daily nebraskan
Wednesday, august 22, 1979
Cornhuskers prepare for upcoming football season
ft:.
Daily Nebraskan Photo
Senior I-back I.M. Hipp breaks loose for some yardage in a 1978 Husker game.
The 1979 edition of Nebraska football,
a mixture of talent and experience despite
one big question mark, began practice
Monday under seventh-year head coach
Tom Osborne.
Osborne, who guided the Huskers to a
9-3 overall mark, a berth in the Orange
Bowl and a co-Big Eight championship
with Oklahoma, welcomed (127 varsity
candidates to the annual Photo Day Sun
day. TwO-a-day practices irt shorts and
helmets conclude today and tomorrow the
Huskers continue two-a-days in full pads
with contact.
Thirty nine lettermen retum-21 on
offense arid 18 on defense-including six
offensive and defensive starters, along with
the No. 1 punter.
On offense, Nebraska returns senior
starters I-Back I.M. Hipp (6-0, 200), tight
and Junior Miller (64, 222), wingback
kenny Brown (6-0, 182), split end -punter
Tim Smith (6-2, 195) and center Kelly
Saalfeld (6-4, 249). The other returning
starter is junior fullback Andra Franklin
(6-1,218).
HIPP WILL Attempt to become the first
Nebraska running back in Cbrnhusker
history JO fcairi 1,000. yards in three con
secutive season! k 1978 he gained 1,353
yards, a school single season record-and
last year ran Fof 1,002 yards. His total of
2,355 yards is just 350 yards shy of Rick
Berns NU record of 2,704 yards (1976-78).
Miller led UNL in receiving last year
with 33 catches for 609 yards and six
touchdowns, earning him All Big tight
honors and third team All American.
Last season Brbwtt earried first team All
Big Eight by rushing for '139 yards-a 5.6
average a carry-arid one touchdown, while
catching 28 passes for 410 yards and two
scores. He also returned 19 punts for 278
yards and one touchdown.
SMITH IS entering his third year as
NlTs starting split end and punter. Last
year he caught 22 passes for 303 yards and
two touchdowns, earning him second team
All Big Eight honors. Smith, who is a two
time first team Academic All Big Eight
selection, has a two-year average of 40-1
yards on 99 kicks- and has never had one
blocked.
Saalfeld, also a first team Academic All
Big Eight pick, will be starting for his
second year at center.
Franklin gained the starting fullback
spot midway through the 1978 season and
never relinquished it. He received Honor
able Mention All Big Eight as a sophomore,
gaining 428 yards on 86 carries with three
touchdowns.
Thd big question mark for Nebraska will
be the quarterback position after the
graduation of veteran .Tom Sorley. Jeff
Quinn (6-2, 203), a letterman who saw
limited action in 1978, enters fall camp as
the No. 1 quarterback. Quinn will be press
ed for the starting job by senior Tim Hager
and sophomores Mark Mauer, Steve
Michaelson and Bruce Mathison.
IN THE LINE, senior letterman John
Havekost (64, 230) and junior letterman
Randy Schleusener (6-5 k -232), held down
the No. 1 guard spots after spring ball.
Senior letterman Dart Steiner (6-i 238)
and junior Mike BrUce (6-6, 243), enter fall
camp in the No. 1 tackle spots.
Defensively, Nebraska will be led by
senior starters, end Lawrence Cole (6-2,
206), and Derrie Nelson (6-2, 212), who
shared the left defensive end s'pot a year
ago, left tackle, Rod Horn (6-4, 269), right
tackles Bill Bamett (6-5, 250) and ban
Pensick (6-5, 245), who shared duty last
season, and middle guard Kerry Wein
master (6-0,217). :i ,
- Returning junior starters are cornerback
Andy Means (5-11, 186) and safety Russell
(Gary 6-0, $1).
Cole starts his second season as the Ne
braska top left end. In 1978 he had $1
tackles, a fumble recovery , pass .intercept
ion, a pass broken up and a blocked punt.
Nelson, Who" Will be moved to right end,
had 42 tackles, including 20 solo stops in
1978. He also ha. three stops behind the
line of scrimmagcv recovered tnree fumbles,
intercepted a pass and blocked a punt.
AN HONORABLE Mention All Ameri-
Continued on page 62
Th
res-team race preoic
tea lor oig EiigMicoioaii
crown
While we are all anxiously awaiting
word on:
a) The possibility of Bobby Knight
being named United States goodwill ambas
sador to Puerto Rico;
b) The plans for the Chicago White'
Sox's next promotion night gimmick;
c) The Houstor Astros tattering from
the baseball pennant race; ' 1
d) The NBA's intentions to Include all
22 of its teams in next year's playoffs;
well take time here to preview, review and
comment on some of the summertime
activities of Husker sports teams,, coaches
and players.
Ice bcrfktncctit
FOOTBALL - The Big Eight football
race, by consensus of opinion, looks like a
three-team race among Nebraska, Okla
homa and Missouri. Each team appears to
have two major question marks - the
Huskers and Sooners both concerned about
the quarterback slot and the offensive line,
while the Tigers wonder about defense and
overall team depth to go with a dynamite
offense.
