I-Backs confident
I-BACKS from page 7
pretty natural running back.”
Buckhalter has come a long way since the
beginning of fall camp, Green said.
“He kind of reminds me of myself,” Green
said. “He has the same problems I had - in
terms of picking up pass plays and picking up
blitzes and stuff like that. But other than that
he’s coming along real well. He runs the ball
well and he really doesn’t fumble a lot like I
did.”
Green, who rushed for 1,108 yards as a
freshman, was hampered last season by turf toe
and a stress fracture in the same foot but still
finished with 917 yards. After gaining weight
last season, Green said he is back down to 205
pounds, which could make a difference this
season.
“I feel like 1 felt my freshman year,” Green
said. “I have my quickness and speed back and
I feel real good.”
NU coach Tom Osborne said Green may be
asked to carry a bigger load against Akron, but
both backups should also see playing time
«
I have my quickness and
speed back and I feel real
good”
Ahman Green
Husker I-Back
Saturday.
“It’s never been our philosophy to leave a
guy out there for 60 plays out of 70,” Osborne
said. “We’ll see how (Green) holds up. But
Buckhalter will have to play in the game and he
will probably have to go in there in the first half
and play a fair amount. It may be that Cobb will
have to play some too.”
But the I-back situation, Green said,
shouldn’t significantly hinder the Husker
offense.
“As of right now, we have a real potent
offense,” Green said. “But once those three
guys get back, we’ll be something to watch.”
Football Starters
Nebraska Starters
Mm Mm
Pos. No. Name Ht Wt. Yr. Pos. No. Name Ht Wt Yr.
$£ 6 Kenny Chaafcam 6*4 205 Jr. LR 57 Chad Keteay 6-3 250 Jr.
LT 73 Fred Pollack 6-4 305 Sr. DT 96 Steve Warren 6-1 295 So.
LG 67 Aaron Taylor 6-1 305 Sr. DT 55 Jason Peter 6-5 285 Sr
C 59 Josh Heskew 6-3 280 Jr. RR 98 Grant Wistrom 6-5 225 Sr.
RG 64 JdnZatechka 6*2 290 Sr. SLB 46 BrianShaw 6*1 215 So.
RT 70 Eric Anderson 6-4 305 Sr. MLB 44 Jay Foreman 6-1 235 Jr.
TE 90 Em Carpenter 6^3 250 Sr. WLB 4 Octavious McFarUn 5-11 200 Sr.
QB 7 Scott Frost 6-3 220 Sr. LCB 11 Jerome Peterson 5-7 185 So.
FB 45 J06I Makovfcka 5-11 235 Jr. FS 3 EricVWeNeid 6*0 195 Sr.
IB 30 Ahman Green 6-0 215 Jr. ROV 21 Mike Brown 5-11 205 So.
WB 5 Shevin Wiggins 5-11 190 Jr. RCB 22 Ralph Brown 5-10 180 So.
PK 35 Kris Brown 5-10 205 Jr. P 19 Jesse Kosch 6-0 190 Sr.
Akron Starters
Offense Defense
Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt Yr. Pos. No. Name Ht Wt Yr.
SE 44 Terrel Dixon 5-10 195 Jr. DE 41 Corey Christian 6-1 240 Sr.
QT 78 Kevin Kuntz 6-4 275 Jr. DT 92 JameyBennet 6-0 270 Jr.
QG 64 Steve Hale 6-3 320 So. DT 48 Eric Anderson 6-4 260 Sr.
C 70 Bill Hildebrand 6-4 320 Jr. DE 94 Jeremy Maxa 6-3 270 Jr.
SG 60 DanWessman 6-2 305 So. OLB 55 Bid Burke 6-1 235 So.
ST 71 Rex Pyles 6-5 315 So. MLB 49 Nate Boyd 6-2 240 Sr.
TE 98 Chuck Webb 6-5 265 Jr. WB 7 George Cameron 6-0 225 So.
SE 8 Gregg Peugeot 6-2 205 So. CB 21 Jerome Cargile 6-0 175 Jr.
QB 18 GregGromek 6-2 205 So. SS 29 Julius Lancaster 6-1 200 So.
FB 39 Chris Rooney 6-2 260 Sr. FS 31 Andre McCray 5-10 185 Jr.
TB 26 WkeLagasse 5-9 190 So. CB 23 George Germany 5-11 185 Jr.
PK 15 Jamie Stidham 5-9 190 Sr. P 37 Mike Hayes 6-3 190 Jr.
Akron coming to win
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter
The Akron Zips aren’t playing
Nebraska for the money, or to
hone their skills, or even to say
they once got to play in front of
76,000 at Memorial Stadium
against Nebraska.
The Zips are in Lincoln to try
to pull off one of the biggest
upsets in college football history.
“We’re not looking for moral
victories on Saturday,” Akron
senior defensive tackle Eric
Anderson said. “We’re going in
expecting to win this game.”
Anderson concedes that the
Zips are a huge underdog against
Nebraska and will probably face
an uphill battle in trying to knock
off the Huskers. Akron has been
listed as a 56-point underdog for
the game.
Still, Anderson, who is also a
captain for the team, said the Zips
WT ill QA/P n pbnnpp t rviolrp
happen early in the game and have
to take advantage of it.
“We’ve got to play as hard as
we can in the first quarter,”
Anderson said. “If we fly around
the football field and get a couple
of breaks along the way, we can
make this a football game.”
The same scenario happened
at the Rubber Bowl last season
when Akron played Virginia Tech
and nearly upset the Hokies,
before losing 21-18. The two
teams were tied at halftime and it
became Virginia Tech’s closest
victory all season. NU defeated
Virginia Tech
41-21 in the
Orange Bowl.
