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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 8, 1973)
nsbraskQn colli Tackle Pruitt earns rare 11 r" x.? -f 'V:-", &. sophomore' Blackshirt job By Bill Bennett Sophomore defensive left tackle Ron Pruitt isn't related to former Oklahoma standout Greg Pruitt, but Ron is as important to Nebraska's defensive effort as Greg was to Oklahoma's feared wishbone attack. "Seldom does a sophomore st3rt for Nebraska on defense," defensive coordinator Monte K if fin said. "Ron has done a real fine job for us and has held up well under pressuie." Just two years ago Pruitt was a senior at Centennial High School in Compton, California, where he played defensive tackle. He said about seven major colleges recruited him. "I had it narrowed down between USC (University of Southern California) and here. But I really wanted USC, and then they stopped recruiting," he said. "So then I signed a letter of intent with UCLA." He then smiled and said he's glad he finally chose Nebraska ami that he "didn't like Pepper Rodgers anyway." Pruitt, who played offensive tackle as a freshman, said hi; always had liked defense better. Dining this year's spring football sessions the coaches were thinking about trying him at center. "I talked to Coach Kiffin about playing defense, and I got a shot at defensive tackle," he said. "I guess I did pretty good for my first spring, but I could have done a lot of things better, too." All Nebraska first string defensive players wear a Blackshirt. The Blackshirt stands for pride and toughness, and Pruitt got his shirt at the end of the 1973 spring football season. "But the Blackshirt was nothing definite," he said. "This fall it was up for grabs, and it was up to me to keep it or somebody else would get it." Pruitt kept it and has started every game this year despite being bothered by a nagging thigh injury. So far this year, he has 44 total tackles, 17 of them unassisted. He has recovered two fumbles and broken up four passes. But he said he's still not satisfied. "I guess for a sophomore I've been doing all right," he said. "But against Colorado I made a lot of mistakes." He said he's always getting helpful JUS ,"if 1 1 4 J? ; iT (f-V- I y x ) ST" v Fx n '':" XSv; v if ' - 1 1 1 - Hsvv. r U Mot Photo by Mike Theiler Sophomore defensive left tackle Ron Pruitt (91) moves around a Colorado lineman in an attempt to get to Buffalo quarterback David Williams (12). advice from the other defensive players on the team. "Guys like (John) Dutton, (John) Bell and (Steve) Manstedt are always giving me tips. With them around, it's like having three extra coaches." Pruitt and his defensive teammates will face the Iowa State Cyclones Saturday. When asked how big a win he'd be satisfied with, he grinned and said, "I'll be satisfied with just a win." Sig Eps intramural football champs By Bob Hill For perhaps the first time in UNL intramural history, a Class B team became All University flag football champion. Sigma Phi Epsilon's B team Sunday defeated Hawks for the championship 14 0. Halfback Hal Mack attributed much of his team's success to its teamwork. "There was never any one dominating individual," he said. His team completed the season with a 14 0 record. Sigma Phi Epsilon's A team won the F raternity Class A championship, Abel X the Dormitory Class A championship, Phi Delta Phi the Independent championship and Sigma Phi Epsilon B the Dormitory Fraternity Classes B and C championship. These four teams and the runners-up in each division competed in the single eliminaton All-University playoffs. Five fraternities and one dormitory floor have been placed on probation by the Dept. of Recreation and Intramurals. Any organization placed on probation becomes ineligible for the All-Sports championship. "Most of the organizations were placed on probation for playing illegal players under an assumed name," said Phil Sienna, men's intramural coordinator. An ineligible player who is caught is suspended from intramural activities for one calendar year. The team he plays for forfeits the tournament and all its games. He said it was decided early this year to watch closely for rule violations and to "crack down on offenders." The final flag football Top 10: 1. Sigma Epsilon B (14-0) 2. Hawks (9 2) 3. Phi Delta Phi (9-1) 4. Sigma Phi Epsilon A (8-2) 5. Abel X (7-2) 6. Abel VIII A (6-3) 7. Abel VII B (6-2) 8. Beta Sigma Psi (6-3) 9. Pro Students (7-1) 10. Phi Delta Theta (6-2) Honorable mentions are given to Rogers II (7-2), Harper VI (5-2), Alpha Tau Omega (5-3), Delta Upsilon (G 2) and Glenn VII (5-1). ff ' r v ' jl Nissen returns after pro setbacks Husker junior v.jrsity co;ich and former varsity guard Al Nissen By Dave McBride About a month ago, former Husker eager Al Nissen was taking the court for his first professional basketball appeal ance. The Kansas f ity Omaha Kings were playing the Cleveland Cav,."eis in a National Basketball A- -iriation jxhibition contest, and Nissen, who 1 : Husk' areer in 1972 and was not drafted by i ''os, D w the defensive assignment for CI' t, j jt guard Austin Carr. ; excited when I first got it," he recalls with a si 1 1 lie. "I was playing real aggressive right off, and I just flattened Carr. The ref blew the whistle and pointed at me, and Carr kind of looped up from the floor and said, 'Well, rookie, this is the way it is.'" Nissen is back at UNL now. His pro tryout with the Kings lasted only through the first five exhibition games. But he is back on the court coaching the Husker junior varsity, and the pro experience is a pleasant memory. "I had really started to feel part of the team," he said of the Kings. "It's always a good feeling when you're part of a team experience. "You really get to know guys like Nate Archibald and the others, and it was a really exciting experience the whole time." He said veteran players kidded the rookies, but there was no hostility. He said rookies had to do things like paying the cab fare on road trips and helping the trainers with the equipment and balls. The only time he felt inferior, he said, was when he compared his car with the Lincolns and Cadillacs of the veterans. Nissen said Kings Coach Bob Cousy never led him to believe his chances of making the team were good, but Cousy was willing to give him a chance. Fifteen rookies reported to the first training camp, including twelve guards, and Nissen was the only walk-on rookie to survive the final cut before the exhibition season. The Kings' tryout was Nissen's second pio basketball venture. Nebraska cage coach Joe Cipriano encouraged him to try pro basketball, he said, after he spent tin; summer of 1972 playing ball in Europe. He missed a chance to go to medical school th.it year because of the European season and returned to school second semester last year. But Cipriano secured a tryout opportunity for him this summer with the Seattle SuperSonics, "and things just took off from there," he said. The Kings' tryout made him miss five weeks of school this fall and he had to drop out again. He is finishing an incomplete and waiting to hear from the medical school acceptance board again. DeM.'ndirif on the news from medical school, he said he may start work on his masters degree in January and then hope for a coaching job. In the afternoons, he and graduate assistant John Breyer handle the Husker junior varsity squad. "We're doing all the coaching for the JVs right now," he said, "and I've been doing some reuniting, plus I'll probably be doing some scouting when the season starts." He and Breyer were given the responsibility foi handling the juni n vaisity tryouts earlier tbi:, fall, be explained. Nissen said the junior varsity will not h.jve much height this yeai, but they may Ix; able to use some of the scholarship undeiclassmen orw.e the season star payy 12 daily nebraskan thursday, novernher 8, 1973