Sports
Thursday, April 25, 1996 Page 9
Free agency
. gives players
ticket to NFL
The National Football League
wants players.
Undrafted college players want
jobs.
Free agency brings them to
gether.
On Tuesday, free agency gave
three former Huskers a chance to
prolong their football careers.
Former Comhusker tight end
Mark unman signed a iree-agent
contract with Cincinnati. The New
York Jets, who passed on former
Husker running back Lawrence
Phillips in the first round Saturday,
signed former Nebraska running
back Clinton Childs as a free agent.
And fullback Jeff Makovicka
will get a chance with Houston to
prove he can block for Heisman
Trophy winner Eddie George.
But the free-agency market isn’t
all it’s cracked up to be.
The free-agency process starts
immediately after the draft.
First, players who were not se
lected in the draft wait to hear from
NFL teams about the possibility of
free agency. A high-profile free
agent may receive calls from seven
to 10 teams.
“I was lucky enough to have a
couple of teams call me,” Gilman
said.
In addition to the Bengals, the
Carolina Panthers also expressed
interest in Gilman. A player who
receives an offer from a team does
not have a chance to think the con
tract over or negotiate for a better
deal.
“If you ask a team to let you
think about the contract,” Gilman
said, “they’ll say ’Fine,’ and go
look for another player and not call
you back.”
A free-agency contract is for two
years, and a player earns the league
minimum of SI78,000 per year.
Most teams also will offer players a
signing bonus.
But there are no guarantees with
free agency.
“They could bring you in for
mini-camp and decide within the
first 10 minutes that you’re not a
player and kick you out,” Gilman
said.
And once you’re gone, so isyour
contract and your salary. In fact,
Gilman’s salary is not guaranteed
until he earns a spot on the Bengals’
roster.
“It’s very straightforward,” he
said. “The NFL wants players. They
can’t promise anything, and you
have to prove yourself. I’m just
thankful to get a shot and get my
foot in the door.”
On the other hand, i f a pi ayer has
an all-star rookie year, he still makes
the league minimum in his second
year.
But for those who get only the
10-minute chance, they’ll still be
be able to tell their grandkids about
it.
“This is the last level of sports,
the top of the mountain,” Gilman
said. “It’s a dream of a lot of kids,
and I’m just happy and lucky. It’s
something to be proud of.”
Klnck ts a graduate stndent In Jour
nalism and a Dally Nebraskan senior
reporter.
Big Eight leaders sweep Huskers
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
The 21 st-ranked Missouri baseball
team, which finished last in the Big
Eight last season, padded its first-place
lead in the conference with a double
header sweep ofNebraska on Wednes
day at Buck Beltzer Field.
The Tigers defeated the
Comhuskers 8-2 and 14-10, improv
ing to 32-12 overall and 15-5 in the
Big Eight.
“They’re a good ball club,” Ne
braska coach John Sanders said. “I tip
my hat to them. Their swings were
more productive than ours.”
Nebraska, which sits 2 1/2 games
behind sixth-place Iowa State in the
conference, fell to 18-25-1 overall and
7-15 in the league. The last-place club
in the seven-team conference does not
a
advance to the Big Eight Tournament,
May 16-19, in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Missouri now has a 2 1/2-game
lead over Oklahoma State.The Tigers,
on a six-game winning streak, swept
the Cowboys in Columbia, Mo., last
weekend.
“I told the guys after the OSU series
that the biggest challenge for the rest
of the year is to not look ahead,” Mis
souri coach Tim Jamieson said. “We’ve
done a great job all year of not looking
back. We need to keep focused on the
Big Eight Tournament.”
The Tigers, who clinched a berth to
the conference tournament Wednes
day, were powered by six home runs.
Sophomore first baseman Aaron
Jaworowski hit four home runs in the
doubleheader. He finished the day 5
for 10 with 10 RBI, including seven in
the second game. Jaworowski now
leads the Big Eight with 72 RBI.
“He’s really been on the verge of
doing that all year,” Jamieson said.
“He could easily have 100 RBI.”
The Huskers scored their only two
runs in the first game on a two-run
homer to right-center by fresliman third
baseman Craig Moore in the bottom of
the ninth. Junior Pat Driscoll, who has
started three games over the past nine
days, lasted six innings and allowed
eight runs.
