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.
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