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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 23, 1999)
Raiders see Treu value Former NU lineman making his mark with Oakland By Vince D’Adamo Special to the Daily Nebraskan NAPA, Calif. - Oakland Raiders’ reserve offensive lineman Adam Treu, a first-team All-Big 12 member ' I in 1996 for the cornnusKers, plays a role that is overlooked - but so important. And Treu, now in his third season with Oakland, has a chance to ii^mh increase his value Ttell to the Raiders this season. His primary job still is serving as the team’s long-snapper on field goals and punts. Treu has played little from scrimmage in the NFL behind Oakland’s starting center, Barret Robbins, who re-signed with the team during the offseason. The Raiders, nonetheless, say Treu has shown enough progress as a down lineman to warrant more playing time in that capacity. “It’s going to be a challenge for him in the preseason because he’s going to be playing a lot more at cen ter,” said Oakland’s second-year Head Coach Jon Gruden of Treu, a third round draft choice in 1997. “We like the progress he has shown as an offen sive lineman, so his role is doubled.” Treu has not disappointed Gruden or Raider Offensive Line Coach Bill Callahan in two 1999 Oakland exhibi tion wins over the St. Louis Rams (18 17) and the Dallas Cowboys (10-3). “He’s been invaluable in that he’s a guy that can come in and play the cen ter position with all of its complexi ties,” Callahan said. “He’s intelligent enough to put us in the right scheme and the right call. Pass protection at this level is the most difficult thing to learn. Adam is improving as he gets stronger.” For Treu, who helped the Huskers win consecutive national champi onships in 1994-1995, the adjustment « The margin for error with Adam is zero. Everything has to be perfect and he works at it diligently ” Frank Ganz Jr. Oakland special teams coach to learning pass protection has been tough, because he played in a run dominated offense in college. Like he did with Huskers, Treu has also dis played the versatility to play any offensive line position in the NFL. “(Former Husker) Coach Tom Osborne is a heck of a man,” Treu said. “You don’t play there until your third year - unless you’re just a phe nomenal athlete. You just hang in there, keep working to get better and wait for your chance.” That approach has allowed Treu to capitalize on his chance as Oakland’s long-snapper. He excelled in that task while at Nebraska as well. “If you’re a backup guy and you can’t play on special teams, your longevity in this league is very short,” said Oakland Special Teams Coach Frank Ganz Jr. “The margin of error for Adam is zero. Everything has to be perfect, and he works at it diligent ly. Adam is somebody who has really improved his long-snapping and short-snapping.” Other positions can survive less than-perfect plays. If a quarterback throws an incomplete pass, there’s always the next play - but an errant snap on a punt or field goal can change the momentum of the game. “On special teams you get one chance only,” Treu said. “If you mess up you hear about it. You don’t want to read about yourself in the paper because it’s usually negative. Sometimes it gets taken for granted, but I accept it.” Treu can snap the ball in 1.3 sec onds on field goals and 1.8 seconds to punter Leo Araguz. Fast snaps prevent blocked kicks. > Both Treu and Aragiiz enter their third season as the Raiders’ long snapping battery. That continuity should help newly acquired place kicker Mike Husted, a free agent acquired during the offseason from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “It’s got to be a whole unit togeth er with Adam, myself and Mike,” Araguz said. “We have to make sure we’re mechanically sound. Adam is getting better every year, and I’m get ting confident with him. You can’t come after us and block the kick because we’re too fast.” Even though Treu, who now lives in Alameda, Calif., has enjoyed life in the NFL, he hasn’t forgotten about the Huskers. Nebraska’s 9-4 season last year may have been great for most pro grams, Treu said, but not for one that won three national championships in the 1990s. It marked the first time since 1968 that the Huskers lost four games in a season. “I didn’t pay a lot of attention last year, but they were pretty raw at the offensive line position,” Treu said. “They were unfortunate to have lots of injuries to running backs and quar terbacks. They didn’t have any conti nuity throughout the whole season, but I think they’ll be a lot better this year.” Vince D’Adamo is a former Daily Nebraskan sports writer (1995-1997), who currently works for the Napa Valley Register in Napa, Calif., and does freelance work for Silver & Black Illustrated. He is a 1997 University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate. uo you need to get on-line or connected to the outside world? Sign-up for Telephone and Internet Service at our booth in the Nebraska Union: Date City UnionEast Union August 19 9 a.m. -11 a.m. 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. August 20 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. 