“We’re
going to try and
put out of our
minds who and
where we’re
playing,”
Anderson said.
“We played with
Anderson Virginia Tech
last year for
four quarters, so we know what it
takes to win this kind of game.”
Another thing the players
know is that the Zips will have to
find a way to slow down the NU
offense, especially the rushing
game. Akron ranked 77th in the
nation in rushing defense last
year, while the Huskers were
fourth in the nation in rushing
offense at 291.1 yards per game.
“We can’t let them score 42
points on us if we want to win,”
junior wide receiver Carl Whitt
said. “Our offense is more of a
ball-control type offense that
wants to eat time off the clock. We
don’t want to get into a scoring
competition.”
Akron averaged 14 points per
game last year.
“If we win, it’s going to be 10
7 or something like that,” he said.
“We’ve got to stop the running
game and force them to pass the
ball a little more than they want
to.”
Offensively, Akron may have a
tough time against the Nebraska
defense.
The Zips have to replace their
starting quarterback and tailback
from last year and must also find a
way to move the ball against a
Husker front four that includes
preseason All-Americans Jason
Peter and Grant Wistrom.
Whitt, who led the Zips with
It- ■'
22 receptions last year, said the
toughness of that front four and
the overall speed of the defense
makes for a
good combina
tion.
“They have
lots and lots of
speed back
there,” he said.
“They get to the
ball about as
fast as any team
I’ve ever seen
defensively.”
To counter
act that, Whitt said, the key will
be to keep NU’s defense on its
toes.
“We’re going to try and mix it
up a little bit,” he said. “We want
to put as much balance as possible
into our offense and establish our
selves physically.”
One area where Akron might
have an advantage is the matchup
uciwceu me z.ip wiue receivers
and Nebraska defensive backs.
NU has only one starter returning
and faces a receiving corps with
good size.
“Most of our guys are pretty
big, so we think we can get some
things done out there,” Whitt said.
“They only have one starter back
there returning, so we’ll see.”
Eventually, both players see
Akron needing to force some
turnovers and not turn the ball
over to hang in with NU.
“We’ve got to make them drop
the ball a couple of times and keep
our turnovers at zero,” Anderson
said.
In the end, Whitt said, it will
take a huge effort in order to beat
Nebraska on its home field, but he
is going to enjoy the trip win or
lose.
“We all voted to play this
game, so we wanted it,” he said.
“We’re going to have fun playing
against one of the best teams in
college football.”
■■■' ...
New Players
Needed
Practices 6-7:30pm,
Tuesday & Thursday @
Harper, Schramm, Smith
Fields
For more information, call Josh at 438-8762
Weekend tourney
provides first test
VOLLEY from page 7
i from having career offensive
nights.”
With three matches in four days,
team depth will be an important fac
tor. Nebraska’s arsenal of offensive
weapons should relieve some of the
pressure from Reitsma. In particu
i lar, Pettit expects to see big things
from outside hitter Jaime Krondak
and middle blocker Katie Jahnke.
“Jaime Krondak has probably
been our most consistent player,”
Pettit said. “Right now, she’s play
ing as well as any other outside hit
| ter we’ve ever had. It’s not just phys
I ical, it’s mental. She’s consistent.
| She does the job on every ball con
tact.
“Katie Jahnke always has her
j game face on. She works hard on
I every play and she’s really challeng
ing Megan Korver and Tonia Tauke
at the middle blocker position.”
Krondak, a 6-foot junior, was
second on the team last season with
2.9 kills per game.
Jahnke redshirted last season
because of a knee injury. But Jahnke
thinks the competitive nature of
practices is enough to prepare her
for her first collegiate match.
“There’s not a time when you
can not work your hardest in prac
tice because someone is always
right behind you,” Jahnke said. “It's
going to be a good situation for the
matches, because everyone that gets
the playing time will have worked
hard for it.”
Pettit said he expects a total
effort from all 15 players this week
end. Despite the hype surrounding
the matchup between NU and the
Gators, Pettit downplays the match’s
significance.
“^Vhat we need to do is play
hard, keep ourselves in the ballgame
so we can get down to the 12th or
13th point,” Pettit said, “and we’ll
have Reitsma who we can do some
things with and also some other
options as well. The national cham
pionship isn’t going to be decided
this weekend. It’s a long way off.”
Huskers kick off
SOCCER from page 7
| And Amy Walsh is also question
able after suffering a hip flexor this
week in practice.
Another striker, Isabelle
Morneau, is still on the recovery
trail from knee surgery in the
spring. She will be available for this
weekend’s action, but will see limit
ed action.
Hogan’s injury could prove to be
a big blow for the Huskers. Hogan is
one of Nebraska’s offensive powers
and a leader on the field.
“We are a little concerned with
the injuries,” Walker said. “We are
! deep enough though that we can
play the same way as we always do.”
I
Replacing Hogan on the field
will be junior Kim Engesser.
Engesser transferred from Portland
University and has fit in well with
the little amount of time she has had
with the team. She scored a goal and
was involved in a lot of scoring situ
ations in the team’s scrimmage last
weekend. Lindsay Eddleman will
also be looked to for offensive fire
power and leadership. Walker said
before the Huskers can think about
this weekend’s opponents, they need
to focus at home first.
“We have to be more concerned
about ourselves,” Walker said. “We
need to concentrate on bringing the
same intensity and concentration to
every game.”
The Picks from
the Hicks
Oklahoma St at MM
■*0 at Baylor
Texas Tech at Hamm
Southern Miss at
Houston at
OH at Washington St.
North Carolina St. at jfBm
HnWalaca at Rutgers
McRiijphe at maiiiHlSl
Marshall at millWall
Akron 6 at IMmkaSS