Lincoln duo chooses to remain close to home
Swiney, Kollmorgen chose
NU after successful high
school careers with Rockets
and Knights.
BtSamMcKewon
Staff Reporter
With the stroke of a pen, two Lincoln high
school football standouts officially became Ne
braska football players Wednesday morning.
Lincoln Southeast offensive lineman Kyle
Kollmorgen and Lincoln Northeast wide re
ceiver/defensive back Erwin Swiney both
signed a national letter of intent to play for the
Comhuskers next fall. *
“It’s a dream to play football there,” Swiney
said. “It feels good to play with the best.”
Swiney, a 6-foot, 175-pOunder moved from
Dallas, Texas, to Lincoln two years ago. Upon
arriving in Lincoln, he flourished in the Rock
ets’ system. He finished his All-State senior
season with 25 catches for 635 yards and six
touchdowns. His 25.4 yards per catch average
is the highest of any Husker recruit.
Swiney picked NU early in the recruiting
process before his high school season began.
“In my situation,” Swiney said, “picking
Nebraska was the best decision for me. It feds
like home.”
Swiney said he talked with two of the Husk
ers’ younger wide receivers — freshmen John
Gibson and J.R. Edwards—so he knows what
it takes to play in the Nebraska program.
“You have to go up there and work hard,”
Swiney said. “If I go up there and do that I
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think I’ll be all right.”
Lincoln Northeast Coach Mark King said
he has no doubts that Swiney. will be a success
wearing a Husker uniform.
“He’s the best athlete we’ve had here in a
long time,” King said. “He’s going to go to
Nebraska and do real well there.”
Kollmorgen, a 6-4, 270-pound offensive
lineman, followed a similar path toward becom
ing a Husker. A member of the SuperPrep All
Midwest team, Kollmorgen helped the Knights
to a 9-3 record and a berth in the Class A state
football semifinals.
He said he narrowed his list to NU and Kan
sas State before choosing the Huskers. While
he was interested in the Wildcats, Kollmorgen
said the KSU coaching staff didn’t exactly re
turn the favor.
“When I went downjhere, Coach (Bill)
Snyder hadn’t really seen how 1 had performed
in the Nebraska football camp,” Kollmorgen
said. “I got the impression that Nebraska re
ally wanted me more.”
With a lot of hard work ahead of him,
Kollmorgen said, he is optimistic about seeing
playing time for a national power.
“It’s a great opportunity all-around,”
Kollmorgen said. “I get to work on a lot of
things and leam a lot at the same time.
“I just want to go in and do to the best of
my ability. How I’ll compare with everybody
else down there, we’ll find out.”
Both players look forward to the prospect
of playing for the Big 12 Conference and a na
tional title.
“It’ll feel good,” Swiney said. “Everybody
wants to play for a national title.”
Recruiting class pleases Osborne
SIGNEES from page 9
lesser-known players.
“We’ve got a huge logistics prob
lem,” he said. “To try to filter all the
information is very difficult. Just iden
tifying the players is the first thing,
and then we’ve got to get them here.”
It also doesn’t hurt to have a
brother in the program.
Comerback Dion Booker followed <
his brother Michael — an NU senior
last season — to Lincoln; tight end ;
Tracey Wistrom will join older brother
Grant at Nebraska next fall; and line
backer Mark Vedral follows in the i
footsteps of Jon, a senior last fall, and i
Mike, who lettered at NU from 1990
through 1992. 'i
In addition, linebacker Jamie Bur
row signed with the Huskers 22 years
ifler his father, Jim, left Nebraska.
Before hitting the recruiting trail,
Osborne said, Husker coaches pegged
;omerback and I-back as areas of
leed. Despite losing junior-college
star Kevin Brooks to South Carolina
last month, Nebraska still picked up
hree comerbacks—Booker, Harrison
md Joe Walker, who signed last year
ivith Baylor but did not qualify aca
demically.
At the I-back spot, NU failed to
sign top targets Jamal Lewis and
Davis Minor, but Osborne said
Buckhalter, a 6-foot-2, 210-pounder,
anks among the top five backs in the
lation. Osborne said he also sees great
potential for I-back Dan White, who
x)mmitted to NU last month while in
he state for a recruiting trip to the
University of Nebraska at Omaha.
In the next few months, the coach
said he would also like to finalize col
lege plans for up to 20 walk-ons.
“That’s almost like having another
five to eight scholarship players,”
Osborne said. “We unabashedly do
that. It’s been one way that we’ve been
able to survive against the Florida
schools.”
As many as 17 players already
tiave informed Husker coaches of
plans to walk on next fall, Osborne
said.
“If we didn’t have the walk-ons
come here,” he said, “I think it
wouldn’t be long before we became a
second-rate program. They’re very,
very important to us.”
.
