Sports Opinion
Gregg Madsen
Freshman back
shows potential
to become star
Fans who left Memorial Sta
dium early on Saturday should feel
free to kick themselves for missing
the DeAngelo Evans Show.
The freshman from Collegiate
High School in Wichita, Kan. put
on a show, displaying the moves that
made him a high school All-Ameri
can.
With six minutes, 30 seconds
left in the fourth quarter of
Nebraska’s win over Colorado
State, Evans took a handoff from
freshman quarterback Jeff Perino.
Thirty yards later, Comhusker
fans still sitting in Memorial Sta
dium were left drooling over Evans’
quickness, power and break-away
speed.
“It was a 48-counter,” Evans
said of the run. “I remember the
tackle pulling, and I was supposed
to set up his block and go outside.
But I saw the crease open up un
derneath, so I went and took it. Then
I just ran through until I got to the
end zone.”
Evans’ cut to the inside of the
block was a read that can’t be
coached, and Nebraska Running
Backs Coach Frank Solich said that
is what makes Evans so dangerous:
Instinct.
“He doesn’t mess around with
which way to go with his cuts,”
Solich said. “He reacts instinctively,
and that’s when he’s at his best, be
cause his quickness can come
uu uugn naiuiauy.
His natural ability showed
through unmistakably on Saturday.
He had 72 yards on six attempts, in
addition to his 72 yards on two kick
off returns.
On his first run from scrimmage
against the Rams, Evans bolted for
18 yards, leaving two defenders
standing still and dragging another
for five yards.
At 5-foot-9 and 210 pounds,
Evans is a back out of the same
mold as Barry Sanders and Eric
Bienemy. Evans squatted 570
pounds this summer, and while in
high school, he ran the 40-yard dash
in a blistering 4.35 seconds.
Evans has quickly become a fan
favorite, and Monday he started
practicing with the top offensive
unit. But he said he’s not letting all
the attention go to his head.
“Coach Solich just tells me,
' Don’t believe all the hype,’” Evans
said. “I know that he’s still going to
get on me, and he’s still going to
keep pushing me. That’s the reason
I came here.”
Solich said Evans could see ac
tion as early as the first half on Sat
urday against Kansas State.
“The first two games were hard
with the limited carries,” Evans
said. 'That wasn’t what I wanted to
do. I know Coach (Solich) had con
fidence in me. He just wanted to see
me improve.”
Madsen is a junior aews-edi
y tonal major sad a Daily Nebras
kan staff reporter.
i
Many changes
pay off well
for Williams
By Sam McKewon
StaffReporter
Jamel Williams has seen it all.
He has watched Nebraska football
as a Proposition 48 casualty, as a
uaw&up, as a
safety, as a
weakside line
backer and fi
nally, as a starting
Sam linebacker
and NU’s leading
tackier.
“I’ve been all
over the place,”
Williams said. “I
Williams
could play almost
any position on
the defense if I had to.”
Williams, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound
senior, is one of the driving forces be
hind a Nebraska defense considered
one of the best in the nation. He leads
the team with 37 tackles, including a
season-best 17 tackles against in a 19
0 loss to Arizona State.
Williams downplays his statistics
and the fact that he is performing at an
All-America level.
“I think I’m playing toward an All
America level, but I don’t worry about
it a lot,” he said. “I leave that to the
sports announcers and whoever votes
for those awards.”
Williams played high school foot
ball at Merrillville High School in
Merrillville, Ind., where he was an all
state running and defensive back. Af
ter being recruited by Nebraska, Ala
bama, Miami and Michigan, Williams
quickly chose the Comhuskers.
“Nebraska had great tradition and
great coaching staff. Their experience
along with the academic program con
vinced me to come here,” he said.
Williams had hopes of becoming
the next great Husker running back
until Coach Tom Osborne made the
first of many changes.
“He told me I’d be better off on the
defensive side, and I kind of freaked
out,” Williams said. “After I thought
about it, though, I knew that defense
wouia oe me oest roie ior me.
Williams was academically ineli
gible as a freshman, but he has no re
grets about missing his initial season.
Williams was moved around from
safety to Will linebacker last year and
finally stuck at the Sam linebacker
midway through his junior year. The
position has tranformed Williams into
a star.
“I knew the position well,” he said,
“and I think it utilizes my speed better
than the other places I’ve been. It lets
me make big plays.”
Williams has been making big plays
since the second half of the 1995 sea
son, when he had his first 10-tackle
game in Nebraska’s 44-21 win over
Colorado.
Williams said two plays stand out
in his career: an interception return
for a touchdown against Oklahoma last
season and sack of Florida quarterback
Danny Wuerffel for a safety in the Fi
esta Bowl.
Williams credits NU’s defensive
scheme for helping the Huskers take
advantage of his talents.
“Tbe whole defense is fast/’ said
Williams, who runs track in the spring
and has posted a 10.52-second 100
yard dash time. “It plays to my ability
and gives the green light to blitz.”
