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Nebraskan
Thursday. Mpm 8,1883
• KHey Timperley/DN
Nebraska’s Brook Berringer drops back to pass at a scrimmage Saturday at Memorial
„ Stadium.
Huskers to use shotgun offense
more next year, Osborne says
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter
When will the Nebraska offense
- change?
That’s the question many
' Cornhuskcr football fans have
asked concerning Nebraska coach
« Tom Osborne's offense, but
Osborne said this spring’s olTcnse
was different from ones used in
years past.
“Sometimes people say we’re
doing the same old thing, but that’s
not true at all,” Osborne said. “We
probably change 30 percent of our
plays every year, so we’ve made a
lot of changes.”
One of the alterations to the
Husker offense this spring has been
a more frequent use of the shotgun
formation, which is normally re
served for passing teams.
Osborne, whose team led the
nation with 328.2 rushing yards per
game last season, said he would
like to use the shotgun more to mix
the different offenses Nebraska
could throw against its opponents.
“We’ll use it in certain situa
tions. I don’tknow that it’s going to
be a steady diet, but we feel like
we’d like to be able to line up in it
some,” Osborne said.
The player who will likely be
using the shotgun the most is No. 1
-1«
Sometimes people say
we’re doing the same
old thing, but that’s not
true at all.
—Osborne’
NU football coach
- %% -
w w
Huskcr quarterback Tommie
Frazier. The freshman said he liked
using the shotgun more.
“Any quarterback feels comfort
able with it, because it gives them
the opportunity to look out and see
what’s coming at them,” Frazier
said.
Frazier, who finished last sea
son with Nebraska’s best-cvcr
touchdown-to-interception ratio at
10 to 1, said he was eager to throw
the ball more.
“The focus of this year is going
to be to try to throw the ball more,”
Frazier said. “We have put in some
new plays that make teams wary
about us just running the ball.”
Frazier said it was easy to sec
why Osborne wanted to pul the ball
in the air more this year.
“We have fast athletes out there
and I think (Osborne) did this to
show our speed to other i&ms,” he
said.
“In the past, teams thought that
Nebraska was just a power football
team, but now that we have speed
sters on the team, (Osborne) is just
u-ying to exploit that too, instead of
just power,” Frazier said.
4* Osborne said talk o£ more pass
ing didn’t mean that he was ready
to revamp his run-style offense,
which had led to four NCAA rush
ing titles in the last five years.
“We’ve been very dominant
offensively,” Osborne said. “But
people arc always going to be un
happy with some of the things you
do.”
Frazier is listed at the top of the
Husker spring depth chart, but both
Osborne and Frazier said things
could change.
“This isn’t like with pro football
quarterbacks where anybody has
anything locked up; it’s always
open,” Osborne said.
Quarterbacks Ben Ruiz, Tony
Vcland and Brook Berringer are
listed behind Frazier on the depth
chart.
Frazier said he would need a
solid spring season to keep a hold
on the No. 1 spot.
“I can’t say it’s mine to lose,
because anything can happen,” he
said. “I’m just going to go out there
and try to improve; I’m always
going to try to do the best I can.”
NU, Cyclones
split soaked
doubleheader
By Jeff Griesch
Staff Reporter
The rains came at Buck BclUtor
Field on Wednesday, but the Nebraska
and Iowa Slate baseball teams would
not go away, Nebraska beat the Cy -
. cloncs5-l in the first game of a double
header, but the Huskcrs lost the night
cap 15-3 and fell to 2-3 in Big Eight
play and 13-13 overall.
The start of the first game was
delayed by 45 minutes, and the teams
had to sit through another 45-minule
rain delay with one out in the top of
the sixth inning.
‘That’s Midwest baseball foryou,”
Nebraska coach John Sanders said.
“You just kind of have to expect it as
part of baseball this time of year.”
Troy Brohawn, 4-0, struck out 11
Iowa State hitlers cn route to his third
complete game of the season.
Brohawn, a sophomore from
Woolford, Md., scattered five hits but
lost his shutout bid in the ninth inning.
Iowa State third baseman Brett
Elam led off the ninth with a single to
right field.
Brad Mangier followed Elam’s
single by hilling a hanging change-up
from Brohawn over Jed Dalton’s head
in center field to score Elam from
first.
The Huskers got off to a quick start
against the Cyclones, scoring three
runs in the first inning and another in
the second. Nebraska added an insur
ance run in the eighth off Iowa Slate
reliever Ron Tjcbbcn.
All five Husker runs wcrcuncamcd,
as Nebraska look advantage of four
Cyclone errors.
With one out in the first, Darin
Petersen reached on a throwing error
by the Cyclone second baseman.
With Petersen on first, Marc
Sagmocn hit a double off the base of
the fence in center field to drive in
Petersen.
Darin Erslad followed with a bunt
single and Sagmocn moved to third.
After Erstad stole second, Sagmocn
scored on a sacrifice fly from Brohawn.
Derek Dukarldrove in Erslad with
a two-out single to give the Huskers a
3^) lead.
In the second game, Iowa State .
jumped on Nebraska starter Steve
Boyd — a reliever making his first
start of the season — early. The Cy
clones scored two runs in the first
inning before Boyd settled in, selling
a career high with eight strikeouts in
5 1/3 innings of work.
