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Players await ‘homecoming’
■ Four Cornhuskers
originally from California
say Saturday ’s game will
hold extra emotion.
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
The opportunity to play
California this weekend in Berkeley
isn’t just a challenging game against a
respected oppo
nent. It holds
more signifi
cance for a few
Comhuskers.
Four Huskers
from the state of
California will
have a homecom
ing of sorts when
the two teams
Jackson square off this
Saturday.
Sheldon Jackson, Ralph Brown,
James Sherman, and Dion Booker
will have a rare opportunity to play in
front of their friends and family in
their home state.
Junior cornerback Brown, a three
year starter and 1997 First-Team All
Big 1 i honoree from Hacienda
Heights, Calif., is excited about the
opportunity to play in his home state,
p* . “I’m real happy about going
home to play in front of my home
crowd,” Brown said.
Perhaps he was referring to play
ing in front of his friends ami family,
but he could just as easily have been
speaking of the 35,000 Nebraska fens
expected to be in attendance.
Senior tight end Sheldon Jackson,
captain and three-time letter winner
from Diamond Bar, Calif., expects 15
to 20 friends and immediate family
members to attend the game.
It will be the first time since the
1996 Fiesta Bowl that Jackson’s
mother, Frances, will have seen him
play.
Jackson said he has tried not to
iook iorwara 10 mis game too mucn,
but may feel more pressure playing in
front of friends and family members
he hasn’t seen since January, and
some for even longer.
“I can’t put extra pressure on
myself or else I’ll play badly,”
Jackson said. “After the game it will
be nice to see people I haven’t seen in
four years.”
A junior offensive lineman from
LaVferne, Calif., James Sherman will
have his parents, sister and extended
family attending the game.
He will also have the opportunity
to play against former high school
all-star game teammate Derrick
Gardner, who is a Golden Bear defen
Forgettable performance
fires Cal up for Huskers
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Senior staff writer
California Football Coach Tom
Holmoe can’t wait for the Golden
Bears’ game against Nebraska at
Memorial
Stadium in
Berkeley
Saturday.
Both he
and his team
would rather
take their
chances
against the
defending
Holmoe national cnam
pion than dwell
on the outcome of Cal’s season open
er against unranked Houston Sept 5.
Holmoe said the Bears were
lackluster in a 14-10 come-from
behind victory over the Cougars.
Cal needed a 34-yard touchdown
pass from quarterback Justin Vedder
to Dameane Douglas with two min
utes and seven seconds remaining in
the contest to avoid a loss.
But the stakes are higher for
California this week. And Holmoe
knows the Bears need to forget about
their performance against Houston.
“The bottom line is that whenev
er a team like Nebraska comes in, to
beat them you have to out-execute
them,” Holmoe said. “They have to
make mistakes, you have to force
mistakes, and you can’t make mis
takes. That is what we are looking
for”
It is also what the Bears need
after their mistake^filled game last
Saturday.
California struggled offensively
against unranked Houston. Cal
racked up 5 rushing yards on 28 car
ries behind an inexperienced line
that allowed five sacks.
“That is something we need to
address immediately, and there will
be some personnel changes,”
«-—
We were gratejul
to get out of there
with a win
last week.”
Tom Holmoe
California head coach
Holmoe said.
“We were grateful to get out of
there with a win last week.
Obviously on offense there were a
number of things that need to be cor
rected and corrected soon, same
with special teams.”
California returned one kickoff
for five yards and four punts for 40
yards. The Bears averaged 31 yards
per punt
Despite his misgivings about the
first game, Holmoe did acknowl
edge several bright spots. Vedder
completed 23 of 44 passes for 267
yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, the Bears held
Houston to 221 total yards. Junior
linebacker Sekou Sanyika grabbed
two interceptions for Cal, which
ranks fourth nationally in pass effi
ciency defense after one week.
“The defense played well, but
they know that playing a team like
Nebraska the effort has to be as good,
if not better,” Holmoe said. “They
need to be able to come with more
plays and more turnovers to have a
chance to beat a team as powerful as
Nebraska.” T'. TflcV!
Holmoe expects nothing less f
than California’s best effort against
IheHuskers.
“When you see a team who is
that successful over time, you have a
tremendous amount of respect for
them,” Holmoe said. “We are going
to play the game and fight hard.You
have to try to find areas you can take
advantage of.”
sive back.
With a large California contin
gent rooting for Nebraska, Shaman
believes it would be intimidating to
play in front of a neutral crowd in
one’s home stadium.
“We get a big boost from people
who come out that far to root for us,”
Sherman said.
i ’ \ . •_
Injury notes:
Sophomore quarterback Bobby
Newcombe practiced less on
Wednesday than he did on Tuesday as
Coach Frank Solich said Newcombe
didn’t move as well as he had previ
ously.
Solich said Newcombe was more
questionable than probable for
Saturday’s game against California.
