Jerome Montalto/DN
Troy Watdtom, an NU senior who might receive a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA, conditions under the watch of Bryan Bailey. Bailey's program helps former Huskers get in shape for the NFL
scouting combine, which takes place Saturday in Indianapolis, and the upcoming NFL Draft
NFL combine lets Huskers showcase talent
NFL from page 10
You're giving coaches a first-hand
look at what you got... It's stressful”
Other players seem to be running
full of confidence.
“I got the best hands,” said defen
sive back Joe Walker as he one-hands
apass.
“You should,” Bailey jokes back at
Walker. “You are a diamond in the
rough.”
Perhaps, but a player like Walker
needs some breaks. The safety hasn’t
garnered enough NFL attention to
be invited to the combine this week
end.
Dan Alexander is an invitee. And
the big running back seems to know
exactly what NFL teams are looking
for from him.
“They want to see me catch the
ball,” said Alexander, who has often
*
been criticized for having bad hands.
“If I can show I can catch, I’ll be all
right. I am not worried with the
speed and strength part of it”
Other Huskers who will be at the
combine this weekend include wing
back Bobby Newcombe, linebacker
Carlos Polk, defensive end Kyle
Vanden Bosch, running back Correll
Buckhalter and center Dominic
Raiola, the only nonsenior in the
group.
Buckhalter’s stock seems to be
rising after an impressive post-sea
son performance. Raiola’s stock has
been high since he announced he
would leave school one year early for
die draft
“Dominic is one of the best line
man I’ve ever seen here,” Bailey said.
“He has the God-given ability plus he
just loves the game.”
Hochstein said it would still be
interesting to see how many times
Raiola’s pass-blocking skills were
questioned this weekend.
“I went to a couple of All-Star
games, and there’s this perception
that Nebraska guys can’t pass pro
tect,” Hochstein said. “But look and
see all the guys from here that are
successful in the NFL now.”
Those NFL success stories are the
ones that put a smile on Bailey’s face.
But he said he really likes the person
al relationships with the players
more than anything.
“What makes me happy is when
guys like Ahman Green come by like
he did the other day and they appre
ciate what you did,” Bailey said.
“They all know that I care about
them. They're like my kids to me.”
And sometimes Bailey has to
treat them like his kids.
“Time to get going, Buck,” he
yells at Buckhalter, who takes his
time tying his shoes before his work
out
“Sometimes I have to get on
them,” Bailey said. “They know
they’re really good. I got to get them
going.”
But the NFL is a whole new world
- sometimes a cruel world.
“After you start three years of col
lege ball, you get to thinking you’re
pretty good,” Hochstein said. "But
then you get to this point, and it's a
humbling experience.”
Whether the results end up good
or bad for Bailey’s boys, he still enjoys
the preparation ride they took.
“We have great athletes with a
great opportunity,” Bailey said.
“Some will make it, and some won’t,
but if we did our best, we’ll be happy
we put up our best effort at the end of
the road.”
Buckhalter opens eyes
of prospective teams
BUCKHAITER from page 10
Buckhalter and several other
former Huskers have been
training for since January.
“Me, Dan (Alexander), Russ
(Hochstein), Dominic (Raiola)
and Dan Hadenfeldt all leave
Thursday morning (for the
combine). I feel that I’ve had
great preparation, and I’m
ready for it"
In fact, Buckhalter admits
he has already drawn interests
from some NFL clubs. He has
been recently contacted by the
Dallas Cowboys and the
Philadelphia Eagles and is
already represented by an
agent. However, Buckhalter
expects to receive more atten
tion following this weekend’s
combine and expresses no
interest in which team ulti
mately drafts him.
“It’s no preference to me,"
he said. “It depends on whose
system I fit in. I’m just gonna
give 110 percent and go with my
dream."
Suddenly, that dream is a
whole lot closer.
Husker men can't overlook
Texas Tech en route to Kansas
TECH from page 10
Bradford said.
“We say all right, this team
has this type of record so they
aren't going to be that tough,” he
said. “But when we get out on
the floor, that team plays like
they want it, and they catch you
with your pants down.”
