Sports
Tuesday, April 16,1996 Page 10
Derek Samson
Championships
don’t change
Osborne, NU
Things have not changed in Me
morial Stadium this spring.
There are no signs in the stadium
calling for a “3-Peat” or somehow
playing the slogan “unfinished busi
ness” as motivation for the 1996
season.
There is no mention of defend
ing last year’s national champion
ship.
There are no proud banners cel
ebrating Nebraska’s back-to-back
championships in 1970-71 or 1994
95. There are no numbers remem
bering the players of the past, par
ticularly those from the last two
undefeated seasons.
But then again, there is no panic
inside the stadium either.
It doesn’t matter that Nebraska
lost Tommie Frazier, its most pro
ductive quarterback ever. It doesn’t
matter that its phenomenal running
back of the last three years could
be selected as the No. 1 pick in the
NFL draft about the same time the
Huskers kick off their spring game
Saturday — a game Lawrence
Phillips would be playing in if he
hadn’t chosen to skip his senior
year.
For Coach Tom Osborne, noth
ing much is different this spring.
“It’s been a pretty decent spring
other than the fact that we have had
a few more pulled muscles than we
would normally have,” Osborne
said.
More pulled muscles?
What about winning a third
straight national championship,
something no team has ever done?
What about the need for a quar
terback to take control in the spring
game?
“The spring game can give you
a little better assessment to how a
player might react in a regular ball
game,” Osborne said. “It gives you
a better idea than just a normal
scrimmage.”
But as Osborne embarks on his %
24th season, he doesn’t show any
signs of changing this spring. He is
no more or no less content than in
previous seasons.
He is no more or no less anx
ious to watch a team try to accom
plish a first — three straight titles
— than he was to watch a team ac
complish his first — Osborne’s
1994 title.
We ve always put a lot of em
phasis on spring ball and the spring
game,” Osborne said. “We’re all just
really trying to figure out who can
play.”
Obviously, it’s the same old
spring practices and spring game,
despite the different circumstances.
And it’s obviously the same old
Osborne.
“Overall, we’re more encour
aged than discouraged by this
spring,” he said.
Which means the 1996 Huskers
will be the same old Nebraska.
Samsoa Is a sealor oews-edltortal
major aad a Dally Nebraska! sports cod
■ moist.
Hit man
Scott Bruhn/DN
Nebraska center fielder Francis Collins shags a fly ball at practice Monday. Collins, who has a
21-game hitting streak, is batting a team-high .407/
Collins lights Husker fire
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
Nebraska junior Francis Collins
began the season as the sixth out
fielder on the Cornhusker depth
chart.
Now, just two months later,
Collins leads Nebraska with a .407
average and has emerged as one of
the top lcadoff hitters in the Big
Eight.
What has Collins done to cause
the drastic turnaround?
Nothing, he said.
“I’m just hitting the ball,”
Collins said, “just seeing the ball
and hitting it. I’m playing the best
I can and giving my all every day.”
Against Kansas State last Satur
day, Collins went 3 for 5 and ex
tended his hitting streak to 21
games — the third-longest in Ne
braska history. He also leads the
* Huskers with 19 multiple-hit games
this season.
Collins, whose .407 average
ranks among the top five in the con
ference, leads the Huskers with a
.515 on-base percentage and has
swiped a team-high nine stolen
bases in 14 attempts.
With the Husker pitching staff
struggling early in the year, Collins
has been one of the other position
players to pitch an inning this sea
son. Collins worked the eighth in
ning on March 29 in the Huskers’
18-8 loss to Oklahoma State.
“Like coach says, it starts and
ends with pitching, but we have to
hit also,” Collins said. “We have to
put runs up to take the pressure off
of the pitchers.”
A transfer from Canada, (Calif.)
Community College, Collins was
awarded a medical redshirt last sea
son after hitting .360 with 29 runs
scored in 1994. And though he has
played in only 37 games this sea
son with the Huskers, Collins said
he enjoyed playing for Nebraska.
Senior Eugene Jenkins was
slated to be Nebraska’s starting cen
ter fielder in February, but has since
fallen into a pinch-hitting and
pinch-running role. Jenkins, who
started 25 games last season while
hitting .283, has started just 16
games this season.
But Jenkins’ role will be crucial
down the stretch as Nebraska
rounds out its season by playing 10
of its last 16 games against Big
Eight opponents. The Big Eight
Tournament will be played May lb
19 in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Collins is hitting .426 in 15
games against conference oppo
nents this season. Only sophomore
Todd Sears’ .444 is higher.
