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The Battalion
SPORTS
9
Monday, April 23,1990
Sports Editor
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NFL takes
advantage of
junior talent
NEW YORK (AP) — The year of the ju
nior started early Sunday as five under
classmen were taken with the first seven
picks of an NFL draft dominated by de
fense.
It was the first draft ever open uncondi
tionally to underclassmen, and teams
jumped on them despite reservations about
their lack of experience.
Altogether, eight were chosen with the
25 picks of the first round, starting with Illi
nois quarterback Jeff George as the No. 1
pick by the Indianapolis Colts and includ
ing Alabama linebacker Keith McCants by
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Southern Cal
linebacker Junior Seau by the San Deigo
Chargers, defensive back Mark Carrier by
the Chicago Bears and Houston Heisman
Trophy winner Andre Ware by the Detroit
Lions.
“Experience will take place during mini
camp,” said Seau, the fifth pick overall de
spite having started just one year at USC.
He sat out as a freshman because he failed
to meet academic standards.
Seau was one of seven linebackers and 13
defensive players chosen with the first 18
picks in what was supposed to be a year for
linebackers and running backs. It sure was
for linebackers, but the running backs
waited until later as the eternal quest for big
men had them going early.
No running back was selected between
the second choice, when the New York Jets
took Penn State’s Blair Thomas, and the
17th, when Dallas traded up to choose Flor
ida’s Emmitt Smith, another junior. A total
of six runners were picked, almost all of
them late, while 14 of the 25 first-rounders
were defensive players.
George, who on Friday signed a six-year,
$15 million package with Indianapolis, was
the first picK, the Colts having obtained it
for tackle Chris Hinton, wide receiver
Andre Rison and next year’s No. 1.
He was followed by two seniors, Thomas
and Miami defensive tackle Cortez Ken
nedy, who went to Seattle after the Sea-
hawks gave up the eighth and 10th picks to
move into New England’s No. 3 slot.
Juniors invade draft
Then came the rush to underclassmen:
—McCants, projected as the top pick
only two weeks ago but dogged by reports
of a bad knee, went to Tampa Bay.
—Seau went to the Chargers, who had
been ready to take huge offensive tackle
Richmond Webb of Texas A&M and were
delighted to get what they hope will be an
instant star for their defense.
—In the first big surprise, Seau’s USC
teammate, Carrier, went to Chicago, and
the Bears signed the safety immediately to
avoid training camp holdout problems that
Coach Mike Ditka said hurt both their No. 1
choices a year ago.
—Ware went to Detroit, where he will
find a familiar run-and-shoot offense and
fellow Heisman winner in Barry Sanders
waiting in the backfield.
Another surprise came five picks later at
No. 11, when the Raiders made one of their
classic picks —Anthony Smith, a defensive
end from Arizona who has a history of knee
problems and played at three colleges,
starting with Alabama.
“I’m really shocked I was picked on the
first round,” he said. “I had no idea when I
would be picked, but I knew who would
pick me. Being with the Raiders fits my per
sonality and my style of play.”
McCants was chosen by jPerkins despite a
report in Sunday’s Atlanta Journal and
Constitution that he might need knee sur
gery and miss the season.
“Everybody’s talking about my knee. I
had an arthroscope in my junior year,” he
said. “It’s mind-boggling to me that this can
come up the day of the draft. Twenty-seven
doctors of the NFL looked at it and they all
said it looks well.”
Perkins said McCants would probably
need arthroscopic surgery, but no more.
“Our doctors have looked at his knee,
have looked at X-rays and all the other
kinds of tests. He does have a little problem.
He’ll probably be in the next week or so to
have it scoped to take care of that problem.”
The waiting game
It was a long round, lasting 3 hours and 24
minutes for the 25 picks, 11 minutes longer
than last year, when there were 28 picks.
After Ware, taken by Detroit with the
seventh pick, came Arizona linebacker
Chris Singleton to New England; Webb, the
Texas A&M offensive tackle, to Miami;
North Carolina State defensive tackle Ray
Agnew to New England; Smith to the Raid
ers; Baylor linebacker James Francis to Cin
cinnati; Michigan State linebacker Percy
Snow to Kansas City and West Virginia de
fensive end Renaldo Turnbull to New Or
leans.
Then came another junior, Houston’s
Lamar Lathon to the Oilers, where he will
play for his college coach, Jack Pardee, fol
lowed by defensive back J.D. Williams of
Fresno State to Buffalo and Smith, the sev
enth junior, to the Cowboys, who gave up
an extra third-rounder to move up.
Green Bay had two picks, one for line
backer Tony Bennett of Mississippi, the
other for running back Darrell Thompson
of Minnesota. Then Washington’s Steve
Broussard became the third running back
in four picks when he was chosen by At
lanta.
