■ . I
NelJraskan I
Thursday, September 19,1991
Husker ready to battle home-state team
By David Moyer
Staff Reporter
Just as many Nebraska boys grow
up dreaming of playing football for
the Comhuskers, many Washington
boys grow up dreaming of playing for
the Huskies, according to Nebraska
split end Jon Bostick.
But for Bostick, a Bellevue, Wash.,
native who spent years in the heart of
Husky country, things weren’t that
way.
“It wasn’t like I grew up watching
Washington football,” he said. “A lot
of guys dream about playing Husky
football their whole life. It wasn’t at
all like that for me.”
Bostick said he didn’t move to the
Seattle area until he was in the sixth
grade, so he wasn’t bom a Husky.
At Bellevue Interlake High School,
Bostick was an All-State receiver,
and even earned Washington player
— 4 * ..
ww
It wasn’t like I grew
up watching Washing
ton football. A lot of
guys dream about
playing Husky football
their whole life. It
wasn’t at all like that
for me.
Bostick
NU split end
-99 -
of-thc-ycar honors by the Seattle Post
Intclligcncer his senior season. He
caught 39 passes for 814 yards and 16
touchdowns, three times catching four
touchdown passes in one game.
But after high school, he decided
to turn down an offer to play for the
hometown team and headed instead
for Nebraska and the run-heavy of
fense of Coach Tom Osborne.
In Bostick’s first two years in a
Huskcr uniform, he caught 31 passes,
eight fewer than he had in his senior
year of high school, for 664 yards. In
spile of, or perhaps because of, his
number of catches, his 21.4 yards per
catch coming into this season ranks
him second on the all-time Nebraska
charts.
So far, 1991 has been a different
story for Bostick and the other receiv
ers. Osborne has stuck to his promise
of throwing the ball more often, and
the receivers are getting into the ac
tion.
“All our hard work in the summer
is paying off,” Bostick said. “All the
drills and conditioning we did is start
ing to show up.”
Bostick has caught six passes for
71 yards in the first two games. He is
on pace for 33 receptions in the regu
lar season.
“We can run already against the
weaker teams,” Bostick said. “But I
think the coaches arc starting to real
ize that against the tougher oppo
nents, passing is the way to go.”
The Huskers will get to see one of
those tougher opponents Saturday night
when the fourth-ranked Huskies in
vade Memorial Stadium.
This will be Bostick’s first chance
to play the team which he grew up
with since the sixth grade.
But Bostick doesn’t have any spite
in his blood. He said he is not looking
at it as a grudge match.
it s going to be great just because
it’s the home-state school,” he said.
“I have friends who go to school there
and I know some players on the team
who I played against in high school.”
But Bostick said he doesn’t have
any personal goals as far as scoring
against the Huskies.
“With the way our offense is set up
you never know if you’re going to get
the ball or not,” he said. “My main
objective is to play well and get a
win.”
Bostick said he is just looking
forward to playing a highly ranked
team, and he said the Husky defense
could pose some problems for Ne
braska.
“This is probably the best team
we’ve faced defensively in the past
few years,” Bostick said. “They’re
real aggressive with a lot of blitzing.
They don’t sit back and wait for you
to come to them.
“Wc are going to have to play with
a lot of poise and keep our heads on
straight.”
Bostick said the Huskcrs have some
plays waiting for them.
“Obviously, in our first two games,
we didn’t pull out all the slops,” he
said. “You can’t throw 30-yard posts
See BOSTICK on 14
Michelle Paulman/DN
Nebraska split end Jon Bostick tries to avoid Colorado State cornerback Selwyn Jones after
making a reception Saturday. The senior from Bellevue, Wash., said he isn’t viewing
Saturday’s game with Washington as a grudge match.
b ormer backup remains contident
By Thomas Clouse
Staff Reporter
Billy Joe Hobert is no longer a
nobody.
The Washington quarterback/
punier, who
didn’t even
letter last
season, will
be leading the
No. 4 Huskies
against No. 9
Nebraska
Saturday
night.
Hobert
said the pres
sure of quar
terbacking a Top 10 team in front of a
regional television audience won’t
put any added pressure on him.
‘‘I try not to look at the ranking as
pressure. I watch film, gel prepared
and try to be a good quarterback,”
Hobert said.
