SPORTS
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
11
Thursday, August 26, 1993
Montana a leader for Chiefs
The Associated Press
Not even Marcus Allen is immune to Montana mania.
"Joe has a presence, a character. I don't know what it is," said Allen, whose Heisman Trophy and Super Bowl ring hardly make him prone to hero worship. "I don't know if you can call it savvy or what. He just wills himself to win."
There's scarcely a bar or a barbershop in Kansas City where Allen would draw an argument. Not since 1980, when the Royals' George Bretch chased a 400 average into September, has any athlete put the Midwest in such a dither.
The NFL's highest-rated passer ever signed in April after gaining his freedom from San Francisco, and before he threw his first exhibition pass, virtually every ticket to every home game was sold.
When Allen bolted from the Raiders and signed a free agent contract a few weeks later, he gave the Chiefs the most honored backfield in the league. The two men have five Super Bowl championships and four Super Bowl MVP awards between them.
Allen, No. 11 on the NFL, rushing charts.
also gave them a pair of stars whose combined age is 70 — 33 for Allen, 37 for Montana, who gave no hint in his first two exhibition outings that elbow surgery and two years of inactivity had eroded his skills.
In his first outing, he hit 6 of 11 passes for 97 yards on three possessions. Then a 27-20 victory Saturday over Minnesota, Montana was even more effective, hitting 11 of his first 14 passes for 93 yards, including a short touchdown strike to tight end Mike Dval.
"I feel a lot more comfortable," said Manton, who's been helping offensive coordinator Paul Hackett tutor his new team in Hackett's old 49ers-style offense. "I can tell that my mind is working. My expectations are high for myself."
Does this mean the Chiefs, who have seemed on the verge of big things the past three seasons, are poised to reach that next level? That will depend on how healthy Montana remains and whether acid-tongued critics, who sneer the Chiefs won't be able to support their new quarterback in the manner he is accustomed, are right.
The biggest worry is the offensive line, which gave up 48 sacks last year in Dave Krieg's first season. Left tackle John Alt, who seemed to be blossoming into stardom, slumped in 1982. Center Tim Grim hard appears to be solid, however, and the Chiefs have free agent Danny Villa and third-round draft choice Will Shields to build on.
As a backup, Krieg seems perfect. He comes into the season with the 100-highest passing rating in NFL history. But Krieg, who willingly accepted his role and became good friends with Montana, has
played poorly in the exhibition season. One pass was intercepted for a touchdown against Buffalo, and he made a couple of poor passes that were intercepted by the Vikings.
Those contributed to 11 turnovers in the two exhibition games at Arrowhead Stadium, which is anathema to any Marty Schottenheimer-coached team. While advancing to the playoffs the past three years, the Chefs have led the league with a plus-55 turnover ratio.
"It's awful. It makes it a little easier on the other guy." Schottenheer said. "There is no excuse. None. And we're not going to tolerate it."
Defensively, if holdout end Neil Smith ever signs, the Chiefs could be dominating. Outside linebacker Derrick Thomas has 58 sacks in 63 games and makes people forget he does not play the run particularly well.
Former Pro Bowl cornerbacks Albert Lewis, who re-injured his arm in the first week of training camp, and Kevin Ross may be showing a little angle. But the Chiefs believe second-year man Dale Carter could soon be another All-Pro cornerback.
Doud Hesse/KANSAN
Preparing to throw out the first pitch
Kalum Haack, KU softball coach, prepares his team for batting practice. The team , which started fall season practices earlier this week, was practicing yesterday at the softball field behind Oliver Hall.
Soccer players give their best to favorite game
Anne Felstet
Kansan sportswriter
As a registered club sport, men's soccer receives minimal financial assistance from the University, but it is not enough. Each player pays dues plus his own travel expenses including food, lodging, and gasoline. The team travels to Texas, Iowa, Oklahoma, and around Kansas.
