Daily t
Nebraskan
Thursday, 9aptambar 2,1993
Sports
Lineman Graham flying high as Eagles come to town
By DereK Damson
StafiReporter__
Playing Division I-AA North Tex
as may not excite some Nebraska
players and fans, but center Aaron
Graham is one Comhusker that can’t
wait.
The 6-foot-3, 285-pound sopho
more will be playing against his home
town college from Denton, Texas.
“It’s kind of ironic 1 come all the
way up here to Nebraska and we end
up playing (North Texas),” Graham
said. “I know a lot of players on their
team and some cheerleaders, so I'm
really looking forward to it.
i m also looking forward to it
because it’s the first time I’ll get in
there in a starting role.”
Graham will be alternating with
senior Ken Mehlin at the center posi
tion. Mehlin wil start and Graham
will take over in the second quarter.
‘‘The way we’re going to rotate is
Perfectly fine with me,” Graham said.
I m just glad that I can be part of such
a good offensive line.”
Not only is Graham excited about
being a part of the line, but he is just
as excited about blocking for Heisman
Trophy candidate Calvin Jones.
“It would be great if Calvin would
win the Heisman Trophy,” he said.
“It’s something to put in your scrap
book and say that you blocked for the
Heisman Trophy winner. I think that
is a dream of most linemen.”
And Graham said that dream helped
him decide to choose Nebraska over
Texas schools.
“My main emphasis was to go
somewhere with a great offensive line
program,” he said. “1 wanted the best
coaching possible at my position and
the offensive line history here is just
superb. It has a great history of centers
and it’s my goal to be part of that list”
Graham said it was not easy adjust
ing to Nebraska, but he is grateful for
his high school coaches for preparing
him for college ball.
“It took me awhile to develop,” he
said. “I was fortunate enough to have
good high school coaching, and I knew
my transition wouldn’t take as long as
some other players.”
Although Graham has made the
transition, he still doesn’t have a lot of
experience playing in front of a Me
morial Stadium crowd.
“It will be tough,” he said. “If we
had about 50 plays on offense and 10
different ways ofblocking, that would
be 500 different Mocking schemes in
front of76,000 people.
“But I'm looking forward to it.”
As are his Huskers teammates,
Graham said.
“We’re tired of hitting around on
each other,” he said. “I think we will
-M
It’s something to put
In your scrapbook and
say that you blocked
for the Heisman
Trophy winner. I think
that Is a dream of
most linemen.
— Graham
sophomore center
-ft -
be OK but we need to control the
football. We can’t afford any turn
overs.”
Comhuskers
blaze trail
past Hawkeyes
By Tim Pearson
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska volleyball team start
ed a fire that Iowa couldn’t put out
Wednesday night.
The Huskers jumped out to early
leads in each game and never looked
back, sweeping the Hawkeyes 15-5,
15-5,15-8 in front ofa crowd of 2,108
at NU Coliseum.
Husker coach Terry Pettit said he
was pleased with his team’s perfor
mance.
“We gave a good effort tonight,”
Pettit said. “When Iowa struggled, we
didn’t back off. We maintained our
poise when Iowa was struggling.”
In the first game, the Huskers scored
10 unanswered points after Iowa
scored the first point. Nebraska in
creased its lead to 14-1 en route to a
15-5 first set victory.
Sophomore middle blocker Allison
Weston, who had eight kills and three
service aces, said the quick start gave
the Huskers some early momentum.
MS* -*
“We played outstanding,” she said.
“We came out on fire. It was probably
shocking for Iowa to come into this
See SWEEP on 8
Aspegren dropsjump serve,
gets big jump on her season
By Stephanie Borgmeyer
Staff Reporter
Jumping is usually an important
part of a volleyball match, but Ne
braska outside hitter Kelly Aspcgren
proved that theory wrong Wednesday
night.
Although being recruited as a jump
server, Aspegren abandoned her jump
serve during the Comhuskers’ straight
set victory over Iowa Wednesday
night.
But the 5-foot, 11-inchjuniordidn’t
miss a beat, posting four ace serves
and nine kills in her first collegiate
start.
“I gave up my jump serve to focus
more on my outside nitting and de
fense,” Aspegren said.
