Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 10, 1996)
By Gbegg Madsen StaffReporter At the start ofthe Nebca^ca foot ball team’s fell workouts four weeks ago, Mike Fullman was walking on Against Michigan State on Saturday, the senior Nebraska comerback was back in action, returning five punts for 121 yards and blan keting Spartan receivers irom Fullman his right comerback position. After suffering a groin injury during spring practice, Comhusker coaches doubted his availability for this season. Coach Tom Osborne said he feared Fullman’s career may be over. “From the time I was growing up, I was always trying to do my best,” Fullman said. “I’ll never count myself out, I guess, until I’m dead.” After time in many hot whirl pools, a cortisone shot and hours of stretching, Fullman was ready to prove himself correct. It didn’t take long to see that all the rehabilita tion efforts had paid off. With 10 minutes and 42 seconds left in the second quarter of the Huskers’55-14 win over the Spar tans, Fullman dropped back to re ceive a Paul Edinger punt. The 5-foot-7, 170-pound Fullman caught the ball on Nebraska’s 38-yard line. He eluded two Spartan defenders, outran three more to the Nebraska sideline and then sprinted 62 yards into the end zone, electrifying the Memorial Sta dium crowd. Defensive Coordinator Charlie McBride said on the play NU had just 10 players on the field and was trying to block the punt, not set up a return. “That kid did that all on his own,” McBride said. The return was aided, however, by a key block from free safety Eric Warfield. “That was really big,” said Warfield, who blocked another Edinger punt in the third quarter. “Our special teams have been re ally good. I think a lot of teams un derestimate us. When we go in on special teams, we expect to score.” Fullman, who transferred to Ne braska in 1994 after one season at Rutgers, had never returned a punt at the collegiate level until last sea son. In 1995, Fullman averaged a conference-best 13.6 yards per punt return, the 10th best average in the nation. The Huskers have used a triple safety formation on punt returns the last three seasons to eliminate; the possibility of an opposing punter kicking away from the returners. But George Darlington, NU’s defensive backs coach, said Fullman is a lethal threat — even without the three-man return sys tem, “I guess it’s kind of like Johnny Rodgers in that every time the ball was kicked to him, people probably expected the ball to be in the end zone,” Darlington said. Coming out of Abraham Clark High School in Roselle, N.J., Fullman didn’t desire to attend Ne braska. Even though the Huskers showed interest in him, Fullman chose to stay close to home at Rutgers. But after gne season, he changed his mind, asking Nebraska if he could transfer. Following the encouragement of former Husker cornerback and friend Barron Miles—who is also from Roselle and went to high school with Fullman—he decided to leave Rutgers and enroll in class at Southeast Community College in Lincoln in the spring of l994. He then sat out the 1994 season as a transfer. All that trouble, Fullman said, was worth it. “I’m glad I'm here,” he said “I took my chances, I guess, but I made it out here.” a lot of croc Italians know* a lot about pasta, sports cars and fine leather goods. They know nothing, however, about alligators and crocodiles. — Which is't^fiy otir Italian leather good V- ‘ •' •' , ' -jfjfc,. that look like the real thing without costing like the real thing. AH made o^Jy for Harold’s and avail able no where else in the world.And that’s ' quite alright with thfc'&OCi. ' ;.r craftsmen use a stamped leather pattern to hand-create exclusive handbags and footwear Harold’s Italian Moc Croc Leather Goods One Ikific Place, Omaha To move HtnWsfne men’s and ladies’ catalogs, call 1-800476-5373 Actual styles may vary from these shown here. Quantities limited '■ l ' Huskers defense conquers season’s first obstacle DEFENSE from page 7 tans to 82 yards rushing and 163 yards passing. Senior rover Mike Minter had two interceptions. The first came in the first quarter, when Minter picked off a Todd Schultz pass at the Michigan State 25 yard line. Two plays later, Nebraska quarter back Scott Frost scored NU’s first touchdown of the season on an 11-yard option run, giving the Huskers an early 7-0 lead. With three minutes and six seconds left in the second quarter, Minter picked off a Gus Omstein pass at the Nebraska 16-yard line and returned it 84 yards for a touchdown. Minter, who was named the Big 12 defensive player of the week cm Mon day, said the Husker defense has de veloped a