New goalposts tough
for new place-kicker
By Chris Hopfensperger
Senior Reporter
Football is not getting any easier
for Comhuskcr place-kicker Byron
Bennett.
Two years ago, before his fresh
man season, Bennett injured his knee
in the first days of fall practice.
“I hurt it during two-a-days. It was
a bad snap and I picked the ball up and
began to run with it,” Bennett said. “I
made a cut and (the knee) went out.”
Bennett was out for nine months.
Last fall, while handling the kick
off duties, Bennett took heat for his
tackling.
In Nebraska’s 31-7 win over Ore
gon State, Bennett was forced to stop
Beaver return man Dwayne Owens.
He did it by grabbing Owens and
swinging him toward the sideline, into
the legs of Husker coach Tom Osborne.
It was one of Bennett’s two unas
sisted tackles of the season.
Next year the NCAA will do its
part to make Bennett’s life a little bn
tougher by moving the uprights 4 feet
10 inches closer together.
Regulations that narrow the width
of the goalposts from 23 feet 4 inches
to 18 feet 6 inches go into effect next
season. Bennett said the 58-inch change
will make a big difference.
“You’re going to see .a lot more
missed field goals this year,” he said,
“from everybody in the nation.”
The reduction, Bennett said, makes
a 35-yard field goal this year as tough
as a 40-yard shot last season.
With the departure of Gregg Bar
rios, who finished his career with five
school records, the sophomore from
Rowlett, Texas, will take over the
See GOALPOST on 8
NU women’s tennis coach
announces plans to leave
By Jeff Singer
Staff Reporter
Nebraska women’s tennis coach
Bob Hampton has announced his
resignation as coach of the Com
huskers, but he will stay with the
team for the
remainder of the
season, includ
ing today’s Big
Eight matchup at
Iowa State.
Hampton
said he is leav
ing primarily
because of his
family.
“It’s difficult
to support my
family with the salary they’re paying
me here," Hampton said. “My family
comes first before anything else."
The first-year coach, whose 10
month contract ends in June, said he
has five choices for his next coaching
position. Hampton said he will reveal
his decision later.
Nebraska’s recruiting class will
have to come from Hampton’s suc
cessor, since Hampton indicated that
three and possibly all four of his re
cruits will be following him to his
next stop.
Concerning the Huskcrs’ battle with
the Cyclones, Hampton said he was
See TENNIS on 8
Tennis team
travels early
The Nebraska men’s tennis
team will travel to Iowa State
today, a day earlier than ex
pected.
The Comhusker schedule had
the game set for Thursday. The
Iowa State schedule did not agree,
and the Iowa State schedule won.
“This is an inconvenience,
but overall it might not be that
bad,” Coach Kerry McDermott
said. “This will give us an extra
day to rest up for the weekend.”
The weekend includes home
matches Saturday against Mis
souri and Sunday against con
ference-favorite Kansas.
Husker senior Steve Barley
said the squad is confident after
beating Oklahoma 6-3 Sunday.
“If we play as well as wc did
against Oklahoma, we’re going
to beat Iowa State soundly,”
Barley said.
The Huskers beat the Cy
clones 7-2 last season.
— Jeff Singer
Michelle Paulman Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska pitcher Trey Rutledge hurls one toward home plate during the Cornhusker’s
game against Wayne State Tuesday.
Huskers win in last inning again
By David Moyer
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska baseball team
salvaged a victory in the last inning
for the second straight night Tues
day, scoring in the bottom of the
ninth to defeat Wayne State 7-6 at
Buck Bcltzer Field.
The Huskcrs had scored two
desperation runs to defeat North
ern Iowa 5-4 Monday, and Ne
braska needed similar salvation
against the Wildcats.
The Huskers won on a one-out,
bases-loaded single by Corty
Kulhanek. The Huskers used an
Eddie Anderson single, a Gary
Tackett double and an intentional
walk to Shawn Buchanan to load
the bases for Kulhanek, who got a
reprieve for a costly error car 1 icr in
the game.
“I was just trying to put the ball
in play and get a fly ball,” Kulhanek
said. “Mainly I wanted to stay out
of the double play.”
Husker coach John Sanders said
the Wildcats, 12-12, played well
and deserved a lot of credit. But he
looked to the pitching as the key to
the game. Nebraska pitchers Trey
Rutledge and Dave Matranga
combined toallow only one earned
run on six hits.