NU’s Brohawn misses
shutout by one pitch
By Susie Arth
Senior Reporter
Despite a steady drizzle, a rain
delay and a muddy field, Cornhusker
pitcher Troy Brohawn lost his con
centration only once.
That once came in the ninth in
ning, when Iowa State’s Brad Man
gier hit a double off Brohawn to score
teammate Brad Urban and ended
Brohawn’s hopes of a shutout.
“I had one bad pitch today,”
Brohawn said. “Maybe I gave up a
little on the pitch, but I won’t do that
next time.
“That was the only thing 1 did
totally wrong today.”
Brohawn, who improved his record
to 4-0 for the season, said he was
especially pleased with his perfor
mance in the first inning.
‘Today me and John (Sanders)
made a goal to gel out of the first
inning,” Brohawn said. “I think that
was the key today.”
In the first inning, Brohawn was
able to strike out the first two batters
he faced and get a fly-out from the
third.
Brohawn was able to have another
steady start Wednesday, when he re
mained in the game after a 45-minute
rain delay at the beginningof the sixth
inning.
Alter the delay, Brohawn retired
three of the first four batters he faced.
“My arm actually fell better after
the delay,” he said.
Brohawn’s concentration was not
limited to the mound.
From the plate, Brohawn had three
sacrifices, a walk and one run batted
in.
Sanders said he was pleased with
Brohawn’s effort.
“I know he wanted the sh utoul,” he
said. “The pitching was solid.”
This truly may be the year for the Husker football team
It’s April, so naturally it’s lime for
the hype to begin.
From the Panhandle to downtown
Omaha while spring football prac
tices continue, Nebraska fans across
the state already arc talking about
how their beloved Comhuskcrs will
perform in the fall.
Nebraskans tend to believe there
arc only two big events during the
spring: the groundhog seeing his own
shadow and the start of spring prac
tices.
And during the four weeks of
football’s spring training, the major
tty of Huskcr fans usually have the
upcoming season’s national champi
onship banner ordered by the time the
Red-White game comes around, only
to have something go wrong in the
fall.
But for the first time in 22 years,
the Nebraska forecasters who arc pre
dicting a Huskcr national title might
just end up being right.
Nebraska won’t be the best team in
the nation in the fall—but then again,
how often does the best team win the
national title?
The team who docs bring home the
mythical national championship is the
one who can use its own talent to the
best of its abilities while being fortu
nate enough to get some good breaks
along the way.
Therefore, if you have the right
amount of luck, mixed with talent and
good fortune, a national title can be
bom.
And this year, circumstances seem
to have placed the Huskers into a
position where talk around town of a
national championship can now go
from fantasy to reality.
So why should optimism soar
around the Husker program this
spring? Here arc the best reasons why:
• A guaranteed perfect non-con
fcrcnccseason. Thisisn l saying much
with a schedule that includes North
Jeff
Singer
Texas Slate, Texas Tech, UCLA and
Colorado State, but how often in re
cent years has Nebraska been able to
start its Big Eight season unscathed?
True, this is a pitiful group of non
conference opponents, but at the end
of the season, 4-0 will be better re
membered than Nebraska’s plaster
ing of the North Texas State Eagles.
•A weak Big Eight conference. This
season will probably mark one of the
worst seasons for Big Eight football
as aconfcrcncc in recent history which
should mean a cakewalk for the Iiusk
ers through their league season.
The only scare for Nebraska will
be in October at Colorado — oops, I
> -r
take that back; I just remembered that
the two teams are similar to the ones
that registered a 52*7 Husker win last
year.
• Tommie Frazier gelling control
of the reins for ihc full season. Last
season's Big Eight Offensive Fresh
man of ihc Year will gel lo prove
himself as a sophomore by gelling to
start at quarterback for the enlire sea
son.
Wipt ihis in mind, Frazier should
challenge for All-Big Eighl honors
and possible All-American hype as
long as Coach Osborne’s offensive
Pastern can blend and lie in wilh
razicr’s extraordinary abilities.
• The moving of ihc “Wc-Backs”
into singular form. Derek Brown’s
prcmaiurc departure for the Naiional
Football League will prove ilsclf as a
blessing for tbc Huskers, and ihc evi
dence of this will be Calvin Jones’
numbers ihroughoul ihc season.
W iihoul hav ing lo rotate Jones and
Brown into the lineup from quarter to
quarter and altering the team’s rush
ing styles, now the ground game can
be clearly defined: power football via
Jones with a constant eye on the
Heisman Trophy.
• Playing Iowa Slate at home.
After watching Nebraska lose 19-10
in Ames last year in college football’s
upset of the season, this is truly a valid
point.
Another plus to play ing those pesky
Cyclones this year, as opposed to last
season, is not having to see Iowa State
quarterback Marv Seiler do another
Joe Montana impersonation.
Although it should be a clear road
for the Huskers to the national cham
pionship, Nebraskans now must hope
the road doesn’t have any surprising
potholes like it has the past 22 years.
Singer is it senior news-editorial and po
litical science major and a Dally Nebraskan
sports senior reporter.
