Sports
Thursday, August 25, 1994 Page 15
Christy Johnson takes the lead
Comhusker setter
prepared to play,
Coach Pettit says
By Tim Pearson
Senior Editor
When she came out of high school, many
national services considered Christy
Johnson to be the nation’s top incoming
freshman setter.
' Three years later, she’s finally getting
her chance to start at setter for Nebraska.
Johnson, a 5-foot-8 junior from Omaha,
played behind Big Eight Player of the Year
Nikki Strieker for the past three seasons.
Afier rcdshirting last year, she will have two
years of eligibility left at Nebraska.
Comhusker coach Teny Pettit said
having an experienced setter with five
returning starters could only help his team.
“We just have more leadership,” Pettit
said. “We have a core group of five or six
players who arc just ready to go to the next
level.
“The athletes who arc in the best shape
are the juniors and seniors. A lot of times,
that’s not the case.”
Johnson said she was excited about the
Huskcrs’ chances, but she said the team’s
success depended solely on her.
“To me, I am the team,” she said. “That
sounds kind of egotistical, but that’s the way
it is because I’m setting.”
Johnson knows this season will be a big
test for her, because she hasn’t played
competitive collegiate volleyball for two
years.
“It’s a challenge because I’ve never been
the first setter here,” she said. “I have a big
challenge ahead of me. But I’m stepping
into the position with the most experience of
any setter here.”
After backing up Strieker for two years
and sitting out last year, Johnson’s return to
the Husker lineup could prove beneficial for
the Huskcrs these next two years, Pettit said.
“Christy was good enough to play from
day one,” he said. “Her sophomore year, her
and Nikki battled for the starting spot.”
So after Strieker won the starting
position at setter, Johnson decided to
redshirt rather than play another year as
backup setter.
Rcdshirting last season was one of the
toughest times she has gone through, but
Johnson realizes that taking the year ofT
gave her an extra year to start.
“After the loss to Illinois at rcgionals
(two years ago). Coach came up to me about
rcdshirting,” she said. “At first, I was like
no way. You don’t want to sit out a year.
“But we have five returning players, and
if I would’ve played last year, I would’ve
Jay Cakleron/DN
Christy Johnson sets a ball during practice Tuesday. Johnson is
replacing Nikki Strieker at setter this year after redshirting last season.
had one year. Now I know it was a good
decision.”
Pettit said he wanted an experienced
setter to work with his Five returning
starters.
“It’s not like we’re bringing in someone
who’s rusty,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve
had any player as ready to play her position
as Christy Johnson.”
During the spring and summer, Johnson
was able to prepare for this season.
She played with the Huskers in the
spring as their No. 1 setter. And this
summer, she joined teammates Kelly
Aspegren, Billie Winsett and Jen MeFadden
at the U.S. Olympic Festival.
Playing this summer really helped
Johnson’s overall game and not just her
setting, she said.
“It helped my defense,” she said. “Just
being there gives you a different perspective
on the game, because the mentality is
See JOHNSON on 17
New law keeps
50 players off
NU’s gridiron
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
While 105 members of the Nebraska football
team were sweating through two-a-day workouts
earlier this month, more than 50 Comhusker
players were sitting at home, helplessly awaiting
the first day of classes.
As a result of newly enacted legislation, only
105 players were allowed to practice until the first
day of classes. In previous years, as many as 160
players reported at the start of fall practice.
Nebraska associate athletic director A1 Papik
said the rule fell under a category termed "cost
containment legislation” by the NCAA presi
dents’ committee.
“There was no question in anyone’s mind that
the rule came about because of the pres idents ’ cost
containment legislation,” Papik said.
Papik said the Nebraska athletic department
was against the legislation from the beginning.
“Presidents have become more involved in
athletic legislation over the past few years,” Papik
said. “When they decided to cut the number of
scholarships, or the number of coaches or the size
of the team, that was cost containment legisla
tion.”
Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne has
been strongly opposed to the rule. Osborne said
See LIMIT on 17
Topquarterback
not known for
Mountaineers
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
West Virginia football coach Don Nehlcn has
a problem.
