MONDAY,AUG.20,2001
BIG 12 FOOTBALL PREVIEW
THEUNIVERSITYDAILYKANSAN=13B
Wildcats' lineup ready for season
Roberson primed, team confident coach Snyder says By Michael Sudhatter Special to the Kansan
After senior Jonathan Beasley completed his college career with a 35-21 victory over Tennessee in the Cotton Bowl, the Wildcats' search for a new quarterback began.
Bill Snyder, Kansas State football coach, said sophomore quarterback Ell Roberson was the No. 1 quarterback as of Aug. 11. However, Snyder said that there was a close race for the quarterback who will get the nod at the season opener at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
"Ell is our number one quarterback and Marc (Dunn) did a nice job in the spring and closed the gap," Snyder said. "Both had very fine summers and they will both be very competitive."
The Wildcats have plenty of experience in the backfield because of the senior duo, running back Josh Scobey and fullback Rock Cartwright. Scobey, who scored 16 touchdowns for K-State last year after playing two years of junior college football, said he wanted to be part of a program that was building a new tradition.
"A lot of people asked, 'Why do you want to go to Kansas State? Go to OU, go to Nebraska, go to Colorado,' and those are places with great tradition," Scobey said. "But I wanted to come here and establish something that I could say I helped do. I want to say that I was part of Kansas State's first Big 12 championship and first National Championship."
The senior offensive line of Thomas Barnett, Andy Eby and John Robertson will protect the line of scrimmage for Scobey and Cartwright.
Punt returner and wide receiver Aaron Lockett will return with preseason All-
American punt return status from several news publications. A Tulsa native, Lockett said he was welcoming the challenge of playing road games at Southern California and Oklahoma on Sept. 29.
"We want to get a little consistency going." Lockett said.
"Playing at Oklahoma gives me the opportunity to play in my home state in front of a lot of fans, but it will pretty much be another game, our first Big 12 game," he said.
On defense, the Wildcats return only three starters: senior free safety and captain Jon McGraw, senior linebacker Ben Leber and sophomore linebacker Terry Pierce — the 2000 Big 12 Defensive Freshman of the Year. Leber said this year's rematch in Norman would take on extra meaning for Kansas State after two losses to the Sooners.
"I know that every opponent is equal and that you prepare for them all equally, but we want to avenge the loss," Leber said.
wnite two of the Wildcats' marquee matchups take place in the first month of the season, Kansas State — ranked 13th in the Associated Press poll— will Colorado, Texas A&M and rivals Kansas and Missouri. They will travel to Lubbock for a game against Texas Tech, which played a strong game in a 28-23 loss last season in Manhattan. In November, the Wildcats will play road games at Iowa State and Nebraska, where the team hasn't won since 1968.
McGraw said he was confident the Wildcats would be prepared for their season opener.
"I know that coach Snyder does a tremendous job of preparing us, and I know we will be ready for that first game," McGraw said.
Sudhater can be reached at 864- 4810 or sports@kansan.com
Sooners select starting quarterback
The Associated Press
Nate Hybl bests Jason White for leadership position
NORMAN, Okla. — Bob Stoops made his long-awaited decision Thursday, naming Nate Hybl as Oklahoma's starting quarterback.
"the bottom line is, we feel Nate has earned it." Stoops said after the team's morning practice. "He's done well and better (than White) in some areas. He's had fewer plays as well. It's still a very positive situation."
Hybi, a junior, beat out sophomore Jason White in the competition to replace Josh Heupel, who led the Sooners to the 2000 national championship.
Oklahoma opens its season
Hybl had a strong showing in the final full-scale scrimmage Wednesday night, completing 24 of 29 passes for 179 yards including a 35-yard touchdown. White was 11 of 18 for 141 yards with one TD.
Aug. 25 against North Carolina.
"Jason has been great about the competition. They both made each other better," he said.
Stoops said he looked at several factors, such as execution, consistency and leadership.