In 1990, as the backup quarter
back, he completed four of six passes
for 41 yards. He also rushed for 105
yards on 12 carries.
Hobert won the punting job in spring
practice with a 39.8 yard average on
27 punts and was named most im
proved back and kicker.
As quarterback, his goal is to
complete 70 percent of his passes
every game, he said.
“That might not be realistic, but it
is something I try to do,” Hobcrt said.
Hobcrt eased a lot of doubts in
Washington’s first game, a 42-7 win
over Stanford on national television.
In the game, he completed 21 of 31
passes for 244 yards and two touch
downs.
The 6-foot-3, 225-pound sopho
more got the starting spot during spring
practice when last year’s starter, Mark
Brunei! suffered a knee injury.
“I agree that I was inexperienced,”
Hobcrt said. “My goal is to not look
inexperienced.
“I want to play like a second-year
starter^
Hobcrt said he felt the team was
hesitant and lacked confidence in him
after the injury to Brunell “until I
showed that I could do the job.”
Hobert will try to continue his job
when the Huskies pull their sled into
Memorial Stadium on Saturday to
take on a Nebraska offense that has
outscored its first two opponents 130
42.
“Nebraska puts as many points on
the board as any team in the world,”
Hobert said. “We understand that
Nebraska is a tough team offensively,
which is something Washington is
trying to improve on.
“Everyone knows we have a strong
defense, but we would like to get
some notoriety with our offense.”
Last year, Washington had the
nation’s top-rated defense against the
rush. After two games this season,
Nebraska has the top-rated rushing
and scoring offense.
“We will have to play a perfect
game to beat Nebraska,” he said. “It
will have to be a flawless game on
both sides of the ball.”
The key for Washington is con
trolling turnovers, he said, citing
Nebraska’s scores against Utah State
and Colorado State.
“If we turn the ball over a lot, the
score could be ugly,” Hobcrt said.
He said the two-hour time differ
ence between Seattle and Lincoln could
affect the Huskies’ performance.
“The only long trip I went to last
year was Purdue, but the jet lag was
so bad I could hardly walk,” Hobcrt
said.
Playing on the road anytime is
difficult, he said.
“We know how important it is to
Nebraska to play at home,” he said.
Hobert said he doesn’t have any
future plans other than taking one
game at a time and spending lime
with his wife Heather.
Being married has helped him
mentally, he said.
“I can leave my frustrations on the
field and go home and relax,” Hobert
said. Being married “helps me feel
more relaxed about myself.”
Batting races obscure
sport's real winners
Hey, Julio Franco went 2-for-4
last night.
But Tony Gwynn took the col
lar, going 0-for-5. His average
dropped all the way down to .317.
Isn’t this batting race stuff fun?
Not.
Over the past couple of years,
the batting races have become bigger
than baseball itself. Sportscasters
are more concerned with the fact
that Wade Boggs will be hitting
Adkisson
weak pitching the rest of the way
than the fact that the Bluejays have
a tough schedule in front of them.
Don’t be surprised if John Saun
ders opens ESPN’s “Baseball To
night” like this in a couple of weeks:
“Leading off tonight, we have a
major development in the Ameri
can League batting race. Milwau
kee’s Paul Molitor, hitting .326,
took himself out of the Brewers’
lineup tonight because of a swollen
left earlobe that has bothered him
for weeks. Observers think that the
swelling could affect his swing.
“Our Peter Gammons has been 4
covering this development for ESPN
at County Stadium. Peter, what’s
the latest on the Molitor earlobe
controversy?”
(Switch to a 5-minute inter
view with Gammons, then a 10
minutc conversation with special
in-studio guest Ted Williams on
the logistics of earlobes, staying
back at the plate and whether Molitor
is a pure hitter.)
(Afterwards, Saunders thanks
Williams and turns to face the stu
dio camera.)
“In other news, the Pittsburgh
Pirates won the National League
East tonight for the second time in
two years ..
The state of the race may not be
that bad, but it’s getting close. Local
papers have run separate tables
listing batting leaders since late
July, and the sports shows have
nightly updates on the statistical
leaders.
What positives are there in this
mayhem?
See BATTING on 14
