FOX News

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Huskers head to Dallas this morning!!

The football team will be in Dallas this morning to start preparations for the Cotton Bowl against Dallas. This writer's prediction is 27-26 Nebraska. How do you see the game. Let us know with your comments.

Nebraska may take 30-31 recruits yet this year. They have 27 commitments so far. Needs are at tight end, offensive line, defensive line, and a speed athlete.

Nebraska would like to get Jaivorio Burke for the offensive line and Kevin Dixon on the defensive line.

Three Big 12 teams are in the Top 25 Poll. Kansas is tenth, Texas A & M is 12th, and Oklahoma State is 14th. Texas is the only other Big 12 team that received votes.

Look for MAC power Central Michigan to wipe up on Middle Tennessee State tonight.

The KC Royals season is about to start. Well almost. Will Alex Gordon be in Omaha or KC? My guess is attendance for the Royals will be up substantially this season as they are putting together a pretty solid team.

Nebraska plays at Miami of Florida on Saturday. They are 8-3 and continue to improve. Charles Richardson and Alex Marik have to stay healthy. On January 3rd, the Huskers are back home against Savannah State.

Monday, December 18, 2006

2007 Husker Football Recruiting Class is in Top 10!

Nebraska now has 23 recruits who have committed for the 2007 class. They added three more recruits this weekend. Their average rating is 3.17 stars. This weekend they added some defensive help at linebacker and the defensive line. Great news considering we will be losing all of our front four.

One prospect that is down to Nebraska and Oklahoma is Jaivorio Burkes. He is out of a JUCO in Phoenix and is rated a four star. He is 6' 4" and 311 lbs. He is an offensive lineman. Hope we can win this one.

We did get Joseph Townsend, a 6' 4" defensive tackle, from Los Altos Junior College in California. He may be able and provide some immediate depth. He is rated four star and 5.8 by rivals.

Also, we received a commitment from Austin Stafford, the 42nd rated high school player from California. He is an outside linebacker. Heis 6' 2" and 197 lbs. He is a three star by Rivals.com.

In addition, we received some addition defensive help by getting a commitment from Terrance Moore. He is a defensive tackle out of a high school in New Orleans. He is a two star but if Nebraska likes him that much, he could be rated higher. Terrance plans to redshirt next season and put on some lbs. He is 6'3" and 267.

The Nebraska freshmen scored 43 points in a rout of Alabama A & M. Ryan Anderson scored 19 and Sec Henry scored 11. One major concern is the hip stress fracture of Alex Marik. He didn't play yesterday and has reinjured his hip. Without Alex, we will have a difficult time competing in the Big 12. NU plays Wyoming Wednesday at 9 PM at the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Jake Gdowski has Colorado St. Rams fan interest!!

This site has had 33 hits from Ramnation.com's message board today checking out Jake Gdowski. The fans are excited about Jake and they hope he commits to them.

Wasn't it fun watching the Nebraska volleyball team win last night. The whole night was action packed and this fan was on the edge of his seat the whole match. Doe you suppose the ESPN 2 camera man like Barbosa of Stanford? NU should be great again next year if they work at it again. I wonder how far NU's reserves would go as we have a lot of great players on the bench.

Andre Jones has lost his blackshirt. No reason why, but Ricky Thenarse is getting some good reps on the first team.

Who was the NU volleyball teams only loss this year? Colorado!

Jay Norvell has interviewed for the Boston College head coaching position.

Kenny Wilson has knee tendinitis and Cody Glenn still has foot problems. Brandon Jackson has a broken hand but is practicing. Marlon Lucky appears to be recovered.

I wonder how much fun it is to watch volleyball from the top seat at the Quest Center. Do you need binoculars? Great atmosphere though.

Who is the best Nebraska high school basketball player you have seen this year? Send your comments!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Sam Keller will be NU QB in 2007

Nebraska is using the bowl practices to to prepare for Auburn and to practice for 2007. Sam Keller is getting a lot of reps. Reports are that he has a better arm than Zac Taylor has. The question will be if he can be a leader like Zac has been. If he does, NU should be in great shape at QB. Starting fall camp this writer sees the following order of the 2007 QB's.

1. Sam Keller
2. Joe Ganz
3. Zac Lee
4. Patrick Witt

Witt could be a redshirt candidate depending on how things develop. As the season matures Zac Lee should move up to #2 QB.

J.B. Phillips is working out at fullback. He has caught 13 passes for two TD's in 2006. We need to get more production from the fullback besides blocking. Dane Todd was sensational at blocking this year but wouldn't it be nice to use the fullback as a target for a lot of passes. I wonder how the old fullback trap would work now and then also just to mix things up. J. B. is smart but he will need to work on his penalties.

Offensive lineman Jordon Picou is working at nose tackle. It appears we need to recruit two or three more defensive linemen and at least one more offensive lineman in the 2007 class. Recruiting safeties and cornerbacks has been a priority.

LaTravis Washington, Fabians's cousin, committed to NU to make it 21 recruits now. NU has moved up to the Top 10 in recruiting. LaTravis is a safety out of Florida. He is listed by Rivals. com as a three star recruit.

Tyrell Spain will probably move back to wide receiver in 2007.

