Camp and her scoring prowess bound for Hokies

Just what is Virginia Tech getting in 5-11 guard Rachel Camp?

She averaged 31 ppg, 8 rpg and 3 spg her junior year at East Rutherford (NC) High and became a 1,000-point scorer her sophomore season. She enters her senior having amassed more than 2,000.

"She's one of those under-the-radar players because she didn't attend a lot of camps," said Larry Ross, her high school coach. "She's played everything from the 1 to the 5 for us. She saw box-and-ones as a freshman, and at first they bothered her. She's used to that now."

Rachel, Bruce Smith, her dad and bro Sadarrien

Camp is ecstatic about her decision to commit to Virginia Tech, where she bonded with the coaches and her future teammates during her visit. She also visited Furman and planned visits to East Carolina and Clemson but made her verbal to Tech prior to visiting either.

"I really feel that I can fit in and play with them," said Camp, who played AAU ball with the Lady
Royals in Asheville. (Bonus: Camp also got to meet Football Hall-of-Famer Bruce Smith, a favorite player of her dad's.)

As for her own game: "I do a little bit of everything -- even playing defense," Camp said. "When I was young, I always said I wanted to play in the ACC."

Blacksburg is about three hours from her home, Forest City, N.C., and she expects her family to be regulars at Cassell. She talks about her parents with great affection. Camp and her older sister, Tyesha, lived with their grandmother until Rachel was a fourth-grader.

 "These two amazing people (Michelle and Ramon Camp) adopted my sister and me," she says. "At first the transition wasn't easy. I didn't understand why I had to go away. I lived in a group home for a while in Shelby, N.C."

Basketball helped the transition. She signed up for basketball right away, starting AAU in sixth grade. She credits Ross as mentoring her through the hard times.

"He knows everything about me," she said.

Ross has high expectations for her at Tech, figuring she'll be a wing player, but is excited about what she'll bring to East Rutherford, a former sectional finalist with Camp in the lineup, for her senior season.

Notes Ross, "We have a great chance to win state this year."