Friday, April 24.1998 The University Daily Kansan Section B·Page 5 Transfer athletes compete to start Football players join Jayhawks to play in Big 12 By Kevin C. Wilson Kansan sportswriter The two junior college transfers who have joined the Kansas football team are doing exactly what head coach Terry Alien anticipated. They are both competing for starting positions. Offensive lineman John Oddonetto and defensive back Muhammad Abdul-Rahim have stepped in and made an immediate impact for the Jayhaws. "I'm real pleased with both of them coming in and competing." Allen said. "That's what you expect when you recruit junior college players." Oddonetto, a 6-foot-5-inch. 280 pound guard, transferred to Kansas after earning first-team JNCAA All-American honors as a sophomore last season at Eastern Arizona Community College. He was a two-year starter in junior college and said he chose Kansas instead of other schools from the Big 12 and the Big East because of many factors. "I just love it," Oddonetto said. "it looks like a college campus, the coaching staff is great and the older players were really friendly and made me feel at home." Allen said Oddonetto had fit right in on the Javhawks offensive line. "He gives us another good athlete that can compete for a starting spot," Allen said. "His height and size can really help us." Oddonetto said he would be able to help even more when he got a firm grasp on the offense. "I will be more confident when I know all of my responsibilities, and I won't be so hesitant," Oddonetto said. "I can also be a leader. In junior college, I was the guy who got everyone fired up, and I even made some of the offensive play calling from the guard position." Oddoneton said he was looking forward to making the transition from the junior college ranks to the Big 12. "It is the football conference in America," Oddetto told. "With all of the big rivalries it will be exciting." Like Oddonetto, Abdul-Rahim said the conference was one of the main reasons he chose to attend Kansas. "The competition in the Big 12 is the best," Abdul-Rahim said. "I had offers from the WAC and Big East, but when you look at Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas State, you have teams that are in the hunt for the national championship every year. I wanted to play against the best." Abdul-Rahim transferred to Kansas after recording 47 tackles, four interceptions and a 11 pass breakups as a sophomore at Scotts Abdul-Rahim said he was pleased with his decision to attend Kansas and his biggest challenge so far had come in the classroom. dale Community College. "Kansas is great," Abdul-Rahim said. "It's a good academic school and a major step up from junior college. I know I have to take care of the books before I can worry about the football." Allen said he was pleased with Abdul-Rahim's performance on the football field. "He's a good cover corner and thats an area where we still have questions," Allen said. "He can run and play man-to-man and has got great athletic ability." Abul-Rahim said his experience was something that set him apart from some of the other players in the secondary. "I only played man-to-man in junior college, so I know how to handle those types of situations," Abdul-Rahim said.
OffenseDefenseInjured
SE M. Chandler Eric PattersonOLBTim Bowers Jay FurgasonOLB Pat Brown(shoulder)
LT Dan Dercher Justin HartwigDEDion Johnson Ben ColemanLB Steve Bratten(knee)
LG Shawn Vang John OddettoNTJohn Williams Dane WryterLB J.J. Johnson(knee)
C Chris Enneking Bob SchmidtDEAdrian Green Adam MillerLB Dariss Lomax(knee)
RG Justin Glasgow Chuck JavisOLBHanson Caston Victor BullockDE Jeremy Hanak(knee)
RT Mike Lies Jerome ParksILBAndrew LeClair J.J. JohnsonOL Jason Stevenson(knee)
TE Brian Gray Sean McDermottILBMarcus Rogers Chris DoyleOG Dameon Hunt(knee sprain)
FB Tyrus Fontenot Moran NorrisLCJamie Harris Quincy RoeWR Tanner Hancock (hamstring)
TB Julius Bruce/Mitch Bowles David Winbush/Dustin CurryRCMuhammad Abdul-Rahim Jahmal WrightWR Termaine Fulton (hamstring)
FL Harrison Hill Algen WilliamsSSMichael Allen Ocasio CofieldDB Freddie Hammonds (thumb)
QB Zac Wegner Akili RobersonFSChad Coellner Bial CookFB Greg Davis(muscular problem)
WR John Gordon(cardiomyopathy)
RB Mike Lewis(knee)
