Sports
; riday • AprilliJcJay
Lottery Winner Texas’Williams insures a prosperous fu
Teams have to overlook Moss’ history,
draft possible all-time great receiver
Jeff
Webb
sports editor
Ihe best
part of
the NFL
season is just
around the
corner. Pre
pare for draft
time.
As a life
long New Or
leans Saints
fan, these are
usually lean
times. In fact,
the Saints have good drafts about as
often as guys miss a football game
to go see Disney’s Hercules on Ice.
It simply doesn’t happen.
However, I can’t blame anyone
who criticizes my team. In the dog-
eat-dog world of the NFL, drafts will
make or break a franchise. Take a look
at the San Francisco 49ers. A trade
garnered them UCLA receiver JJ.
Stokes to be heir apparent to Jerry
Rice a few years ago, and savvy picks
have led to their continuing success.
Keeping these facts in mind, I di
rect your attention to the freakshow.
That is, “The Freak” himself, Marshall
University receiver Randy Moss.
How many people remember
the NBA draft that saw the emer
gence of Hakeem Olajuwon and
Michael Jordan? One other player
was taken ahead of Jordan who has
since disappeared from the NBA
landscape. That player? Sam Bowie.
Many years from now after oth
er receivers, like Utah’s Kevin
Dyson, have been squeezed out of
the league, teams that don’t draft
Moss will be looked upon like the
team that passed on His Airness.
Despite his past problems, a
general manager who passes on
Moss should be forced to watch
game film with a Hanson CD blar
ing in the background for a time
pretty close to infinity.
There have been too many players
like Lawrence Philips that come into
the league with problems they haven’t
solved. Moss’s problems are behind
him. He assaulted a schoolmate in
high school that led to the dismissal of
his scholarship at Notre Dame. Once
he got a second chance at Florida
State, a positive test for marijuana ru
ined his scholarship there. Hey, it did
n’t hurt Bill Clinton’s chances at pres
ident to take a flit, why should it hurt
a football player? Moss ended up at
Marshall, an obvious third-chance
school. He didn’t make a mistake the
third time. He led the nation in re
ceiving like he was destined to do.
Moss is too smart to ruin his
chance at millions in the NFL by
making another stupid mistake.
Many bad boys of the NFL waited
until they were professionals to mess
up. Take Michael Irvin for example. If
he had made his mistakes in college,
they would likely not be repeated.
Actually, the Dallas Cowboys
might not want to draft Moss. That
would be the equivalent of sending
an overweight person to work in a
chocolate factory.
Teams that want to win will draft
Moss. His talent far outweighs any
baggage that comes along with him.
When he breaks all of Jerry Rice’s
records and is inducted into the NFL
Hall of Fame, teams like the Saints
who thought they needed an offen
sive lineman to shore up the right side
of the line will be kicking themselves
all the way to the draft lottery... again.
—JeffWebb is a junior
journalism major.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas running back
Ricky Williams has insured his future after de
ciding to turn down millions in the NFL and re
turn for his senior season with the Longhorns.
The nation’s leading rusher last year has se
cured $2.8 million in insurance against the pos
sibility of serious injury.
In 1990, the NCAA, seeking to give college
football players a reason to stay in school for
their senior seasons, began offering Excep
tional Student-Athlete Disability Insurance
policies against injuries that could end their
pro prospects.
The program covers athletes projected to be
taken in the first three rounds of the NFL or NHL
drafts and the first rounds of the NBA and Major
League Baseball amateur drafts.
These projections are made after the under
writer consults with pro scouts. With the emer
gence of the Women’s NBA and the American
Basketball League, the NCAA is working to make
policies available to women basketball players.
The policy was not the idea of Williams, but
rather his mother and the Longhorns’ men’s ath
letics compliance coordinator, Leroy Sutherland.
For Williams, an education major who plans to
teach grade school someday, the notion of a
shrewd business decision didn’t seem so pressing.
“I’m not afraid of getting hurt,” Williams
said. “I can just do what I
can do. I really don’t care if I
have insurance or not.
Enough insurance is my col
lege education.”
Sutherland, however,
wanted to make sure that
Williams took every precau
tion necessary to safeguard
his future.
"A lot of kids like to think it
will happen to the other guy,”
Sutherland told the Austin American-Statesman.
“... until it happens to them.”
If Williams suffers an injury that results in
permanent total disability, he’ll get $1.8 mil
lion through the insurance program spon
sored by the NCAA.