It all comes down to dedication, time commitments and love. The sweating players, sprinting around the field and passing the soccer ball from one player to another, are out there purely for the love of the game.
The travel was one of the perks of the game for club vice president, junior Brian Robey.
"I have met a lot of people through playing. Now when I go to other towns, I can call up some old friends from the other teams," he said.
Club president, Kipper Hesse, said he could identify only about five returning players. He said most players did not have the time to come back year after year.
Paul Schaffer, a newly recruited freshman, said the biggest challenge of playing would be to work soccer into his schedule. The team practices Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for about an hour and a half.
Four-year veteran player, Matthew Jones, said he had stayed with soccer because of its fun, laid-back atmosphere. He also said he liked coming out and seeing his friends.
Hesse and Robey, five and four years with the team respectively, moved up from playing to coaching the team. This year the club has found a new coach to help them, at least for a little while.
Mark Salisberry, graduate student, inquired about coaching the team and will commit himself as long as time permits.
Hesse and Robey, observing Tuesday's practice, said they were impressed with Salisberry's coaching and they hoped to keep him for the season. They said peer leadership was hard to do and achieving peer respect was even harder.
Jones said it was easier to listen to Salisberry as an authority figure because no one really knew him. Hesse said he could tell, just by watching the way the players reacted to Salisberry's instructions, how well the performed under his direction.
Even under the direction of its peers the soccer team has had a good record. It had a 19-6-2 record last year and competed in the National Regional Championship. It is also the defending champions of the Ed Chartrand Memorial Tournament which is held annually at Kansas State, Hesse said.
Due to scheduling complications, the team only has two scheduled games this fall against Southwest Missouri State and Rockhurst's junior varsity队. Both games will be played at Shenk Complex, the playing fields at 23rd and Iowa streets.
Jones said he encouraged people to come out and watch the games because it helped build enthusiasm for the team.
Men's golf plans for success, Japan
"The team appreciates the fans," he said. "Just as the football or basketball teams does."
Team to build on last year's No.15 best finish in history
Kent Hohlfeld
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas men's golf team's toughest challenge this year may come from the ghosts of golf teams past.
Last year, Kansas golfers played their best season in team history, finishing 15th in the nation and second in the Big Eight behind Oklahoma State.
"We lost to Oklahoma State by one stroke when they were ranked No. 1 in the nation," said Ross Randall, men's golf coach.
"We're good and we're deep." Randall said. "We
Last year team feature three All-Americans, Brad Bruno, Matt Gogel and Jim Young, and one of only 21 Academic All-Americans in the nation, Jeff Moeller.
Because of the success of these Jayhawks, the team has been invited to better tournaments this year. Randall said. He said it was the best schedule Kansas had ever had.
The Jayhawks will begin the fall season with the Jack Nicklaus College Invitational followed by the Topy Cup International Collegiate tournament the next week in Japan.
Kansas will be one of only four American teams competing against 11 Japanese universities in the tournament.
Randall shares his players' optimism about the season. He said that a top-10 finish was a possibility for this team.
"We might be a little awe struck at first in Janan. John Hess said.
"This is our last shot," Hess said. "This season is what most of us have been looking forward to."
Hess said he thought that having five seniors on the team would help it with confidence, maturity and motivation.
He said he expected Gogel to be the top golfer this season. Gogel has been invited to the John Hancock Bowl Invitational, which features the top 24 college golfers in the nation. He will be a strong candidate for preseason All-American honors, Randall said. Gogel is also the two-time Kansas amateur champion.
have a good idea of who our top two golfers are but after that it's less certain."
"Losing Bruno and Young is going to hurt," said Gogel. "We have to get some other people to step up."
Gogal said he believed the team had the potential to be better than last year's team, and that it had the ability to win any tournament it played in, including competing for the Big Eight title.
"Td like to win at least three or four more tournaments this year," Gogel said.
Randall said he thought that success this year would help with recruiting players in the future.
"It's hard to break into the top 20." Randall said.
"It's important for us to continue to climb."