Spring game two-deep roster Big 12 head to leave league The Associated Press M. D. Bradshaw/KANSAN DALLAS — Big 12 Conference commissioner Steve Hatchell said yesterday he planned to leave the league he helped form shortly after the 3-year-old conference's spring meetings next month. "Look to the first of June or the first of July," Hatchell told Dallas radio station KLIF-AM. "I've got my foot in the door with several different opportunities." Hatchell later told The Associated Press a personnel change is best for him and the conference. letic director at Kansas. "I think the league is in great shape, and the league just goes onward and upward from here," he said. "It has been three long years, and I think the change would be good." Among the names being mentioned as possible replacements if and when Hatchell leaves are Joe Castiglione, athletic director at Missouri, and Bob Frederick, athchose the league's first commissioner. Frederick, a former chairman of the NCAA basketball tournament select i o n committee, finished runner-up to Hatchell when Big 12 presidents Hatchell: resigning from Big 12 commissioner post Although Hatchell said he thought there was no pressure to leave, a source close to the situation told the AP pressure was being applied for Hatchell to step aside because of management and staff problems at Big 12 headquarters. "I don't know that I'm a particularly easy person to work for," he said, adding that some employees in the Dallas-based conference office were probably justified in their beliefs he was tough on them. Big 12 chairman Ray Bowen, the Texas A&M president, said yesterday he was aware of some concern about internal issues, but no one had specifically brought those concerns to him. "It's a high stress, high pressure job," Bowen said. "I don't hear anybody whining about that, but they'll tell you they are working themselves to death." Bowen denied that Hatchell was being forced out. Hatchell said he was being considered for a job with the Salt Lake City Olympic Organizing Committee, but would not discuss other possibilities. Other than Nebraska's success in football, the Big 12 has been an athletic disappointment. However, the league has been a hit financially, signing television contracts valued at more than $150 million. Gift-giving agent to settle suit The Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. — Jeff Nalley is no Jerry Maguire. Not in the minds of two Pennsylvania prosecutors, anyway. When sports agent Nalley showed Curtis Enis the money by buying the former Penn State football star more than $1,000 worth of clothing last year, he subsequently brought Enis' college football career to a screeching halt. Angered that the agent helped Enis violate NCAA rules, local prosecutors went after Nalley and charged him yesterday with breaking a state law that bars sports agents from buying gifts for college athletes. His attorney, Jerry Russo, said his client accepted the plea bargain so he could begin to put his life back together. Prosecutors said Nalley has agreed to accept a plea bargain in the case and will plead no contest to misdemeanor charges within a month. He could be sentenced to pay a $10,000 fine and probation. "These inquiries and the resulting proceedings have extracted from Mr. Nalley and his family an enormous emotional and fiscal toll," Russo said. "Further, Mr. Nalley does not want his friend, Curtis Enis, and Curtis' devoted and supportive family, to be put through any further disparagement or grief." Russo said Nalley would enter his no contest plea to one count of unlawful actions by athletic agents in Dauphin County before the end of next month. It is also a violation of NCAA rules. The saga began just before Christmas last year when fans spotted Enis and Nalley on a shopping spree at several suburban Harrisburg malls. "Buying an athlete gifts in an attempt to become their agent is illegal and unethical," said Dauphin County District Attorney John Cherry. Enis of Union City, Ohio, initially denied accepting the gifts, including a suit he was to wear at an awards show. In December, however, he confessed to Penn State coach Joe Paterno he had taken the gifts. Because of the allegations, Penn State suspended Enis from playing in this year's Citrus Bowl game, which Florida won 21-6. The university's third-best rusher of all time, with 1,363 yards and 19 touchdowns, subsequently apologized for lying and decided to turn pro. Saturday, Enis was selected by the Chicago Bears in the 1998 NFL draft. Prosecutors said this was the first case in Pennsylvania under the 1988 state statute, but said they were disheartened they could not charge Enis as well. "My anger is equally distributed in this case, both at the agent who preyed on Enis and on Enis, who knew what was going on," Cherry said. 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