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The Oklahoma State football
team was dealt a serious blow
Friday when the Cowboys lost sev
eral players - including three prob
able starters - due to academic inel
igibility.
Included in the group is senior
running back Andre Richardson,
who has rushed for more than 2,000
yards in his first three seasons as a
Cowboy.
Other starters lost were sopho
more linebacker Raymond Cato,
who was the team-leading tackier
in 1996, and sophomore defensive
back Alvin Porter.
“It hurts to lose guys that can
contribute to the team like they
can,” said Bob Simmons, OSU
coach. Simmons refused to com
ment about whether or not the team
was appealing the suspensions.
■
With less than a week to go
before Bavlor’s season opener
Saturday night against Miami, the
Bears still have to name a starting
quarterback.
First-year coach Dave Roberts
must decide between senior Jeff
Watson, junior Jermaine Alfred and
redshirt freshman Odell James.
“It’s a heck of situation we
have,” said Baylor Coach Dave
Roberts. “We’ve got a guy with one
hurt knee (Alfred), a guy who got in
trouble in the spring (Watson), and
a guy who really doesn’t know the
offense (James). It’s a tough
choice.”
■
Missouri Coach Larry Smith
dismisses the notion that his team
will be one-dimensional on offense.,
and stick primarily to running the
football this season.
“We can pass the ball, I don’t
care what anyone says,” Smith said.
“We’re out to nrove that we ran he a
balanced football team and that we
can do more than just plow the ball
up the field.”
Last year, Missouri was ninth in
the nation in rushing the football at
250.7 yards per game. However,
they were 101st in the nation in
passing yardage with a paltry 127.5
yards per game - just one spot
behind Nebraska.
■
Oklahoma kicked off the Big 12
season with a 24-0 loss to
Northwestern in the Pigskin
Classic in Chicago. Oklahoma
turned over the ball four times and
missed two field goals in the first
half before the Wildcats broke open
the game in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore running back Demond
Parker led OU with 78 yards on 17
carries.
Tliis week’s Big 12 schedule
UAB at Kansas (Thursday)
Miami at Baylor
Oklahoma State at Iowa State
Akron at Nebraska
Texas Tech at Tennessee
Big 12 Notebook compiled by
staff reporter Sam McKewon.
Redshirts rear up for new season
■ Hot recruits from 1996
prepare for new positions;
but injuries, career choices
keep some off the field.
By Antone Oseka
Senior Reporter
Two of the biggest names from
the 1996 Nebraska football recruit
ing class, freshmen quarterbacks
Eric Crouch and Bobby
Newcombe, chose different ways to
start their NU careers.
Newcombe decided not to red
shirt this season and will be the No.
3 quarterback behind senior starter
Scott Frost and sophomore Frankie
London. Junior quarterback Monte
Christo is injured.
NU Coach Tom Osborne said
Newcombe, a Parade All
American, will see significant
I
playing time, but not all of it under
center.
“Newcombe. right now, will be
on our No.l punt return team and
our No. 1 kickoff return team,”
Osborne said. “He’s prepared to
play a little receiver, if necessary,
although he’s a quarterback.”
The decision not to redshirt
Newcombe came mostly from his
play on special teams, Nebraska
quarterbacks coach Turner Gill
said.
While Newcombe is returning
kicks for the Huskers, Crouch will
be watching from the stands.
Crouch, who has been slowed this
season by tendonitis in the knee
that he injured last track season as a
senior at Millard North High
School in Omaha, will redshirt this
season.
Another true freshman will see
playing time in the Nebraska back
field. Correll Buckhalter is listed as
the No. 2 I-back, with injures
sidelining sophomore DeAngelo
Evans, freshman Dan Alexander
and senior Jay Sims. Evans and
Alexander are expected to return
later this season.
Buckhalter, who is NU's first
scholarship athlete from
Mississippi, is also the other No. 1
kickoff and punt return man for NU.
“Buckhalter might have red
shirted had it not been for injuries,”
Osborne said.
The last true freshman on the
offense will be split end Matt
Davison. Davison, from Tecumseh,
is listed at third on the depth ch^rt
behind Kenny Cheatham and Jeff
Lake.
For the defense, two true fresh
men and one junior college transfer
will forego their redshirt season. In
the Husker secondary, Brandon
Harrison, a transfer from Blinn
College in Gainesville, Texas, is
listed second on the depth chart
behind sophomore Jerome Peterson
at left cornerback. Erwin Swiney
will see playing time at right cor
Matt Miller/DN
SENIOR NORA SHEPHERD has risen as a high school stand-out from York to become captain of the women’s
cross country team. The Huskers next home meet is Sept. 20.
