sport in which he's a credible pitching prospect. During the Presidents' appearance in last year's Eastern District baseball tournament, as well as throughout the season, scouts armed with radar guns were as common a sight as bases and balls.

Anthony said all the attention doesn't phase him. He'd happily parlay baseball, or football, into a college athletic career. But first, he'll have to catch the eyes of college football coaches, who as yet haven't been beating down his door.

``(Nate) is a late bloomer in football. We're going to do what we can for him,'' Green said. ``He has to have a good year academically.

``With the stats he's going to accumulate before the year's out, he's going to get some looks.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JAY LIDINGTON

Coming into tonight's game, Nate Anthony is the leading pass

receiver in South Hampton Roads with 18 catches for 245 yards.

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