Nefekan SPORTS
Red-White game helps gauge players’ abilities
By Jeff singer
Senior Reporter
If anybody thinks the Nebraska
football team will be taking it easy in
Saturday’s annual Red-White game,
think again.
“I’ve learned from the past that if
you don’t come out here and go hard,
you’re either going to get hurt or
you’re going to mess up,”Comhuskcr
tight end Gerald Armstrong said. “Ev
erybody perceives this as a game situ
ation — unless you want your head
knocked off, you had belter come to
play.”
Armstrong and his Husker team
mates will split up into two teams in
I
the game that has traditionally sig
naled the end of the four-week spring
season..
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne said
the two squads — which will be bro
ken up with the first-string offense
facing the No. 1 defense, the No. 2
offense going up against the second
string defense, and so on — would be
going hard against each other.
“It should be an interesting game
— we’re going to pretty much turn
them loose,” Osborne said.
Osborne said the fans shouldn’t
expect to see an offensive explosion
on Saturday.
“We’re not going to limit the of
fense or defense much, which I think
-M
We're going to pretty much turn them loose.
—Osborne
NU football coach
could be a lower-scoring game,” he
said. “Our defense is better; we don’t
want people coming in expecting to
see us running up and down the field.”
Osborne said another advantage to
the Red-While game was that it was
“an opportunity to find out a little bit
more about some of our players.”
One of those players is Armstrong,
who replaces William Washington
this season as the Huskers’ starting
??
tight end.
The Ponca native will be a senior
in the fall, and he is looking to im
prove on his numbers from last season
that included eight receptions (seven
of which were tochdowns) and 115
yards receiving.
He said he was going to use the
Red-White game to help him get used
to his new starting role.
“It’s kind of strange, because be
fore this, I always came off the bench,”
Armstrong said. ‘There’s a big differ
ence; I kind of got used to coming off
the bench, and I kind of enjoyed that.
“I’ve got to adjust to that role as
No. 1, and when we come out Satur
day, I think that’s what I’m going to
try to accomplish.”
Armstrong said that wasn’t the only
reason why he was excited for the
scrimmage.
“I am looking forward to it,” he
said. “Spring practices are kind of
tough op everyone because there is no
game to >ook forward to; it’s a lot
harder than during the season when
you have a game about every week.”
Kiley Timperiey/DN
Nebraska’s Darin Petersen tries to tag a Missouri runner in a game earlier this season.
— The Huskers, 16-18 on the season, will play a three-game series at Iowa State this
weekend.
NU baseball coach says team
needs consistent pitching, hitting
Long injury list
big concern also
By Susie Arth
Senior Reporter
John Sanders will take good hit
ting, pitching and fielding from his
team under one condition only.
It has to be all in the same game.
“It's just one of those things,”
Sanders, the Nebraska baseball
coach, said. “We want to pitch well
and hit well at the same time.”
The Comhuskers, who dropped
their last two games against Kan
sas, couldn’tseem to combine good
offense with good pitching.
During Tucsday ’ s game against
Kansas, the Huskers recorded 15
hits, but their pitchers allowed 29
men to reach base. During
Wednesday’s game, the pitching
was solid, but they were held to
only four hits and two runs.
The Huskers, who arc 16-18 cm
the season and 6-9 in the Big Eight,
are coming close to being in a
must-win situation, Sanders said.
So he hopes his team can regain
some momentum that it had built
before the series with Kansas.
“Every game is really important
now,” he said.
Another concern of Sanders is
the long list of injuries his team has
suffered.
Sophomore center Fielder Jed
Dalton, who strained his shoulder
early in Tuesday’s game, is ques
tionable for the weekend, Sanders
said.
Sophomore relievers Derek
Mickelson and Jason Pflughaupt
recently joined the injured reserve
list. Mickelson is out with a sore
arm, while Pflughaupt was hit in
the face by a teammate’s bat.
Iowa State, who is 8-17 overall,
3-10 in league play, and last in the
Big Eight, split a two-game series
with the Huskers earlier this season
at Buck Beltzer.