Injury may keep center from kicking off in Classic
Kansas senior center Dan Schmidt may not play in Saturday's Kickoff Classic against Florida State because of a sprained left ankle. If he does play, Schmidt will go up against a Seminole player whose career appeared to be over six months ago.
Senior nose guard John Nance spent most of the spring undergoing radiation treatments in Gainesville, Fla., after a benign tumor was removed from his left shoulder. Doctors had feared that they might have to remove Nance's collarbone to completely extract the growth in his shoulder.
"If they would have removed my collarbone, my career was over," Nance said. "It made me realize how quickly things can end. I'm not glad it happened, but I feel I've been blessed."
For the last five seasons, Kansas coach Glen Mason has spent part of
preseason practice living in the Jayhawer Towers with his players. This year, Mason and his son, Patrick, moved into the coaches' portion of the new football locker room in the Parrot Athletic Facility. Mason slept on an air mattress.
The Kickoff Classic will be Florida State's only game this season on artificial turf. With Bobby Bowden as coach, the Seminoles are 27-11 on artificial turf and have won 13 consecutive games on grass.
■ Florida State leads the all-time series against Kansas 4-2. In the last meeting between the schools in 1985, the Seminoles rallied for two fourth quarter touchdowns to beat the Jayhawks 24-20 in Tallahassee, Fla.
Kansan sportswriter Matt Doyle compiled this report
Richard Devinne / KANSAN
Sophomore running back L.T. Levine runs through practice drills Tuesday at the football practice field next to Allen Field House.
Running back strives to set standard
Coaches impressed by Levine's ability to step up in position
By Matt Doyle
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas' all-time leading rusher Tony Sands set the standard in which all future Jayhawk running backs are to be judged, said coach Glen Mason.
"Tony set the tone for running backs around here," Mason said. "He was a strong, tough runner and he was able to come out of the backfield and catch the football. That's what we look for in our running backs today."
Sophomore running back L.T. Levine hopes he can set a new standard for Kauasus running backs before his career comes to a
conclusion as a Jayhawk.
Mason and the coaching staff was excited by Levine's strong running back and catching abilities.
"He is a better player than I thought he was," Mason said. "He has excellent hands, good moves with the ability to make people miss, and he is very durable."
Levine saw spot duty in his freshman season a year ago behind running backs senior Maurice Douglas and junior running back George White, rushing for 62 yards on 15 carries. He showed the potential that he brought to the Jayhawk offense with a 26-yard performance on six carries in the Aloha Bowl victory against Brigham Young last December.
"Last year I sat back and learned a lot from Monte (Cozzens), Maurice and the rest of the seniors, "Levine said. "This year, I'm expected to contribute a lot."
There was no concern about Levine's ability to run the football when he came out
L. T. Levine
of high school in Colonia, N.J. Levine ran for 1,580 vards his senior season despite a nagging groin injury. The injury scared some schools off, but not Kansas.
in New Jersey," said Mason, who grew up in Levine's hometown of Colonia as well. "He didn't play well his senior year because of some injury problems, but I was sold on him by his performance early in his career."
"I knew about him for a number of years through some friends of mine back
Catching the football was an adjustment Levine had to make when he arrived at Kansas because he did not catch many passes in high school.
I have confidence in my hands, but I was
never used to having the ball thrown to me much," Levine said. "During spring ball, I improved in that category a lot and it gave me another dimension as a running back, which is good."
Levine said he was excited about the possibilities for this season. He said that he raised his number during spring practice from 27 to 22. He said he made the switch not because the Dallas Cowboys' Emmitt Smith, leading rusher in the National Football League for the last two seasons, wears that number, but because he just wanted a change.
However, Levine would not mind having Smith-type statistics this season.
"I hope to become an All-Big Eight player this season and challenge (Nebraska's) Calvin Jones for the conference rushing title," he said.
If Levine were able to accomplish that this season, then he would establish a new standard for future Kansas running backs to reach.