Wednesday, december 13, 1978
page 14
daily nebraskan
sports
Professional football scouts glory in Big Eighttalent
By Buck Mahoney
The Big Eight Conference must seem
like heaven to a talent scout for a profes
sional football team.
Jack Butlar, an office manager and part
time talent scout for Blesto VIII, a scout
ing firm, said the Big Eight has more
people playing pro football today than any
other conference in the country.
"The Big Eight has the best football
you'll find anywhere in the country,"
Butlar said. "Week in and week out they
play the toughest football anywhere."
All eight teams in the conference have
athletes that are potential pros, according
to Butlar. He said the competition in the
Big Eight makes everyone better and the
scouts know that athletes on the poorer
teams in the conference have played
against some of the best athletes in the
country.
Athletes on other teams have not seen
the caliber of competition found in the Big
Eight, he said.
Top talent
Butlar said Nebraska and Oklahoma are
the top teams in the conference, so they
naturally have most of the best talent.
"There at Nebraska, you've got Rick
Berns at running back, George Andrews
at end or linebacker, whatever you want to
call him, and you've got Kelvin Clark,
Barney Cotton, Steve Lindquist, Randy
Poeschl, Jeff Lee, Tom Sorley, Frank
Lockett and Jeff Hansen," Butlar said.
Butlar would not say what he thought
of the individual athletes or their strengths
or weaknesses. He also would not say if he
thought any of them would be drafted in
the top rounds.
Lee not on roster
The inclusion of Jeff Lee on the
Nebraska list is interesting. Lee, a former
NCAA high hurdle champion in indoor
track was a split end for the Huskers last
season, but he was not on the roster this
year.
Butlar would not say what the scouting
report on Lee is, but he did say Lee was
looked at closely.
Blesto VIII scouts for nine teams in the
National Football League and Butlar said
they employ three levels of scouts.
Area scouts are the lowest level in the
company. They are responsible for every
school in the area where they live. When
they find a potential player, they report to
the company and the athlete is scouted by
a regional scout.
The regional scouts report on the ath
letes the area scouts suggested, and then if
the athlete is still considered a potential
player, he is scouted for the last time by
the national scouts.
Computer programmed
All information gathered by scouts is
stored in a computer for later reference by
the pro teams.
Determining what makes a good athlete
is a complicated process, according to
Butlar.
"Speed, agility, balance and body
control are all very important," he said.
"We mathematically grade the athletes
performance in games. We also watch them
at practice and look at films."
Size also is an important factor. Butlar
said that the athletes are indexed by height,
weight and speed.
"We want an offensive guard to be
6-foot-3 or 6-foot4, and run the 40 in
4.7," he said. "We want an offensive tackle
to be 6-foot-5 or 6-foot-6, but we'll take
one 10 feet tall if we can get him."
After an athlete is determined to have
potential, he is watched by the scouts for
the remainder of his college career, Butlar
said, so must athletes have been studied
for about four years.
Cowboys' team filled with new faces but feeling good
Editor's note: This is the fourth in a series of articles
previewing Big Eight Conference basketball outlooks this
season.
No one knows for sure, but it's possible that Oklahoma
State basketball coach Jim Killingsworth was giving
lessons on how to shave, instead of jump shot drills at the
Cowboys opening practice this year.
The roster for this year's Cowboy team shows youth
and inexperience down the line, with one senior, three
juniors, three sophomores and seven freshmen listed.
Killingsworth, in his second year as head coach at Ok
lahoma State, has only three lettermen with playing ex
perience back from last season's 10-16 team that finished
seventh in the Big Eight Conference.
Lost front line
The Cowboys should be strong at the guard positions
but they lost five front line players to graduation.
"Potentially we're better off than a year ago," Killings
worth said, "but everyone knows we're drastically short
on experience. We had a team last year we didn't recruit
and had already established its style and type of play.
"It made it hard to implement what we wanted.
Physically we are about the same but potentially we have
more going for us."
Senior guard Mark Tucker was the second leading
scorer on last year's team with a 15.4 average. He scored
over 400 points last year and hit for 30 points in two of
the Cowboys' last three games. He scored 15, 15, 1, and
31 against Nebraska in four games last season.