Nebraska Coach Barry
Collier, who has been critical of
his team’s mental preparation all
season long, said Texas Tech
would be no easy task.
“We are real focused on leav
ing behind the previous play,
much less the previous game,”
Collier said. "We just have to
reiterate our focus on the task at
hand and appeal to the lessons
we have learned along the way -
that we also forgot after we
learned them and had to relearn
diem.” '
Hopefully for NU, Ffriend
and Bradford won’t have to
relearn anything from their per
formances in Saturday’s 87-82
overtime win at Colorado.
The two combined for 42
points and 20 rebounds but will
be tested by Tech’s front line of
Andy Ellis and Cliff Owens. 1
Ellis is Tech’s leading scorer
at 14.9 points per game, while
Owens pulls down a team-high
7.1 rebounds per game. But
Collier said an inexperienced
backcourt, which includes
freshman Mikey Marshall and
junior Jamal Brown, along with
rebounding woes, has hurt the
Red Raiders in close games.
Close games have also been
Nebraska’s arch nemesis this
season. The Huskers have had 12
of their 25 games this season
decided by five points or less,
posting a 6-6 mark in those
games.
The near misses will make
Collier and his team ponder
what-ifs after the season is over.
But for now, the Huskers are
focused on making the best out
of the situation at hand.
“We're still on track right
now," Bradford said. “We just
have to finish strong, and we will
try to make it to the NCAA, but if
that don't happen, the NIT is
always there. But you don’t ever
look at the secondary first
“We are trying to fulfill the
dream first’’
Mj$Lft0 Tell us what you think about issues that affect you
oghnc fe tUllynch con;
Don Nelson returns to Mavs
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS _
DALLAS - Leave it to Don Nelson to
turn his return from beating cancer into a
laughing matter.
Seeking levity on what could have been
an emotional night, the Dallas Mavericks’
coach celebrated the end of his 52-day
absence to treat prostate cancer by wear
ing a red foam ball on his nose and ending
his pseudo-feud with Shaquille O’Neal.
Nelson, looking tan and about 10
pounds lighter, was beaming as he walked
into Reunion Arena for his pregame intro
duction TUesday night for the Mavs’ game
against the Los Angeles Lakers. He
received a standing ovation as the public
address announcer said, "Welcome back
Nellie.”
Once on the court and surrounded by
players and cameras, Nelson pulled the 89
cent, racquetball- sized toy out of his jacket
pocket and squeezed it onto his nose so
he’d look more like "a clown,” which is what
O'Neal called him after the Mavericks abu
sively defended him the last time the
Lakers played the Mavericks.
Nelson’s gesture wasn’t meant to re
ignite O'Neal’s fire. The hatchet had long
been buried as O'Neal called Nelson dur
ing his recovery and has been saying "I love
you, Don Nelson” since hitting town
Monday.
O’Neal was even in on the prank as he
came over to Nelson, took the ball off the
coach and wore it himself. The pair
hugged, then Dallas assistant coach Del
Harris, formerly O'Neal’s coach in Los
Angeles, put on another foam ball
“I am a bit of a clown,” the 60-year-old
Nelson said before the stunt
Nelson, a master prankster and former
advocate of the fish tie, was coaching for
the first time since Dec. 30. On Jan. 4, his
prostate was removed because the early
stages of cancer had been detected.
The third-winningest coach in NBA
history spent most of his recovery in Maui,
where walking on the beaches led to his
bronzed skin and the addition of several
stray dogs into his household.
His son, Donnie, coached the team in
his absence and kept the Mavericks solidly
in the chase for their first playoff berth in 11
years. Dallas went 13-8 (.619) under
Donnie compared to 20-12 (.625) under
his dad.
Nelson admitted he plotted for his
return to be against O'Neal and the Lakers.
“I didn’t even think about it until a cou
ple of weeks ago, then I kind of circled it,”
Nelson said. “I wouldn't call it a big splash.
I had to come back against somebody. I
thought this was a logical one.”