The Husker defense almost
spoiled the pitching performance,
See HUSKERS on 8
Cornhusker basketball team to be home-grown
On College Basketball Signing Day 1991,
Cornhusker fans have this to celebrate: Home
grown talent finally is staying on this side of the
state line.
No longer will Nebraska fans have to won
der about what could have become of Bobby
Local had he played basketball and played it at
the University.
No longer will we watch guys (i.e., Kansas’
Ron Kellogg and Cedric Hunter, both from
Omaha) come back wearing road uniforms and
triumphantly smoke the Bob Devaney Sports
Center nets.
And no longer—thank goodness, no longer
— will we have to hear lambastings by back
woods barbers and butchers that “That damn
basketball coach can’t even recruit his own
state.”
That’s because today, the start of the spring
period for basketball recruits to sign national
letters of intent, Husker coach Danny Nee has
unveiled a rock-solid groundwork fora future
team made primarily of Nebraskans.
The departure of Omaha-native Rich King
from last year’s team left only one native
Nebraskan, Atkinson West Holt’s Bruce
Chubick, on scholarship. Another player, sopho
more Eric Piatkowski, lived in Nebraska when
he was young but graduated in South Dakota
John
Adkisson
1' *
That left one red-blooded Husker out of 12
scholarship players. Until, that is, Nee took to
Nebraska’s highways and landed some home
boys.
Today’s the day when Nee makes official
one big addition sure to makcevery hay-pitcher
proud. Jason Glock, the all-time leader in slate
tournament history , will become a full-fledged
Husker. He will join Omaha South’s Terrance
Badgett, who signed last fall.
They’ll both be home-state heroes.
It’s not that being from Nebraska automati
cally makes a player Mr. Wonderful. Bill Jack
man, a heralded player from Grant, came to
Nebraska only to become a towel-waving team
captain.
And it’s not as if non-Nebraska players
don’t contribute. Five of last year’s top six
scorers (Carl Hayes, Tony Farmer, Piatkowski,
Clifford Scales and Beau Reid) were from out
of-state, and with today’s addition of a couple
of big-name junior college players, that trend
may continue.
But the fans love the home boys. Center or
guard, fast or slow, the roar you receive at
Devancy is bound to be bigger if you’re a
Nebraskan.
Having at least a couple of home players
also helps build an attitude and stronger tics
with the state. As a native Nebraskan, you get
defensive when some opposing player rudely
calls your home slate a barren wasteland or
“Siberia with 7-Eleven’s.”
So with turnstiles clicking last year at a
record pace. Nee did as much politicking as he
did recruiting by signing the two from Ne
braska, and he’s smart.
Some fans may think Glock, at 6 feet 4
inches and from a Class B school, is too small
and too slow to play the college game. He
wasn’t heavily recruited, and he said “Yes”
immediately to Nebraska when the Huskers
came calling.
But those fans were probably the ones
moaning when small-town boy Chubick came
to Lincoln. This past season he proved his
detractors wrong by pulling down rebounds,
and yes, even skying for a dunk or two.
Glock, after a highly probable redshirt sea
son next year, could be as impressive as Chubick
in his debut season.
And then there’s Nee’s Omaha connection.
Badgett has the potential to be an impact player
immediately, and could erase old memories of
Kellogg’s departure.
Two Omaha-area juniors — Bellevue West’s
Erick Strickland and Omaha Benson’s Andy
Woolridge — have been mentioned among the
names of the top underclassmen in the country.
It’s no secret that Nee, or any coach, would
want both playing for him.
If those two choose to make Lincoln their
home, check out this scenario: In two years,
four of Nebraska’s top eight players could be
home-grown products, not including Piatkow
ski.
Nebraskans will be playing for Nebraska.
Before Rich King exploded for 40 points
against Northern Illinois this season, Kellogg
(in a Kansas uniform) held the record for most
points in a game in the Dcvaney Center with
39.
King, perhaps prophetically, look the eraser
to that mark. Now, on Signing Day 1991, Nee
is poised to eradicated all memories of letting
the good ones flee the Comhusker state.
This batch of home cooking is looking good.
Adkisson is a sophomore news-editorial major and a
Daily Nebraskan staff reporter.
