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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1987)
Thursday, December 3,1987/The Battalion/Page 9 Sports Ag’s Roper one of 3 juniors to make All-America team (AP) — A record-tying five players from No. 1-ranked Okla- norna —including repeaters Keith Jackson at tight end and guard Mark Hutson — were named Wednesday to the Asso- dated Press 1987 All-America college football team. Texas A&M had one first-team member in linebacker John Roper, a junior who led the team in sacks and tackles. Second-ranked Miami of Flor ida, No. 3 Florida State and No. 6 Auburn each had two players on the All-America team, which in cludes three others from 1986 — Ohio State linebacker Chris Spiel- man, Miami defensive back Ben nie Blades and Notre Dame flanker-kick returner-running back Tim Brown. Brown, a wide receiver on the 1986 All-America team, made the 1987 squad as a return specialist, the first time the AP team has in cluded such a position. Brown’s receptions were down from 45 in 1986 to 39 as oppo nents double-teamed him and Notre Dame threw less. He fin ished sixth nationally with an av erage of 167.55 all-purpose yards a game and a total of 1,843 yards — 144 rushing, 846 receiving, 401 on punt returns and 452 on kickoff returns. The All-America wide receiv ers are Marc Zeno of Tulane, the NCAA all-time leader in recep tion yardage, and Indiana’s Ernie Jones, Player of the Year in the Big 10. The AP All-America team will be featured on Bob Hope’s an nual Christmas television show on Saturday, Dec. 19 (NBC-TV, 8-9 p.m., EST). The All-America team is se lected by the AP’s sports editor, college football editor and re gional sports editors. A player must make his all-conference or all-sectional teams to be consid ered for the All-America first team. Oklahoma’s defensive rep resentatives are linebacker Dante Jones, Defensive Player of the Year in the Big Eight Confer ence; end Darrell Reed, a four time All-Big Eight selection; and free safety Rickey Dixon. Since the AP released its first All-America team in 1925, only Army’s 1945 national champions had five first-team players. The 1945 team consisted of only 11 players — there were no separate offensive and defensive units — and Army was represented by tackles Dewitt “Tex Coulter and A1 Nemetz, guard John Green and backs Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard. The 1987 All-America back- field includes Syracuse quar terback Don McPherson, who led the Orangemen to a best-ever 11- 0 regular season, a No. 4 national ranking and a berth in the Sugar Bowl, and running backs Craig “Ironhead” Heyward of Pitts burgh and Thurman Thomas of Oklahoma State. Heyward is one of three ju niors on the 25-man All-America squad. The others are Roper and Florida State cornerback Deion Sanders. The rest of the offensive unit consists of tackles Dave Cadigan of Southern California and Stacy Searels of Auburn, guard John McCormick of Nebraska, center Ignazio “Nacho” Albergamo of LSU, and Clemson placekicker David Treadwell. Rounding out the defensive unit are clown linemen Chad Hennings of the Air Force Aca demy and Daniel Stubbs of Mi ami, linebackers Kurt Crain of Auburn and Paul McGowan of Florida State, and punter Tom Tupa of Ohio State. Lombardi trophy to be awarded tonight HOUSTON (AP) — Ohio State’s Chris Spielman, a finalist last year, Oklahoma’s Keith Jack- son, Syracuse’s Ted Gregory or Auburn’s Tracy Rocker will be awarded the Lombardi Award to night as the nation’s outstanding lineman. Spielman was a finalist last year when Alabama linebacker Corne lius Bennett won the honor. “It would the greatest honor to win this award because Vince Lombardi is a man that I really admired,” Spielman said. “I have his sayings on my wall and plaques.” The award, in the form of a 40- pound block of granite trophy, is presented annually in honor of former Green Bay and Washing ton Coach Vince Lombardi, who died of cancer Sept. 3, 1970. Proceeds go to the American Cancer Society for research. Spielman, a 6-2, 234-pound linebacker, recorded 156 tackles for the Buckeyes this season, 78 of them solos. Spielman’s 1987 to tals gave him 546 career tackles, including 283 solos. Jackson, a 6-3, 241-pound tight end, set a school record with an average of 28.1 yards per catch _ this season and his 1,759 receiv ing yards ranked second on the all-time Sooner list. “Down through the years, tight ends have been abused,” Jackson said. “They’re not considered re ceivers and they’re not consid ered lineman so I’m glad that the Lombardi decided to recognize us.” Gregory, a nose guard for un beaten Sycracuse, was injured in the seventh game of the season but finished the year second in unassisted tackles with 38. “I’m surprised to be selected because I was injured for the final four games and a lot of my goals went down the