to regroup
Team still on the hunt for quarterback, eight starters
By Brandon Schulte
Staff uniter
An 8-4 mark and a top-25 finish
would satisfy most Division I pro
grams.
But most programs don’t come
from Texas, where, as seemingly
everything else is, football is larger
than life. ^
So Texas A&M and Coach R.C.
Slocum must regroup from a disap
pointing season that included a trip
to the Alamo Bowl.
“We have a lot to get done this
spring,” said Slocum, the winningest
coach in Aggie history with 102 vic
tories. “I’m excited about getting
started.”
Whether he is excited about his
team’s prospects come next
September, when A&M opens at
Notre Dame, could come down to
how confident he is in a young quar
terback. The jpb is up for grabs this
spring with sophomores Mark Farris
and Vance Smith and redshirt fresh
man Colby Freeman battling for the
position.
Besides quarterback, the Aggies
have to replace eight starters gone
from a year ago (five on offense and
three on defense). And punter Shane
^ We have a lot to
get done this
spring.”
R.C. Slocum
Texas A&M coach
Lechler, who is the all-time leading
punter in NCAA history, also has
graduated.
Slocum is confident he and his
staff can find more than adequate
replacements.
“The number one question will
be at the quarterback position,”
Slocum said. “We have three scholar
ship players who will compete for the
job. It should be very competitive as
each of the three has ability.
“But I think the competition at
each of our positions should be
intense this spring. The tailback posi
tion should also be interesting with
several players competing for that
job. Filling holes along the offensive
line and in the secondary are also pri
orities.”
While many players on the field
will be the same, the coaching sjaff
has been shaken up.
Former San Francisco 49ers
in review_
(pHCOACH: RC Slocum 1
RECORD: 8-4 overall, 5-3 Big 12
OFFENSE: Multiple
DEFENSE: 3-4
OUTLOOK: A&M badly needs a
quarterback, though Randy McCown
didn’t exactly resemble filet mignon. A
speed back to complement Ja’Mar
Toombs would be good as well. Toombs,
as the feature back, gives A&M a power
game. Maybe the defense can shore up
die rest.
Coach Larry Kirksey will be the new
assistant coach and wide receivers
coach. Inside Linebacker Coach and
Special Teams Coordinator Shawn
Slocum returns to A&M from
Southern California.
Running Back Coach Pete
Hoener comes to the Aggies from
Iowa State, where he was the
Cyclones offensive coordinator. And
Offensive Coordinator Steve
Kragthorpe assumes the duties of
Quarterback Coach Ray Dorr, who is
battling Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Slocum said he’s been encour
aged by his team through two weeks
of practice.
“I was pleased with the enthusi
asm,” Slocum said. “We’ve had good
off-season workouts, and it’s carried
over.”
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Childress: Huskers
need win tonight
■ After Baylor upset,
Huskers need offense to
overcome 3-4 streak.
From staff reports
After being swept by Baylor
over the weekend, the Nebraska
bai&ball team will try to regain the
winning feeling tonight.
The Cornhuskers (18-11) will
face Division II Northwest
Missouri State (13-19) tonight at 6
at Buck Beltzer Stadium.
NU Pitching Coach Rob
Childress said the game is a must
win for the Huskers.
“We’ve lost three of our last four
games, and we really need to win,”
Childress said. “We need to have a
good day on the mound, in the field
and offensively.”
Childress said most of the
starters will play tonight, but if the
Huskers open up a big lead, some
reserves could see action.
“We’ll go with our best lineup,”
he said. “We need to get some guys
going offensively.”
^ We’ll go with
our best line-up.
We need to get
some guys going
offensively.’’
Rob Childress
NU pitching coach
Pitchers who didn t get much
work this weekend will throw
tonight.
Sophomore Dave Schneider
will be the starting pitcher.
Schneider is 0-1 on the season with
a 4.50 ERA in four innings of work.
Childress said Northwest
Missouri State traditionally has a
strong program, but he did not know
any specifics about this year’s team.
“I’m sure they’ll be just as hun
gry to win as we will,” he said. “But
we hope we’ll be able to get back
the feeling of scoring some runs and
winning some games.”
Revelle: Pitcher sets
competitive tone
VOSS from page 16__
she said.
Voss said she doesn’t feel as
though she has peaked as an athlete,
but she is a different pitcher now than
she was two years ago.
As her team advanced further
into the 1998 season, she began to
feel the effects of being the Huskers’
primary pitcher.
During the Big 12 Championship
game against Texas Tech, Voss lost
some of her invincibility, as her arm
that had won the Huskers so many
games began to falter.
In that game, Voss said she felt
something pop in her shoulder dur
ing one pitch and had a funny feeling
throughout her arm.
“It was really scary,” she said. “I
had always Seen able to depend on
my physical well-being.”
Neither Rdvelle nor NU Assistant
Coach Lorf Sippel, a former All
American pitcher herself, saw it
coming.
“She was so strong,” Sippel said.
“She had us fooled.”
Said Revelle: “Some of her pitch
es were better when she was
fatigued.”
But Voss kept pitching. She did
n’t see a doctor until the end of the
1998 season.
“I just took a bunch of ibuprofen
before the games/’ she said.
Voss was flooded with awards
following that year, but she also was
filled with the fear of not knowing if
she would be able to pitch again.
Ligaments in her shoulder were
stretched out, an obvious sign of
overuse, she said.
Voss went through six weeks of
rehabilitation, maBg two weeks
without any pitchmffshe said.Voss
said she has no regrets, even though
things didn’t turn out as she had
planned.
“When I came to college, I
thought I’d be in a pitching rotation,”
she said. “That’s a given.”
Maybe it’s a given, but not during
Voss’ freshman and sophomore
years. There was no rotation - there
was only Voss.
™ Some days it
felt like my arm
weighed 80
pounds. Those
days were tough.”
Jenny Voss
NU softball pitcher
Sippel said two pitchers were
recruited for Voss’ freshman year:
Voss committed, and the other didn’t.
And during Voss’ sophomore
year, the other available pitcher was
out because of academic ineligibility,
Revellesaid.
The wear and tear on Voss’ arm
was evidenther junior season, as her
record was 23-1L
She pitched 229 innings, which
was still good enough to place her
fourth in the record books. She
already occupied the first and second
slots.
“Some days it felt like my arm
weighed 80 pounds,” she said.
“Those days were tough.”
Voss’ pitches lost velocity and
accuracy, and she found.herself
behind in counts, Sippel said.
Her junior year was different,
however, because she had more help
on the mound.
Leigh Ann Walker, from Tucson,
Ariz., spent her freshman year pitch
ing alongside the recovering Voss.
Walker, now a sophomore, said
she doesn’t feel as though she’s Voss’
successor.
“I never thought of it as me
against Jenny,” she said. “I was just
excited to play in such a good pro
gram.”
Recovering from her injury was a
low point in her pitching career, Voss
said.
“I had to get my mind right to
start recovering,” she said. “Once I
stopped focusing on what I didn’t
have, I began to pitch better.”
Ptay by play you just can’t beat \
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