big-play mentality. “We challenged ourselves,” he said. ‘ ‘We took it upon ourselves to come out and prove we are the dominating de fense everyone is talking about.” Junior rush end Grant Wistrom ac counted for another defensive touch down in the third quarter when he in tercepted Omstein on the Michigan State 9-yard line and waltzed into the end zone . “It felt great,” Wistrom said of his first career scene. “The first thing I thought was,'I better not drop it.’Then I was praying I wouldn’t get caught from behind.” Besides the three interceptions, Nebraska held the Spartans to a 1.7 yard rushing average and sacked Michigan State quarterbacks seven times. Nebraska Defensive Coordinator Charlie McBride said the Spartans ran mostly “maximum protection” pass plays, sending only two receivers out and leaving eight men to protect the quarterback. “I didn’t expect this type of a game,” McBride said. “I didn’t feel as prepared, for some reason, as we were a year ago.” On special teams, comerback Mike Fullman had 121 yards on six punt re turns, including a 62-yard touchdown in the second quarter. The Spartans punting woes contin ued when free safety Eric Warfield blocked a Paul Edinger punt in the third quarter. A return had been called when Warfield blocked the punt, McBride said. And on Fullman’s touchdown re turn, the Huskers’ main objective was to block the punt. “We did some things out there that I just could not believe,” McBride said. “I told the kids before the game that we’re going to make some mistakes and do some strange things, and we did some strange things.” Senior Sam linebacker Jamel Will iams, who led the team with 11 tack les, said the Blackshirts’ performance Saturday was worth the wait. “It was a great game for the de fense,” Williams said. “We were glad to see some new faces out there to go against besides our own offense in practice.” Smith knows Missouri needs time to build MU from page 7 > lu.-'-'i- u'-n . ... - *.c. c$h»i extra pressure. - *<m '^nfm “My overall view of preseason polls is that they don't mean a damn thing,” he said. The Tigers, once a proud football program, limp into the Big 12 this fall. Missouri, which plays Nebraska in Lincoln on Nov. 9, hasn't had a win ning season since 1983, when it went 7-5 and lost in the Holiday Bowl to Brigham Young. The Tigers haven’t won five games in a year since 1987. In Smith's two years, the Tigers are 6-17-1. Missouri is off to a 0-1 start this fall after losing 40-10 to Texas on Aug. 31. The Tigers get a chance to earn their first win Saturday against Memphis, under new lights at Faurot Field. But according to junior tailback Brock Olivo, die losing days are a thing of die past. “We expect to have a winning sea son, and Coach Smith expects that from us,” Olivo said. “The rebuilding process is over, and it’s time to start producing.” Smith, in his third year at MU, agreed. “This is a better football team than we’ve had since I’ve been here;* he said. “This is the.ldnd of team where something will change the momentum of a game and that could change the momentum of our season. “We need to beat a team we are not supposed to beat" That bag win won’t come against Memphis, a team Missouri should beat. It could, however, come against Clemson on Sept. 21. Clemson’s program has been in a tailspin this year with numerous off the-field problems. The on-field play hasn’t been successful either. Clemson was dismantled 45-0 by North Caro lina in the season opener, and Satur day, Clemson beat Division I-AA Furman 19-3. But Smith said MU cannot win that game unless Corby Jones or Kent Skomia emerges at quarterback. Against Texas, Jones completed 7 of 16 passes for 65 yards and one in terception. Skorina didn’t do much better, completing only 5 of 12 passes for 47 yards. But he did lead Missouri’s only touchdown drive of the game. “The quarterback position is the One that needs to be cast in stone the most,” Olivo said. Smith, who has a record of 116-97 7 in 19 years as a head coach, said there is a certain process through which teams must go before cracking the nation’s elite. “We’ve got to climb out of whore we are and get up to the middle, and then from the middle to the top,” Smith said. “We’re probably not going to build our program by trying to shoot up to Nebraska’s level, because they have a 15-to-20-year head start You’ve got to work your way up to the top.” MJohket fTmangar BIKE SHOE rr'- ; '• MONGOOSE MONEY WELL SPENT. . Slingshot You tried this as a kid... now come in and test ride our Slingshot\ Ltzi’ij's exclusive proflex dealer New location along the hike path at Normal and Sooth 3855 South St '486-0323 |