With the Feb. 7 signing date fast approaching, high school football again jumped to the forefront in the Northern Region. The areas' most sought after offensive, defensive and special teams players - Robinson running back Mike Imoh, Centreville defensive back Marcus Hamilton and West Springfield punter Jeremy Kapinos - revealed or solidified their college decision.

Big man on campus
1:26 p.m.: Legendary Penn State coach Joe Paterno arrives at West Springfield High School. Paterno is accompanied by Nittany Lions assistant coach Larry Johnson, a former head coach at T.C. Williams.

Though Paterno was scheduled to speak to West Springfield's student body at 1 p.m., he is given an introduction to life in Northern Virginia by spending a half-hour stuck in Beltway traffic.

Paterno is greeted in front of the school by Spartans punter Jeremy Kapinos and his mother, along with West Springfield football coach Bill Renner. Waiting in the lobby are a collection of faculty, interested students and parents and members of the media.

When Paterno enters the building, he stops as if to acknowledge the waiting crowd.

``Did the they tell you I'm the new superintendent?" Paterno asks.

As the throng guides him toward the school auditorium, Paterno shakes hands and trades pleasantries until he runs across a familiar face. Paul Gaffney, Paterno's fraternity brother at Brown in the late 1940s and a man Paterno hasn't seen in more than 20 years, is there to see him. Gaffney is accompanied by his wife, Pip.

With his armed wrapped firmly around Paul Gaffney, Paterno announces, ``I used to have a crush on Pip."

But Paterno has not come to West Springfield in search of lost loves. He's there because of Kapinos, the 6-foot-1, 220-pound All-Journal punter who looks more like a linebacker. It was never in doubt where Kapinos wanted to play, and he committed to Penn State a few months earlier.

``Everybody knows Penn State football and Coach Paterno," said Kapinos, who also drew interest from Maryland, Syracuse and Marshall. ``You play in front of 100,000 people and that's the best place to get your skills looked at."

Paterno is joined on stage in the school auditorium by Kapinos and his mother, Spartans Athletic Director Tod Chappell, Renner and two assistant coaches. After Renner introduces Paterno by running down the litany of his many achievements, the student body greets him with a rousing standing ovation.

Paterno talks to the students for 20 minutes on a variety of topics, but if there is a theme, it's revealed in his final words.

``Don't restrict your potential," Paterno said under a spotlight's glare. ``Don't restrict the kind of life you can lead.

``Your success will be determined by two things: how you handle criticism and how you handle praise. That will determine how you do in your life."

Paterno's charisma is palpable, and it's easy to see why the decision was so easy for Kapinos.

``Penn State was the first show to interest in me," Kapinos said. ``I visited there a lot and I immediately knew they were the one. I was just waiting for them to offer [a scholarship]. I knew no other school would be better than that."

Last season, Kapinos averaged 40.8 yards per punt, but the true measure of his contribution was that West Springfield's opposition had a total of 35 yards on punt returns all season. Because of that, Renner, himself a former punter at Virginia Tech and later for the Green Bay Packers, resisted using Kapinos on either offense or defense.

``Jeremy was just so valuable in the field position battle," Renner said. ``When you factor in the other team's punts, we would gain almost 25 yards each time. So it was an easy decision."

Unzipped future
2:44 p.m.: In a small auditorium at Robinson High School, down the hall from the Field House, Mike Imoh follows Rams football Mark Bendorf onto a stage. In the audience are a collection of interested students - many of them Imoh's teammates on Robinson's Division 6 Group AAA state championship winning football team - as well as faculty members and representatives from a few colleges.

After Bendorf expresses his relief that the intense recruiting of the region's most decorated player is over, Imoh steps to the microphone clad in a black leather jacket zipped up to his neck.

Imoh begins to address the crowd and stops.

``I guess the easiest way is to go ahead and say what the deal is," Imoh said.

He then unzips his jacket to reveal the Chicago maroon and burnt orange of a Virginia Tech jersey emblazoned with his trademark No. 27. The crowd has seemingly received their wish and cheers loudly.

Imoh approached his college decision the way he did Friday nights in the fall. He was thoroughly prepared and paid attention to every detail before eventually choosing the Hokies over a group of finalists that included Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh.

