Husker family welcomes
new teammates to UNL
RECRUITS from page 12
The group of defensive backs
is led by Danieal Manning, a 6
foot, 180-pound cornerback
from Corsicana, Texas. The
speedster runs a 4.3 second 40
yard dash and was a second
team All-Texas selection.
With the secondary the
Huskers possess, Solich said he
believes he has die team speed
and size combinations that are
needed in college football today.
“If you look at the teams we
play, they all have speed. We
want to match that speed, or we
want to be faster,” he said.
Addressing what has become
one of the main selling tools for
Solich and his staff, the coach
said the family atmosphere
Nebraska offers to its players
seems to be a positive men
tioned among its new signees.
“I think if there’s been one
recurring theme that we get from
recruits, it’s the theme of close
ness that exists among our play
ers,” Solich said. "The word fam
ily has been used a lot by
recruits.”
Jennifer Lund/DN
Goadi Frank Sokh announces Nebraska's latest footbalrecniits in a press conference
Wednesday afternoon. Eighteen signees were revealed in the Comhuskers'2001 recruit
ing dass.
Huskers gain more
than their fair share
CALLAHAN from page 12
rivalslOO.com, chose to become a
Hawkeye after once saying, "I
almost gave Coach Solich my
commitment right there.”
Theatrics aside, and despite
die losses of a few key players, this
is Solich’s top recruiting class.
You can't win them all, but
Nebraska won more than their fair
share of recruiting battles. On
paper, this is a top-10 class. In the
Big 12, they’re third right behind
Oklahoma and Texas.
But of all the recruiting gurus,
only the future knows how good
this newest class of Huskers will
be, and that goes for any class.
Look at Mack Brown and Texas - a
history of great recruits and aver
age teams.
For this group of 18 players, no
one knows what the future holds.
While the Huskers appear to have
an excellent class now, check back
in four years.
Then we’ll really know.
The Zoo Bor Loves
the Bel-Aires and
They are Playing
This Thursday,
Friday, and
Saturday Night!
Pregnant Too Soon?
No matter your situation, if you’re
experiencing an unplanned pregnancy,
you have choices to make.
The Nebraska Children’s Home Society
can help you make the best decisions for
you and your baby - without obligations.
To speak with us confidentially,
please cootact us.
Pregnancy Hotline:
(800) 390.6754
(402)483.7879 • wwwjiehs.org
4700 Valley Road • Lincoln, NE 68510
2001 sees new quarterbacks
■MikeMcLaughlin and Mike
Stuntzfill Nebraska's need for
a young signal alter.
BY SEAN CALLAHAN
Coming up empty in the two
of the last three recruiting classes,
Nebraska’s goal during the 2001
recruiting season was clear - quar
terbacks.
Coach Frank Solich said he
feels confident he’s met that need
by signing Millard North's Mike
McLaughlin and Council Bluffs St
Albert’s Mike Stuntz. Both are
option quarterbacks, molded to fit
the Nebraska system.
NU was in dire need of a fresh
signal caller because past recruit
ing classes didn’t have any.
Sophomore-to-be Jammal Lord
was die only scholarship quarter
back to sign with the Huskers
since Eric Crouch and Bobby
Newcombe in 1997.
“It was something we were
determined to do,” Solich said.
“The fact that both of those guys
we feel can fit into our system very
well made us feel much more
comfortable on where we were at
with die depth at die quarterback
position and really with die future
for Nebraska in terms of the quar
terback position.”
For McLaughlin, the road
looks pretty similar to the one his
new teammate and fellow Millard
North graduate, Crouch, took.
Both quarterbacks were led in
high school by a coach known for
his mastery of the option offense,
FredPetito.
In Petito’s tenure with the
Mustangs, he has made his pro
gram a major stepping-stone for
creating some of the best option
quarterbacks in Nebraska high
school history.
McLaughlin said Petito has
been the biggest factor in develop
ing his game.
“He’s helped me understand
the option game and taught me
everything I know on option foot
ball/'he said.
In becoming a Nebraska quar
terback from Millard North,
McLaughlin said he knows how
much pressure comes with it
The expectations that
McLaughlin, Crouch and other
Mustang quarterbacks, such as
Todd Doxzon, who played at Iowa
State and with the Miami
Dolphins, are hard to ignore,
Petito said.
“The expectations themselves
for Nebraska football are off the
scale,” Petito said. “There’s a pat
tern that’s been developed for the
Millard North quarterbacks, and if
that’s the degree of excellence it
has, we’re willing to stay with it
“Mike sure did his part in it”
Just across the Missouri River
at Lewis Central High School is
another quarterback similar to
McLaughlin.
Stuntz's choice came down to
playing a position other than
quarterback at another school or
playing the position he loves at
Nebraska, he said.
But he does have experience
at different spots on the gridiron.
Stuntz started his career as a wide
receiver his sophomore year and
made the switch to quarterback
the next. He also saw time as a
defensive back and a kick returner.
