Sports
Thursday, January 12,1995 Page 9
Frost’s transfer
shocks former
players, coach
By Trevor Parks.
Staff Reporter
The Stanford football team was shocked
and surprised by quarterback Scott Frost’s
decision to transfer to Nebraska Wednes
day.
Sophomore comerback Eliel Swinton
and sophomore running back Mike Mitchell,
two players on the Cardinal football team,
both expressed their surprise.
Swinton said he was surprised to see
Frost leave.
“I found out last night, and it hit me like
a bullet because I didn’t find out from him,”
Swinton said. “We’re pretty tight, and it
kind of hurt my feelings a little bit, but I
always told him no matter what, everybody
has to take care of their business for them
selves.”
Mitchell told the Daily Nebraskan he
found out the news from reading The
Stanford Daily on Wednesday morning.
“I was pretty shocked, and it is just one
of those kinds of things that I didn’t ex
pect,” Mitchell said. “He never talked to me
about it, but I guess it was on his mind for
a long time. I think he just felt it was time
to leave at the spur of the moment.”
Mitchell said the news of Frost’s depar
ture rumbled through campus like a Cali
fornia earthquake.
“The whole team pretty much found out
through the newspaper. That’s all I heard
‘Did you hear about Scott? ’ from the guys.”
One of the biggest questions was whether
or not Frost left because of the departure of
Coach Bill Walsh, who resigned Nov. 28.
Both Swinton and Mitchell didn’t have a
decisive answer.
“You have to realize when a coach re
cruits you as one of the top players in the
country, you have to favor that coach more
than any coach you have,” Swinton said.
“I really don’t know if it’s because of
Coach Walsh,” Mitchell said.
Although Frost leaves the quarterback
situation at Stanford up in the air, his team
mates and new coach Tyrone Willingham
wished him nothing but the best.
“I am very disappointed to see Scott
would decide to leave the Stanford family,”
Willingham said in a statement released
Wednesday. “We are saddened by his loss
and that of any player in our program. I hope
that Scott reaches the goals that he and his
I
The Associated Press
Scott Frost, former Stanford University quarterback, practices with
the Cardinal team In this Aug. 8 photo In Palo Alto, Calif. Frost left
Stanford on Wednesday to come to the University of Nebraska.
family have set.
“I wish him well as we continue to build
a strong Stanford program.”
Swinton said Frost’s decision was very
unexpected.
“I told him this is your life not Coach
Walsh’s life, not Coach Willingham’s life,”
he said. “I didn’t think it would go this far,
I just wish him the best of luck.”
Swinton said Frost probably felt more
comfortable in his home state of Nebraska.
“He just went back to vacation in Ne
braska; they just won a national champion
ship,” Swinton said. “I think a lot of it was
just being back home where he’s Scott
Frost. I don’t blame him for going back.”
After finishing 3-7-1, Mitchell said this
put the cap on a dismal season for the
Cardinal.
“It was just another one of those things,
“Ifound out Iasi night, and
it hit me like a bullet because
I didn't find out from him. ”
■
ELIEL SWINTON
Stanford cornerback
the one-point losses, the players deciding to
transfer, we’ve gotten used to dealing with
adversity,” Mitchell said.
“I don’t know where it puts us, because
I just found out a few hours ago. It really
hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Staff reports from the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune
contributed to this report
Kansas State
important game
for Coach Nee
By Todd Waikenhorst
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska basketball team believes that
every home game is important this year, espe
cially conference contests.
Tonight’s game against conference foe
Kansas State would be an advantageous vic
tory for the Comhuskers, Nebraska coach
Danny Nee said.
“I think the game is very, very important,”
Nee said, “because it is a home game and a
conference game.”
The 12-3 Huskers may see a different Wild
cat basketball team than they have seen in past
years because of new head coach Tom Asbury.
Asbury replaced Dana Altman at the end of the
1994 season when Altman resigned to accept
the coaching job at Creighton.
“I think he’s done a great job,” Nee said.
“He’s made the transition to the Big Eight
rapidly.”
Asbury and the Wildcats have gotten off to
a 10-3 start and may have already accom
plished one of their major goals of the season
when they defeated Oklahoma State 74-66 last
Saturday.
One of the keys for the Huskers tonight is to
try to get junior guard Jaron Boone out of his
recent slump. Nee met with Boone yesterday
to try to help his junior guard.
