Monday, August 25, 2003

By Mike White, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Last in a series on top high school football players in the WPIAL and City League.

Darrelle Revis already had several doors open to a major-college scholarship for football. But in the past month, college basketball coaches have started to play "Let's Make a Deal" with Revis.

A senior at Aliquippa High School, Revis had scholarship offers for football from Pitt, Penn State, West Virginia and Toledo in June.

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But Revis (6 feet 1, 180 pounds) has unlocked the door to a future in Division I basketball. The key was a strong showing this summer on an AAU team. Western Kentucky has offered a scholarship and Akron is close to offering. Coaches from Duquesne, Robert Morris and St. Bonaventure have called Revis. Pitt has called him, and Coach Jamie Dixon told Revis the Panthers want to follow him during the basketball season.

This much is certain: Revis will have a ball in the future. The questions is will it be a basketball or football?

"I'm just going to wait and see what happens and weigh my options," Revis said. "This is going to be a hard decision."

Football coaches became interested in Revis after last season when he played defensive back and receiver. The scholarship offers came in the winter and spring, and most schools like him as a defensive back. Revis runs the 40-yard dash in 4.5 seconds.

Then Revis had an outstanding junior season in basketball, leading the WPIAL in scoring with a 25.4 points per game average. He played point guard and shooting guard and was selected to the Post-Gazette Fabulous Five.

But Division I colleges didn't become interested in Revis until the AAU national championships July 25-31 in Orlando, Fla. Revis played with other top players from the WPIAL on the Southpointe Gold team that made it to the final 16 of the tournament, which had more than 100 teams.

"I think we really proved something down there because we played against some of the top AAU teams in the country and played really well," Revis said.

After the tournament, Western Kentucky offered a scholarship. There is a Beaver County tie-in with the Hilltoppers. Former Blackhawk High School standout Archie Miller is a Western Kentucky assistant and is recruiting Revis. Miller's father, John, is Blackhawk's coach.

"John called me on the phone and said that Western Kentucky wanted to know if it would be worth recruiting Darrelle. They wanted to know if he was definitely going football," Aliquippa's football coach Mike Zmijanac said. "I told John they should go ahead and recruit Darrelle because he's open and he's going to weigh his best offers in both sports. I also told John, 'Thank God, you aren't calling to recruit him for Blackhawk.' "

Zmijanac also has been Aliquippa's basketball coach but retired from that job after this past season.

"When you look at top basketball programs like Michigan, UCLA or North Carolina, how many 6-foot point guards are playing at that level? Not many," Zmijanac said. "Darrelle is certainly not going to score 1,000 points around the basket like he does in high school. Can he play the two [shooting] guard at the major-college level? I don't think so because he's just not big enough.

"Sure he can probably play Division I basketball somewhere. It just depends on what kind of system he falls into. But we've seen guys from Aliquippa like Josh Lay, Ty Law and Chuckie Fisher who are around 6-1 and played major-college football."

If Revis wants advice on his future, he can turn to his uncles. They know a thing or two about major-college football and basketball. One is Sean Gilbert, who played football at Pitt and 10 years in the NFL. Another is Mark Gilbert, who played basketball at Duquesne. Revis' mother is the Gilberts' sister.

"I talk to my uncles all the time and they tell me it's my decision," Revis said. "Even though my uncle Sean played football, he kind of wants me to play basketball, if that's what I like. He told me I have the size to play in the NFL, but it doesn't matter to him what sport I play."

Revis admits he likes basketball a little better. But he is looking forward to a big season in football. His role with the Quips has changed because he is playing some at quarterback. It is uncertain whether Revis or junior Sjavante Gilliam will start at quarterback. Zmijanac plans on playing both.

"I picked it up a lot quicker than I thought I would," Revis said. "There's a lot of thinking going on at quarterback and you have to have a lot of confidence."

Zmijanac said: "He's done OK so far. We'll bring him in for a couple series here and there. We have a special offense for him to run where we try and use his athletic ability. ... It makes for a real threat when you put your best athlete on the team at quarterback."

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