Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 32

HID 27, WHITE 12 i Next: Sept. 4 at Iowa, Nile Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, Iowa Journal Star Sunday April 18, 1999 LfU Page design: Julie Koch a fry rzj Demps raises temps with 1 00-yard return BY STEVEN M.SIPPLE Lincoln Journal Star Nebraska 5 Perino injury: Backup quarterback Jeff Porino left the scrimmage in the second quarter with a Tow-grade shoulder separation," according to 2 head coach Frank Solich. Perino, who missed the 1, last two seasons after multiple knee surgeries, way-given an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA after his third knee surgery solved a chronic problem. Often bruised and battered throughout the spring, Perino rallied to play in the last two scrimmages but- was injured Saturday when he was sacked by walk- on linebacker Scott Shanle. Mora injury news: Reserve offensive tackle Nate Kolterman, a redshirt freshman from Seward, suffered what appeared to be a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

If it is a tear, he will undergo -surgery. Redshirt freshman l-back Dahrran Diedrick, who missed the last two weeks of practice with a shoulder injury, returned Saturday but suffered a bursa sac injury in his knee. New faces, big games: Redshirt freshman rush end Justin Smith led both teams with eight tackles, including three for losses and two sacks. Shanle, a walk-on strongside linebacker from St. Edward, had two sacks.

Redshirt freshman rush end Kyle Ringenberg of Elkhorn had two tackles for losses, and Gabe Fries, a walk-on linebacker from Benkeiman, had three tackles for losses. Linebackers coach Craig BorH also singled out freshman weakskte linebacker Randy Stella for running down three ball carriers from across the field. "Not many guys have the desire and instinct to do that," Bohl said. Offensively, Lincoln Southeast graduate and redshirt freshman tight end Jon Bowling ted all r.i receivers with three catches for 57 yards. "I think we're going to have a (tight end) group and many of them young guys who can come off the ball and have the ability to catch," Solich said.

i Run to daylight l-back Chris Butler, a walk- on freshman from Hoover, finished the game with 57 yards on 10 His 47-yard TD run was the highlight "To tell you the truth, the offensive line just opened up this big old crease," Butler said. "I saw aD this daylight and cut back. From that point, it was just a matter of getting the touchdown." Solich said he was pleased with Butler's progress. It will be interesting to see how he fits Into the mix in the fall. He responded well to a mixture of things and picked up the offense well." Mixed emotions: l-back Correll Buckhalter, Yet Demps retains a reputation as a speedster and looks forward to the day he can really cut loose again.

Saturday's mammoth return felt great, he said, but he was running in fourth gear, not fifth. "The last 50 or 60 yards, I started feeling it (in my leg) a little bit, so I started focusing on running with my knees high," he said. Demps' primary focus during preseason camp in August will be learning his new position, rover. The 5-foot-10, 195-pounder began spring practice at cornerback before moving two weeks ago. Nebraska has veterans Mike Brown and Joe Walker at rover, so Demps will need to be patient "I'm always trying to get somewhere on the field," he said.

"Right now, if it's not my turn, IH just wait" There were other young players who made splashes Saturday, most notably freshman walk-on Chris Butler, an I-back from Hoover, who broke free for a 47-yard TD run to begin the scoring. "I think it raises your game each time you do something like that" Butler said. "My thing going into the Spring Game was just to play the very best football I could play and show the coaches I could play as well as the rest of the guys." Butler received scholarship offers from Vanderbilt Southern Mississippi and North Carolina State, but couldn't resist the chance to walk on at Nebraska. He has worked his way into the mix quickly, because three of NU's top I-backs are injured. Consequently, the 5-11, 200-pound Butler has seen some time with the top-unit offense.

