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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 1996)
i F; Trevor Parks Brown family ready to cheer Ralph’s debut Not much fuss was made about Ralph Brown coming to Nebraska. In February, Brown was the fi nal player to give NU verbal com mitment. He said yes the night be fore signing day. The reason for the late decision, said his mom, Debra Brown, was that every school involved in the Brown Sweepstakes (NU, Colorado and USC) deserved a fair shake. After his first day in a Comhusker uniform, Brown said he knew he was in the right place. The coaches told him to be ready —because Mike Fullman, the pro jected starter at right comerback, has missed significant time with a groin injury. When the first fall depth chart came out on Aug. 26, Brown was listed No. 1. Neither Ralph nor his mom thought about him playing, let alone starting. “When he left,” Debra said Tuesday, “he had the usual off-to college jitters. “He said, ‘Mom, I’m going to go out there to give it my best Slot. If I play this year, that will be great, and if they decide to redshirt me, that’s fine too.’” Ralph’s play has impressed ev eryone. But no one knows exactly how he feels. Ralph can’t talk to the press until Saturday, after he plays. Coaches’ rule. “That was a great recruit,” se nior captain Mike Minter said. “Sometimes I look at the recruits that come in and I’m like, ‘Whoa, why did we get him?’ “Whatever they said about Ralph Brown, it’s true.”. Brown, a 5-foot-11170-pounder from Hacienda Heights, Calif., — his parents recently moved to San Dimas, another Los Angeles suburb — picked up his black shirt Mon day, an official sign that he will start Saturday. Brown, whose body fat is a mi nuscule 4.77 percent, will join se lect company, if he joins any com pany at all. He will be the first fresh man to start at a non-kicker posi tion in recent memory. Minter is quick to point out that playing in front of 75,000 scream ing fans is a whole new ballgame. But Ralph won’t be alone in the stadium that day. His parents arrive in Lincoln Thursday, and they are anticipating the 11 am kickoff almost as much as their son, Debra said. "He tom me Monaay mgnt about going to pick up. his black shirt, and I broke into tears on the phone,” Debra said. “I never thought he would be playing for Nebraska. “I’ve got chills right now.” ’I’m sure Ralph feels the same way. Parks is a senior news-edito rial major and a Daily Nebraskan senior reporter. By David Wilson StaffReporter Nebraska Football Coach Tom Osborne said the 1996 Comhusker de fense has the talent to be the best ever, out tne injury plagued Blackshirts still looked sluggish after their final preseason scrim mage. “We’re not quite game ready yet, but we still have a week of practice to uti- . lize” junior rush Williams end Grant Wistrom said. “Things are going to get a lot more intense. Practice is going to pick up, and coach is going to be on us a lot more. And that’s going to get us ready to play.” Osborne said the defense, which thrives on emotion, played with very little enthusiasm in Friday’s scrim mage. “I didn’t think that it was a spar kling scrimmage,” Osborne said. “We’ve still got a ways to go. I think things can be good, but I don’t want people to expect too much a week from tomorrow, because we’re still not there.” v Sam linebacker Jamel Williams, who led the Husker defense Friday with two sacks and a fumble recovery for a touchdown, said the defense was look ing better, but it still has work to do. “I don’t think we’ll ever be satis fied with progress because we can al ways get better in certain situations,” Williams said. I think when we start getting satisfied, that’s when we start getting sloppy.” The Blackshirts, who were ex pected to return seven starters, now return six. Senior Will linebacker Terrell Farley was ticketed for suspicion of driving while intoxicated Friday morn ing, and he was suspended for at least two games. Senior Ryan Terwilliger, who started the first six games at Will line backer last season, will start in NU’s season opener Saturday against Michi gan State. Injuries have also plagued the Husker defense, giving freshmen the opportunity to step up and play. True freshman comerback Ralph Brown is listed as the No. 1 right comerback—filling in for the injured Mike Fullman. “Ralph Brown has really stepped up,” Wistrom said. “He’s come out there and had the attitude that he’s go ing to play and he’s taking it to the field.” Mike Brown, another freshman comerback, is listed third on the depth chart at left comerback and may not redshirt, Osborne said. At least one true freshman may also play this season on offense. DeAngelo Evans is listed