Huskers hope to buck season-opening woes
SportsWeekeflW
NU gears
up for final
scrimmage
BY DAVID DIEHL
Today marks the last major
scrimmage Nebraska will engage
in before its Sept 2 season opener
vs. San Jose State.
The scrimmage will pit the
top offensive and defensive units
against the scout team, which will
simulate sets and plays of San Jose
State.
Coach Frank Solich said
Thursday that his team was
"enthusiastic” about the scrim
mage and was crossing days off
the calendar.
“They’re ready for a game
type scrimmage,” Solich said.
“We've worked them very hard.
It’s getting close to game time.
There’s a point in two-a-days
when that first game looks way
down the road. Now it’s getting to
the point where a couple more
days, and ids game week.”
The game will be pretty wide
open, at least as far as play selec
tion and game atmosphere,
Solich said. limiting the offense,
he added, will be a no-contact
policy on the quarterbacks.
The offense, which has been
particularly sluggish, will be a
focus, Solich said.
*T want to see some consisten
cy from diem,” he said. “If you’re
going to have a running game you
can't have it first (down) and 15, or
second and eight”
Some of die offense’s slug
gishness may be because of the
defense it has faced all spring and
fall. Validating the strength of the
defense, two of Nebraska’s
Blackshirts have been named to
preseason award lists given to the
best players at their positions.
Senior linebacker Carlos Polk
and cornerback Keyou Craver
have been selected as preliminary
candidates for the Butkus and Jim
Thorpe awards, respectively.
The Butkus Award will be
awarded Dec. 8 in Orlando after
the list of names is whittled from
70 to three finalists. The Sporting
News and Lindy’s magazine
ranked Polk, a 1999 All-Big 12
pick, as a top-5 candidate for the
trophy after he finished second
on the team with 83 tackles last
year
Craver, a junior, is on Jim
Thorpe’s primary list of 40 comer
backs and safeties. Craver had the
second most pass break-ups, 12,
on last year’s squad. He picked off
three passes, as well.
The Thorpe Award will be
announced Dec. 7 on ESPN.
Red-white
tune-upset
for Saturday
BY BRIAN ttfMSTQPHERSON
There’s a bristle of excitement
at the NU Coliseum these days.
The John Cook era has arrived
and will kick off in full swing
Saturday when the new volleyball
coach watches his .first
Comhusker edition take to the
floor in the annual Red-White
game at 7p.m. in the Coliseum. ✓
And it’s all business for Cook
and his first team heading into the
scrimmage.
“We’re trying to make it as
game-like as possible,’’ Cook said.
“We’re going through our pre
game meal, our pre-game warm
up and our meeting.”
Cook continued with the
thane that this team was already
playing at a higher level than last
year’s unit that bowed out in the
Sweet Sixteen.
“We're very patterned. We’re
organized,” he said.
“We know what spots we’re
supposed to be in, so I feel that we
are probably a couple months
ahead of where we’d normally be
at this time a year ago.”
With the knowledge of his
team’s potential, Cook can’t help
but be excited about the level of
play that will be featured in
Nebraska’s only game scrimmage
before next Friday's home opener
against Northwestern.
“The roles are pretty much
established,” he said. “We know
who’s going to be on the court and
who’s coming off the bench."
“So we’ll just use it to fine
tune and compete in front of peo
ple and make it as competitive as
possible.”
Please see RED on 9
■ Husker soccer team hits the road to
battle tough Minnesota Gophers team
in 2000 season opener on Saturday.
BVANANDMADHAVAN
The Comhusker women’s soccer team
doesn’t have a great opening act.
Despite having a combined 104 wins
and only 22 losses in the last six seasons,
NU only has a 3-3 record in season open
ers. This is despite the fact all six openers
have been at home.
This Saturday, for the first time in the
team’s history, NU will open the season
on the road against the Minnesota
Gophers. Coach John Walker and his
team hope this opener’s outcome will be
better than years past.
“Any time you play on the road, and
vou nlav a aualitv
team, it’s gonna be
hard,” Walker said.
“Just like any road
game, you want to get
a good result.”
While NU has
struggled in openers,
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handled the Gophers.
Nebraska has won both times it has faced
MU, including a 5-0 rout last season in
Lincoln.
According to Walker the Gophers
won’t hand this year’s game to the
Huskers.
Minnesota is led by seven returning
starters, including senior forward Laurie
Seidl, who scored 21 points and earned
All-Big 10 honors last season.
“Seidl is one of their stronger and ath
letic players,” Walker said.
“They have other players like Erin
Holland who also is a great player. Their
team has great experience and are really
well rounded.”
In the past, the Gophers employed an
attacking, very athletic style. But a new
head coach could twist the Gophers game
plan and change their style of play.
Senior captain Christine Gluck looks
forward to the challenge of opening the
2000 season by visiting a team as good as
Minnesota, who is ranked No. 27 in the
NSCAA Umbro preseason poll.
“I think it's a good character builder,
whether on the road or home. We will be
excited and ready to play ” Gluck said.
In preparing for the Gophers, Gluck
believes physical and mental toughness
will be a big factor in the first game of the
season.
Coach Walker is preparing his team to
come out with a high level of intensity.
“You’re trying to prepare for the sea
son. Minnesota is one of the best teams
we play,” Walker said. “We are gonna
come out sharp and be competitive at a
high level.”
Gluck and the rest of the Huskers are
excited about the opener at Minnesota, as
well as the rest of the season.
“Every game we play we definitely are
gonna go at them. It's gonna be high pres
sure all over the field,” Gluck said.