Heady stuff for a freshman, let alone a walk-on. "To play for a school like this, with the tradition it has, is really remarkable," Butler said. "I felt like this was the place I wanted to spend the next four or five years." He stood about 8 yards deep in the end zone as he caught the kickoff, so of course he considered dropping to one knee. "If someone would have penetrated the wedge (of blockers), I would have downed Nebraska redshirt freshman Mike Demps said. It was a classic case of "No, no, no, no ye!" Demps provided perhaps the most electrifying moment in the annual Red-White Spring Game Saturday in Memorial Stadium, returning a second-quarter kickoff 108 yards 100 yards officially for a touchdown.

The Red team won 27-12. "It was another prayer the Lord answered for me," said Demps, a defensive back kick returner from Fort Worth, Texas. Demps is like bushels of other young players in big-time college football programs he just wants to prove he belongs on the field. Sometimes attracting the coaches' attention involves some risk-taking. No, no, no, "I just saw the good wedge in front of me and thought, 'Uh oh, I'd better take this," Demps said.

He took it all right. He quickly broke into the clear and basically outran everybody, though freshman punter Josh Brown nearly caught him inside the 5-yard line, making a desperation dive for Demps' feet "He's really fast for a kicker," Demps said. "I heard him, but luckily I was almost in the end zone." Demps ran an electronically timed 4.38-second 40-yard dash in high school But his best time at Nebraska has been a :04.6, thanks mostly to lingering hamstring and knee soreness that leaves him about 75 percent healthy, 'i' who rushed for a game-high 90 yards on 1 4 carries and scored the final TD of the game, said he was both pleased and disappointed. "If we hadn't scored on the final drive, I would have been really disappointed, because you can't leave all the scoring up to the defense and special teams. (But) it ERIC GREGORYLincofci Journal Star Two-on-one: Dion Booker (middle) and Mike Demps (2) push running back Matt Albertson out of bounds during the Huskers' Spring Game Saturday.

Demps, a freshman, electrified the crowd with a 1 00-yard kickoff return. SpringNU defense looks like it mil be good again this season' otm iw.iw tmm-mmm i mjmwuw ten great Denina our onensive line, i hey made a lot of things happen with some very big holes to run through. I feel pretty confident that this team will be, back trying to win the national championship." Defensive focus: Nose tackle Steve Warren, -who had two tackles, including one for a loss, said the key for the defense was stopping the big play. "Right up until the last long pass, we did a good job of stopping the big play," he said. "We controlled things pretty well.

It was just basic, straight-up defense. That was the goal all spring. I think we can be as good as any defense ever at Nebraska with a good summer and a good fall camp." Hits keep coming: Senior strong safety Mike Brown said he expected the big turnovers because the defense was ready to make big hits. "When you-get the big hits, you can almost expect a big turnaround in a game," he said. "We gave up the one touchdown at the end, but this is a good offense and they are going to score on everybody, including us." All-around ace: Cornerback Keyuo Craver had a busy afternoon.

The freshman from HarletonJ-Texas, intercepted a pass, broke up another, returned two punts for 37 yards and three kickoffs for 67 yards. "I just wanted to improve as much as possible and be ready to help this team," Craver said. r- The player Craver is listed behind at left i cornerback, Erwin Swiney, will have surgery Wednesday to remove scar tissue around his pubic', -joint. It's the same kind of procedure that fullback Willie Miller had after the Holiday Bowl. Miller played Saturday.

Swiney, who had two tackles and an interception, will be inactive for the first four weeks' of a 3-month recovery. "I gutted through a lot of it," Swiney said of -spring practice. "I was thinking about not gang through it, but I knew it would help me improve, and-I was able to work hard in the weight room." Journal Star wntera Solicit said he was not worried about the offense. "We were missing some explosive guys on off ense. Crouch was somewhat handicapped because hs couldn't be brought to the ground and that made it difficult to run the option.

Eric's strong suit is the option speed, getting on the corner," With the expected recovery and return of quarterback Bobby Newcombe, I-backs De Angelo Evans and Dan Alexander and offensive tackle Adam Julch next fall, Solich knows things will only improve. "It's important that we get back the guys who have been out," he said. "We've got a lot of room for improvement. But the spirit of the team is exciting and they have a good work ethic." Nebraska opens the 1999 season Sept. 4 at Iowa.

