Sports
Monday, August 21, 1995 Page 11
Derek Samson
No love needed
forquarterbacks
to lead Huskers
Even though the Nebraska foot
ball season is still young, it only
took the First media day to shine
some light on subjects that quickly
became very old.
And extremely irrelevant.
In the May 1 issue of Sports
Illustrated—yes, May 1 —a Five
page article ran expressing quarter
back Tommie Frazier’s competi
tiveness, lack of love for teammate
Brook Berringer and overall atti
tude that he still has to gain respect.
Some quotes in the article from
Frazier about Berringer include:
“Everyone on the team knows we
don’t get along. We might have an
altercation every now and then. We
might say words to each other, like
in the locker room. But I’ve told
him just what I’ve told others: ‘It’s
my job and the only way you ’ 11 take
it is if I lose it.’”
Immediately, nearly every Ne
braska football media outlet leaped
all over Frazier’schoice of words.
Most media members acted as if
they were shocked that Berringer
and Frazier might not get along,
and within a week, it was reported
by many sources that Frazier was
misquoted.
If he was — Fine. If not — Fine.
I don’t think Nebraska needs to
worry about being put on probation
by the NCAA because two players
—who are battling for the position
to be the leader of the defending
national champions — don’t high
Five every time they pass each other.
So when the media gathered to
kick off the 1995 season on Aug. 8,
it was no surprise that Frazier,
Berringer, Coach Tom Osborne and
quarterbacks coach Turner Gill still
were answering questions concern
ing an article that was more than 3
_ months old.
i aon t neea to talk about it,
Osborne said. “They can talk about
it. I don’t have any problem with
Tommie’s attitude, and I don’t have
a problem with Brook’s attitude
right now. There’s going to be a lot
written and a lot said, but we’re
going to keep on keeping on. I’m
not too worried one way or the
other about it.”
But that wasn’t good enough.
We didn’t see Frazier and Berringer
kiss and make up.
Frazier attempted to put it to
rest.
“Each team is going to have two
quarterbacks trying to be the
starter,” Frazier said. “I think people
are making too much of it. They are
making too much of a hassle of it.
We don’t have to like each other,
but we just have to get along. But
there is no tension there or any
thing.”
Exactly.
When Osborne recruited Frazier
in Bradenton, Fla., I doubt that he
told him, “Tommie, I plan on you
taking over this team when you are
a freshman and two years later win
ning the national championship. But
along the way, you will get hurt and
have to battle a kid from a small
town in Kansas. He will take over
See SAMSON on 16
Jon Waller/DN
Nebraska linebacker Jay Foreman is doused with water by a trainer during Thursday’s scrimmaoe at Memorial Stadium thp
temperature climbed well over 1CO degrees on the stadium turf during theHuskers’ second major scrimmage of fall practice.
Nebraska tackles August heat
By Mitch Sherman -
Senior Editor
Ninety-degree temperatures, high
humidity and two-a-day football prac
tices are not usually a good combina
tion.
Fall football camp, which began
Aug. 9, has brought its share of
weather-related suffering. But after
two weeks of steamy workouts,
Comhusker coach Tom Osborne said
his team should be well conditioned
for the upcoming season.
“They are going to have the confi
dence that they can go out and play in
anything,” Osborne said.
“It has been hot; 110 degrees (on
the Memorial Stadium turf) isn’t that
bad if its 20 to 30 percent humidity,
but when you are getting up around 80
percent, you run into a tough deal.”
On Aug. 13,theHuskers’ firstmajor
scrimmage of the fall, a thermometer
on the turf read 132 degrees.
Two-a-day practices concluded
Saturday. Today, the remainder of the
Husker walk-ons and a few scholar
ship players will join the 105 players
who have been im camp for most of
the month.
“It’s kind of hot, but you have to work your way
through it. It’s part of football, and you have to
deal with it. ”
m
Tyrone Williams
Nebraska cornerback
“I think they are in fairly good
condition,” Osborne said. “I have been
pleased with the way they have been
holding up.”
