Page 6
Daily Nebraskan
Tuesday, November 18, 1986
I-back says not playing a disappointment
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By Rob White
Staff Reporter
The roller-coaster ride continues for
Nebraska I-back Tyreese Knox. After
starting the season as the Cornhuskers'
No. 3 fullback, Knox turned in his best
performance as the No. 1 1-back in
Nebraska's 35-14 victory over Iowa State
two weeks ago.
But just when Knox seemed to have
found himself a spot in the starting
lineup, he was held out of the Kansas
game for disciplinary reasons. In addi
tion, his short-lived rise to the top of
the depth chart ended when a special
cast for Keith Jones' thumb allowed
Jones to return as the starting I-back.
It all started last spring when Knox
volunteered to move to fullback in an
effort to gain more playing time.
"It was a situation where I knew
(I-back) Doug (DuBose) would be back
this year and that we were losing (full
back, Tom) Rathman, so I thought I
would get more playing time at full
back, Knox said. I was No 2 there and
we rotate a lot, so I figured I'd see a lot
of playing time after the season started.
But two days before the season started
against Florida State, I was dropped to
the third team."
What made the demotion even more
frustrating for Knox was that not only
had he fallen behind Micah Heibel at
fullback, injuries had also begun to hit
the Husker I-backs, with Ail-American
candidate DuBose sidelined for the
year.
"It (not playing) was a little bit dis
appointing at first, but I just hung in
there and kept fighting," Knox said. "I
wasn't receiving as much playing time
as I would have liked."
As injuries claimed Jon Kelley and
Keith Jones, the Huskers were left
without their top three I-backs from
the start of the season for the Iowa
State game. . .
Knox finally moved into the starting
role against the Cyclones after Jones
suffered torn ligaments in his thumb in
the game against Kansas State. He
gained 126 yards on 29 carries against
Iowa State.
Knox's first carry after returning to
I-back was a 92-yard touchdown against
Missouri.
"It felt great," Knox said. "In high
school I had quite a few big runs, but
here everybody is quicker and faster. I
feel I'm just as quick and just as fast. I
always thought I could still outrun
these guys and to go that distance
proved it."
Getting a lot of carries improved his
play throughout a game, Knox said.
"I feel good about getting the ball a
lot," Knox said. "I think the more
times you carry the ball, the more pro
ductive you'll play. I'm just glad Coach
Osborne called my number that many
times.".
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11 N4
Dave BentzDaily Nebraskan
Cornhusker I-back Tyreese Knox gains yardage against
Kansas State three weeks ago as Wildcat linebacker Charlie
Mickens attempts to bring him down.
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Husker runners make NCAAs
By Rich Cooper
Staff Reporter
Nebraska men's and women's
cross-country teams qualified for the
NCAA Cross-Country Championships
last weekend at the Region 5 qualifying
meet in Peoria, 111.
The men's team, ranked 1 1th in the
nation, qualified for the NCAA cham
pionships for the first time in Nebraska
history.
Jean Verster was the top finisher for
the Cornhuskers, finishing second
behind Colorado's Chuck Trujillo. Tru-
jillo won the race with a time of 30:25,
while Verster ran the 10,000-meter
course in 30:38.
Nebraska coach Jay Dirksen said the
men's team ran better than it did at the
Big Eight meet because of the running
of Jody Fischer who finished sixth;
Bryan Clark, 12th; Kraig Venderbeek,
23rd; and Frank and Harold Graham,
25th and 27th.
Nebraska finished second at the
meet with 68 points to third-ranked
Colorado's 46. Kansas State had 85
points to edge out Iowa State by one
point for third.
Behind the strong running of sopho
more Sammie Resh, seniors Laura Wight
and Karleen Erickson and freshman
Michele Marthaler, the Husker women
finished third to earn their second
berth in the national meet in three
years.
Nebraska placed all five of their
runners in the top 25 finishers. Resh
finished 13th, Wight, 14th; Marthaler,
15th; Erickson, 19th; and freshman
Juliet Prowse, 21st.
Dirksen said there was a difference
of only 13 seconds between Nebraska's
first and fifth runners.
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Canr traded That for basket
By Rob White
Staff Reporter
Growing up in Indiana can play a big part in
determining what sport a high school athlete
will decide to play. That was the case for
Nebraska point guard Brian Carr.
Carr, a senior beginning his third year as a
starter in the Husker backcourt, grew up in
Muncie, Ind., where he excelled in baseball as
well as basketball. In Indiana, however, basket
ball is king.
"They think a little differently about basket
ball there than they do here," Carr said. "They
don't carry football on television, they carry bas
ketball. They don't get 76,000 people at a foot
ball game, but they do at basketball games."
After signing a letter of intent with Nebraska
before his senior season at Burris High School,
Carr decided not play his final year of baseball.
No one told that to major-league scouts, though.
"I guess during the year three or four scouts
showed up at some of the games and asked
where I was," Carr said. "They had to tell them
that I wasn't playing."
"I think if I had one thing in my life that I
would like to change it would be to stick with
baseball, just as far as my future goes," Carr said.
"But I think my decision to play basketball and
come to Nebraska was the greatest thing I've
ever done.
"At the time, I didn't really enjoy playing
baseball, but then I realized how much fun it was
after I was away from it."
Turning out top-notch point guards has become
a tradition in Indiana; such players as Jerry
Schiting, Kyle Macy, Roger Harden and Steve
Alford hail from the state. Despite the abun
dance of possibilities, Carr said he's never patt
erned his game on any particular player.
"There really wasn't one person that I said, 'I
want to play like him' or anything like that," Carr
said. "I'd see a game and how a player would
react to a certain situation and those things, but
I didn't try to play like any particular player."
Like all good point guards, Carr also tries to
be the team's floor general. Now that he is a
senior, Carr said he takes that role more
seriously than ever before.
"I feel a lot more leadership now, just because
I've been here this long and I know wnat is
supposed to be going on out there," he said. "I
try to take the attitude of being supportive and
not being critical of my teammates. It's a posi
tive thing, and everybody has been taking what
I'm saying that way."
Carr averaged 11.9 points per game last year.
He finished second in the Big Eight Conference
in assists (6.7) and led the conference in free
throw percentage (84.9). But Carr isn't a house
hold name outside the conference.
"That kind of stuff doesn't matter much to me.
I don't really think about it," Carr said. "The
stats aren't really important, they're just th
icing on the cake. After the cake is baked, you
look and see how it turned out."
Wrestlers come out strong
Nebraska's wrestling team opened their
1988-87 season by earning four first-place
finishes at the Cowboy Open Tournament
in Laramie, Wyo., last weekend.
Nebraska placed at least one wrestler
in each of the 10 weight classes at the
tournament. Three of the place-finishers
were freshmen.
In the 1 28-pound class, Terry Cook took
first place, as did Gil Sanchez in the 134
pound class. Bill Ferrie won the 150-pound
division, and Keenan Turner took first
pbce in the 158-pound class. Turner was
voted the outstanding wrestler cf the
Nebraska coach Tim Neumann said this
was the toughest tournament the Corn
huskers have ever opened the season with.
"1 thought as a team we wrestled better
than we ever have in our first tournament,"
Neumann said.
Other Husker wrestlers who placed in
their respective weight classes were Jason
Kelber, third place at 118; Dave Droege
mueller, third at 126; Lane Billings, fourth
at 142; Jeff Coltvet, third at 158; Cody
Olson, fourth at 177; and Joel Malecek,
f.fth in the heavyweight class.
Nebraska did not have wrestlers in the
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