Three days betore the
Mountaineers’ first game
against Nebraska in the Kick
off Classic, Nehlen has yet to
decide who will start at quar
terback.
And when he docs finally
make a decision, his man will
not have much game experi
ence. Eric Boykin, a sopho
more who transferred from
Nehlen Michigan prior to last season,
made a good impression last spring but has no
game action.
See NEHLEN on 16
Clester Johnson doesn’t let intensity squelch his smile
As Clester Johnson lines up on the
steaming turf at Memorial Staaium, the
sweat drips from his chin under his
shining white helmet.
He flashes a quick glance at Tommie
Frazier as the quarterback’s count ech
oes over the rest of the chaos at the
Comhusker practice.
Hisattention then turns from Frazier
to the young defensive back without a
number on his jersey standing across
the line from him.
As Frazier barks his final count,
Johnson explodes off the line and flat
tens the unseasoned back with a crush
ing block.
He stands over the defender until the
play is over and then walks back to the
huddle with a smile on his face —
saying job well done.
The shift from a deadly intense atti
tude during the play to a smiling, easy
going guy afterward perfectly describes
Husker wingback Clester Johnson on
and off the Held.
On the field, the 5-foot-ll, 210
pound junior from Bellevue is the epit
ome of inteasity.
“ljust want to play. I love it,” Johnson
said. “When game time rolls around,
my energy is just overflowing. 1 get so
hyped up; 1 just can’t wait to run on the
field and hit somebody or make a big
catch.”
And the only time Johnson ever
smiles on the field is after a Nebraska
touchdown or when the Huskers have
the game put away.
However, Clestcr Johnson is all
smiles off the field.
“1 know how to cut out intensity
when I walk off the turf,” Johnson said.
“My philosophy is that life is too
short to walk around and be unhappy,”
he said.
And if you are lucky enough to see
Johnson strolling across campus, you
will experience that happiness first
hand because he is almost always smil
ing.
“I don’t reallygetstrcssedoutby alot
of things,”
Jeff
Griesch
“Sure, at the beginning of the year I
am really busy, and it seems like I am
never going to be able to get everything
done, Johnson said.
“But 1 don’t even let that get me
down because I know everything will
slow down.”
. While Johnson said he liked a more
easygoing pace- in life, he also said he
expected to pick up his pass-catching
pace when he is on the field.
Despite hauling in only eight balls
during the season for 96 yards, Johnson
was the Huskcrs fifth-leading receiver
last season.
While Johnson has two of the softest
hands among the Nebraska receiving
corps, he knows that catching passes
still isn’t his most important job as a
Husker.
To play wingback for the Nebraska
“Groundhuggers,” Johnson knows that
you have to be able to block.
So he has become an expert.
T vc learned to love to hit,” Johnson
said. “1 just wait for somebody to be
slippin* and then I nail ’em. I love it
when the other guy starts slippin’.”
But as Johnson quickly pointed out,
his shots are good clean hits, nothing
cheap or dirty, and his goal is to be the
best nitter among the Nebraska receiv
ers.
But like any receiver, Johnson would
also love it if more passes came his way.
“I am not the kind of guy who is
going to beg somebody to throw me the
all, Johnson said.
“I know that if 1 am open, Tommie
can get me the ball, and I think maybe
he is going to be looking for me a little
more because I have more experience
than some of the other guys."
Since Johnson won’t beg, someone
should do it for him.
Dr. Tom, please call a few more pass
plays this season soClcstcr Johnson can
catch 20 passes.
Tommie Frazier, please look
Clester’s way first and give him a long
look so he can show everybody that he
can really do more than just hit.
Maybe if Johnson catches more pass
es he will even smile on the field, which
could only make Nebraska fans happy.
If he catches enough passes, Johnson
may even begin smiling on the field,
which could cause his defender to ease
up or start “slippin”’.
And if they “si ip”, Johnson will wear
an even bigger smile when he is stand
ingoverahalf-conscious defensive back.
Grteich ii a senior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan staff reporter and
columnist.