Football Signees
The following players have eigned to play football at Nebraska next fall.
Name ro*. nu m. nofneiown
NU signs versatile players
i
PEttit from page 9
-side hitter/middle blocker is one
of the top athletes in the country,
Pettit said.
“Angie’s very strong and just a
great athlete,” Pettit said. “She has
great technical skills and could play
any position.”
Oxley was named an honorable
mention All-American by Volley
ball Magazine following her senior
season, and she led Class B
Ogallala to state runner-up finishes
in 1994 and 1995.
Despite the strength of NU’s
three scholarship athletes, its best
recruit might possibly be a walk
on.
Behrends from Class D-l
Chappell High School surprised the
college volleyball world when she
turned down offers from several
nationally prominent programs to
play for the Huskers without a
scholarship.
NU offered Behrends a schol
arship early in the recruiting sea
son, but the 6-foot outside hitter
turned it down, opting instead to
visit other interested schools before
making a decision.
Unfortunately for Behrends, by
the time she made up her mind in
October, the Huskers had offered
all of their available scholarships,
forcing her to walk on.
“Volleyball Monthly featured
her as the national runner-up to
player of the year,” Pettit said.
“That’s not just hype either. She’s
that level of player. She knows we
wanted her from day one. She prob
ably hits the ball as hard as any
higjh school player in the country.”
A four-time Gass D-l all-state
selection, Behrends set the Gass D
1 state record for career kills
(1,643) and single season kills
(525).
Pettit said NU’s current players
were instrumental in helping sign
members of this year’s class. All
four recruits have participated in
camps with nine ofNebraska’s cur
rent players.
“We’re attracting a lot of kids
who know each other,” Pettit said.
“The program attracts like-minded
people. We’ve gotten high achiev
ers who are familiar with us.”
Not coincidentally, each mem
ber of the class is from the Mid
west, a trend that pleases Pettit.
“We have tremendous loyalty
from our state and great relation
ships with surrounding states,”
Pettit said. “I’m not sure that
there’s anywhere else in the coun
try that has that kind of relation
ship going right now.”
Crouch anxious to play for NU
GROUCH from page 9
decision and you get stressed out.”
But Crouch wasn’t the only one
hounded in the recruiting process.
Mustang Coach Fred Petito—who
also coached Iowa State quarterback
Todd Doxzon — said he dealt with
calls from many reporters about
Crouch’s decision.
“It was interesting,” Petito said.
Crouch said his early commitment
took pressure off his final season.
“I think it led me to have a better
senior season,” Crouch said.
Last fall, Crouch was hampered by
an ankle injury, W he still ran for
1,300 yards and threw for 600. De
spite missing three games, Crouch was
named the USA Today Nebraska
Player of the year while also earning
Super Prep All-American honors.
His early decision, he said, didn’t
affect his play last fall.
“It ran through my head a little
bit,” Crouch said. “But I couldn’t re
ally think about that too much. That’s
for me to think about right now. Now
that I’m done playing for Millard
North.”
Crouch said he is comfortable run
ning the Mustangs option-based
“wingbone” offense, which he said is
similar to Nebraska’s offense.
“We’re option based, and we do a
lot of play-pass,” Crouch said. “I think
66
It feels great knowing I’m going to be a
Husker.”
Eric Crouch
NU quarterback
that’s the main reason they’re simi
lar. The style of option that we run is
similar to option-type schemes that
Nebraska would do.”
NU Coach Tom Osborne said he
is impressed with Crouch’s abilities
at quarterback.
“Eric Crouch is one of the better
option quarterbacks we’ve come
across in many years,” Osborne said.
“He handled the option very well.”
Crouch didn't have the opportunity
to pass a lot in the Mustangs’ style of
offense, but Osborne was confident in
Crouch’s ability to throw the ball.
“We think he can throw it,”
Osborne said. “We saw him in our
football camp. He’s got a very good
arm. I think he is a good passer.”
Crouch made his official visit to
NU the weekend of Jan. 21, where he
was introduced to Husker quarterback
Scott Frost.
At quarterback, the Huskers return
Frost, a senior-to-be next season,
along with junior Monte Christo, and
sophomores Frankie London and Jeff
Perino. Freshman Bobby Newcombe,
who also signed a letter of intent
Wednesday, will also be given a
chance to play.
Crouch said he will not redshirt
next fall if he is among the top three
quarterbacks on the depth chart before
the season starts. After his graduation
in May, Crouch said he plans to work
out with the Huskers four times a
week.
“Hopefully I’ll.be working with the
first team,” Crouch said. “That would
be nice.”
Petito was confident that his
former signal caller would do well in I
Lincoln.
“This is an accumulation of three
or four years of hard work,” Petito
said. “He’s got tremendous ability, and
he has great work habits.”