Sophomore stars
Sophomore guard Randy Wright started the last 14
games of the season a year ago and led the team in assists.
Sophomore guard Reggie Barnett is the third letterman
at guard Killingsworth may rely on this year.
Oklahoma State's roster includes four other guards
including junior college transfer Ed Odom, who averaged
26.4 points per game at Claremore Junior College last
year; freshman Matt Clark, who averaged 24.5 points per
game his senior year in high school; sophomore Dickey
Nutt and walk-on Tim Sibley.
Junior college transfers Don Youman and Jon Moor
head show the most potential at forward, according to
Killingsworth.
"Some people aren't great shooters but they score a
lot," he said. "Then, there are those who are great
shooters but don't score much. These two young men can
score."
Defense special list
Youman is a left-hander who averaged 19.5 points per
game at Bakersfield Junior College last season. Moorhead
comes from Western Texas Junior College where his
specialty was defense, according to Killingsworth.
The other possibilities at forward are 6-foot-6 freshman
Mark Connolly and Craig Stunkel.
The height is there at center but age again seems to be
a problem. The Cowboys' three centers are all 18-year-old
freshmen."
Brad Currelly. 7-foot. 215 pounds from New Port
Riley Florida, is the only one of the three committed to
playing center at the moment.
Brad Livingstone at 6-foot-9 possesses a fine shooting
touch, and 6-foot-9 Jimmy Reason has a long-range
scoring ability.
Killingsworth does not seriously expect his team to
challenge for the Big Eight title, but he remains optimistic.
"We'll probably lose a few early games we shouldn't
because of our lack of experience. But. I'm going to be
very disappointed if by mid-season or slightly later we
don't turn into a good team."
a r lm a
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Photo by Ted Kirk
Wrestlers regroup for ISU match
By Ed McClymont
The Nebraska wrestling team, after just facing about as
tough a one-two punch as there is in the nation, must
knock heads with another national power this Saturday.
Coming off resounding losses to Oklahoma and Okla
homa State, the Huskers will try to regroup against the
Cyclones of Iowa State.
"We're coming into this meet with an open mind,"
coach Bob Fehrs said. "We were kind of star struck and
tensed up against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State because
of our inexperience."
UNL is starting at least four and possibly five freshmen
on the varsity squad.
The team has been trimmed down to 21 from 26 due
to injuries. According to Fehrs. the injuries were not to
key personnel, but the individuals who are hurt would
have provided some depth. And it is depth where the
Huskers are hurting the most.
Push starters
"We don't have the backup people we need to push the
starters a little harder," Fehrs said.
Presently there are three wrestlers who Fehrs rates as
the best on the squad. Agron Vasha. a sophomore,
wrestled well on the Oklahoma trip, winning at OU and
was leading at OSU 4-1 before losing by a pin. Fehrs says
Vasha could be a top performer throughout the year.
Two other individuals who have impressed Fehrs arc
freshmen Rich Lenkerand Al Freeman.
"Lenker has been an excellent performer so far, and he
has a lot of potential," Fehrs said. "And Freeman has had
his ups and downs, but has done an outstanding job."
Freeman, an Iowa native, felt the Oklahoma trip was a
good experience for the squad, even though the outcome
of the matches were really decided before the weekend
started.
Schedule hard
"We knew we were probably going to get beat, and be
cause of it we wrestled really bad against Oklahoma, but
we wrestled better against OSU," Freeman said.
Some people might feel an early season schedule such
as Nebraska's might be hard on a team, but Freeman said
he enjoys it.
"It's the only way to get better," Freeman said. "It
takes a lot of pride, but I think we'll get better. I don't
see why we can't beat everyone after Iowa State."
Fehrs feels the team's improvement throughout the
rest of the year hinges on two factors.
"If we don't have the injuries like we have so far. and
we get the necessary experience. I think we can turn
things around and have a winning season." he said.
"We're going to have to keep a positive attitude for the
first five weeks, and use this period as a barometer of
what we can do at the end of the year." Fehrs said.
The Iowa State dual begins w ith a junior varsity match
at h p.m. and the varsitv match will follow at 7 30 at the
Boh Devaney Sports Center