Cooper says placement
at 3rd spot unexpected
By Kyle Schurman
Staff Reporter
Nebraska freshman strong safety
Reggie Cooper is impressing people.
Cooper impressed people in
Louisiana so much in his senior sea
son that he was named the most
valuable defensive player in Louisi
ana high school football and had his
jersey number retired by his high
school in Slidell, La.
Cooper has impressed the Corn
husker coaches so much that he isi
already the third-team strong safety
after one month of practice. Seniors
Jeff Torryack and two-year starter
Brian Washington are ahead of
Cooper on the depth chart
“He has great athletic ability and
is an excellent tackier,” Nebraska
defensive backs coach George Dar
lington said. "He has picked up our
scheme well for a freshman.”
Darlington said experience is the
only area that is holding Cooper
back.
“He needs to gain some expe
rience,” Darlington said. “But he
has made remarkable strides be
cause of his excellent athletic
ability.”
Cooper agreed with Darlington.
"I need to get some experience
under my belt. I’m looking forward
to playing in a couple of games and
getting all of the techniques down,”
Cooper said.
Cooper said that he didn’t expect
to move up to the varsity as quickly
as he did.
“I thought I might move up in the
middle of the season after I had
learned the system better,” Cooper
said. “I don’t mind moving up early
at all, though.”
Cooper said he feels the coaches
have a lot of faith in him because
they moved him-up so soon. He said
his aggressiveness in his biggest
strength now.
Darlington said that aggressive
ness has earned Cooper a spot on
the kickoff coverage team and the
second-team punt coverage team.
The hardest part about playing at
Nebraska is learning all of the cov
erages, Cooper said. However, the
other players and coaches have
helped him out a lot, Cooper said.
“The other players answer your
questions and the coaches are very
helpful,” he said. “They’re helping
me adjust pretty well.”
Cooper said he considered at
tending Oklahoma, Louisiana State,
Houston and Tulane as well as
Nebraska. Nebraska's honesty was
the main reason he decided to play
for the Huskers, he said.
“I was impressed with Nebraska,”
Cooper said. “They were straight
forward with me; all I heard were a
bunch of lies at other colleges. I
also wanted to get a long ways away
from home.”
Cooper said most of the people he
knew supported his decision to
attend school outside of Louisiana.
"Most people in Slidell were nice
about it and were behind me,”
Cooper said. “There’s always going
to be some who are against you, but
most agreed with me that Nebraska
was the best school both academi
cally and athletic illy in the nation.”
Cooper said he was surprised
that he was named the most valua
ble defensive player in Louisiana
high school football last year because
“there are a lot of good defensive
players in Louisiana.”
He also said having his jersey
number retired was a great honor
because "most players don’t usually
get their numbers retired.”
Darlington said Cooper is a good
person as well as good football
player.
"He is fairly quiet and he’s serious
about studies and football,” Dari
ington said.
“We’re very pleased with his per
formance to date, and hope that
he’ll continue to improve and be a
fine football player for us.”
Doug Carroll/Dally Nebraskan
Nebraska strong safety Reggie Cooper.
Williams
leads frosh
to 62-0 win
By Nick Hodge
and
Kyle Schurman
Staff Reporters
Nebraska fullback Randy Williams
scored three touchdowns while rushing
for 90 yards to lead the Comhusker
freshman to a 62-0 victory over the St.
Thomas (Minn.) junior varsity Monday
at Memorial Stadium.
Williams, a freshman from Broken
Arrow, Okla., scored on runs of 32, two
and 12 yards to help Nebraska to its
first victory of the season. He finished
with 90 yards on eight rushing attempts.
Williams said his 32-yard run that
gave Nebraska a 28-0 lead in the third
quarter was the result of an off-tackle
play.
"We ran an off-tackle play that has a
good chance to go for a touchdown,”
Williams said. "I looked for that and
broke it outside. I have never been
caught from behind and I hope I can
keep that up.”
The Huskers broke the game open in
the second half when they scored 41
points while allowing St. Thomas only
49 yards of total offense.
Defensive end Kylin Camp gave
Nebraska a 35-0 lead in the second half
when he recovered a punt blocked by
Mark Quist in the endzone, and Wil
liams followed with his 12-yard run.
The Huskers then added three more
touchdowns in the fourth quarter on a
33-yard run by wingback Steve Weiss, a
four-yard run by I-back Brian Harchel
road and a 37-yard interception return
by defensive end Justin Krantz.
Nebraska freshman coach Shane
|Thorell said he was pleased with the
Huskers second-half effort.
Nebraska compiled 416 yards of
total offense, 335 of which came on the
ground.
Nebraska’s next game is Sept. 28,
, when the Huskers face the Bethany
(Kan.) junior varsity at 1 p.m. in Mem
! orial Stadium.
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