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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 31, 1992)
Sports Grant earns top QB spot after scrimmage By Nick Hytrek Senior Reporter__ Nebraska senior quarterback Mike Grant will start theCornhuskers’ open ing game, but the backup spot re mained in question after the team’s final major preseason scrimmage Sat urday. Grant, who was the leading passer in the scrimmage, won the starting job for the Sept. 5 opener against Utah. He also started Nebraska’s 1990 opener against Baylor before redshirling last season. M thought Mike played well to day,” Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said. “I thought Mike managed things well today.” Grant completed 3 of 5 passing attempts for 79 yards and a touch down Saturday. He also had 21 yards rushing. “Mike’s biggest thing is it seems like when he concentrates and bears down, he can play as well as he wants to play,” Osborne said. “I think he needs to keep bearing down in prac tice and every snap he takes to really concentrate and I think he’ll be a good quarterback.” Osborne said questions remained behind Grant. Tommie Frazier, Joel Com well and Brook Berringer were all bothered by injuries, and Ben Rutz.onc of the few healthy quarterbacks; hypcrcxtcndcc his knee. “Quarterback is still a concern,’ . Osborne said. “Cornwell did all righi today. He still couldn’t throw the bal very well as far as putting anything or it. We thought Bcrringcr was playing about half hurt, too. Frazier was play ing hurt; he was still limping.” The defense once again kept the offense in check. The offense scored 44 points, but only 24 of those were by the top two units. Still, Osborne was pleased with the results. “Overall, the scrimmage was sat isfactory,” he said. “It was set up to try to do a lot of things. The first part of it was ones and twos vs. ones and twos, which should be a pretty good ^ match and I thought it was.” The defense has the potential to assert itself right away, he said. . “1 think we have a pretty good chance to be a good defensive team early — earlier than last year,” he i said. “Offensively, we have a lot of good players. Sometimes that lakes a little longer to put together and even tually we should be good on offense and I’m hoping the kicking game can be good.” There were no new injuries in the scrimmage. Osborne said he hoped that some of the players bothered by injuries could return this week. Split end Tyrone Hughes, safety Ernie Bclcr, I-back Calvin Jones and offensive tackle Zach Wiegert all missed the scrimmage. Scoring summary: Derek Brown — 1 run (Bryon Bennett kick). Bennett — 46 field goal. Tommie Frazier — 13 run (Tom Sieler kick). Abdul Muhammad — 10 pass from Mike Grant (Bennett kick). Jeff Mackovicka — 28 run (Sieler kick) Damon Benning — 22 run (Bennett kick). Joel Cornwell — 16 run (no kick). Over the last ten seasons, Nebraska's opening-day quarterback has been a senior five times. A year-by-year look at the Comhusker starters. 1991-Mickey Joseph, senior 199<MifceCraet> junior 1989-Gerry Gdowski, senior 1988-Steve Taylor, senior 1987-Steve Taylor, junior sophomore 1985-McCathom Clayton, sophomore 199tv«H| NRQMi§f NvMir 1983-Tumer GUI, senior 1982-Tamer Cl, fetor ~~ Scott HmhOI Squad elects this season’s team captains By Phil Carter Staff Reporter_ _ _ Four seniors— two from Nebraska and two from Texas — were elected by their teammates as captains of this year’s Cornhuskcr football team Saturday. William Washington and Jim Scott were chosen as offensive captains, and John Parrella and Travis Hill were named defensive captains prior to Saturday’s scrimmage at Memorial Qt'iHnim “I think they’ll provide good leadership,” football coach Tom Osborne said. “They’re •.good players. They’ve proven themselves on the field and oflThe field they’re good students. I'm very :alisficd with those guys, and I know they’ll dt a good job.” Washington is a 6-fool-2, 260-pound light end from Tyler, Texas. He received second team All-Big Eight honors in 1989 and was an honorable mention All-Big Eight choice last season. Scott, an Anslcy native who played in all 11 games last year, was named honorable mention All-Big Eight and was a member of the Phillips 66 Big Eight Academic Honor Roll. Defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said Hill and Parrclla arc both team leaders. “With either one of those kids you couldn’t have chosen better captains for this football team,” McBride said. “They’re both — ever since they’ve been freshmen — really hard workers, and the players saw their dedication to the game of football.” Hill has played in all 36 games for the Huskers the last three seasons, and started all 11 games last fall. He finished 1991 with4.5 sacks and 65 tackles. Parrclla was a