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Solidi and staff hit recruiting trail
BY SEAN CALLAHAN
With eight solid and two soft com
mitments and two soft commitments,
the Nebraska football team has already
filled some of its primary needs in the
2001 recruiting class.
Probably the biggest concern com
ing into recruiting was finding a quar
terback.
Last year, the Comhuskers lost out
on San Antonio Roosevelt signal caller
Carlyle Holiday.
Holiday opted to play for Notre
Dame despite the fact the Irish already
had commitments from three other
top-ranked quarterbacks.
Currently Holiday finds himself sec
ond on the depth charts behind fresh
man standout Matt LoVecchio.
After missing out on Holiday, the
Huskers wasted no time finding a pair
of talented local quarterbacks.
Quarterbacks ^
Mike McLaughlin, out of Millard
North - a.k.a. “quarterback high” - com
mitted to NU back in April. The 6-foot
175-pound option play caller is ranked
No. 22 by Rivals.com and has a 40-yard
dash time of 4.5 seconds.
McLaughlin carries the torch as
being the next great quarterback to
come from Fred Petito's quarterback
rich Mustang program.
Comparisons are already being
made to former Millard North quarter
backs Eric Crouch and Todd Doxson.
“The similarities are incredible,”
Petito said. “Eric comes back and has
taught Mike a lot. They take snaps
together all the time.”
A couple of months after getting
McLaughlin, NU crossed the Missouri
River and received a commitment from
Council Bluffs St. Albert quarterback
Mike Stuntz.
At 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds, Stuntz
is ranked No. 31 as a quarterback, but
many experts say he also could play
safety.
Stuntz also has 4.5-second speed in
the 40 and chose Nebraska over Iowa
State, Iowa and Texas A&M.
"I fit the system," Stuntz said. "They
have always been up there at the top, so
it made the decision that much easier.”
The one other quarterback the
Huskers are in the running for is
Sacramento (Calif.) City College's
Seneca Wallace.
Wallace is ranked as the top junior
college quarterback in the nation.
Many compare him to Virginia Tech's
Michael Vick.
Wallace passed for 1,300 yards and
nine touch
downs in four
games and
also has blaz
ing 4.3 speed
to go with his
arm. He is
receiving
attention
from
Nebraska,
Arizona and
Washington. -——-...... ■.
Man Lonowski/DN
Running Backs/Receivers
Right now, this is an area of concern
for the Huskers.
NU loses wingbacks Bobby
Newcombe and John Gibson, split end
Matt Davison, fullback Willie Miller and
I-Backs Correll Buckhalter and Dan
Alexander to graduation this season.
So far, the Huskers are in the run
ning for two highly regarded running
backs.
Clarendon, Ark., running back
Cedric Houston and East St. Louis, 111.,
tailback Damien Nash list Nebraska as
Please see RECRUITING on 9
Huskers too quick
for visiting Eagles
BY BRIAN CHRK5T0PHERS0N
Nebraska used a suffocating
defense along with a highlight
reel, dunk-filled offensive attack
to beat Winthrop 65-44 Monday
night before 7,191 fans at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
The Cornhuskers relied on
inside senior center Kimani
Ffriend, who led scorers with 19
points and nine rebounds.
Ffriend also blocked seven shots
and intimidated countless other
Eagle attempts into misses.
Ffriend didn’t seem to care
about those statistics.
“This is terrible,” Ffriend said
as he looked over the statistic
sheet. “I had four turnovers (and)
went three out of 10 at the line.
That’s something I need to go to
the gym and work on. It's back to
the drawing board on that one.”
However, Ffriend was hardly
the lone culprit in NU’s free -
throw shooting adventure. The
basket seemed to be moving for
all Huskers who toed the stripe.
NU went seven for 22 for the
game.
“We’re going to fire the free
throw coach tomorrow,” Collier
said. “That's me.”
Eventually, Ffriend did look
past his few bad moments and
gave himself some credit
“There were some plusses,”
Ffriend said. “I blocked shots. I
changed a lot of shots.”
The rest of the Huskers also
turned up the defensive pres
sure, knowing that Ffriend had a
strong guard on the net. NU held
the Eagles to 28 percent shoot
incr.
Winthrop scored just 23
points in the first half. The Eagles
were lucky to be down by only 10
at the half with nine of the first
half points coming from the free
throwline.
Nebraska ran away with the
game in the second half, holding
Winthrop to only 21 points and
ending the game on a 12-2 run.
“We’re trying to find that fine
Nebraska 65
Winthrop 44
line between being real aggres
sive without fouling,” Collier said
of his defense.