Next year, Williams said, he would
like to play professional football—but
not at his current position.
“I’ve been projected a strong
safety,” he said. “It’s another change,
but I’ll play whatever they want me to.
I’m confident that I can adjust.”
Scott Bruhn/DN
TONIA TAUKE has played in every match this season,
contributing 13 solo blocks, the second best total on the team.
Tauke triggers
Husker defense
The freshman gives
NU an emotional
spark in a time of
need.
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
In a year when the Nebraska vol
leyball team needed its sprits lifted,
freshman Tonia Tauke acted up.
Tauke, who celebrates each
point and sideout with,an ear-to-ear
grin, has been an emotional catalyst
for a team that lost its most enthusi
astic player — Jen McFadden —
before the year even started.
“When I was younger, my coach
told me, ‘you’re not playing volley
ball, you acting more like a cheer
leader,”’ Ihuke said. “To begin the
year, I was so excited. I would be
ecstatic at times. I’m still excited on
the court, but I’m not cra2y.
“If you can’t have fun, why play
the game of volleyball?”
And play the game she has.
Tauke, a 6-foot-3 middle
blocker from Council Bluffs, has
beat the Corahuskers* most effi
cient hitter, with a hitting percent
age of .372. In 113 total attacks this
season, she has 53 kills and only 11
errors. Her 13 solo blocks are sec
ond on the team to Megan Korver’s
14.
inat s an improvement trom
when Tauke first put on a Husker
uniform.
Coming into the fall, she was
still recovering from a broken foot,
which landed her in a cast for more
than a month over the summer.
She believed she was going to
redshirt before the season, until fel
low freshman Katie Jahnke tore her
anterior crueiate ligament and
McFadden suffered a career-ending
back injury.
With her broken foot, Ihuke said
she felt like she was starting over
when she began fall practice in Au
gust. Instead of being excited, she
was quiet and intimidated playing
on a national championship team,
she said. - ?
“I thought I was just going to
come in and learn how the system
worked,” Tauke said, “and see if I
could fit in with their style of play.
Two weeks into the season, I fig
ured out I needed to train to play
and not just train to get Setter.”
In her last seven matches, Tauke
has hit over .500 four times. Twice
she hit .750, most recently in a
three-game sweep of Kansas on
Sept. 27.
Thuke said she has been so effi
cient lately because she and setter
Fiona Nepo are starting to click.
“She is beginning to have con
fidence in me, and she knows I will
Please see TAUKE on 11
Wildcat
QB Is
ready
Kavanagh expects to
‘take his licks’ from the
NU defense.
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas
State quarterback Brian Kavanagh is
treating the biggest game of his career
jusi 11K.C any
other.
“Obviously,
this is the biggest
start of my ca
reer,” Kavanagh
said. “But it’s our
next game also.”
Kavanagh,
who completed
12 of 21 passes
for 136 yards in Havana ah
the second half Kavanagh
against Nebraska last season, said he’s
not nervous about making his first start
against a top 10 team. The Wildcats
play host to Nebraska at 2:30 Satur
day.
“If I was able to keep my calm in
front of 75,000 fans in Lincoln,”
Kavanagh said, “it’s going to be a lot
easier here.”
In his first collegiate start against
Tews Tech, Kavanagh completed 12
of 29 passes for 172 yards. But more
importantly, Kavanagh said, he proved
to himself that he could handle “big
game atmosphere.”
Unfortunately, he said, the big
game pressure always falls on the
quarterback’s shoulders.
After Nebraska’s Loss to Arizona
State, the majority of the blame fell on
Comhusker quarterback Scott Frost,
Kavanagh said.
“I think the hardest thing for Scott
Frost is just who he’s following,”
Kavanagh said. “(Tommie) Frazier is
probably the best guy to ever run that
offense. x _
“Everyone has bad days. I’d be
completely shocked if they had another
bad game this season.”
Kavanagh said he is not expecting
an off-night from the Husker defense.
“I’ll expect to see a lot of (Grant)
Wistrom and (Jared) Tomich,”
Kavanagh said. “We can just hope to
contain them the best we can. I know
I’ll take my licks. It’ll be like any other
game.”
Kavanagh, who ranks second in die
Big 12 — and 20th in the nation —
with a pass efficiency rating of 147.4,
said it was important for die Cats to
develop a running game to complement
his passing.
“This is going to be the toughest
defense we’ve faced this year,” he said.
Sophomore running back Marlon
Charles has carried the ball 67 times
for 367 yards,this season—including
a 195-yard performance against Indi
ana State. Charles also emphasized the
importance of the KSU running attack
against the Huskers.
“They’re real fast and strong, and
they play with a lot of intensity,”
Charles said.”
. Nebraska will be a major challenge
for the Cats, Kavanagh said, but a win
would be a much needed step for the
team.
“Obviously, you have to beat Ne
braska to get to (the Big 12 champion
ship game in) St. Louis,” Kavanagh
said. “And Nebraska is next on our
schedule.”