starter last season and finished the year with 4.5 sacks and 52 tackles. The 6 5, 290-pound Grand Island native was named honorable mention All-Big Eight as junior. i---1 ---*» 1002 AO OF 0/30/02HOCOWP FTP. FVO. Miami (A3)0-0-0 1,518 1 ^ W».h (8) 0-0-0 1,458 2 J Notro Dam* (S) 0-0-0 1,404 3 ■*%. Florida St. (1) 0-0-0 1,274 5 B Michigan (1) 0-0-0 1,260 6 B Florida (1)0-0-0 1,241 4 —Taxaa A A M (1) 1 -0-0 1,1 03 7 3 PonnSt (1) 0-0-0 1,125 8 B Alabama (1) 0-0-0 1,008 9 Syracuse0-0-0 957 1Q N»bra»ka 0-0-0 8S7 11 ado 0-0-0 708 12 13 CI>m»on_0-0-0 781 13 X4 (3»orq*«0-0-0 727 14 *1 tj Oklahoma_0-0-0 876 1 S UCLA0-0-0 553 18 Ohio St 0-0-0 465 18 18 N. C. Stata1-0-0 43-4 - ..liforma0-0-0 370 20 StanfordQ-1-Q 354 17 . BJi — Cl0-0-0 315 22 && Tannatiaa_0-0-0 280 21 ^j^Jowa_0-1-0 168 18 ^^^QaorQia Taoh 0-0-0 143 23 Viiginla0-0-0 1 20 jl_ ( ) m Fhwt-ptmo* »Im *p ^ . Michelle Paulman/DN Nebraska linebackers coach Kevin Steele congratulates Cornhusker cornerback Mike Heins Saturday during a scrimmage at Memorial Stadium. Family affair — Bbodline of coaching continues with Kevin Steele By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Staff Reporter __ Coaching runs in Kevin Steele’s blood. His father coached high school football for 30 years. Two of his uncles coached college football. His brother coaches at East Carolina. Steele, inside linebackers coach for the Nebraska Cornhuskcrs, says continuing that tradition has always been his dream. “I knew I wanted to be a coach since I can remember,” he says. “I can remember knowing I wanted to be a coach because that was what my dad was.” His work has not always been behind the sideline. He played quarterback in high school, leading Dillon High School in Dillon, S.C., to the stale playoffs. He switched to linebacker in college, playing at Tennessee from 1976 to 1979. But he says his dream was to eventu ally coach, not play. “When I was younger, 1 dreamed about playing college football, but I don’t remember about very much dreaming about being a pro football player. I wanted to be a college football player and then I wanted to coach,” he said. Steele began his coaching career in 1981 at Tennessee, where he coached linebackers. He also coached at New Mexico State and Oklahoma Slate before coming to Nebraska in 1989. 14 -.. The difference between being at Nebraska and the other schools became clear to him, he says, the first time Oklahoma State came to Memorial Stadium alter he was hired at Nebraska. “I was out on the sideline and I saw coach (Pat) Jones come out with the team and it was kind of a flashback — 1 can honestly remember coaching at Oklahoma Slate and standing on the sideline, standing out there and just watching the Big Red pound you,” he says. “You kind of thought to yourself that it would be unbelievable to coach at Nebraska. “That day when Oklahoma Stale ran out on the field, it kind of hit me. I’m over here. It was a good feeling.” He describes coaching at Nebraska as “by far the best situation I have ever been in.” And while he says he enjoys his job, Steele has no illusions about the result he is expected to help produce — a win. “1 like to think that there’s a job to get done, and it’s got to get done quick,” he says. “There is not a whole lot of time to waste, and you’re going to be graded on it 11 limes a year. <, “You work on it 365 days a year, but 11 days, they arc going to say, this guy is good or this guy is bad, so you’d better make the most of it.” The favorite part of his job, he says, is practice, not games. “I love being on the practice field,” he says, “It’s a lot of fun. “You can adjust some things in a game, but basically, defensively, you have to line up and watch them play. You make some adjustments, but the work is done to a certain degree — it’s in the players’ hands now and they have to execute.” During practice, on the other hand, Steele says, he can create and try new strategies. He says making up new schemes to foil opponents’ offenses is a hobby. “I have a lot of fun going into meeting rooms with our defensive staff,” he says. “Some people like to play tennis and some people like to play chess — well, we arc playing that everyday on the chalkboard. “Then you come out on the practice >* field, and take something you decided on as a staff and implement it and then you see them (the players) get it down — you kind of see the light switch come on.” When it works, Steele says, it is rewarding for a coach to know he has played a part in creating a new strategy or defense. “A house builder builds a house — builds a beautiful one — it looks good, and he feels good about it himself even though he doesn’t live in it,” he says. “We’re not playing the game, but we feel pretty good about it because we feel like we have a part in making it happen.”