Sports
Thursday, October 6,1994 Page 7
Turman one hit away from No. 1QB
By Mitch Sherman _
Senior Reporter
Matt Turman is just a normal guy.
The thing separating Turman from the rest
of the" students at Ne
braska is that he is one
slip, trip or hard hit away
from being the
Comhuskers’ No. I quar
terback.
At 5-foot-9 and 165
pounds, Turman is hardly
an imposing figure on the
football field, but the
sophomore from Wahoo
said he was ready to play
if needed.
“You always dream of
playing at quarterback,” he said, “and when
you get the chance, you have to seize the op
portunity.”
As a result of Tommie Frazier’s season-end
ing blood clot, Turman is listed at No. 2 on
the depth chart behind Brook Berringer.
“You see him out there sometimes,” quar
terback coach Turner Gill said, “and he may
not look as good as Tommie Frazier in his
quickness or Brook in throwing. But he gets
the job done, and that’s the bottom line.’’
Turman said that although he had a better
chance of seeing extensive playing time at a
smaller school, the decision to become a
Comhusker was not difficult.
“1 could have went to Nebraska Wesleyan,”
he said. “Some other schools like Iowa State
and Wyoming asked me to walk on. But I fig
ured I might as well walk on for the best, some
where I dreamed of going.”
After redshirting in 1992, Turman switched
from receiver to quarterback in the spring of
1993. Last year, he played in four games,
throwing one pass and running the ball once.
Both went for touchdowns.
“He’s very, very productive in what he
does,” Gill said. “Can he move the football
team, and can the team score when Matt
Turman is in there? Yes, they can.”
But the Husker coaches didn’t think Turman
could move the team at quarterback when he
first came.
Recruited as a defensive back, Turman let
it be known to the coaches he wanted to play
offense. More specifically, he wanted to play
quarterback.
“I always wanted to play quarterback,”
Turman said. “But I was going to play wher
ever I could. Now that I am playing quarter
back, I am a lot happier."
Turman, who has played in all five games
this year, has completed three of four passes
for 43 yards and one touchdown. He has run
the ball six times for 37 yards.
“He has been in our program long enough
that right now, Matt could go in there and run
our offense and do an extremely good job for
us,” Gill said. “He has good quickness and has
a good arm.”
Monday, because of Berringer’s lung injury,
Turman took all the snaps with the No. 1 of
fense. Although he worked sparingly with the
first string last week, Turman said Monday was
his first extensive practice lined up behind the
Huskers’ renowned offensive line.
“The plays are all the same,” he said. “So
it’s not that much different.”
Turman, who holds the Nebraska quarter
back record with 1,003 points in the strength
index, is confident, too. And when asked how
he would react to playing with the game on
the line, he quickly said, “I’d love it.”
| lo Brook Bemnger
10 Ryan Held
DN Graphic
Frazier
Continued from Page 1
. tus wasn’t his major concern; Frazier’s well
being was.
Osborne said the news that Frazier prob
ably wouldn't return this season was a blow.
He said he was sorry Frazier wasn’t able to
be with the team.
“This has been a little bit of a surprise,”
Osborne said. “We really thought that in a
few weeks time, he’d have the chance to at
least come back and play, and it looks like
that’s not going to happen now.”
Gangahar said a small blood clot in a
superficial vein behind Frazier’s right calf
caused the second blood clot to form just
above his right knee.
Frazier was readmitted to the hospital
after he noticed the pain in his leg hadn’t
gone away.
“He looked quite good to me, but he did
mention (while) running around the field,
he felt an ache behind his right leg,”
Gangahar said. “There was the possibility
of the reformation of the clot, and a dye test
confirmed it.”
Gangahar also was worried about how a
person like Frazier could suffer an injury
like this and what effects it might cause in
the long run.
“Over the long haul, it can give him some
problems,” Gangahar said. “Ten to 15 years
down the road, he may get sore legs, vari
cose veins and get tired walking.”
Osborne said Nebraska would look into
the possibility of getting Frazier a medical
hardship, which would give him another
season of eligibility.