"I’d move somewhere else if I
had to, but I feel pretty confident
that quarterback is the position for
me at Nebraska,” Stuntz said. “It’s
something I've always wanted to
do, and it’s why I came to
Nebraska.”
With a 6-foot-2,185-pound
frame and the skills that led his
team to a 12-1 record, Stuntz looks
to have just as much of a chance to
make an early impact at Nebraska
as his new classmate
The fact that Nebraska signed
two quarterbacks doesn’t even
bother Stuntz, he said. He looks at
it as something that will actually
help his development as a quar
terback.
“We’ll do each other real good
I’m sure,” Stuntz, a lefty, said. “The
competition makes everyone bet
ter, so we’ll just have to wait and
see how things turn out”
While comparisons float
equating McLaughlin to Crouch,
Stuntz said he doesn’t want any
comparisons to become extra
baggage at NU.
“I tried to avoid making com
parisons to other people,” Stuntz
said, “mainly for the reason that if
I'm not that person. I don’t want
anyone to keep expectations of
somebody else on me. So hopeful
ly, I’ll do my own filing.”
*V&entino& introduces
StuJentl
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Thursdays 7-11 & Sundays 9-Close
ed Center programming is
sported by the Friends of lied
ndgrams from the Natural
ndownent for the Arts, a federal
gervy Heartland Aits Fund, feant
supportedty Arts Mtferast and
Ad-Amenca Arts Afcnce; and
etoraska Arts CoundAI events
i the Lied Center are made passe
le tw the Lied Performance Kind
ihicn has been estaUbhedh
temory of Ernst F. lied and his
arents, Ernst M. and Ida K. Lied
B^Unwersityof
^^Nehraska-Lincoln
n equal opportirity educator
nd employer sMth a compcehert
m plan tor dtasitjf.
CincfereCCa
St. (Petersburg State Ice (Ballet
Imagine the Lied Center stage transformed
into a grand skating paradise. Thirty-five
champion ice dancers will perform the
beloved fairy tale, Cinderella.
Friday, February 16,2001
7:30pm
Saturday, February 17,2001
2:00pm (matinee) 7:30pm
Lied Center for Performing Arts
Lincoln, Nebraska
Tickets: (402) 472-4747 or (800) 432-3231
Box Office: 11:00am - 5:30pm M-F
www.liedcenter.org
Learn it. Love it. Live it.Dailyneb.com
Line recruits
some of best
in NU history
TITUS from page 12
Iowa State and Tennessee
were the other schools Adams
toyed with, hanging his talents in
front of their noses. The talents,
according to his high school
coach, Tom Jaworski, include
excellent instincts, amazing
mobility and a knack to get to die
football.
Joining Adams as defensive
line recruits are LeKevin Smith
from Macon, Ga., and Jared
Helming from Springfield, Mo.,
making the position one of the
strongest in NU’s 2001 class.
Helming, Missouri’s player of
the year and a four-year starter in
its largest class, is ranked as the
lO^-best defensive tackle by
rivalslOO.com. Adams and Smith
are ranked 13th and 14th respec
tively at the position.
Solich said in all his years at
NU, he couldn't remember a bet
ter package of line recruits.
“But I’ve only been here 22
years," Solich joked. “I can’t
remember a better group of line
man coming in in terms of size,
speed and strength."
Adams represents all three of
those categories, especially in his
mobility. Asked about his line
man’s 40-yard dash time,
Jaworski said, “I don't know, but
it's fast”
Adams’40-time is listed at 4.8
seconds, not bad for 285 pounds.
At Nebraska’s football camp,
Adams showed the coaches just
how agile he could be during flag
football scrimmages.
“Most guys like Titus would
line up and protect the quarter
back,” Solich said. “But Titus
would run post patterns.”
The speed that let him run
receiver routes at camps also let
him run over offensive lineman
and alter entire offensive game
plans his last two years in high
school. Fred Petito, the coach at
Omaha’s Millard North High
School who has seen such talents
such as current NU players Eric
Crouch and Judd Davies, said
Adams has the ability to “really
screw a game up.”
“You’d better have someone
going against him that’s very
competent and a battler,” Petito
said. "The way he plays he'll take
your will because he's so talent
ed.”
rvucuus siiuuiu oe auie 10 put
that skill to use as soon as he's
earned the required 17 ACT score
to be eligible his freshman year
and is awaiting his final semester
grades to finalize his eligibility.
He is the third Parade All
American from the storied tradi
tion of Creighton Prep. Tim
Ridder and Junior Bryant, both of
whom are in the NFL, are the
others. Adams, Jaworski said,
equals those two in talent and
maybe surpasses them in speed.
“He's got great instinct, and
he listens well,’’ Jaworski said.
“He’s so coachable, he’s smart.
There’s no doubt in my mind
he'll be successful”
□□□□□□□□
□(MCAsosB
LJ 16th a”0” st. LJ
M THURSDAY ^
I—COLLEGE NIGHT-j
□ i9AwN.w,vE«a
□ DJ ROMEO □
3 Frida* &
Saturday
□Boss PhillyR
□
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