Equally as
impressive as For more
Nebraska’s stories on
defense is the Monday's men's
Husker offense, . . A M
which shot 56 tostob,n
percent from the U*11***** •
field, led by pope 9
Ffriend and sen
ior guard Cookie
Belcher’s 15 points.
“It sure bails out a lot of
things, including the free throw
line,” Collier said of the Huskers’
high shooting percentage. “It’s
going to be hard to contain this
team if that continues.”
Nebraska claimed such a
high shooting percentage thanks
in large part to a 44-16 scoring
advantage in the paint with
many Nebraska points coming
off dunks.
“To dunk on somebody is
one of the greatest feelings,"
Belcher said. “You get out there
and see the bench going crazy for
a play that did, and it just moti
vates you to play harder and get
another one."
The Comhuskers are now 2-1
for the season. Winthrop, a team
that fell just five points short to
No. 7 North Carolina in its open
er, dropped to 3-3.
Husker Notes:
NU’s Kevin Augustine,
expected to handle point guard
duties for the Huskers this sea
son, saw his first action of the
season.
It wasn’t a good debut.
Augustine, hobbled by a back
injury in the preseason, played
only two minutes before pulling
a groin muscle.
NU Coach Barry Collier said
the point guard will be evaluated
on a day-to-day basis.
Scott McOurg/DN
Nebraska center Kimani Ffriend dunks on a fast break against Winthrop on Monday night at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Ffriend led the Huskers in points with 19 and had 7
of the team's blocked shots.
Hitter Pilakowski may miss NCAA opener Cepero wins Big 12
NU left-side hit
ter Laura
Pilakowskiis
questionable for
Friday's NCAA
Tournament
opener against
Princeton
because she's
recovering from
an emergency
appendectomy
performed Nov.
21.
.
j
BY SEAN CALLAHAN
Laura Pilakowski virtually came out of nowhere onto the college vol
leyball scene.
Now the sophomore from Columbus and Coach John Cook are left
uncertain on the All-American candidate’s status for Friday’s 7:30 p.m.
match with Princeton.
Pilakowski, who leads the top-ranked Cornhuskers in kills, was
rushed to the hospital eight days ago and underwent emergency appen
dectomy surgery Nov. 21.
The left-side hitter has missed the Huskers’ last two matches, and
Cook said he hasn’t decided if she will see action this weekend.
“Today, Laura jogged around the gym real light,” Cook said. "We’ll see
how she’s doing tomorrow. Our plan each day is to increase her work
outs.”
Pilakowski’s surgery was performed by Dr. Michael Norris. Earlier this
year, he performed the same surgery on NU defensive tackle Loran
Kaiser.
Kaiser played in the Husker’s season opener 10 days later against San
Jose State.
Cook said Norris gave Pilakowski a one- to two-week window.
“He didn’t give a specific definition of when she'd be back,” Cook said.
“He just said one or two weeks.”
Last season, Pilakowski didn’t even suit up for the tournament
because teams were only allowed to dress 12 players.
Cook said that ruling has changed to 15 this year, but it is a concern to
him because Pilakowski doesn’t have any NCAA tournament experience.
“It would be real nice to get her in this weekend,” Cook said. “As far as
starting her, we’ll just have to see how she practices the next couple of
days.”
Pilakowski was unable to comment on her situation as Cook has
barred underclassmen from talking to the media during the week.
I
player of the year
BY SEAN CALLAHAN
There was little doubt that a
Nebraska player would receive
the Big 12 Player of the Year hon
ors. The question was which one.
The answer: Greichaly Cepero.
“To me, it was a very difficult
decision on who should have
been player of the year, and I
think it could have gone to four
or five of our players,” Coach
John Cook said.
Cepero is the only setter to
rank in the top 20 in four differ
ent Big 12 categories. She ranks
in the top 20 in hitting percent
age, assists per game, blocks per
game and service aces.
“I feel honored,” she said. “It
is a big accomplishment: there
are so many great players in the
conference.”
Cepero also is the only setter
to lead her team in kills in a
match (11 vs. Texas Tech). She
also was the first setter to win
Player of the Week honors in the
,'N
7 am happy for
Greichaly But ~~
anytime your setter
wins player of the
year, it is really a
team award.”
John Cook
NU volleyball coach
conference.
Despite her statistics and the
recognition she has received this
year, the award still caught
Cepero off guard.
“It did (surprise me),” Cepero
said. “With me being a sopho
more, I didn’t think that it would
happen.”
The Husker setter won the
honor while helping Nebraska to
a perfect record, which the
Please see CEPERO on 9
~i H
