Sports
Nebraskan
Wednesday, January 12,1994
NCAA rulings unfortunate, NU coach says
By Mitch Sherman
Staff Reporter
Beginning Aug. 1 of this year, the Nebraska
football program will be
snort one assistant coacn.
The position of recruiting
coordinator waseliminated
by a 74-36 vote of college
athletic directors on Mon
day at the NCAA Conven
tion in San Antonio, Texas.
Nebraska recruiting coor
Gillespie
ciinaior uave uinespie saia
Tuesday he was unsure
which Comhusker coach
would be affected.
It is possible that Gillespie will remain on
the Nebraska staff as a full-time assistant, he
said. If that happened, another coaching job
would have to be eliminated.
If he remains on the staff as an assistant,
Gillespie said, he does not know if he would be
allowed to perform the duties of a recruiting
coordinator.
“First of all,” he said, “we need to find out
what exactly the legislation says. We need to
find out what this position can or cannot do, and
I think that’s still a little bit ambiguous right
now.
“In the next couple weeks, they’re going to
need to define what the rule says and what it
means to each program. So before we make any
personnel moves, we need to find out exactly
what it says.”
In addition to eliminating Gillespie’s posi
- tt
It’s unfortunate that they
feel they have to
continually undercut the
football program. It’s going
to catch up with us at some
point.
— Gillespie
Nebraska recruiting coordinator
tion, voters at the convention also passed a
proposal to restrict the size of college football
teams to 105 before the start of fall classes.
The number of prospective recruits allowed
to visit a school was reduced from 70 to 56.
Also, the football recruiting season was short
ened from 101 to 73 days.
“I think a lot of the rules are aimed at football
and basketball to send a message that the
powers to be are running college athletics,”
Gillespie said, “not football and basketball.
“It’s unfortunate that they feel they have to
continually undercut the football program. It’s
going to catch up with us at some point. That’s
not good for anybody as far as college athletics
go.
Gillespie said the NCAA was trying to re
duce the amount of money funneled into foot
ball programs around the country. But at a
See CUTS on 9
Florida State strong safetv Mack Knight tackles NU l-back Lawrence Phillips during
the fourth quarter of the Orange Bowl.
II-backs look forward
to battle for starting i ob
By Derek Samson
Senior Reporter
Lawrence Phillips and Damon
Benning arc no longer in Cal vin Jones’
shadow.
Both I-backs said they were look
ing forward to battling for the spot
light after Jones announced he would
forgo his senior year at Nebraska and
enter April’s NFL draft.
“I’m looking forward to being able
to play a lot more,” Phillips said. “I
was in California when I heard that he
was probably going to go pro and I
thought, ‘I guess it’s going to be a
battle for No. 1 now.’”
Nebraska assistant head coach
Frank Solich said Benning and Phillips
each received valuable game experi
ence while Jones was injured this
season and, along with sophomore
Clinton Childs, look to contend for
the starting spot.
“We have a good group of backs
coming back next year,” Solich said.
“We will have a lot of work to do, but
I am confident we will get it done.”
Both backs said a good deal of the
competition for the top spot would
take place in spring practice.
“Spring ball is going to be impor
tant for me, as well as for all the other
I-backs,” Phillips said. “That’s when
we’ll have to step up. It will be a good
time to start battling for the position.”
Benning, a redshirt freshman, said
he was excited about the competition.
“I’m looking forward to working
hard this off-season and getting into
spring ball,” he said. “This is what I
came to Nebraska for. It should be
pretty open. There is a lot of good
competition for the position.”
Because of Jones’ knee injury in
the Huskers’ season opener against
North Texas and his shoulder injury in
the Orange Bowl, Phillips and Benning
received plenty of playing time and j
finished the season as the Huskers’ ,
third- and fourth-leading rushers, re- .
spectively, in 1993.
Jones’ decision
didn’t surprise
coaching staff
From Staff Reports
Calvin Jones is gone and the
Nebraska football coaching staff
is moving on.
“We had been providing
Calvin with the best informa
tion we had on his status and
what he could expect,” assistant
head coach Frank Solich said by
phone from Anaheim, Calif.,
where he is attending the NCAA
coaches’ convention. “But it was
a decision we wanted him to
make for himself.
“Only time will tell fbr him
and his family whether he made
the right choice, but I hope it
turns out to be the best decision
for everyone.”
During the brief conversa
tion he had with Jones Friday,
Solich said they did not discuss
Jones’ reasons for entering the
draft.
Solich also said the
Comhusker coaches were pre
pared for Jones’ decision.