CC athlete knows adversity
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter
When it comes to facing adver
sity, senior women’s cross country
runner Nora Shepherd has had
plenty of practice.
Shepherd fights a daily battle
with asthma, and last year she had
to overcome nagging injuries to
now be in position for her final
campaign at NU - one in which she
will be the captain.
“Everything that happened to
me last year gave me a lot of per
spective on my career,” Shepherd
said. “I’m really excited to go into
tins season because I know what it
fuels like to run at the end at the
back of the race.”
; Shepherd appeared to be head
ed toward her best season as a
junior when she injured herself
before the Big 12 Conference
Meet, when she slipped on snow
during practice and pulled her
hamstring.
“It really was a crazy type of
thing,” said Jay Dirksen, Nebraska
cross country coach. “It was an
early snowstorm and Nora had a
little bit of bad luck, but it bothered
her all the way through the season.”
With the injury and asthma,
Shepherd said her junior year
turned out to be one of the hardest
she has had to face.
“It got to be tough as the year
went on because I had to deal with
an injury that wouldn’t go away,”
Shepherd said. “I’d have to finish
races almost crawling over the fin
ish line sometimes.”
If the injury wasn’t enough,
Shepherd has to deal with asthma
during practices and races.
Dirksen said it was harder for
Shepherd at the beginning of the
year, then at the end because of the
lower pollen count.
The asthma can have a drastic
effect on Shepherd during prac
tices and races, she said. At times it
caused her to lag far behind her
teammates in practice.
“I’ll be miles behind some
times,” she said, “but it’s just some
thing I have to deal with. I’ve had
to learn to overcome it most of the
time, although f know it’s always
going to be around me.”
Despite that stumbling block,
Shepherd figures to lead her team
to it’s best ranking ever.
“We’ve got a team that is really
strong,” she said. “Ofeany given#"
day, any of jis dan get u^i there in
the top five runners on the team.
We want to be in the top 10 in the
nation.” .
A big p£tt of die team’s success
this season will be attributable to
Shepherd’s leadership and experi
ence, which Dirksen said is valu
able to the younger runners.
“Many young runners come in,
and they don’t know what it means
to have an injury,” he said. “Nora
has overcome so much adversity
that she’s going to be able to bring
the team through problems.”
Shepherd also said that experi
ences from the 1996 season will be
important for her team as well.
“When they’re dying out there,
I’ll know exactly how it feels,” she
said. “I can tell them not to worry
and bear down, because I’ve been
there.”
nerback, backing up returning
sophomore starter Ralph Brown.
Kyle Vanden Bosch is listed as
the No. 3 left rush end behind Chad
Kelsay and Mike Rucker. Vanden
Bosch has impressed coaches all
through fall camp and has proved
he has the physical ability to play.
True freshman Joe Walker also
will not redshirt. He did, however,
play spring football for Nebraska.
Walker will see time in the Husker
secondary and is listed as the No. 2
rover behind sophomore Mike
Brown.
NOTE:
Freshman I-back Dan
Alexander went in early from prac
tice with a possible injury to his
foot. Osborne said it was a sprained
toe. Freshman fullback Willie
Miller and sophomore Ben
Kingston returned to practice
Monday, Miller has not been
cleared to play in a game.
Tfeams build
momentum in
early season
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter •
Many college coache$ often
talk abouf the irfi|)6Ytbnce of con
ference football victories for a
successful
season, but
often a team’s
momentum is
either won or
lost in
September
during non
conference
games.
The 1996
season served Smith
as a prime
example for the Big 12. Both
Nebraska and Colorado lost to
Arizona State and Michigan,
respectively, dashing their nation
al-title hopes. Texas dropped two
games to Notre Dame and
Virginia. Texas A&M suffered the
worst, losing to BYU and
Southwestern Louisiana to start
the season 0-2, and thus, not
receiving a bowl invitation.
“We’re never certain how the
non-conference is going to play
out in any given year,” Texas
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^uawu juuu matNuvit saiu.
“Schedules are usually made so far
in advance, we don’t know what
the schedule going to look like.”
Nebraska has some non-con
ference opponents scheduled
through the year 2000.
Scheduling of those non-con
ference opponents has helped, and
hurt, certain Big 12 teams.
Kansas State has probably ben
efited the most in recent years
from its non-conference schedule.
While playing teams considered to
be in the lower half of the 240
teams in Division 1-A and even
some Division 1-AA teams, the
Wildcats have won 18 of their last
19 non-conference contests. Those
early season victories have helped
send the Wildcats to four straight
bowl games.
Missouri Coach Larry Smith
said he was impressed with the
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