The NU men's BB team signed another recruit for 2007. This makes eight. His name is Jeremy Barr and he is transferring from USC. He is 6' 8" and 262 lbs. His wingspan is 73 inches. This is compared to Kevin Durants's wingspan of 75 inches, the sensational freshman from Texas. Jeremy should really help with rebounding which is a weakness of this year's team. Jeremy was a 2005 Rivals.com Top 150 player. He will have three years to play for NU.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Kansas City Royals Report by Charlie Wiiest

Charlie Wiiest reports on the Royals this week. Very good info. Baseball is coming soon.


"I don’t if you can follow this link, but the article is about their new rule five player which they got from San Diego. Interesting to note, R. Hernandez was who they released in order to make room for this kid on the 40 man roster. My understanding of rule five pick’s are that in order for them to stay with the organization they have been chosen by, they have to stay on the major league roster all year or if they don’t, they go back to the original team, in this case San Diego. Rule five players are fun to watch as it’s like watching a minor leaguer develop at the major league level. A couple that comes to mind of recent are Andrew Cisco for the Royals and the Cardinals had Hector Luna. They usually are very talented but often times are so very raw it can be interesting to watch them. Typically they will drive a major league manager crazy. Luna ended up being traded because of his erratic play. Anyway, thought you might want to know.

Here is the link: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/app/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061210&content_id=148152&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp

In addition, it is my understanding the Royals are in pursuit of Miguel Batista who pitched well for Arizona last year. If that were to happen the rotation would be probably something like the following:

Meche

Batista

O. Perez

L. Hudson

with De La Rosa, Elarton, Grienke, and Bannister (Floyd’s boy – trade from the Mets on Burgos)

With Burgos gone now, and this would have been the situation anyway, Octivio Dotel will be closing. He was hurt last year. Interestingly enough, the Cardinals were also in pursuit of him and also pursued him in 2005 before he signed with Yankees. Hopefully he stays healthy. If you remember he came out of the Astro’s organization and was part of the trade with Royals regarding C. Beltran.

If the Royals don’t sign Batista, don’t be surprised to see them test the trade market for another arm. However, the trade market is pretty thin and would take a stud in order to get any A list Royal minor leaguers. My guess would be someone like a Reggie Sanders for someone who is desperate for a DH or left fielder. My guess, is they may wait until after spring training starts to see where they feel where the likes of M. Maier (on 40 man roster currently), A. Gordon (#2 overall prospect in minor league ball) & B. Butler (#13 overall minor league prospect) belong.

Also keep in mind they had the #1 pick in the draft last year. L. Hochevar is listed as the number #30 overall prospect in baseball. If he is as advertised, he will either be in the major leagues by the end of the year or will be much higher than #30. I doubt they really want to rush him much (see Zach Grienke project).

Anyway, this got a little long, but thought you might want to know. Pitchers and catchers report in about 65 days!"

Charlie

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Zach Bowman will return to NU next year.

With Bowman not going to the NFL, who will be two starters at safety and the two starters at cornerback for the first game in 2007?

Sunday, December 03, 2006

It will be Auburn in the Cotton Bowl!!!

Nebraska will play Auburn in the Cotton Bowl. Auburn is 0-3 lifetime against NU with the last meeting in 1982. Auburn is 10-2. Auburn beat Florida 27-17 earlier this year. Their losses were to Arkansas and Georgia.

Nebraska to the COTTON BOWL!

The momentum had changed. It was third and ten for Oklahoma on their own one yard line and then Paul Thompson hit Hermaine Gresham for a 35-yard pass. Thompson hit four more long passes and eventually a TD to put Oklahoma ahead to stay 21-7. It was the play of the game.

Nebraska held Oklahoma to 42 yards rushing. Nebraska was averaging four yards a carry. Surprising to this writer that we were able to out rush them and then still lose the game. When Brandon Jackson went out of the game with an injury we seemed to run the ball less but we were still effective on short passes. Five turnovers were a killer as Taylor was rushed hard. NU outyard Oklahoma 366 to 307. We were not dominated in any way.

Great year Huskers!! The bowl game will be another tough matchup but NU with some time to prepare will be tough.

The NU basketball team looked to have a win on Saturday but lost to Rutgers 75-73. Aleks Maric spent most of the day in foul trouble and without a great backup, the Huskers had trouble rebounding. We are very reliant on Marics and Richardson to carry us this year and if they can't be in the game we seem to be in trouble. Freshman Ryan Anderson continues to contribute with 17 points.

Waunita-Palisade may be the best high school basketball team west of Grand Island. They beat rated D-1 school Arapahoe by 31 points on Friday night. Overton, who beat #2 D-1 school Loomis on Friday night, was beaten by Arapahoe Saturday night.

Chadron State lost to very tough Northwest Missouri St. 28-21 in a playoff game. Danny Woodhead, who has the single season rushing record in NCAA football history, was held to 16 yards rushing.

Will Barry Bonds be on the Kansas City Royals roster in 2007. That would fill the stadium as he is going for the all-time homerun record.

Dana Altman, the excellent Creighton coach, was coached all four years by Dave Oman who now coaches at Grand Island. Dana went to school at Wilbur.

The NU volleyball team heads to Florida and will take probably take on Florida in the finals. Florida will be on their home floor and have only two losses. Should be interesting.