When the two teams played in
Lincoln, Troy Brohawn pitched and
won the first game 5-1. Steve Boyd
was the losing pitcher in the second
game, which the Huskers lost 15-3.
“They are a very competitive
ball club,” he said. “We’re expect
ing a challenge.”
Sanders said he expected
Brohawn and right-hander Alvie
Shepherd to start two of the games,
but the coach said he was uncertain
who would start the third.
No worries
about draft,
Huskers say
By Susie Arth ^ ^
Senior Reporter ww — ——
For hundreds of former college
football players, Sunday’s NFL draft
will bring tension, but former
Comhuskers William Washington and
Mike Stigge could either take it or
leave it.
Both said they wouldn ’ t really care
one way or the other.
Washington, who missed the NFL
combines because of a broken bone in
his foot, said he thought his injury
scared away a lot of professional
scouts.
The broken bone will heal com
pletely , Washington said, but the time
frame for his recovery is still in doubt.
“If I was a team, I probably
wouldn’t take me either because of
the injury,” he said. “If I’m not drafted
on draft day, someone will bring me
in as a free agent.”
Stigge feels the same way.
“I don’t really think I will get
drafted,"he said. “I won’tbe bummed
out if I don’t get drafted; it isn’t like
I’m banking on it or anything.
“For someone todraft a punier, it’s
almost like wasting a draft choice.”
The fact is, Stigge’s already sur
prised himself by making it this far.
“When I came out of high school,
I said I’d like to play college football,
so I gave Nebraska a shot and tried to
punt here,” he said. “Now, maybe
having a chance to play pro, it’s noth
ing I planned or expected to happen.”
Both are try ing to be realists. Wash
ington said if he did get drafted, he
knew it wouldn’t be until the later
rounds.
“I’d be happy to gel drafted by
somebody,” Washington said. “Who
ever drafts me is going to get a good
I’d be happy to get
drafted by somebody.
Whoever drafts me is
going to get a good
player at a very low
price.
—Washington
former Nil tight end
-— ft -
player at a very low price."
But free agency still seems to be
the more attractive option for both
players.
Stigge said he had received posi
tive feedback from Cincinnati, Cleve
land and Minnesota.
Washington said Kansas City had
practically guaranteed him a spot on
its roster.
Chiefs coaches have told Wash
ington he fits into their system very
well. Washington said.
“I’m in a better situation than a lot
of people,” he said. “Here’s a team
that will tell me they will wait for me.
“I would rather become a free agent
than a sixth-round draft pick,” Wash
ington said.
Stigge said that by becoming a free
agent,-he could get bargaining power
that he wouldn’ t nave if he was drafted.
But Stigge, who recently got ac
cepted to Kansas State’s veterinarian
school, said all he really cared about
was getting a chance to play some
where.
“Just being able to play ... that
would be good enough for me,’’Stigge
said.
Despite rumors, Boone
says he’ll stay at NU
From Staff Reports
Jaron Boone said he doesn ’ t know
where, how, when or why the rumors
started, but he does know he’s staying
at Nebraska.
Published reports earlier this week
said Andre Woolridge’s announce
ment that he was transferring to Iowa
caused a ripple effect on the other
freshmen on die Nebraska men’s bas
ketball team. The reports said Boone,
Erick Strickland and Terrance Badgeu
also were considering transferring.
Boone, who is Woolridge’s room
mate and longtime friend, said the
first time he learned of the rumors was
when he read about them in the news
papers.
Boone said the thought of transfer
ring to another school had never even
crossed his mind.
The rumors have made it all the
way to his hometown, Salt Lake City,
where people have been questioning
his parents about the rumors, Boone
said.
“They’re not concerned,” he said.
“They know I’m staying.”
Boone said Comhusker coach
Danny Nee also had heard the rumors
and had spoken to him about them.
But Boone said there was no need
to worry.
“They’re just rumors,” Boone said.
“I’m staying here.”
Boone played in all 31 games for
Nebraska last season and started in
eight. He averaged 6.9 points, 2.3
rebounds and 2.8 assists per game qnd
was named to the Big Eight All-Fresh
man Team last season.