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.”