“I think he tries too hard,” Nee said. “We
spent 30-40 minutes trying to decide what to
specifically tell Jaron to work on.”
Boone scored 10 points against Long Beach
State Monday. But he only made four of 14
shots. He only made one of five from 3-point
range.
Boone said that he really was not too con
cerned about his recent play.
“I really try not to think about it,” Boone
said. “I just couldn’t get into a rhythm. If we
listen to the coaching staff, hopefully we can
turn it around.”
Nebraska is coming off an 82-71 victory
over Long Beach State on Monday. Nebraska
trailed 39-29 at halftime before pulling away
from the 49ers.
The Huskers made 18 of 25 field goals in the
second half after struggling from the field in
the first half.
But Nebraska can do better, junior forward
Terrance Badgett said.
-f Badgett believes the Huskers have to make
sure they play a full 40 minutes in their next
games.
‘‘We only played 15 minutes of the second
half (against Long Beach State),” Badgett
said. “We’ve got to make sure that doesn’t
happen again.”
Nebraska completes recruiting
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
With three weeks remaining until
football players can sign national let
ters of intent, Nebraska appears to be
sitting pretty.
The addition of US A TODAY All
USA first team selection Ahman
Green last week brings the
Comhuskers’ number of verbal com
mitments to 24 high school seniors
and one junior college player.
The NCAA allows schools to
award no more than 25 scholarships
each year. On top of the 25 commit
ments, Nebraska has also promised
scholarships to two Proposition 48
casualties from a year ago: Eric
Warfield, a defensive back from
Texarkana, Ark., and Shevin
Wiggins, a wingback from Palmetto,
Fla.
Wiggins’ and Warfield’s scholar
ships bring Nebraska’s total to 27,
two over the limit, which means the
Huskers are probably counting on
two players from this year’s class to
fail to meet academic requirements.
Chad Bell, a linebacker from Nor
folk, has already said that he did not
expect to make grades.
At least two additional Husker
recruits are in danger of failing to
qualify, said Bobby Burton, a re
cruiting analyst from National Re
cruiting Advisor in Austin, Texas.
He said Luis Almanzar, a tight end
from Jersey City, N.J., and Kareem
Sears, a linebacker from Enid, Okla.,
had not yet qualified academically.
If both Almanzar and Sears fail to
qualify, Nebraska would have one
more scholarship to offer. If one of
the two players does not make grades,
the Huskers’ recruiting is probably
finished for the year.
However, Burton said, Nebraska
is still recruiting approximately five
high school seniors, apparently as a
safety measure in case a recruit backs
out of his commitment.
“Right now,” Burton said, “they
stack up pretty well with about any
body in the country. It looks like they
are the only team that is just about
done.”
He said it was extremely rare for a
team to be this close to being finished
with its recruiting at this point in the
season.
“They have achieved all of their
objectives,” Burton said. “They did
well at all the skill positions, and they
recruited a lot of speed on defense.”
Among the Huskers’ key objec
tives was recruiting a quarterback.
Burton said Frankie London, a 6
foot-1,175-pound signal-caller from
Lake Charles, La., appeared to be a
perfect fit for the Nebraska offense.
“He was the big grab at quarter
back,” Burton said. “He’s a great
athlete and he has a very good arm.
He can run the option. He may be the
best pure running quarterback I’ve
seen.”
Burton said London was compa
rable to Husker quarterback Tommie
Frazier.
“They have physical similarities,
and they both have the ability to
control an offense,” he said.
London and Green are notthe only
prize catches from this class, Burton
said. He praised Tony Ortiz, a 6-2,
215-pound outside linebacker from
Waterbury, Conn., and Sears, a line
backer who stands 6-4 and weighs
225 pounds.
Derek Allen
Matt Baldwin
6-3 260 C Lakewood, Colo.
Jeff Clausen
6-7 275 OL Dixon, 111.
Brandon Drum
6-5 250 OL Columbus (Scotus'
Lonnie Fulton
6-5 240 OL Grand Island
Julius Jackson
6-2 210 LB Gainesville, Tex.
Adam Julch
6-5 300 y OL Omaha (Burke
Frankie London
6-1 175 QB Lake Charles, La.
Jerome Peterson
5-9 175 LB Baton Rouge, La.
Aaron wms
Nebraska's Oral Commitments
Ht. Wt.
6-6 280
Hometown
Russelville. Ark.
Pos
u-j m umana (curicej
junior college transfer (two years of eligibility)
DN graphic