His advisors also have worked with Suther
land to secure an additional policy worth $ 1 mil
lion. That policy would pay off if Williams is not
Williams
drafted in the first three roundsoftltf
The premiums for Williams, wtioi
a paycheck playing pro baseball in
phia Phillies farm system, will totals
The coverage through theNCM
for a maximum of 24 months,n
through American Special Unde
Stoneham, Mass.
Athletes certified as eligible bytlif
get loans through Mercantile Banking
with the athlete required topaytbt
when he signs a pro contract, whenc
ty benefits are paid or when the cove
with neither of the aforementionedo,
It pays, according to MarkIdelson
ident of ASU, if “after six months, its;
by a physician that the athlete can't]:
fessional level for three consecutive
Former Miami defensive ta:
Medearis, who suflered a serious kn
1992, and returned briefly in’94 attht
ing his leg amputated, is one of the!
who have needed to collect. He col
$500,000 policy in 1993. He tried brit
back in 1994 but had to give it up.
Elsik’s Lewis officially passes up college
for shot at NBA career through draft
Aggie Sports
from staff and wire reports
HOUSTON (AP) — Rashard
Lewis, a 6-foot-10 high school
standout, declared his eligibility for
the NBA draft Thursday, becoming
the latest prep school star to bypass
college for the lure of the pros.
“This has been a very hard deci
sion for me to make — the hardest
decision of my life,” the 18-year-old
Elsik High School center said at a
news conference. “I had a dream to
go the NBA ever since I was a little
kid, and it was very hard for me to
step away from that.”
Brushing off criticism that he
may not be ready for the NBA,
Lewis pointed to the successful
transitions of former prep stars
Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett.
“I’m sure people told Kobe that
and people told Garnett that, so it
doesn’t bother me,” he said. “If the
whole world says that about me,
then I’ll shock the world.”
Elsik coach Jerrel Hartfiel also
discounted the critics.
“He’s very advanced at this age,”
Hartfiel said. “He has great focus on
U
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team instead of individual stats.
He’s a complete player.”
This past season, Lewis hit 73
percent of bis field goals and 40
percent of his 3-point shots, aver
aging 28.2 points, 12.4 rebounds,
five blocks and 4.3 steals per game.
In his four years at Elsik, Lewis
broke every record for all-time career
stats, racking up 2,346 points, 1,480
rebounds, 436 blocks and 419 steals.
Despite his success as a center
in high school, Lewis’ 212-pound
frame won’t be able to handle that
position in the NBA. He projects
himself as a small forward or pow
er forward.
Last week Korleone Young, a 6-8
power forward at Hargrave Military
Academy (Va.), declared himself el
igible for the draft.
Garnett began the recent trend
of high school stars jumping to the
NBA when he was taken fifth by
Minnesota in 1995. The next year,
Bryant went 13th and Jermaine
O’Neal was 17th. Last year, Tracy
McGrady was taken at No. 9.
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Texas A&M diver Rolex places^
makes U.S. squad top 40 natiorf; I
lies
Texas A&M junior all-American
diver Mark Naftanel qualified for
the United States National Diving
Team on Thursday at the 1998 Cin-
ergy-PSI National Diving Champi
onships in Indianapolis by virtue of
finishing among the top-eight
divers in the semifinals of the IO
meter platform competition.
Naftanel also earned Big 12 Con
ference Diver of the Year for the sec
ond time in two seasons by repeat
ing as the conference three-meter
springboard and platform diving
champion, in addition to setting a
new A&M and Big 12 record in the
platform event with 757.70 points.
A&M Diving Coach Kevin Wright
was named a U.S. National Team
coach for coaching Naftanel into the
finals. Wright is in his sixth year at the
helm of the Aggie diving team and is
the two-time defending Big 12 Con
ference Diving Coach of the Year.
Texas A&M freshman!p®igail
Rafael de Mesa has beer;™ ;ili\l
Team USA. as namec pi'il
States Tennis Association Bn Sal
Team USA, which reptaBakel
S. National Team.consistsiBit h;|
top ranked players in ttiepuBie cf
year-end USTA rankingsf»)Bnis|
girls in the 18-and-unbe. jthadJ
der and 14-an(kin<Jer{i(Bma
ESt l i ('|
USinal
De Mesa is currently is
36 in the latest rankings.
The A&M Men's Tea :|)ti UT [
two spots to No. 17 intte
Rolex rankings.
Doubles partners Slwiij
and Carlos Tori are rankefikl
the men’s doubles rankiifi
The A&M Women's Trii
dropped six places to No iil
Rolex Rankings. I
The University of fel
team is ranked sever#f|
women’s team is ninth*
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