as the No. 41-back and will not redshirt. Wingback John Gibson has a “fair chance” to play this season, Osborne said. Quarterback Scott Frost, will also be making his Husker debut Saturday, said he is ready for the season to be gin. “It’s becoming more and more of a reality,” Frost said. “We’ve been try Please see FOOTBALL on 14 Matt Miller/DN FRESHMAN JENNY BENSON, a Nebraska midfielder, battles Oklahoma freshman Katherine Smith Friday in NlTs 8-0 win over the Sooners at the Abbott Sports Complex. NU opens with 2 shutouts Uppinghouse, Gat provide knockout punch in pair of wins. By Vince D*Adamo StaffReporter Hie Nebraska women’s soccer team began its season cm a blazing note last weekend. On Fri day, the Cornhuskers throttled Oklahoma 8 0 before a crowd of 1,075 at the Abbott Sports Complex. Nebraska didn’t let up Sunday in Ames, white Gay washing Iowa State 6-0. NU (2-0) played solid first halves, but the Huskers broke both games wide open in the second half . Against Oklahoma, the Huskers scored five second half goals, three of which came in a four-minute span. The Iowa State game was no different with 25th-ranked NU de livering the knockout punch with four second-half goals. Husker Coach John Walker said 1 IK it was only a matter of time before his team got into a rhythm this weekend against two less experi enced clubs. “Once we got that first one it was a relief” Walker said. “I think the girls relaxed and played a lot better after that.” The defense did not rest either. The Huskers limited Oklahoma to zero shots on goal. Against Iowa State, the Huskers allowed only three shot attempts. <(We pride ourselves on defend ing,” Walker said. “Obviously if you limit a team to no shots, you’ve done a pretty good job defensively.” Kari Uppinghouse and Kristen Gay accounted for seven of Nebraska’s 14 goals. Gay scored four and Uppinghouse had three. Overall, eight Huskers scored this weekend. Walker said the balanced scor ing keeps the pressure on opponents throughout a game. “That's the one thing we’ve got this year that we have not had in our previous two years,” Walker said. We’re going to have lots of people scoring goals.” Winning against Big 12 foes made the weekend even better, Uppinghouse said. Oklahoma, a I MF « Obviously if you limit a team to no shots, you’ve done a pretty good job defensively.” John Walker NU soccer coach first-year program, will not play a full Big 12 schedule this season. “We want to make a statement in our conference right away,” Uppinghouse said. “We have to win the games that are not expected to be as dangerous just as serious.” Gay said the team settled down Friday night after pregame jitters. -Early in the game, she said, NU picked up where it left off in train ing camp. The Huskers will travel to North Carolina this weekend to take on No. 16 North Carolina State Friday and sixth-ranked Duke on Sunday. Reitsma leads Huskers past BYU, Lobos By Shannon Heffelfinger Staff Reporter The Nebraska volleyball team im proved to 3-1 with a sweep of the New Mexico Invitational Friday and Satur day in Albuquerque, N.M. The Comhuskers used a balanced attack Friday night to defeat 19th ranked Brigham Young 10-15,15-9,8 15,15-11,15-12 in a grueling match that lasted almost 2 1/2 hours. Playing much of the night with only one starter from last year’s team on the floor, Nebraska struggled the first three games against the complex 6-2 offense of BYU. The 6-2 — infrequently used by most college teams—uses two setters on the court at the same time. “We thought they’d run a 5-1,” NU Coach Terry Pettit said on his post game radio show. “All the information we had indicated that’s what they’d run, so we weren’t-as prepared.” Pettit, looking to establish a con sistent force in die middle, tinkered with the Husker lineup, going with sev eral combinations throughout the match. “We would like, as the season evolves, to have our middle attackers become more a part of the offense,” Pettit said. One player who saw more time was Renee Saunders. Saunders, a 5-foot-11 sophomore from Omaha Marian, pro vided a spark with her strangnet play after Pettit benched senior Kate Onich. “Renee Sanders came in and stabi lized us in the fourth game,” Pettit said. Trailing two games to one, the Huskers took over the match in the fourth game. lisa Reitsma dominated late. The junior outside hitter led the team with a match-high 26 kills. Reitsma had 84 total attempts in the match as the rest of the team heavily relied on her. “I don’t think the team is too de pendant on me,” Reitsma said. “We have a lot of young talent, and I know that if we have to go to them any time that they will be ready.” Setter Fiona Nepo had a career-high Please see VOLLEY on 14