NASCAR safety
in spotlight
■Two days after the death of racing legend Dale
Earnhardt, NASCAR faces criticism forfailing to
require safety devices that may have saved him.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS__
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Neck braces. Soft walls.
Special seat belts.
Such racing equipment is suddenly well known
beyond the garage as NASCAR struggles to cope with
four deaths in less than nine months, the latest being
the sport’s greatest star.
NASCAR faced renewed questions Monday about
whether it was doing enough to protect its most valu
able asset - the drivers -after a devastating blow.
Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time Winston Cup cham
pion, died Sunday from massive head trauma when his
black No. 3 Chevrolet slammed head-first into a con
crete wall on the final lap of the Daytona 500.
But the governing body of stock-car racing has
always moved deliberately with safety improvements,
and NASCAR president Mike Helton made it dear such
improvements wouldn't be made just because the
Intimidator was dead.
“We’re not going to "
accelerate, we’re not going “The ITlOSt
to slow down,” Helton said. fri, c*K/7 *irl/3
“Ifsawork in progress all the J
time.'' thing is he died
fen Adams, managet of of basilar skull
Hubbard/Dowmng Inc. in J ,
suburban Atlanta, is trou- fracture. InfltS
bled by NASCAR’s stance, what OUV device
The company makes the ■
Head And Neck Support ^ designed tO ,
(HANS) device, which was prevent.
used by only six drivers on
Sunday. Earnhardt wasn’t Kf Himt
“’Th^st frustrating president of the
thing is he died of basilar comPa"ythat makes
skull fracture,” Adams said. the HANS device
“That’s what our device is
designed to prevent
Earnhardt’s death in tire season-opening race came
after one of NASCAR’s deadliest years. Adam Petty,
Kenny Irwin and truck racer Tony Roper all died from
fractures at the base of the skull or similar injuries.
“This is getting absurd,” Adams said.
But Dr. Steve Bohannon, an emergency physician at
Halifax Medical Center who also works for Daytona
International Speedway, said there was no way to know
if the HANS would have prevented Earnhardt’s death.
An autopsy also was inconclusive.
“Even if you restrain the head and neck in this type
of injury, with the forces we’re talking about, there's still
one more element you have to address,” he said. “Even
if you restrain die body... the head, die neck, the chest,
all those organs internally still move at time of impact”
Even so, orders for the brace from NASCAR teams
flooded into the Hubbard/Downing plant Monday
morning, Adams said. Adams said the plant was making
only three devices a week just a few months ago. The
company had 35 orders Sunday after Earnhardt's death.
The CART open-wheel series, which begins March
11, has already mandated the HANS system for oval
track races this year. By next year, the Formula One
series is expected to follow suit
NASCAR, meanwhile, has tested softer walls, which
could lessen the G-forces in a high-speed crash. Helton
said the technology would not work at high-banked
tracks like Daytona.
“We’ve gone from tracks with no walls to wooden
barriers to tire barriers to concrete walls,” Helton said.
“There may be a substitute for concrete, but we’ve not
been able to find it yet”
Earnhardt himself chastised NASCAR for worrying
that soft walls broke apart too easily and required too
much time to clean up during races.
“I’d rather they spend 20 minutes cleaning up that
mess than cleaning me off the wall,” Earnhardt told the
Orlando Sentinel last week.
John Melvin, former head of safety at General
Motors and now a consultant to NASCAR teams, said
there was no foolproof way to make the sport safer. He
noted the HANS was designed mainly for head-on
impacts. Researchers are working on a device that
would protect the head and neck on side impact
Michael Waltrip, who won the Daytona 500 in a car
owned by Earnhardt, will try out HANS on March 11.
“I like the way it stabilizes your head in an incident”
he said. “But it's also cumbersome and can make it hard
to get out of the car. That's a concern, too.”
Earnhardt, who wore an open-faced helmet, never
considered wearing a neck brace.
“I really think he would have lived with one,” Adams
said. “But Dale was always set in his ways. He was a great
racer, but he just wasn’t open to that option.”
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