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William Lauer/DN
Jamar Johnson follows through on a pass earlier this season. Johnson, who broke
his finger while playing against Portland Saturday, may miss up to four weeks
because of the injury.
Injury
Continued from Page 7
“This certainly is not good be
cause he is such an important play
er,” Nee said. “He has been really
playing well lately. We felt he was
going to have a real strong senior
year, so this comes at a very bad
time.”
Nee said the rest of the team
needed to step up because of
Johnson’s absence. Nee said he
would move 6-foot-6-inch Jaron
Boone into the starting lineup to
replace Johnson.
But all of Nebraska’s guards —
including Boone, Jason Glock and
Erick Strickland — should profit
from extra playing time.
“The other players are going to
need to rise up to the occasion,”
Nee said. “This is going to provide
tremendous experience for
Strickland, Glock and Boone.”
Johnson, who has missed only
one game in his three years at Ne
braska, may have to spend up to
four weeks being a fan. During that
time, he could miss seven games,
including Nebraska’s Big Eight
opener against Iowa State Jan. 3.
Nee said he was trying to find
positives that might come out of
the injury.
“It is a setback, but those things
happen,” Nee said. “We should be
stronger and better when he comes
back.”
Johnson agreed that his injury
would provide the younger players
with much more experience.
“It’s expected for them to step
up,” Johnson said. “They have to
and I feel totally confident in them
that they will. The sophomores will
have to turn into seniors if they
want this team to be good.”
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Void after
Dec. 25, 1991
H
NU baseball program attracts
three star pitching prospects
By Jeff Griesch
Senior Reporter
Although the 1994 college base
ball season hasn’t begun, the Nebras
ka coaching staff is already preparing
for the 1995 season.
Coach John Sanders received na
tional letters of intent from three of
the top pitching prospects in the coun
try during the early sign ing period for
1995.
Mike Burrows, a left-handed pitch
er and outfielder from American Fork,
Utah, leads the class of early signees.
Burrows, a 6-3, 180-pounder, was
an all-state and all-region selection
last year and named one of the Team
One top 100 players in the country.
Last summer, Burrows went 10-0
with a 2.25 ERA and struck out 92
batters in 64 innings in American
Legion competition.
He also hit .512 with 10 homers
and 58 RBls in 129 at-bats and stole
31 bases.
Brian Zubor, a left-hander from
Riverside, 111., struck out 116 batters'
in 68 innings while going 7-2 with a
1.02 ERA for Fenwick High School.
Dan Vardijan, a 6-4 right-hander,
went 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in Ameri
can Legion ball and was named to the
Chicagoland “Cream of the Crop”
along with Zubor.
Sanders said he was excited about
signing the three young pitchers and
that the early signees would put Ne
braska in a position to have a third
straight top 25 recruiting class.
Last year’s recruiting class was
ranked 21st by Collegiate Baseball,
and the 1992 class was ranked 19th in
the nation.
“This is really the fourth class in a
row that we have put together,” Sand
ers said. “The 1991 class wasn’t ranked
like the last two have been, but they
have put up phenomenal numbers.”
Alberts
Continued from Page 7
where he is now — to accept a schol
arship from the National Football
Foundation and the Collegiate Hall of
Fame.
On Saturday, the Huskcrs’ all-time
sack leader will move on to Orlando,
Fla., where he will await announce
ment of the winner of the Butkus
Award, given to the nation’s top line
backer.
The list — which includes being
named the nation’s top defensive play
er by Football News and the 1993 Big
Eight defensive player of the year —
goes on. But as Alberts reflects on his
career, he downplays the importance
of the individual honors.
“I’d be foolish to say I didn’t enjoy
all of the individual awards this year.”
Alberts said. “But the beautv of it is
we’re 11 -0. If our team was 2-9 and I
was still getting all these honors, I
wouldn’t feel too good about it.”
He said he still did not know wheth
er the dislocated elbow he suffered in
the first quarter of the Oklahoma game
would hold him out of the Orange
Bowl.
He said he wanted badly to play in
the Orange Bowl against Florida State,
but if his arm was not healthy, he
would not risk hurting it — or the
team.
“It’s important for me to play,”
Alberts said. “But on the other side,
I’m not going to penalize our team by
going out there just because I’m a
senior. I’m not going to play with one
arm and be ineffective. But if I can
play, I will guarantee you that I’ll be
on the field.”
A victory in the Orange Bowl would
be a perfect ending to his career,
Alberts said. But he also would like to
grab a national title for Coach Tom
Osborne.
“Coach Osborne is the main rea
son 99 percent of us arc here,” Alberts
said. “So he means a lot to all of us.
We do it for each other, but we’d also
like to do it for him this year.”
In addi t ion to al 1 the honors Alberts
has received as a Husker, he said, he
has grown as a person because of his
experiences at Nebraska.
“I can’t say enough about Nebras
ka,” he said. “And 1 am saying this
from the heart. It all starts at the top,
with Coach Osborne, and goes down
to the players.”
Although Alberts’ Husker career
is almost over, his football playing
days arc anything but finished. Alberts
has been projected by analysts to be
among the lop five selections in next
spring’s NFL draft.
“1 promised mysel f I wouldn ’ t think
about the NFL until my career is over
here,” he said. “But it’s another chal
lenge. I’d like to see whether I could
do it.”
