Return teams star
in Red-White game
■ D-back Mike Demps
rouses the Memorial
Stadium crowd with a
100-yard kickoff return.
By Darren Ivy
Senior staff writer
When freshman Mike Demps
fielded Josh Brown’s kickoff six
yards deep into the end zone in sec
ond-quarter action Saturday, most
fans probably thought he would take
a knee.
Demps said he even thought
about downing the ball. Then his
instincts took over, and he scored 100
yards later for the Red’s first touch
down of the annual Red-White
Spring Game at Memorial Stadium.
“I got the ball and turned around
and there was a nice wedge,” said
Demps, a 5-foot-10, 195-pound
speedster from Fort Worth, Texas.
“Nobody broke through the
wedge so I figured I would take a
chance. I was kind of hungry for a
kickoff return. I’ve been praying for
that return all week.”
Once Demps decided to bring the
ball out, it didn’t take him long to
show off his skills. He made a couple
guys miss, then turned on the after
burners to put some distance between
him and the pursuers and coasted into
the end zone from 40 yards out.
What made Demps’ return extra
ordinary was that his left hamstring
was about 65 percent and he favored
it noticeably. During the run, he said
his hamstring starting balling up like
it was going to pull, so he shut his
speed down at the 40-yard line and
coasted in.
Defensive Backs Coach George
Darlington, who also works with the
special teams, said he has been
impressed with Demps’ ability this
spring.
“Demps, if he can get healthy and
get strength in his leg, has a chance to
be an impact player,” Darlington said.
“Right now it’s hard to say that when
he ran the ball back for a touchdown.
He’s nowhere near where we think he
will be if he can strengthen his bad
leg.”
During the regular season,
Demps said he probably wouldn’t
have taken the ball out of the end
zone, but before the Spring Game,
NU coaches told the kick returners to
take some chances they normally
wouldn’t take to try to get some big
plays.
With top return man Joe Walker
still recovering from knee surgery
and Kenny Cheatham having gradu
ated, the coaches used the spring to
try to find someone to go in place of
Walker.
Demps, freshman DeJuan Groce
and sophomore Keyou Craver all
have seen action returning kickoffs
and punts. Prior to the spring, none
had done that in games. Craver said
the inexperience was evident
Saturday with all the bobbles and
fumbles.
“I think our special teams will be
a big threat,” said Craver, who had
three kickoff returns for 67 yards and
two punt returns for 37 yards. “We
have a lot of athletic players. We feel
whenever we have the ball in our
hands big things could happen. That’s
the attitude you have to have.”
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Spring game full of offensive miscues
GAME from page 9
guys.”
Crouch especially praised the
White secondary. Of the 13 passes he
attempted, two were intercepted (by
cornerbacks Keyuo Craver and
Erwin Swiney), four were broken up,
one went for no gain and one was for
a loss of four yards.
“It was frustrating throwing the
ball today,” Crouch said. “But some
times that’s going to happen. Erwin
and Keyuo made some great inter
ceptions.”
In addition to shutting down the
passing game, the White defense also
kept the Red running game in check
the only big rushing play being a 26
yard jaunt by Buckhalter in the first
quarter. The Red team had 137 total
rushing yards.
On die other side, it was the Red
defense that made the real charge in
the second half, as the Whites
coughed up two fumbles that Greg
McGraw and Jeremy Lyman
returned for touchdowns to put the
Red team up 21-12.
“The defense played real well
today,” comerback Mike Brown said.
“It was physical; we had some big
hits and it was an all-around good
showing of what our defense can do.”
And though the offenses strug
gled and the defenses reigned,
Crouch said it was important to
remember that the spring is merely a
warm-up, especially with so many
missing faces on both sides of the
ball.
“When you have the No. 1
offense out there, you expect every
thing to be perfect, but it’s tough,”
Crouch said. “We’ve got injuries and
players missing and we’re still getting
used to new things.”
As Solich said, the Spring Game
l|nfg Warren/DN
SPLIT END MATT DAVISON holds his hands up in celebration after catch
ing a 45-yard pass from quarterback Eric Crouch over the head of cor
nerback Erwin Swiney during the Red/White Spring Game. Davison
thought he had scored a touchdown because he landed in the end zone;
however, the ball was spotted on the 2-yard line.
may not have been the best measure
of NU’s potential.
“I didn’t expect them to run up
and down the field like a real first
unit,” Solich said. “We’ve got a mix
of experienced and inexperienced
players rotating in and out of that first
unit and it just wasn’t as smooth as it
might have been with some other
guys.
“But we got done what we want
ed them to get done in the spring and
we were able to do it with a lot of
players.”
Continue your care year-round at
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NU students taking summer
classes as well as students who
were enrolled in Spring Semester
1999 or who are registered
students for Fall 1999 may benefit.
Call 472-7435 for more information.
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health Center
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Students enrolled in four or more summer creflt
hours in any session (except Pre-Session) are
aubmalicaly hied fortheStudent heath feealong
wifo tuition. Students who am taking three or fewer
summer credit hours or who are not enrolled in
sumtwr desses may & benefit from Heath Center
services at sightly higher rales or choose to pay
the health fee to receive reduced rates.
NU softball rides offense to sweep
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
What a difference a week makes.
Last Sunday against Oklahoma St
the Nebraska softball team suffered
through a 7-for-46 (.152) day from the
plate en route to splitting with the
Cowboys.
A week and two postponements
later, the Comhusker bats came alive to
pound out 16 hits in 50 at-bats a .320
average, helping NU to beat Baylor 7-3
and 9-3 in front of 506 fans at the NU
Softball Complex.
Coach Rhonda Revelle applauded
Nebraska’s red-hot hitting.
“It really took a lot of pressure off
of our defense and our pitching to score
early and keep threatening,” Revelle
said.
The huskers improved to 22-13
overall and 6-4 in the Big 12
Conference, while Baylor dropped to
24-18 and 3-5 on the team’s senior day.
The sweep also vaulted NU into third
place in the conference behind
Oklahoma and Texas.
Nebraska jumped out early in the
opener. A single by Ginger Taylor com
bined with a Jennifer Lizama walk and
a throwing error by Baylor catcher
Ryan Stukel led to a 2-0 lead.
NU gave the lead back in the sec
ond inning, however, as BU scorec
three runs, two of which were
unearned.
The Huskers tied the game with £
Lizama homer in the third and scorec
two runs apiece in the fourth and fifth
for the win. Jenny Voss picked up hei
13th win of the year with the complete
game.
Revelle said NU’s concentratior
and ability to maintain composure was
key.
“The team is really trying to com
mit to concentration even when some
thing unfavorable happens that the)
stay the same mentally,” Revelle said
“An example of this was Leigh (Suhr’s
error (a throwing error in the second)
Typically we’ve turned one error intc
two or three this year. They scored three
runs but there was only one error.
In the second game, lone Huskei
senior and captain Kelly Pinkepanl
came through with a home run and twe
RBI’s. The Huskers scored early again
putting eight runs on the board through
the first three innings.
Lizama and Jenifer Williams each
contributed two RBI’s to bolster pitchei
Leigh Ann Walker, who moved to 8-2
on the season.
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