Paige Phillips
returns after
two surgeries
BY^AIMESUHR
Nebraska soccer player Paige Phillips’ scarred
left knee still aches and swells but reminds her of
how far she’s come.
IWo years ago, she accepted a scholarship to
one of the top programs in the country and was
returning for her senior year at Millard North High
School.
> Now, after two years filled with injury, recovery
and re-injury, Phillips will step on the field in a
meaningful game for the first time in a long time.
It has been two, long years.
“It was hard knowing I couldn’t play,” she said.
MI knew what I could do, but I wasn’t able to.”
IWo games into that senior season, Phillips
blew out her ACL and tore cartilage in her knee.
Lying on the grass, clutching her knee, all
Phillips could think about was soccer.
"I was crushed,” Phillips said. “Soccer is such a
big part of my life, and in one second it was gone.”
After meeting with doctors, Phillips was told
the rehabilitation process would take six months.
Phillips had to prove them wrong.
Nebraska Coach John Walker tpld Phillips her
scholarship would be waiting for her when she
stepped on campus.
Walker, who has had several knee operations,
told Phillips to take all the time she needed to
rehabilitate the knee. Phillips promised him she’d
be back by the tim^fall practice began. Walker
quickly dismissed her prediction.
Phillips had to prove him wrong.
During her rehabilitation, the midfielder
would spend two hours a day in the weight room
trying to regain her full range of motion and
strengthening her quadriceps.
Phillips said her sister Megan Phillips helped
her. Coincidentally, the elder Phillips was a physi
cal therapist who had also tom her ACL
Four months later, Phillips was cleared by doc
tors to play - two months earlier than previously
believed.
Phillips began practicing again, but something
was wrong. Her knee was properly healed, but she
wasn’t the same player.
Please see PHILLIPS on 9
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PaigePhWps
hash|dtwo
major surgeries
on her left bee.
After two yean
PhMps returns
to the field
Kansas State looks for QB to lead team past Huskers
■Incumbent starter Beasley
and newcomer Ell Roberson
engage in quarterback battle.
BY JOSHUA CAMENZIND
Jonathan Beasley has a great
deal of pressure on his shoul
ders these days.
The Kansas State senior is
entering his second season as
the Wildcats’ starting quarter
back and, as a co-captain, will
be looked upon to provide the
leadership expected to help No.
8 KSU contend for a national
championship.
While a win over Nebraska in
Manhattan, a Big 12 Conference
championship and a berth in
the Orange Bowl are in the sights
of the Glendale, Ariz., native,
one man might hamper those
plans.
Ell Roberson.
Roberson is a redshirt fresh
man, regarded by many around
Manhattan to be the next great
Wildcat quarterback.
KSU Coach Bill Snyder
admits that Roberson is the
future of Wildcat football. But
where does that leave Beasley?
“Jonathan came out of the
spring as the No. 1 and will enter
fall camp as the No. I,” said
Snyder, whose team opens the
season Saturday against Iowa in
Kansas City.
"In all honesty, the gap was
closed, and, nevertheless
Jonathan remains our No. 1
quarterback.”
Snyder did hint that all
efforts would be made to find
playing time for Roberson, who
dazzled fans in the spring game
with 186 yards and three touch
downs on just 13 carries.
So how does all of this make
Beasley - the Holiday Bowl MVP
who led KSU to a 11 -1 record last
season-feel?
"It doesn’t bother me,”
Beasley said. "It is just one of
those things that makes a team
better - knowing that they have
two quality quarterbacks, and if
one goes down - they won’t miss
a beat.”
The irony of the matter is
that Beasley once found himself
in Roberson’s shoes.
"It has been kind of like a
quarterback controversy since I
have been here,” he said.
Beasley arrived in
Manhattan in 1996 and played
in eight games as a true fresh
man, followed by five as a soph
omore.
He redshirted in ’98 before
gaining the starting spot last
season.
The quarterback put up
some big numbers -1,805 yards
passing for a 20.1 yard average -
but was unable to push KSU
past Nebraska and into a Bowl
Championship Series game.
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Snyder said it was unfair to
judge Beasley because the sen
ior found himself sandwiched in
between arguably the greatest
Wildcat of all-time, Michael
Bishop and Roberson. This,
however, does not detract from
what Beasley is capable of
doing, Snyder said.
"He has the experience with
in our program and the knowl
edge of the understanding of the
nuances that are present," he
said.
“You look at Jonathan and
say, ‘He's not as athletic as the
other two,' and that is accurate.
But Jonathan, in his own right, is
MfeWanen/DN
Kansas State wideout Quincy Morgan hopes ti elude more Husker defenders this
year in their Nov. 11 showdown in Manhattan.
a great athlete.”
Great athletes will surround
whoever takes the reins as KSU’s
quarterback. David Allen, a sen
ior who is one of the most dan
gerous punt returners in the
nation, is expected to start at
running back.
Allen will be paired with two
deadly wide receivers - junior
Aaron Lockett and senior
Quincy Morgan. Morgan aver
aged 24 yards per catch last sea
son and Lockett has 1,459 yards
receiving in two seasons.
Those two, combined with
Allen, who needs 172 yards and
one touchdown on punt returns
to break both career NCAA
marks, make for an explosive
attack that should put up points.
The defense should be
stingy as usual, returning seven
starters from a squad that was
second in the nation in 1999.
Strength will be found at every
position.
The defensive backfield
returns three starters from a
group that ranked No. 1 in pass
ing efficiency in the nation and
intercepted 16 passes.
“Returning seven of the top
eight players could allow this
group to be as effective, or more
so, than last year,” Snyder said.