drain,” Gregory said. Gamecocks confident as Miami game nears COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina senior offensive tackle Da vid Poinsett missed last season’s game against Miami with an ankle injury. But he has not forgetten the kid ding he took from Miami linebacker George Mira after the Hurricanes’ 34-14 victory. Poinsett knows Mira from a series of high school all-star games in Flor ida. “George came up to me and started giving me a little bit of a hard time,” said Poinsett. “It was all in fun, but I said I’d see him next year.” Next year has arrived. The No. 8 Gamecocks, 8-2, travel to Miami to face the second-ranked Hurricanes, 10-0, in the regular-sea- son finale for both bowl-bound teams Saturday. Miami needs to win to set up a championship showdown in the Orange Bowl against No. 1 Okla homa. But the Gamecocks, who have won six straight games and have lost only to fifth-ranked Nebraska and No. 14 Georgia, would like nothing more than to upset Miami’s plans. “I think everybody’s flirting with the idea that if we beat Miami we are going to screw the bowl game situa tion up . . . (and) the ranking situa tion,” Poinsett said. “Everybody’s having a little fun toying with that idea, saying who’s No. 1 and all that stuff.” While the Hurricanes have no South Carolin?" natives on their team, the Gamecocks have nine play ers from Florida, although none is from Miami. Poinsett grew up about 30 minutes from the Orange Bowl and was recruited by Miami when Harold Schnellenberger was head coach. “I thought about playing for Mi ami,” Poinsett said, “but it was too close to home.” Poinsett knows many of the Miami players. He played against several in high school, including split end Brian Blades and defensive back Bennie Blades and tight end Alfredo Roberts. “I have no regrets about not play ing for Miami,” he said. “I’m happy for them. They have a good ballclub, but they’re notoriously cocksure. ^oinsett and the Gamecocks are, if not cocky, at least confident and be lieve they can beat Miami, which has not lost to the Gamecocks since 1947. The Hurricanes have one of the nation’s top defenses. Miami is third in scoring defense and sixth in total defense, but Poinsett said the South Carolina offense, which faces the na tion’s second-ranked defense in practice, isn’t awed by the Hurri canes. “We feel that we can move the ball on the ground or in the air on any body,” Poinsett said. Cornhuskers crush Ags by 32 points LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Der rick Vick scored 15 points as Ne braska jumped out to a 17-point halftime lead and cruised to an easy 92-60 victory over Texas A&M in nonconference basket ball Monday night. Nebraska sprinted to a 44-27 intermission lead as freshman guard Clifford Scales came off the bench and hit four consec utive shots to kick the Huskers- running game into gear midway" through the half. Rich King, the 7-2 freshman- center, made his presence known in the first half, blocking two" shots and slamming home two dunks on his way to a 15-point game. Texas A&M shot only 34 per cent in the first half and trailed Nebraska in rebounding. Nebraska stretched its lead to 31 midway through the second half as coach Danny Nee shuffled his lineup, playing four freshmen through the final 10 minutes of the game. Freshman Beau Reid had 13 points for Nebraska, which evened its record to 2-2. Pete Manning added 10 points. The Aggies, who fell to 1-2, were led in scoring by Donald Thompson with 14. Keron Graves had 12 points. I NLFPA seeks end to free agency dilemma WASHINGTON (AP) — The NFL Players Association, conceding Wednesday that its chances are not good, said it has filed a motion that would remove the major restraint to free agency when this season ends. The union is seeking a court or der that would absolve teams from having to give up draft choices as compensation when they sign free agents from other teams. Attorneys for the union were not optimistic that Judge David Doty, who is presiding at its antitrust suit against the NFL, would issue a tem porary restraining order forbidding use of compensation for the players whose contracts expire Feb. 1. But union counsel Dick Berthel- sen said that in “the best of all possi ble worlds,” players whose contracts end on that date could immediately begin negotiating with all NFL teams for a new contract, without having their old club liable to provide com pensation. The union contends that the expi ration of its basic contract with the owners nullified the agreement that had allowed the clubs to restrict players from switching teams. The NFL Management Council agreed with the union’s assessment that Doty was unlikely to knock out compensation, but disagreed with the union’s stand that the absence of a basic agreement might give it a chance. SAL l testers 2504 Kent at Villa Maria* Bryan • 776-0173