Muhammad rockets
after early choices
By Todd Cooper
Senior Reporter
Freshman wingback Abdul Muham
mad didn’t go near the bullets from
gangs in East Los Angeles, Calif.,
where he grew up.
He was too busy being compared
to other projectiles.
Muhammad earned the nickname
“Little Rocket” on the football field,
not far from the streets where gangs
roamed in Compton.
“There were a lot of people who
played sports that would still gang
bang and do drugs at night,” Muham
mad said.
Muhammad, meanwhile, was earn
ing comparisons to forma Notre Dame
star Raghib “Rocket” Ismail.
“Ismail wore the same number,
25, as me,” Muhammad said. “I had
worn that number ever since I was
little, long before I even knew about
the ‘Rocket.’
“I guess they looked at me and saw
my moves and compared me to him.”
And for good reason.
Ismail, at 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds,
runs the 40-yard dash in 4.2 seconds.
Muhammad, at 5-foot-9 and 152
pounds, runs a 4.4-sccond clcctroni
cally-timcd 40-yard dash.
The true freshman has used his
agility and that speed to rocket to
third on the depth chart, behind Nate
Turner and Vincent Hawkins.
Although comparisons to Ismail
are premature, receivers coach Ron
Brown said the freshman is remark
able.
“Rarely docs a guy out of high
school come in and have the ability to
play as a freshman,” Brown said. “It’s
even more amazing when you think
that he’s a wingback at one of the
toughest positions to learn on the field.
“He’s picked things up so quickly,
it’s amazing.”
Muhammad said he was startled
when he found out he’d forsake his
redshirt year.
“Coming in as a freshman, I defi
nitely didn’t think I would be play
ing,” he said. “I thought I’d have to sit
out and gain some weight and learn
the system.”
Muhammad said he grasped “the
system” while working with senior
wingback Nate Turner.
“A coach can teach you a lot,”
Muhammad said, “but a player that’s
been there before helps out a little
more.”
And it did help him to move into
the third spot.
“In a way, I think I did surprise the
coaches,” Muhammad said. “They
expected me to catch and run well,
but they didn’t expect me to block
this well.”
Muhammad'Chose Nebraska oyer
Miami, Southern Cal, UCLA, (Ore
gon and Texas-El Paso after catching
55 passes for 855 yards and 18 touch
downs as a senior. He also ran for 300
yards on 30 carries. And he broke
former New York Jet Wesley Walker’s
prep record with 143 punt-rctum yards
in a single game.
“I didn’t block a whole lot in high
school because I had the ball so much,”
Muhammad said. “So the coaches
really didn’t sec that until I came out
here.”
Brown said Muhammad’s block
ing has moved him up to third on the
depth chart.
“He’s a very tough little guy,”
Brown said. “He’s going against 200
pound plus guys and he’s only 152
pounds. But he’s very wired up and
very explosive.”
Muhammad said he only showed a
glimpse of his explosiveness in the
second scrimmage of this fall. His
performance in the intra-squad game
helped move him up the depth chart.
“It was all right,” Muhammad said.
“I got my first catch and I made a
couple of big blocks.”
Brown said Husker fans can ex
pect to sec a lot of Muhammad.
“He’ll play regularly this year,”
Brown said. “I wouldn’t take him out
of a redshirt year if I can’t sec him
playing a significant role.”
Muhammad said he won’t be nerv
ous when he first takes the field Sept.
7 against Utah State.
“Before games, I’m so busy pre
paring, I don’t have time to get nerv
ous,” Muhammad said. “For some
reason, I never have.”
That could be because of the area
he came from and what he’s been
through in Los Angeles.
“I don’t know,” Muhammad said.
“My mother and my brother stayed
behind me, telling me to stay out of
(the gangs).
“I’m glad I did.”
Brown’s glad to have him.
“He has the potential to be a very,
very special player,” Brown said. “If
he works hard and plays consistently
throughout hiscareer, then,he’ll have
the chance to be in the caliber of
‘Rocket’ Ismail.”
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Continued from Page 8
one which has carried the Huskers
to two consecutive Final Fours.
“I would expect that we’ll be
playing a little of both kinds of
offense this weekend,” he said.
On Tuesday, Nebraska will open
its Big Eight schedule at Missouri.
Last season, the Tigers Finished
seventh in the conference and 9-20
overall.
“Missouri has been one of the
weaker teams in the conference,”
Pettit said. “But I do know they did
have a very good recruiting class
last season.”
Revered coach dies of cancer
»y jonn Aatusson
Staff Reporter
When the Nebraska volleyball team
takes the court against Wisconsin
Saturday, the Comhuskers will be
facing a team that just lost its best
friend.
Badger Coach Steve Lowe, 35,
who guided Wisconsin to a Big 10
Championship and an NCAA Regional
berth in Lincoin last season, died last
weekend of lung cancer.
While undergoing tests in July that
found a blood clot in Lowe’s ankle,
the lung cancer also was diagnosed.
Shortly after, he was admitted to the
hospital and began undergoing che
motherapy treatments.
—— —— ii
Assistant L-oacn rviargie rnzpa
trick, named interim coach for this
season, said Lowe’s passing has
stunned the team and the volleyball
community.
“Steve worked very hard and
touched so many people,” she said.
“The outpouring of support from the
people of Madison (Wise.) and the
athletic department has been incred
ible.”
Nebraska Coach Terry Pettit said
Lowe was “a friend and exceptional
coach.”
“While we lost a friend and a peer,”
Pettit said, “we can have a great deal
of empathy for his players and coach
ing staff and what they have had to
endure.”
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