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Ex-Stafford standout might play elsewhere Date published: 5/2/2004
BLACKSBURG--There were plenty of skeptics when Thomas McClelland announced his intention to play football as a walk-on at Virginia Tech. He's too small, some said. He's not fast enough, others insisted. McClelland proved them all wrong by suiting up for seven of the Hokies' 13 games, including the Insight Bowl in Phoenix, as a freshman. Now, however, it appears that if The Free Lance-Star's 2002 All-Area co-Player of the Year wants to continue his football career, he'll have to do it somewhere else. McClelland met Thursday with Virginia Tech running backs coach Billy Hite, who informed the Stafford High School graduate that he had been dropped from the football program and would not be invited back when the Hokies open their 2004 preseason camp in August. "It was a big surprise," said McClelland, a 5-foot-11, 197-pound tailback. "I thought I had proved myself. I guess I hadn't." McClelland, who rushed for more than 2,500 yards and led Stafford to the 2002 Division 5 state championship game as a senior, didn't carry the ball during his first season at Virginia Tech. He played exclusively on special teams, recording seven tackles (five solo). But with star tailback Kevin Jones having left school a year early to enter the NFL draft, and the top candidate to replace him--junior Cedric Humes--walking with crutches after suffering a broken leg last month, McClelland did plenty of running during Virginia Tech's spring workouts. He led all rushers with nine carries for 33 yards in the Hokies' first full-contact scrimmage on April 3, then finished with 62 yards on 10 carries in another scrimmage four days later--an effort that prompted Hite to praise McClelland's knack for breaking tackles in a position evaluation on Beamerball.com. "I thought he made the most of the opportunity he had there," Stafford coach Roger Pierce said. "He was doing really well for himself." McClelland's momentum was interrupted, however, when Hite moved highly touted freshman George Bell from fullback to tailback midway through spring practice. With Bell taking up carries in a rotation with juniors Mike Imoh and Justin Hamilton, McClelland had precious few opportunities to make a further impression on the coaching staff in practice. He carried the ball just twice during last Saturday's Maroon-White game at Lane Stadium, gaining a total of eight yards.
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