“One thing that I have learned
about this profession is to really
take it one day at a time because
you just don’t know what will
happen,” Solich said. “I guess
you always understand that there
is a possibility of someone with
Calvin’s ability leaving early,
so I knew it could happen.”
Phillips rushed 92 times for 508
yards and five touchdowns during the
regular season and added 64 yards and
one touchdown on 13 carries in the
See REPLACEMENTS on 9
New fan-voting system benefits Cowboys, not Pro Bowl
Enough about the Orange Bowl.
Everyone, including people on the
East Coast, knows Nebraska was shaft
ed, but that wasn’t the only injustice
that went on in sports during the hol
idays.
The National Football League’s
Pro Bowl was announced Dec. 29 and
the NFL made a horrible decision. It
gave the fans a vote.
The Dallas Cowboys proved once
again that they were America’s team.
Their groupies — the bandwagon
jumpers — made sure that if Dallas
didn’t make it to the Super Bowl they
could watch their team play again in
the Pro Bowl.
The fans placed 11 Cowboys on
the NFC squad, one player shy of an
NFL record. Seven Cowboys will be
offensive starters and Dallas’ Daryl
Johnston was voted the No. 1 full
back.
Yes, that’s right. Seven of the 11
starters on offense and the fullback
are Dallas players. As a result, some
deserving players from other NFC
teams were overlooked.
Any arguments can be settled by
the Associated Press’s All-Pro team,
which came out Jan. 4.
Fans voted Troy Aikman the start
ing quarterback in the Pro Bowl, even
though he finished 38 votes behind
Steve Young on the Associated Press’s
NFC All-Pro team.
Then again, Aikman does com
mercials talking about the Phoenix
Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles.
Aikman calls these two Dallas divi
sional rivals “tough birds” in the com
mercial, but these big birds played
more like canaries and sparrows this
season.
I guess Young doesn’t deserve to
start in the Pro Bowl because he’s
without a commercial or sponsor.
Jay Novacek was namea the starter
to the Dallas Pro Bowl, but the AP
All-Pro Team gave Novacek only one
vote — far behind San Francisco’s
Brent Jones and even trailing Green
" *s Jackie Harris.
arris wasn’t even voted into the
Derek
Samsor
Pro Bowl as an alternate.
The fans decided Daryl Johnston
was the best fullback in the NFC,
probably because all the bandwagon
jumpers like yelling “Moose” every
time he loses two yards.
Three of the five Pro Bowl offen
sive linemen are from Dallas, includ
ing Nate Newton, who was listed as
the fifth best offensive tackle in the
NFC by the Associated Press.
Onto the running backs, where
Emmitt Smith deserved his spot in the
Pro Bowl more than any other Cow
boy.
Smith may be cocky, but he has
reason to be.
The other running back named was
Detroit’s Barry Sanders, even though
Sanders was hurt for much of the
second half of the season.
After seeing the selection of Sand
ers, I was shocked they didn’t choose
Tony Dorsett to join Smith in the
backfield.
And now for the biggest joke of
this entire comedy event called the
Pro Bowl — the wide receivers.
Jerry Rice earned and deserved the
fans’ top spot. He also received the
most votes in the AP with 79. The
other position was handed to Michael
“if I played on any other team I would
be average” Irvin.
Fans shunned Green Bay’s Ster
ling Sharpe.
Irvin had more touchdowns than
Sharpe, but the only other number he
possessed higher than Sharpe’s was
the 88 on his jersey.
Sharpe broke his own NFL record
with 112 catches in a season. He
became the second fastest player to
reach 500 catches in NFL history.
Sharpe produced those numbers
without having a receiver like Irvin’s
teammate, Alvin Harper, to keep him
away from double-teams every play.
Sharpe placed second behind Rice
in AP All-Pro votes with 65, but Sharpe
won’t start in the Pro Bowl. Irvin will,
despite finishing 10 votes behind
Andre Rison in the AP All-Pro voting.
Irvin — who’s cocky, although
nobody knows why—earned a whop
ping three votes from the writers. If
you’re counting, that’s Sharpe 65,
Irvin 3, but Irvin is your Pro Bowl
starter.
The story goes on and on through
out the list of names that are on and off
Pro Bowl rosters, which just proves
the voting needs to return to knowl
edgeable people—the coaches, play
ers and maybe even the writers.
America’s Team is back and Cow
boy fans nationwide — who coinci
dentally couldn’t be found three years
ago — are nroud.
Thanks for ruining the Pro Bowl.
Sanson Is s sophomore news-editorial
major and a Dally Nebraskan senior report
er.