9 a.m. ■ 11 a.m. August 23 8 a.m. -12 p.m. - August 24 -— 8 a.m. -12 p.m. Or visit the Telecommunication Service L Window at 211 Nebraska Hall. Information Services - Telecommunications now offers a rate of 100 PER MINUTE, 24 hours a day, on calls placed within foe United States * 1^* Offer is only available to students using University phone service. T-W" ▼ £h£h "■ POWER from page 13 he faced die No* 1 defense for most of the contest. Solich said he thought Evans and the other I-backS were coming along fine. Many times, Evans and his counterparts had nowhere to go against the Blackshirts, who put eight or nine players near the line of scrimmage on every play. Sam line backer Carlos Polk had the strongest showing: His eight tackles - four for losses - marked a game high. The defense looked especially strong in short yardage situations, stuffing several third- and fourth down plays from the offense, Solich said. Interior linemen Jeremy Slechta and Loran Kaiser had five tackles each. It was a performance Solich said was wanted from a defense he expects to be “excellent.” As usual, a few Blackshirts managed to puncture holes in the solid showing. “Not everything’s perfect,” said Polk, who replaces two-year starter Jay Foreman at Mike linebacker this season. “We’ll go back on the tape and look at some of the stuff we did wrong. We’re Nebraska. We have high standards. If those guys get four yards on a play, even if it’s third-and-10, we’re not happy.” Ihe second- and third-team defenses didn’t fare quite as well, as No. 3 quarterback, Jay Runty, led two touchdown drives and No. 4 quarterback Jeff Perino scored on a 60-yard run late in the scrimmage. The other two touchdowns of the scrimmage came off blocked punts; one was returned by Dion Booker, the other by Clint Finley. Saturday al^o marked die first major scrinimage action for quar terbacks Newcombe and Crouch. Newcombe hit 3 of 4 passes for 27 yards, while Crouch was 1 of 4 for seven yards. One of Crouch’s passes was dropped by fullback Willie Miller. Crouch fared slightly better on the ground, gaining 36 yards on six carries while Newcombe had only 11 yards on eight carries. Newcombe, though, was sacked twice, both times getting swarmed within seconds of the snap. Crouch said he and Newcombe continued to play without any major pressure on them, as the coaches haven’t laid out any specific date or way to name the starter. “It’s the best thing they ever «-— We’re Nebraska. We have high standards. If those guys get four yards on a play, even if it s third-and-10, we re not happy.” Carlos Polk NU linebacker could do,” Crouch said. “The coaches have never said what they’re grading us on exactly - we just work on making the offense better.” Solich said both quarterbacks operated the offense with confi dence. “They both did some good things,” Solich said. “How that all plays out we’ll have to see on the tape.” The scrimmage did not end without a casualty, as third-team center Matt Shook suffered a knee injury, which had not been exam ined but was thought to be an anteri or cruciate ligament tear, Solich said. “We just can’t afford to lose any more guys,” Raiola said of the injury to Shook, a redshirt fresh man. “It just kills our depth.” But beyond the injury, Raiola said, the offense is taking positive steps, especially in a return to the power rushing game. ^ “We don’t always want those receivers out on an island blocking those option plays,” Raiola said. “We want to make that big block ourselves.” | Nebraska will open its season Sept. 4 at Iowa. Notes: ■ The following players were held out of Saturday’s scrimmage with injuries: tackle Adam Julch, elbow; kicker Josh Brow, groin; Will linebacker Randy Stella, ham string; rover Mike Demps, knee. Nose tackle Steve Warren also missed because of a wedding. ■ Possibly the oddest play of the day was made by quarterback Jay Runty, who threw a pass, watched it get tipped in the air, then caught the ball for a six-yard loss. Pettit satisfied with Huskers’ scrimmage PETTIT from page 13 The Reds had the Whites nearly down for the count in both the sec ond and fourth games before the veterans took over and closed out the last two games. Meendering capped a 16-14 sec ond-game rally by scoring the last three points for the White team on three deadly spikes. McWilliams, who played the fourth game for the Reds, came back in the fifth game for the Whites and took over, lead ing them to a 15-4 rout. “The Red team could have won any of the first four games,” Pettit said. “They didn't feel that big game pressure until the third game. That’s something you can’t teach in practice. I think we can learn a lot from this scrimmage.” The closeness of the battle seemed to solidify Pettit^ preseason ' claims that the 1999 squad is one of his deepest ever, complete with what he calls one of his best freshman classes ever. Those freshmen could soon see considerable playing time. Now, Pettit must choose not only his season-opening starters, he also must decide who will play where and how much each player will play. The Huskers open the season Friday against No. 6 Pacific in the State Farm Women’s Volleyball Classic at the Coliseum. “Well, if we were going to start tomorrow, certainly Jill, Nancy and (senior middle blocker) Tonia (Tauke) would definitely be on the court,” Pettit said. “But we’ll be playing a lot of people.” After facing Pacific, Nebraska will then play either No. 1 Penn State or No. 8 Florida on Saturday, which should give the Huskers an early idea where they stand nation ally. < “We will have a lot of things to work on in practice,” Meendering said, forming a tongue-in-cheek grin. “It will be an interesting week.”