Nebraska took the lead for the first
time of the afternoon in the bottom of
the first inning in the second game. All
nine Husker batters took a turn at the
plate as Nebraska took a 3-1 lead.
Junior center fielder Francis Collins,
who leads Husker hitters with a .412
average, extended his hitting streak to
a school-record-tying 28 games with a
single to lead off the inning.
I ... ..~..1
In 1987, Ken Ramos hit in 28
straight, a streak that ranks second in
Big Eight history. Robin Ventura hit in
58 straight in 1987 with Oklahoma
State.
“He’s really stepped up and played
like a veteran,” Sanders said. “He’s a
lot like Kenny Ramos — very, very
competitive. He has a very good disci
plined approach to hitting. He’s a
scrappy, good player to have on the
team.”
Missouri came back with seven in
the second, including a grand slam by
junior center fielder Malt Nivens.
Not to be outdone, Jaworowski led
a si x-run Tiger third with a grand slam,
his third home run of the day.
The Huskcrs, who have lost seven
of their last nine, will face UNO in a
doubleheader today at Buck Beltzer
Field beginning at 4:30 p.m.
Scott Bruhn/DN
Missouri’s Torre Tyson beats out a bunt single in the sixth inning Wednesday as Husker first baseman Todd Sears takes a throw
from pitcher Pat Driscoll in the Huskers’ 8-2 loss in the first game of a doubleheader.
NU gymnasts like chances
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After
a regular season of record-breaking
learn and individual performances,
the Nebraska women’s gymnastics
team is hoping its high-scoring habit
will continue at the NCAA Cham
pionships.
Nebraska, the No. 8 seed in the
12-tcam field, will begin competi
tion today in Coleman Coliseum at
1 p.m. in the even-seed bracket.
The six odd-seeded teams will start
the evening session at 7 p.m.
Husker coach Dan Kendig said
he was pleased with Nebraska’s
bracket.
“I feel like, with the rotation
we’re in, we have a great chance of
makingthe Super Six,” Kendig said.
The Huskers will have to place
in the top three today to advance to
the finals Friday at 7 p.m.
Standing in Nebraska’s way are
No. 2 Georgia, No. 4 Arizona, No.
6 UCLA, No. 10 Brigham Young
and No. 12 Penn State.
“I think that it’s the best rotation
we could have been in,” freshman
Courtney Brown said. “We think
that we can be second or third to
morrow.”
The most important thing for
Nebraska, Brown said, will simply
be to hit its routines.
“If we don’t hit, we won’t make
Super Six,” she said. “But if we do
hit, we’re in.”
Two other Nebraska freshmen
will have to worry about something
other than hitting their routines.
Amie Dillman isrecovering from
mononucleosis, but will still com
pete in the floor exercise and the
vault. Laurie McLaughlin, who
redshirted last season after
arthroscopic knee surgery, will com
pete on the bars today despite a
broken foot.
McLaughlin said she had not
performed her dismount since the
Midwest Regional two weeks ago
in Salt Lake City.
“I’m a little nervous because it’s
only going to be a one-time thing,”
McLaughlin said.
Senior Joy Taylor is healthy,
though, and she will try to close out
her career at Nebraska on a high
note with a strong performance in
the all-around.
Taylor won the Big Eight title on
March 30 with a school-record
39.375. The New Palestine, Ind.,
native has the top score on the team
this season on the balance beam,
shares the top vault score with Misty
Oxford and the top uneven bars
score with junior Kim DeHaan.
With McLaughlin limited to the
uneven bars, DeHaan will step in to
See GYM on 11
Patriots
release
Peter
FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) — The
New England Patriots released their
rights to former Nebraska defensive
tackle Christian Peter on Wednesday,
saying his off-field behavior was un
acceptable.
Three days after the Patriots se
lected Peter in the fifth round of the
National Football League draft, Peter
learned he was being dumped by the
team.
Peter was recently convicted of dis
turbing the peace in an incident in
which he was accused of grabbing a
woman by the throat in a Kearney bar.
Another woman claims in a sex dis
crimination suit that Peter raped her in
1991.
Mary Peter, Christian’smother, said
her son was puzzled by the team’s
See PETER on 11