Michelle Paulman/DN
Dr. Deepak Gangahar uses diagrams and X-rays to describe Tommie Frazier’s blood dot at a press conference
at Bryan Memorial Hospital Wednesday.
Dark-horse Huskers need to be hungry to win the title
Tommie is gone.
May he rest in peace.
The almighty god of the option,
the thrower of lightning bolts that
turned into touchdowns, the leader of
the Nebraska offense that could put
up points of biblical proportions, has
passed.
Flags are flying at half-staff
around the state as football fans
mourn the passing of their hero and
Nebraska's national championship
hopes.
Take some deep breaths. Dry those
eyes. Wipe that drippy nose. Run
those flags back to the tops of the flag
poles and fly them with pride.
Tommie Frazier is not dead.
And neither are Nebraska’s na
tional championship hopes.
Frazier may not play again this
season, but his absence may provide
the unifying force the Cornhuskers
need.
Before the game with Wyoming,
Nebraska fans, and maybe even the
Huskers, were taking wins for
granted.
The Huskers weren’t playing a 12
game season; they were just practic
ing on Saturdays for another two
game campaign.
Opponents were just going to lie
down and concede games to the un
stoppable Huskers until Colorado
came to town on Oct. 29.
If Nebraska could beat the Buffa
loes, then it was just a matter of get
ting some calls and some breaks in
the Orange Bowl, and the Huskers
could make room in the trophy case
for Tom Osborne’s first national
championship.
But Husker fans seemed to forget
that more teams are in the Big Eight
besides Colorado.
Frazier gave the opponents more
credit than most Nebraska fans at the
beginning of the season when he said
the Huskers had to worry a little about
Oklahoma, too.
But beating Kansas and Kansas
State was a foregone conclusion, and
neither Frazier nor any other Husk
ers were afraid to say it.
Nebraska’s confidence was reas
suring, but even more apparent was
the loss of focus against Texas Tech,
Jeff
Griesch
UCLA and Pacific.
Sure the Huskers won big, but they
were flat. They were uninspired, and
their emotion appeared to be forced.
The idea of taking it one game at
a time last season and the emotion
after every point or defensive stand
both were gone.
As Nebraska’s journey to the na
tional championship game pro
gressed last season, the Huskers won
ugly.
They had to come from behind to
win seven times, and it seemed like
every game hung in the balance until
the fourth quarter.
But last year’s team had emotion.
They had to work to win.
This season, with “Touchdown
Tommie Frazier,” it was just too easy.
Now with Frazier gone for the sea
son and the Big Eight season just
getting under way, there are no more
easy wins.
Brook Berringer and the Huskers
will have to focus one game at a time
and forget about the national cham
pionship for now.
Without Frazier, the Huskers are
no longer a top contender for the na
tional -championship. They aren’t
even the top dog in the Big Eight.
Colorado has become a team of
destiny, while the Huskers have be
come a tough-luck team that will have
to wait until next year.
In the minds of many, Frazier was
a one-man gang, and without him the
Huskers are hopeless.
No respect.
Sound familiar?
Last year with a virtually unproven
sophomore quarterback and a defense
that was shredded by normally less
than spectacular passing attacks, the
Huskers cried for respect.
Now that cry should again be
heard. The Huskers should rally
around that cry once more.
The Huskers should realize that
Frazier is gone for the season and
have faith that Berringer can do the
job.
Berringer has proven that he can
lead Nebraska, and with every snap,
his confidence, along with his team
mates’ confidence in him, will grow.
But even more important than the
play of Berringer will be the play of
- the defense.
Even with Frazier, Nebraska’s
national title hopes rested on the
shoulder pads of the defense.
Now the defense will have to play
harder, smarter and more emotion
ally than they showed last year.
They have the talent and the
scheme; now if only they can find the
right focus, the Huskers still have a
chance.
Tuesday evening, the Huskers
went from contender to dark horse.
And being a dark horse in the title
hunt again should be exactly where
the Blackshirts want to be.
Griesch is a senior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan staff reporter and
columnist.
