NateWagner/DN
Freshman Rush End Benard Thomas concentrates on drills at the beginning of prac
tice Tuesday. Coach Frank Solid) said Thomas' athletic ability and intensity on the
field won him the chance to show his stuff on defense against Iowa last Saturday.
Freshman a presence
at rush end for Huskers
THOMAS from page 9
Depends like an 80-year-old man,
and you’re going to go crying to
your momma tafidng about how
you don’t want to play football
anymore.
“Our defensive playbook
looks like a telephone book. All
our veterans seem like they’re
running at 4.3-speed, and you
can’t keep up with them. The tight
ends are too big to block; they
smash me around. The offensive
linemen are killing me. But off the
field, I know it’s making me bet
ter.”
That kind of attitude, Thomas’
emergence in practice this fall
and the not-so-emerging play of
Demoine Adams, Chris Kelsay
and Justin Smith at the left end
spot, had NU coaches sending
Thomas on the field during the
Huskers' first defensive series
against Iowa Saturday.
“His athletic ability got him
onto the field,” Coach Frank
Solich said. “What makes him
dangerous is his size; he’s got
excellent strength for a very young
player, and he plays at a level that
is high in intensity.
“Every time the ball is
snapped, he’s one of those players
that just automatically plays
things out. He doesn’t have to be
driven to play it out.”
Playing runningback and
linebacker in addition to defen
sive end at St Francis High School
in East Palo Alto, Calif., may have
helped the quick move from the
scout team locker room to varsity
locker room.
“Benard has great football
instincts,” Rush Ends Coach
Nelson Barnes said. “His playing
on both sides of the ball has
helped him. He’s probably been in
those positions where he’s been
pursued, and knowing how he
tried to escape, now he’s the pur
suer.”
He's pursued getting on the
field with little reserve. Thomas
admitted he’s not the redshirt
type. He just hasn’t been the sit
ting-around type ever, period.
It’s easy to tell, with his sharp
tongue, loud inflection, jittery
movements and ear-to-ear grin.
"I was a dirty, goofy little boy,”
Thomas said. "Always running
around with a snotty little nose.
Always fighting and banging on
something. Always fidgeting. I
gave teachers and parents a tough
time.”
Perhaps Thomas’ outgoing
tendencies come from his child
hood. The SuperPrep All
American grew up fli the poverty
stricken San Francisco Bay area
suburb of East Palo Alto, which
wasn’t exactly Compton, but not
exactly the bourgeois haven of
neighboring Palo Alto.
“There were some thugs here
and there,” Thomas said. “If you
didn’t run your mouth, you were
okay, but you always had to be
ready to fight. I never got into
much trouble in high school. I
was always chilling. I never trash
talked anybody. I was just always
talking about something cool.”
Which is probably part of the
reason Thomas has made such an
impact in such a short time at
NU. But he said he doesn’t want
people to expect him to be like
past golden NU rush ends Trev
Alberts, Jared Tomich and Grant
wistrom.
“My main thing is trying to
bring something new to this
game,” Thomas said, “a different
kind of speed pass rush thing.
Make up something new. I’ve got
to get crunked.”
Crunked?
“Yeah, crunked. You gotta get
juiced. You gotta get amped,
whatever it takes.”
If there’s anyone who has ever
been “crunked” to be a true fresh
man for Nebraska, Thomas is the
man.
"I’m living. You can’t ask for
much more. I’m just happy to be
at Nebraska - the number one
team in the nation. I’m about to
go practice for the number one
team in the nation!
"I think about that a lot. The
number one team in the nation
called my house, talked to my par
ents, asked me to go to school and
play with the best. Man, you know
you’re doing something right
when they’re telling you that”
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Former Husker Lindland wins silver
BY DAVID DIEHL
After a three-month appeals
battle and the uncertainty of his
position on the U.S. Greco
Roman Wrestling team, Matt
Lindland has put his mark on
Nebraska wrestling history.
Lindland, a 1993 Big Eight
champion for Nebraska, captured
an Olympic silver medal in the
167.5-pound division in Greco
Roman wrestling Tuesday morn
ing. The second-place finish is the
highest ever for a former or cur
rent Nebraska wrestler. Itoo other
former Husker wrestlers earned
bronze medals. The last bronze
was Bill Scherr’s in 1988.
Lindland, an assistant coach
on last year’s NU wrestling team,
fell to Russia’s Mourat Kardanov,
3-0 in the gold medal match after
an improbable run to the medal
rounds.
The former NU wrestler nearly
missed going to the Olympics
altogether. He originally lost in the
finals of the Olympic qualifying
tournament.
He appealed the decision and
gained the right to a rematch,
which he won. Only after another
series of appeals and ultimately a
decision by the Supreme Court
was Lindland allowed on the
Olympic team.
Despite the amazing events
surrounding his getting to Sydney,
and despite the fact that he wasn’t
a pre-tournament favorite,
Lindland said he wasn’t aiming for
silver at all. Gold was all that was
on hi? mind.
“I’m happy with what I got,”
said Lindland, 30. “I’m not going
to be upset about it. You can’t do
anything about it now so I have to
be happy with it”
Lindland fell behind early in
the match with Kardanov and had
a chance to score points late, but
the sweaty conditions made a
takedown hard, he said.
“If I had gotten a takedown
earlier,” Lindland said, "it might
have gone the other way and
ended differently. He just wrestled
a good match.”
Lindland had never wrestled
Kardanov before the gold-medal
match, but it didn’t create a prob
lem, he said. He had watched film
of the Russian before on film.
“I knew he was good,”
Lindland said. "I know all the
Russians are damn tough.”
Overcoming all the pomp and
circumstance of the Olympics
could have been tough. But
Lindland said there was not a
chance of him getting lost in the
atmosphere. It was “just another
tournament" to him, he said.
“I was here to get a medal,”
Lindland said, "and I did. It wasn’t
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the color I wanted, though. But I
wasn’t here for the event of the
whole thing.”
Despite winning that silver
medal and marking his place in
one of the most ancient sports,
other things mean more to
Lindland.
Things such as seeing his chil
dren experience Australia and the
Olympics meant the most to him.
"Having my wife and kids here
was the best part about it,” said
Lindland, who, along with his
wife, has two kids, James, 8, and
Robin, 6. “I wanted to compete,
and I wanted them to have a great
time and go to events and meet
the athletes. It's something kids
just don't get to do.”
Craver front,
center for NU
CRAVER from page 10_
Bohl said plays of that cal
iber are expected from a player
like Craver.
“Some guys have that nature
to them,” he said. “He is an
awfully athletic guy, and he fits
the bill."
And with his desire, Craver
said he will not disappoint.
“I’ve never wanted to settle
for less,” he said.
“I don’t want to just settle for
being a blackshirt. I want to
make sure that I make a mark
on my name.”
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