Aspegren said eliminating the jump
serve gave her focus she needed in her
first start at Nebraska.
“I was really nervous when the
match begin,” she said. “But after
awhile I felt a lot more relaxed and
ready to play."
Aspegren said she has felt more at
See ASPEGREN on 8
Therrese Goodtett/DN
Nikki Strieker finishes a block while Allison Weston looks on during Wednesday night’s match
against Iowa at the NU Coliseum. Strieker led the Com buskers with 35 assists as Nebraska
defeated the Hawkeyes in straight sets 15-5,15-5,15-8. The Comhuskers will face West Virginia
and Pittsburgh in this weekend’s Penn State Invitational at University Park, Penn.
Ex-Huskie coach would help women s gymnastics team
There are only two things that I can
count on each yean An NCAA foot
ball scandal and my grandmother Ed v
bursting into my room at 2 a.m. with
an empty bottle of ripple in her hand,
demanding money for a new wig.
Whereas the latter can be handled
with a little family counseling, the
former has become a preoccupation.
The scandal du jour hails from the
home of Pearl Jam — Seattle — and
surrounds the University ofWashing
ton football team and its ex-coacn,
Don James, the self-professed king of
grunge.
No, I only kid the unemployed, but
there certainly is a “grungy” element
to James, who quit as coach of the
Huskies following sanctions imposed
by the Pacific- 10 Conference after
Washington violated NCAA rules.
I don’t mean grunge in a despica
ble way or in that Nirvana sort of way.
I’m talking about that “get in the dirt
and fight” definition.
James, despite looking frighten
ingly like Jack Lemmon, has that air
of guts and glory about him. In fact, I
had “Hail Varsity” ringing in my ears
as I watched the James-coached Hus
kies beat up on Nebraska for two
straight years.
Actually that probably had more to
do with a congenital ear defect I have,
but my point is this: James exudes a
winning spirit and has the vitality to
drive a program to perform with vigor
—whether that be at collecting boost
er money or at football.
So I got to thinking, how could
Paul Azinger be allowed to win the
Professional Golf Association cham
pionship wearing 14 shades ofbrown?
Don’t tney have a dress code?
But when I regained my train of
thought, it hit me: I want Don James
here at Nebraska.
Beau
Finley
Not as a football coach because we
have enough of those. We need him in
a position where he can uplift a pro
gram. We need him in a place where
we can feed vampirishly off his ener
gy and sap his spirit for the betterment
of an ailine UNL athletic program.
Then it hit me — I’m sure getting
hit a lot; I feel like Robin Ventura—
James could be our new women’s
gymnastics coach.
I would bet Coach Francis Allen
would like to give up his chores with
the women’s program and get b^ck to
his old jobs of mentoring the men’s
team and bad-mouthing the rest.
Not only would James help revital
ize a troubled program in the midst of
turmoil but he may be able to popular
ize a sport that hais not had the crowd
appeal of other Nebraska sports.
James could mix a little football
mentality into womens’ gymnastics.
The hybrid may just sweep the cam
pus as students flock to see it.
Imagine this James-style revision
to the sport:
The uneven parellel bars would
feature each team planted on one of
the beams and then through strategic
combat, the team which is removed
from their respective bar would be
declared—in Chicago Bears fashion
— “da loser."
It would be a big charge to the fans
to see gymnasts like Jennifer
Hawkinson and Kristi Camp head
butting each other to psyche up for a
particularly difficult routine. Hell, it
might help them. You never know.
Ur instead of putting tnat cnam
stuff* on before a routine, gymnasts
should take some cortisone and put
some “stick-um” on their hands. That
would eliminate those embarrassing
falls.
See, Jamesian gymnastics has some
very practical attributes.
Basically the thinking behind this
plan is to take a not-so-popular sport
like gymnastics, which showcases
beauty and grace, and corrupt it with
things that appeal to the masses, like
human injury. It’s a fairly simple prin
ciple.
And besides that, it'll give every
one something to ponder as we wait
for gymnast Nicole “Broderick Tho
mas” Duval to call a press conference
and declare the Devaney Center “Her
house” and the 1993-94 season “the
Hell Raisin’Tour.” .
Beau G. Flaky la a ftrit-year law atudeat
a ad a Dally Nebraikaa iports coluaaalst.