Offensive coordinator Mark Mangino said he and quarterbacks coach Chuck Long discussed the situation after the scrimmage Wednesday night, then met again Thursday morning before talking with Stoops.
"Right now Nate has just kind of been feeling a little more comfortable at the position and things are going just a little bit
smoother for him than they are for Jason," Mangino said.
"We've got the utmost confidence in Jason. If something happened to Nate or whatever the circumstances could be, we're comfortable with Jason, too."
Hybl and White have each been in the system the past two years. Hybil won the No.2 job last season, then practiced with the first-team offense during spring workouts.
The two have shared time with the first team during two a-day workouts, although Mangino said before those practices began that Hybl's status as the backup last season gave him a slight edge.
In the three preseason scrimimages, Hybl completed 70 percent of his passes, for 550 yards, with two touchdowns and one
interception. White completed 65 percent, for 434 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
Stoops had said after the final scrimmage that the starter will have earned the job.
"All our players earn it every day we practice," he said. "Every time we scrimmage, if someone plays better than another guy, then he deserves an opportunity to play."
"So though maybe it would have been easier on everybody to name a guy before last spring, I don't believe that's been our method. Our method has been about earning your way, regardless of what position you're at."
Simms confident as quarterback for Texas
Despite past errors, top starter ready to take championship
The Associated Press
AUSTIN — The No. 1 on Chris Simms' jersey says it all: The New Jersey boy came to Texas to be the best quarterback the Longhorns have ever had.
Never mind that the statistics say that title already belongs to the guy sitting on the bench behind him — Major Apple-white.
Simms, the golden boy with the rocket left arm and just seven career starts behind him, has taken firm hold of the No.1 quarterback spot for the fifth-ranked Longhorns.
"Some people don't believe in me," Simms said. "I believe in me."
The Texas coaches surely do, too.
Despite a rough start to the 2000 season, Simms made a lot of believers out of those who watched him throw for 623 yards and five touchdowns in
consecutive wins over Kansas and Texas A&M to end the regular season.
His 383-yard, three-touchdown performance against the Aggies wowed a national television audience. "We made Chris Simms who he is after he exploded against us," said A&M safety Jay Brooks.
This season hasn't even started and Simms is already having to deny rumors that he would turn pro if he has a stellar year.
"That's ludicrous," he said. "Even if I had the greatest year in the history of college football. There's no way."
If statistics were the only standard, it would be Applewhite taking the snaps and basking in the Heisman hype.
The fifth-year senior owns or shares 40 school records, including most career passing yards (7,974), most career touchdown passes (57) and most consecutive games with a TD pass (19).
With a good season this year, Applewhite could have become one of the handful of college
passers to reach 10,000 yards for a career.
But two career knee injuries and Simms' emergence as a budding superstar have pushed Applewhite, the All-Big 12 quarterback as a sophomore two years ago, to the sideline.
Simms has been looked upon as the Longhorns future since he got to campus in 1999.
The son of former NFL quarterback Phil Simms, he was the marquee player in a heralded freshmen class.
The Simms-Applewhite rivalry heated up last year when coach Mack Brown rotated the two quarterbacks for several games.
The team struggled to develop chemistry, and Brown, stung by criticism for the way he handled his QBs, nixed that idea for this season. Brown named Simms the starter back in spring drills.
Despite the confidence from his coaches and his teammates, Simms is still trying to shake off some of last season's gaffes.
He passed for 1,064 yards last season with eight touchdowns,
but also threw seven interceptions, three of them returned for TDs. He threw four interceptions in last season's Holiday Bowl loss to Oregon.
Stats like those, and his relative lack of playing time, have caused some to cackle over the Heisman talk.
Even the Austin American-Statesman newspaper labeled him a "pretender" for college football's biggest individual award.
Still, Simms says he's learned a lot from those mistakes and is prepared for a good season.
"I didn't realize (last year) how much stress I was under," Simms said.
The quarterback rotation took its toll last season and Simms says he's much more comfortable now.
Simms seems much more relaxed now. He's in control and aiming at a national championship.
"We've got our eyes on it," he said.
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