“We’re giving it our all and try
ing as hard as we can,” Collins said.
-----——
• • [I
HotHusker
bats travel
to Kansas
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska baseball team has not
had a problem scoring runs this sea
son.
The Comhuskers, who average 8.5
mns per game, are led offensively by
Meyer
two seniors, right
fielder Mel Mot
ley and left fielder
Matt Meyer.
Meyer, who
ranks first on the
team with eight
home runs and 48
RBI, will lead the
Huskers into ac
tion today and
Wednesday in Lawrence, Kan. Ne
braska, 17-19-1 overall and 6-9 in the
Big Eight, will face Kansas at 7 p.m.
today and 3 p.m. Wednesday.
The Jayhawks are 16-12 overall and
tied for last in the conference with
Kansas State at 6-12.
Meyer has not homered since the
Huskers’ 11 -3 victory over Iowa State
on March 20 — a 15-game drought.
Yet he still ranks among the Big Eight’s
top 10 in home runs.
On Saturday against Kansas State,
Meyer broke a 12-for-50 slump (.240),
going 4 for 5 with four RBI against
the Wildcats and raising his average to
.338 — fourth on the team. Meyer,
who singled twice, doubled and
tripled, was just a home run short of
hitting for the cycle.
It s about time, Meyer said. I ve
been struggling too much lately. I told
myself that I was tired of going 0 for 4
and 1 for 4. It just wasn’t happening
for me.”
Meyer, who scored three runs Sat
urday, also leads the team with 45 runs
scored and ranks second with nine
doubles.
“I’ve been a little bit out in front of
the ball, too anxious when the ball
comes to the plate. Today, I just took
my time and just had a little bit more
patience at the plate. It helped a lot.”
Through their last eight games, the
Huskers have averaged 13 hits and nine
runs per game. The Nebraska pitching
staff has held opponents to just 53 runs
over the eight-game span, in which the
Huskers are 7-1.
“I think our team is coming together
as a whole,” Meyer said. “Our pitch
ers are pitching pretty good, and our
hitters are hitting pretty good. Com
bined, that’s why we’re winning.”
After giving up 18 runs to Okla
homa State on March 29 and 24 runs
to Oklahoma on April 2, the Huskers
fell into a last-place tie in the league
with Iowa State.
“It was tough,” Meyer said. “We
won those three games against Oral
Roberts, and that gave us a lot of con
fidence. It totally changed our ball
See KANSAS on 11
Wingback adjusts to position change
By Trevor Paries
Senior Reporter
Shevin Wiggins is happy to show
off his skills this spring after sitting out
each of the last two seasons.
Wiggins came to Nebraska in 1993,
but he was unable to to meet NCAA
academic requirements and sat out
during the 1994 season. Last year, he
redshirted while trying to learn the
Comhusker offense at wingback.
“I ’ve been revved up to play for the
last year” Wiggins said. “I’ve really
been looking forward to this spring.”
A 5-foot-11, 190-pound sopho
more, Wiggins followed Tommie
Frazier and Tyrone Williams from
Manatee High School in Palmetto,
Fla., to Lincoln.
At Manatee, Wiggins played
tailback and was named the Florida
offensive player of the year in 1994.
In his senior season, he rushed for
2,267 yards and 32 touchdowns. In that
season, he set die career and single
season rushing records at Manatee.
Now, however, Wiggins is no longer
at tailback. Wiggins was recruited by
former Nebraska linebackers coach
Kevin Steele, now with the NFL’s
Carolina Panthers. Steele told Wiggins
he was probably going to have to
switch positions.
Wiggins said the adjustment had
been difficult.
“It was a big transition,” Wiggins
said. “At running back, I was able to
get the ball and cut off of somebody’s
block. Here, I’m out there and the run
ning back is cutting off my block.
“I’ve always been able to catch
pretty good, so it wasn’t really a prob
lem coming in and catching the ball.
It was getting used to the patterns and
the blocking.”
Wiggins has improved a lot this
spring in both his pass catching and
blocking, receivers coach Ron Brown
said.
“He’s still learning some things,but
the thing I like about him is that he is
very physical.” Brown said. “Our
wingbacks need to be physical people,
and he really likes to go into contact.”
In Saturday’s scrimmage, Wiggins
showed what he was capable of doing.
He ran two reverses for 11 yards and
caught three passes for 38 yards.
Wiggins said he liked running re
verses because they gave him a chance
to run the ball as he did in high school.
See WIGGINS on 11