Pittsburgh took Eric Green, the 270-
pound tight end from Liberty; Philadelphia
added speed to its secondary with Georgia’s
Ben Smith; the Los Angeles Rams took
Washington center Bern Brostek; the New
York Giants took Georgia running back
Rodney Hampton, another junior, and San
Francisco finished the round by picking
Dexter Carter, a running back-wide re
ceiver from Florida State.
NFL draft flooded by SWC talent
Ags Webb, Wallace, Jones go in first day of draft
From Staff and Wire Reports
g*
Webb led a continent of th
igent ot three Aggies into
the National Football League’s 1990 draft.
Linebacker Aaron Wallace, tight end Mike
Jones and Webb were all chosen in the first
day of the draft.
Webb, 6-6, 291, was the 10th overall se
lection in the first round. He led the Aggie
ground attack that averaged 199.9 yards
per game last sea
son.
Webb, nick
named “Bam
Bam” by his tea
mmates because
of his persistent
style, had five
knockdown
blocks in a 44-7
victory over
Texas Christian.
His block
broke Darren Le
wis free for an
84-yard touch
down run to set
up the game-win
ning field goal in
a 17-13 victory
over Houston.
“As a little kid
growing up, I al
ways wanted to
play professional
league ball,’’
Webb said. “I was
always watching
the Cowboys.
Now that dream
has come true.”
He said he will
continue on his
program of work
outs and running before going to Miami
next Saturday.
“I talked to their (Miami’s) offensive line
coach about three weeks ago. They had
four or five offensive linemen, and that was
one of their needs going into the draft,” he
said. “They never said they would pick me
but they were interested. I lucked out and it
just happened that way.”
Wallace, who was picked up by the Los
Angeles Raiders, was an intergral part of
A&M head coach R.C. Slocum’s blitz-
oriented defense. Despite being hampered
most of the season with turf toe, Wallace
broke the Aggies’ career sack record.
Houston quarterback Andre Ware was
selected by the Detroit Lions, linebacker La
mar Lathon was selected by the Houston
Oilers, and Baylor linebacker James Francis
was picked by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware of
the University of Houston, the first of four
Southwest Conference players chosen in
the first round of Sunday’s NFL draft, said
he was pleased with his decision.
Ware, who threw 75 touchdown passes in
his college career with the Cougars’ run-
Lamar Lathon, who overcame an auto
accident and major knee surgery last year,
was reunited with Coach Jack Pardee Sun
day as the first round selection of the Hous
ton Oilers in the NFL draft.
“I know what Jack Pardee expects of me,
this is the biggest moment of my life,” La
thon said in an emotional response to being
the 15th pick in the draft.
Lathon recovered from an auto accident
prior to last season and started one game
A&M linebacker Aaron Wallace was drafted in the second round by the L.A. Raiders.
and-shoot offense, was chosen by the De
troit Lions, who were the first NFL team to
exclusively use the run-and-shoot.
“I was really happy; it’s a good situation
to go to,” Ware said. “They do basically the
same things we do. A lot of the terminology
is the same as far as the offense.
“Going to a situation like Detroit is great.
They are an up and coming team and they
need some help at quarterback.”
Rodney Peete started for the Lions last
season.
Ware set 13 NCAA records in his explo
sive junior season with the Cougars. He
completed 365 of 578 passes for 4,699
yards and 46 touchdowns last season.
but suffered a season-ending knee injury.
He spent the rest of the season working
out under the direction of Tom Williams, a
former Oiler official, who operates a fitness
center in Houston.
“I feel I can add a lot to the Houston Oil
ers,” said Lathon, a native of nearby Whar
ton. “Coach Pardee and I have a good one-
on-one situation. “I’ll just try to be the best
Oiler I can be.”
The Cougar linebacker was especially im
pressive in workouts for NFL scouts prior
to the draft.
“His knee is fine,” Williams said. “He was
working out two or three times a day. I had
to cut back on what he was doing with me.”
The Oilers continued to add defensive
help in the second and third rounds.
They selected Notre Dame defensive
tackle Jeff Aim, 6-5, 274 and Miami de
fensive end Willis Peguese, 6-5, 262, in the
third round.
Francis, 6-4, 243, was a first-team Asso
ciated Press All-American pick in 1989. He
led the Bears in with 129 tackles, eight sacks
and 12 tackles behind the line.
Francis caused and recovered three fum
bles and de
flected five
passes.
He set a school
season record
and tied a an
NCAA record
with eight
blocked kicks, in-
cluding two
against Rice.
Francis had ex
pected to be cho
sen by the Chi
cago Bears and
become a team
mate of former
Baylor linebacker
Mike Singletary.
“That’s fine
with me, I just
wanted to get it
over and play
football,” Francis
said..