The Huskers have remained rela
tively injury-free throughout the
spring. Sophomore quarterback Monte
Christo tore an anterior cruciate liga
ment on the first day of workouts.
Christo will miss the season.
Depth at the quarterback position
will become a concern if anyone else
goes down, Osborne said. Veterans
Tommie Frazier, Brook Berringer and
Matt Turman return, but true fresh
man Frankie London is listed fourth
on the depth chart.
As long as the top three signal
callers remain healthy, London will
probably rcdshirt this season.
“For this stage of practice,”
Osborne said, “with the amount of
contact we have had, there are re
markably few that are missing. They
all know that they are competing for a
spot, and need to be out there if they
can.”
Senior wingback Clestcr Johnson
said the heat this August would help
the team once the season began.
“I’m kind of glad it was hot this
summer,” said Johnson, the Huskers’
second-leadingreceiverduringthe two
August scrimmages.
“I don’t think many teams have
been going through what we have been
going through, and we are already
used to the cold weather.”
Senior comerback Tyrone Will
iams agreed.
“It’s kind of hot,” said Williams, a
preseason All-Big Eight selection,“but
you have to work your way through it.
It’s part of football, and you have to
deal with it.”
A starting quarterback will prob
ably be named late this week, Osborne
said, after Nebraska’s third and final
scrimmage before its season-opening
game at Oklahoma State Aug. 31.
Osborne said Frazier, who graded
slightly higher than Berringer in the
spring, remained the frontrunner.
In two scrimmages, Frazier has
completed 8 of 18 passes for 119
yards, four touchdowns and one inter
ception. Berringer has hit 9 of 13
passes for 93 yards, no touchdowns
and one interception.
Senior fullback JeffMakovicka has
led all rushers with 127 yards on five
carries. Phillipshas carried seven times
for 76 yards.
Wingback Jon Vedral, the leading
receiver this fall, has caught five passes
for 76 yards. Johnson, listed one spot
ahead of Vedral on the depth chart,
has caught three passes for 75 yards
and two touchdowns. -
True freshman may start for Huskers
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Editor
The transition from high school to
college extends well beyond the vol
leyball court and the classroom.
- Jaime Krondak is beginning to un
derstand exactly what that means. The
true freshman from Lincoln East was
interrupted during an interview Satur
day night at the NU Coliseum by an
overzealous member of the
Comhusker Match Club.
The representative of Nebraska’s
booster group was anxious to warn
Krondak — along with fellow fresh
men Lisa Avery and Denise Koziol—
of the unusual treatment sometimes
directed toward first-year players.
Krondak lis
tened intently.
She didn’t quite
know what to ex
pect,muchlikethe
attitude she will
carry into Friday
night’s season
opening State
Farm/NACWAA
Classic in front of
Krondak a boisterous home
crowd at the Coliseum.
And when Nebraska takes the court
against Penn State Friday in its first
match ot the year, Krondak may find
herself in another unexpected situa
tion: as a member of the of the
Comhuskers’ starting lineup.
Saturday night, Nebraska scrim
maged for two hours. Krondak, a 6
foot outside hitter, totaled five kills
and recorded a team-high 14 digs.
Coach Terry Pettit said he wouldn’t
draft a lineup until later this week, but
he said Krondak was certainly in the
picture. ; .
“(Allison) Weston started as a
freshman,” Pettit said. “Christy
(Johnson) played a lot as a freshman.
We’ve always had at least one fresh
man that played a lot. We really don’t
care what year they are in; they just
have to do the job.”
During her four years at Lincoln
East, in which she played in^ every
match, Krondak earned several All
American awards, including a spot on
the USA-Today/Mizuno first-team as
a senior.
Ranked No. 1 in the nation for part
of the season, East lost only one match
a year ago and 14 matches since
Krondak’s sophomore year.
‘‘We went to a lot of national tour
naments,” Krondaksaid. “But it’s still
nothing like this. The biggest differ
See KRONDAK on 14