"We've got a lot of work to do before that because we're not ready, yet," Solich warned. spring is very physical and it will help us in the long run- But I think we showed we could play with those guys by scoring on that last )'. Solicit explained that he was not dismissing his of fense. 7, 1 "I think the offensive line came along because they played physical," he said. "We came to the point where we became physical on first down and tried to get back to that point where the great Nebraska teams that averaged 6 yards on first down." The final drive was evidence, as the top offense picked up 6, 12, 8 and 1 yards on first-down plays.

McBride was impressed. "I can speak from the defensive side because I see it as much as anybody," he said. "This is probably the most improved offensive line that I've seen during the spring. It started after last season. People were kind of down on them.

I think they're going to have a great off ensive line." Continued from Page 1 put that first bunch in there and they're not neophytes. The whole defense is a bunch of hard-nosed guys. I was pleased with the way we played." And it didn't take any magic, either. Linebacker blitzes and stunts by linemen were limited. "When we played base defense, they (offense) didn't do anything," McBride said.

"People couldn't move the ball. That's what we were looking for this spring." Crouch, who was wearing a green jersey and was mostly off-limits to hard hits, had a tough day passing, hitting just 4 of 13 attempts for 63 yards 45 on his last pass of the game. He was also intercepted twice. "Swiney and Craver made great interceptions and made it an even more frustrating day for throwing the ball," Crouch said. "This defense we've been going against all ERIC GREGORYUncdn Journal Star Short appearance: QB Jeff Perino completed 1 of 2 passes for 1 1 yards before suffering a slight shoulder separation Saturday.

RED INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS 6 Donn 1 6 Jeremy Lyman 0 6 Jerrel Pippens 0 6 Adrian Warnor 0 SACKS No. 1 1 1 Yards 18 12 Yards 23 94 Scott Shanle Justin Smith 2 2 Hi OFFENSE RUSHING Player No. Yards Avg. Corral 14 90 6.4 PaUKasM 4 17 4.3 James Kelly 5 14 2.8 CM Sutler 2 3 1.5 WleMHIer '2 3 1.5 Dahrran Dwdnck 1 1 1.0 SamGutz 2 1 0.5 ErteCrouch 6 -14 PASSING Player C-A-l Yards TD Eric Crouch 4-13-2 63 0 RECEIVING Player No. Yards Avg.

Matt Davison 1 45 45.0 Tracey Wtetrom "1 17 17.0 Dahrran Dwdrck 1 5 5.0 Corral 1 -4 DEFENSE TACKLES Player UT AT TT Justin Smith 4 4 8 Eric Ryan Jason Lohr Jarme Burrow Mark Vedral Gabe Fries Dion Booker Jon Clanton Scott Shanle Kyle Ringenberg Matt McGinn Jon Coyne Troy Watchom Ben Jeremy Slechta Demome Jon Penny Mic Boettner Luke Smith Josh Anderson Greg Gregg List Jeff Hemje Aaron Chns Gustafson Matt Ickes Mike Demps FUMBLE RETURNS Player No. Jeremy 1 Greg 1 SPECIAL TEAMS PUNTING Player No. Yards Dan Hadenfeldt 2 91 Josh Brown 3 120 1 0 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Yards Mike 2 11 KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Yards Dahrran Diednck 1 14 Avg.

45.5 40.0 0.0 Avg. 5.5 Avg. 140 100.0 9.0 1 Mike Demps 1 100 1 EncRyan 1 9 WHITE INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Dion 1 1 SACKS WILLIAM LAUERLincoln Journal Star On the run: Eric Ryan tries to bring down sophomore quarterback Jay Runty (1 6) Saturday. DEFENSE TACKLES UT 1 2' 2 3 2 3 1 2 Player No. Casey Nelson 1 Aaron Wilis 1 Kyle Vanden Bosch 1 FUMBLE RETURNS Flayer No.