A meeting with Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer and a film session with Hokies running backs coach Billy Hite at Robinson earlier in the day were the finishing touches.

``I was leaning toward this decision [Wednesday] night," Imoh said. ``I set [Thursday] as the day I was going to make the decision and after talking to the [Virginia Tech] coaches today, and after talking with them I felt real comfortable with the situation."

The 5-7, 180-pound speedster, who rushed for 2,077 yards and 28 touchdowns as a senior, finished with the most career rushing yards (5,280) and touchdowns (68) in school history and was named the Associated Press and Journal Offensive Player of the Year, thanked all who had helped him make the decision and then fielded questions for around 15 minutes.

But one thing was clear. He was glad it was over.

``I feel like I'm about 10 pounds lighter," Imoh said. ``The last couple weeks, the last week, especially, got kind of hectic."

When asked how he felt about joining a Virginia Tech team already stocked with talented running backs, including junior Lee Suggs and freshman Kevin Jones, Imoh made it clear he had little fear of competing for playing time.

``Everybody knows Lee Suggs is one of the best running backs in the nation and might just win the Heisman Trophy next year," Imoh said. ``Nothing is wrong with me being behind him because he's the best player in the nation and I'll get a chance to learn from him and see what he does on the field ... But you never know what can happen in football. Football is interesting. People get injuries and who knows whatever happens. Some schools were telling me about coming in and playing right away. But you have to understand, whatever college you go to, there is going to be competition. There are going to be running backs in front of me wherever I go. I just have to go in there and work."

During the recruiting process, Virginia Tech running backs coach Billy Hite let Imoh know he was the only running back the Hokies were recruiting, and that emphasis also played role in Imoh's decision.

``Naturally, that helped out a little bit," Imoh said. ``For [Virginia Tech] to say they were recruiting only one running back, that was an honor to me."

Despite the Hokies' intense quest to secure his services, there is no question Imoh will again face questions about his size when he arrives in Blacksburg. Will a running back his size be able to compete against players up to four inches taller and 40 pounds heavier?

One future Hokie has little doubt Imoh is up to the challenge.

``He's the top running back in the state and there are things they haven't seen that he can do," said Robinson defensive back Cary Wade, himself a Virginia Tech signee. ``He's going to to go down there and do what he needs to do and show the coaches what he's made of."

Cover man uncovered
6:06 p.m.: From the comfort of a living room couch in his house Centreville, Wildcats defensive back Marcus Hamilton reveals he has chosen to attend Virginia.

In a little more than 30 minutes, the 6-1, 180-pound cornerback plans to go on Mike Farrell's Richmond-based radio show and let the listening public know he'll be a Cavalier. Not surprisingly, the show can be heard in Charlottesville.

During the recruiting process, Hamilton garnered 14 scholarship offers but only visited three schools: Virginia, Maryland and Michigan State. It came down to the Cavaliers and Terrapins, and a trip to Charlottesville on the weekend of Dec. 18 sealed his decision.

Hamilton visited U.Va. with six of the most sought-after high school players from Virginia - Hylton's Ahmad Brooks, Princess Anne's Kai Parham, Warwick's Marcus Vick, Heritage's Michael Johnson, Potomac's Antwan Stewart and Centreville teammate Kenneth Tynes, who committed to Virginia earlier in the fall. It could be U.Va.'s answer to the Fab Five.

``[U.Va.] treated us like royalty," Hamilton said. ``The atmosphere was great and academically, the school is very strong."

The recruits were trotted out in front of a roaring University Hall crowd at halftime of a Virginia basketball game against Florida State. And while Stewart has since committed to Tennessee, Hamilton said U.Va. is among two finalists for each of the four who remain undecided.

``I hope they come along and join the team and I'd be a little upset if they didn't," Hamilton said. ``But ultimately, I had to do what was best for me."

Hamilton said he decided on U.Va. two weeks ago and the stress of the decision, not to mention phone calls from coaches, Internet services and newspaper reporters from around the state, has dissipated.

Now, Hamilton's thoughts center around the impact he will make with the Cavaliers next fall. His goals are lofty, but in tune with the bravado that helped him show he was the region's best cover man over the last two seasons.

``I expect to be starting by the second game," Hamilton said. ``I think that's realistic."