CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Virginia-Georgia Tech football game moved quickly Saturday, which meant sportswriters at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, myself included, got to watch a good chunk of the Penn State-Ohio State showdown that night.

A Virginian played a key role in the unbeaten Nittany Lions’ victory in Columbus.  Tailback Evan Royster, a redshirt sophomore who starred at Westfield High in Chantilly, led all rushers with 77 yards Saturday.  He’s averaging 107.8 per game for Penn State this season.

If he hadn’t chosen to play college football, Royster might well be an All-America candidate in lacrosse.  Now listed at 6-1, 212 pounds, Royster played in the midfield for Westfield and totaled 110 goals and 60 assists during his prep career.

“He may have been the best prospect in the class [of 2006 nationally],“ Virginia lacrosse Dom Starsia told me today. “Certainly there was nobody in his class athletically.”

What set Royster apart, Starsia said, was the way he combined that superior athleticism with strong stick skills and a high lacrosse IQ.

Elite programs such as U.Va. and Johns Hopkins would have happily spent significant scholarship money on Royster, but he “had already kind of let everybody know he was going to play football and not lacrosse” in college, Starsia said.

Royster committed to Penn State for football in January 2006.  His brother, Brandon, starred in football and track at Fairfax High and later played football at Stanford.

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Posted by Jeff White in • College Sports • University of Virginia
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