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.
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B Florida (1)0-0-0 1,241 4
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3 PonnSt (1) 0-0-0 1,125 8
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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.”