“I think I can
start if I go down
there and do the
same things I’ve
done in college.
“I really tought
I was going to
Chicago but I
knew Cincinnati
wanted me so I’m happy,” Francis said.
Williams will represent both Lathon and
Francis and he promises no holdouts.
“I don’t believe in that holdout stuff,”
Williams said.
Williams said Lathon needed as much
work as he could get to prepare for his first
pro season and Lathon said he was ready
for work.
“I don’t think I’m giving anything away,”
Lathon said.
“I think the Oilers will respect me much
more for taking that approach.”
Oilers general manager Mike Holovak
praised Lathon’s athletic skills but then cut
off his comments.
Photo by Jay Janner
Frogs rob Robertson; Ags split with TCU
By ALAN LEHMAN
Ot The Battalion Staff
Rich Robertson couldn’t have picked a
worse time to give up his first home run
of the season.
The homer, launched by Mike Losa,
was a three-run shot that gave the Texas
Christian baseball team a 3-1 win over
A&M in the first game of Saturday’s
doubleheader.
The Aggies managed to salvage two
wins, however, as they came back to win
the finale 13-2 in front of 4,029 at Olsen
Field.
A&M won in dramatic fashion Friday
night as they rallied for five runs in the
bottom of the ninth inning to win 10-9.
The Aggies improved to 42-12 on the
season and remain firmly lodged in
third place in Southwest Conference
play. A&M (10-5) trails Texas (12-2) and
Arkansas (12-3).
In Saturday’s seven-inning opener,
the Horned Frogs showed that they
weren’t impressed by Robertson’s spot
less 9-0 record. They bashed seven hits
off of him before Losa’s dinger. TCU
seemed to have runners on in every in
ning.
Still, Robertson managed to work out
of every inning until the seventh. Then,
Chad Shipes led off with a double and
was sacrificed to third.
First baseman Scott Malone, who was
6-for-7 in the first two games, was inten
tionally walked to set the stage for Losa’s
drive. It was the first homer given up by
Robertson in 78 innings this season.
“I left a fastball up and out over the
plate,” Robertson said. “It was supposed
to be outside, but I left it in the worst
possible place.”
The Aggies couldn’t come back in
their half of the seventh off TCU starter
Jared Shope, who allowed only one hit
and three baseruners throughout the
game.
Catcher John Wood singled home
Chad Broussard in the fifth inning for
the lone A&M run.
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Photo by Scott D. Weaver
A&M shortstop Jason Marshall misses the throw from header with Texas Christian. The Aggies lost the game 3-1
catcher Blake Pyle in the first game of Saturday’s double- but took the series.
Shope came into the game with a
bloated 6.97 earned run average and 81
hits allowed in only 64 innings.
Coach Mark Johnson said that the Ag
gies just didn’t give Robertson enough
run support.
“Rich just didn’t have the freedom to
have a shaky inning,” Johnson said. “He
had to be so careful with only the one-
run lead.
“We should have gotten on Shope ear
lier, but he threw the ball well and kept
us off balance.”
That he did, but the Aggies didn’t
dwell on it. They came back in the night
cap to squash the Frogs like Highway 6
roadkill.
A&M got some nice pitching from se
nior Pat Sweet. The lefty scattered seven
hits in seven innings and gave up only
one run on another Losa homer. Sweet
struck out four and walked no one to im
prove to 6-4 on the season.
After getting only one hit in the
opener, the Aggies went wild at the plate
in the finale. A&M victimized three
TCU pitchers for 11 hits and six walks.
Scoring early and often, the Aggies
built a 10-0 lead after three frames.
Broussard’s two-run homer — his sixth
round-tripper of the season — high
lighted A&M’s three-run first inning.
Designated hitter David Rollen was 3-
for-5 in the game, and Blake Pyle and
Brian Thomas were both 2-for-4.
Thomas added three RBI while Pyle,
Rollen and Broussard each chipped in
two RBI.
The TCU defense was again horren
dous, allowing four errors to bring their
series total to 10 and their season total to
a school-record 101.
Friday night, the late-inning magic re
turned to Olsen field. Like last year’s
team, the Aggies came from way behind
to win in the final frame.
The game was tied 1-1 until the fifth
when TCU touched A&M starter Ron
nie Allen for three runs. The Frogs got
homers from Losa, Shipes and Darren
Thorpe and scored single runs in the
seventh and eighth innings.
Trailing 6-1, the Aggies scored four in
the eighth.
Singles by Tim Holt, Trey Witte and
Thomas scored one run and chased
TCU starter Britt Shoptaw. Rollen’s sac
rifice fly plated another and Pyle’s two-
out double scored two more.
Things looked bleak for A&M in the
ninth as TCU added three insurance
runs. Reliever Jason Bullard got into
See Aggies/Page 11