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Wednesday, October 25 1987
1
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
7
Likes new position
Mosier 'catches on'
By Maggie Ogilvie Kansan Staff Reporter
Once an all-state prep quarterback, John Mesler fought through a "really unhappy" freshman season, against mononucleosis, a kidney injury and only once against opponents on the field.
"You gotta do something about it," he told himself. And he has.
Last weekend the Wichita sophomore fought a happier battle as offensive tight end, helping to win the game and earning KU lineman-of-the-week award.
"We talk more about winning now," he said. "Part of being an athlete is winning."
Team important, too
With Mosier, the other part is the team.
"I don't worry about individuals, but about my team beating their team. There are a thousand ways to win—all physical or mental. We work together in lots of ways. I think a lot of those guys," he said.
On their floor in Joseph R. Pearson Hall, Mosier feels he's "kinda got the run of things." He explains to the freshman he is "a big jock and they figure it's better to listen cause you're older."
"I think you need personal talks," Mosier pondered, "Like after this interview, I'll probably go back to Zook's room and play cards and tell him how great he is!"
Leaning against a table in the Hawklet while balancing in his chair with one foot up on another, he explained that football gives him a chance to meet more people. Then an old friend saw him.
"Hi, John Paul."
"My mom's the only one that still does that," Mosier laughed. "The coaches all call me Johnny. It doesn't matter."
What does matter to Mosier is the trips, it gives him a chance to get his mind off students being around and helps him "loosen up when he is not having to be
TV night before
thinking about somebody else or your girl calling you."
He watches television, preferably "starkret" or "Vive las Vegas," until about 10:30 the night before a game.
Busing "sort of a high-strug person anyway" (his hands constantly wad his shirt or help him speak). Mosier said he slept only about three hours the night before the Nebraska game.
"In the future, I'll get something a little stronger than the light sleeping pill I took," he said.
Though he's in front of a big crowd each weekend, he doesn't think about being nervous, but concentrates on the game completely.
"When you have something to strive for—an ingrown goal, it really makes you put out more." Mosier said. "It may be something a whole lot of people may be striving for."
Three older brothers have shared that sought after goal, two of whom won college football scholarships. They made it kind of tough, but helped him to "get used to playing harder all the time trying to be as good as they were."
One is now a minor league player and coach. At 6-7 and 280
he is a "pretty big boy" even to Mosier's 6-3, 195.
Mosier's major is physical education because "it's best and what's natural" for him.
Sciences tough
Nebraska's 163.4 total defense mark is the finest in the conference in the last 21 years.
"Some say it's a put, but it isn't. We have to take a lot of biological sciences and I have a heck of a time with that," he sighed. History will be his minor in preparation for a career in college coaching.
"I want to start out in high school and work my way up," he said. "You need a lot of experience to do something like that."
Experience is something John Mosier is getting a lot of.
Grant Dahl, Kansas football lineman from Glencoe, Ill., will undergo knee surgery Friday at the University of Kansas medical center in Kansas City.
Dahl to KU Med Center for surgery
Dahl, a 202-pound junior, sustained a knee injury in a scrimmage two weeks before the season opened. He was playing at number one defensive tackle at the time of his injury.
Big Eight statistics
Nebraska also ranks No. 2 in the conference in passing defense with a 95.6 average, marking the first time in 13 years the Big Eight has a team allowing fewer than 100 yards a game in both rushing and passing.
Sooners hold half of Big Eight honors
By United Press International
Potent Oklahoma, geared by the talented quarter-back-tailback combination of Bob Warmack and Ron Shotts or Steve Owens, gives the Sooners the Big Eight's most explosive offense in 10 years.
Nebraska, its hopes all but mathematically eliminated for a fifth straight Big Eight title, leads in three of the other four team statistical rankings.
The Sooners lead in four of the eight team statistical departments this week, including a nation best of 284 yards a game rushing.
Oklahoma also leads in total offense with an average of 414 per game, or 99 yards better than runnerup Nebraska at 315, in scoring offense, averaging 27.3 points, and in scoring defense, yielding only 16 total points.
Warmack, Shotts and Owens have handled the ball on all but 49 of the Sconers' 236 running plays and picked up 952 of the 1.135 yards.
The only team lead to escape the Oklahoma-Nebraska stranglehold belongs to Oklahoma State in passing defense with a 90.8 average.
Owens leads the league in rushing with 409 yards. Shotts ranks fourth at 376 and Warmack is fifth in the league in total offense.
The Huskers own the best rushing defense 67.8, the best total defense 163.4 and the best passing offense 154.2.
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