One of the best Nebraska showings in
the countless preseason polls was in Play-
. toy where Anson Mount picked the
Huskers sixth in the country at 9-2 and a
. slight favorite over Oklahoma in the Big
E?hU Mount's choice, of Southern .Call
fomia as national champion also seems to
reflect the opinion of the majority of foot
fcfil pollsters.
Nebraska opened camp this week after
recruiting 24 freshmen that Coach Tom
Osborne called the best class since the
NCAA imposed the 30-scholarship limitat-iohfiveyearMgd-4
:!fot many freshmen are expected, to
ste'p fn arid pla?.thOugjri, as 'the Huskers
will rely on a veteran defense and some of
the best taleht in he country at the skilled
positions to battle for die Conference title.
Injuries slowed a few Huskers over the
summer. Spring runniru) back sensation
Jarvis Redwlne was virtually unstoppable
in April scrimmages. But Redwine stopped
himself for a time this Summer when he ran
his bicycle into a tree and broke his collar
bone. However, lie is expected to be at full
strength for fall drills.
As is wingback Kenny Brown, who
underwent knee surgery in June after being
hobbled all spring. Damage to the knee
wasn't as bad as first expected and Brown
should be back at top speed .
The most serious injury was suffered by
freshman recruit Jim Jeffries from Grand
Island. Jeffries tore up his knee in a Shrine
Bowl practice, was operated on and will
now delay enrolling in school until second
semester so as to preserve a year of eligi
bility. '
Mark Tuck, a junior college All-Ameri-can
signed by the Huskers in late spring,
reported to fall camp, despite an earlier
statement that said Tuck wasn't joining the
Huskers.
BASKETBALL - After playing for
more than 50 years in the old Coliseum,
the building of the new Sports Center in
1975 brought with it promises from the
basketball program of being able to recruit
better athletes and line up better schedules.
Sorry to disappoint you.roundball fans,
but those of you anxious to see the ;
Huskers play big-name basketball schools
in the 1979-8a campaigrt are going to hive
to wait for another time : - ' "
instead of using the beautiful -rl5,tJ66
seat Sports Center to entice i'wWs
Who" of college basketball in to play the
Huskers, the basketball prograni, which re- ';
leased its schedule over the summer, lined
up teams that instead of reading like
"Who's Who,' look more like a. 'Who's
This. -
Except for Crei A ton, Minnesota (away) ,
and Purdue away), the lineup is a hOdge- V
podge of Division Tttobodies, Division H' .
and NA1A Schools - Windsor. Ontario, V
Eastern Washington, Portland St .v Wiscon '
sin-Oshkosh, San Angelo St California
Bakersfield and South Dakota St.
Obviously the schedule has been soften
ed Up to give what will be a younger'
Husker team lime to try and get its feet on
the ground. But maybe the Huskers will be
more careful in their scheduling in the
future when they find Out the NCAA Will
consider strength ot schedule as a factor
for pairings and byes in future national
basketball tournaments.
One basketball bright spot could be the
recruiting of Minnesota native Greg Down
ing, a 6-2 guard. Downing got rave reviews
in a series of high school all-star games in
the spring and summer and could step right
into the Nebraska lineup.
GOLF - Both the menfs and women
programs have undergone major changes
since last spring.; , v
Larry Romjue, who coached both-the
men and women, resigned the women's job
and will be replaced by Jerry Fisher,
Lincoln Country Club pro .
Fisher Will be assisted by Jean Hyland , a
well-known name in Nebraska amateur golf
circles and a five-time winner of the state
womens match play title .
A host of new recruits and transfers
could make the Lady Husker golfers one of
the. most improved teams in all Nebraska
athletics. '
for the . men, leading golfer Rick
Reynolds graduated. But lincolnite Knox
Jones, Who tied tOr sixth in the Nebraska
Mens -Amateur Golf Championships in
Omaha in July, could fill the gap caused by
Reynolds' departarei -..-;The
man Jones' tied with a the state
: amateur, Mike Hughett Of Lincoln, one of
the top golfers at Oral Roberts the last
three, years, has transferred to Nebraska,
but will have to sit Out a year to become
eligible. .
, SWIMMING - Several members of the
Nebraska mens team, which made a prion
menat showing in the Big Eight champion
ships last year by moving up from seven
.straight last place finishes to fourth place,
kept busy dure; me summer swimming
for assistant coach Jeff Collens Nebraska
Aquatics team in a series of AAU meets
throughout the Midwest .
Womens coach Ray Huppert also saw
several of his athletes iswimming the
AAU circuit.
OTHER SPORTS - Coach John Sand
ers will be hard pressed to match last year's -baseball
success because of heavy graduat
ion losses. But Sanders appears to hive un
covered some recruiting gems" to fill the
necessary spots and make the Huskers title
contenders again.