Bnan Shaw 1 INTERCEPTION RETURNS FIRST QUARTER Yards 0 7 7 Yards 0 Yards 9 0 WHITE 12, RED 7 Safety, blocked punt through end zone (12:24) THIRD QUARTER RED 14, WHITE 12 Greg McGraw 94 fumble recovery return (2:52) Conversion J. Brown kick. No. WHITE 7, RED 0 Chris Butler 47 run (7:30) I Drive 74 yards In 6 plays. Other plays Butler 8 run, Tyrone UMir 5 run, Butler no gain, John Klem 3 run, Craig Fischer 1 1 pass from Jeff Perino.

Conversion Josh Brown kick. Erwin Swiney 1 Keyuo Craver 1 SPECIAL TEAMS PUNTING OFFENSE RUSHING Player No. Yards Avg. Chris Butler 8 57 7.1 Matt Albertson 5 11 2 2 Ben Kingston 2 9 4.5 Dahrran Diednck 5 8 1.6 Tyrone Ur 15 5 0 JohnKlem 1 3 30 Tyler Rauenzahn 8 3 0.4 HankPlenlng 1 -2 Casey Hughes 1 -4 JayRunty 18 -5 Dwayne McClary 1-8 Jeff Perino 6 -8 PASSING C-A-l Yards TO -JayRunty 9-13-0 136 0 Jeff Perino 1-2-0 11 0 RECEIVING Flayer No. Yards Avg.

Jon Bowling 3 57 19 0 Craig Fischer 2 17 8 SethGutz 1 23 23.0 Matt Afeortson 1 20 20.0 PaulKosch '1 19 19.0 Jeremy Bender 1 8 8 0 Soott AgugHa 1 3 3.0 AT 4 2 2 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1. 1 1 Player Bnan Carlos Polk Josh Kohl Mike Brown Aaron Wills Randy Stella Casey Nelson Steve Warren Kyle Vanden Bosch DonNeal J.P. Wchmann Ben Buettenback Chris Gustafson DeJuan Grooe Brad Hamm Loran Kaiser Matt Grummert Luis Almanzar Chris Ketsay Tony Tata Ben Westenburg Ton Veland Erwin Swiney Wes Woodard Eric Fisher CUnt FWey Colin Wins Adam SECOND QUARTER 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 Player No. Yards Avg. Scott Agugha 1 23 23.0 Josh Brown 4 200 50.0 T.J.

Rotters 2 89 44 5 Dan Hadenfeldt 2 107 53.5 PUNT RETURNS Player No. Yards Avg. Keyuo Craver 2 37 19 5 Mike Brown 1 38 38.0 DeJuan Grace 1 -3 KICKOFF RETURNS Player No. Yards Avg, Chris Butler .1 19 19 0 Keyuo Craver 3 67 22.3 DeJuan Grace 1 20 20.0 FOURTH QUARTER RED 21, WHITE 12 Jeremy Lyman 23 fumble recovery return (12:43) Conversion J. Brown kick.

RED 27, WHITE 12 Correll Buckhalter 1 run (2:26) Drive 87 yards In 1 4 plays. Other plays Sam Gutz minus 2 run, James Kelty 5, 7 runs, Paul Kastl 3, 6 runs, Kelly 4 un, Buckhalter 12, 8, 5 runs, Eric Crouch mmus 7 run, false-start penalty, incomplete pass, Matt Davison 45 pass from Crouch, Buckhalter 1 run. Conversion kick faHed. WHITE 10, RED 0 J. Brown 34 field goal (12:43) I Drive 38 yards In 10 plays.

I Other plays Jay Runty no gain, minus 2 runs. Matt Albertson 20 pass from Runty. Runty 7 run, Albertson 5 run, Jon Bowling 1 5 pass from Runty, Runty minus 1 run, Butler minus 7 run, Runty 6 run, false-start penalty. WHITE 10, RED 7 Mike Demps 100 kickoff return (12:24) I Conversion Dan Hadenfeldt kick. 41 1 vv1'..