Thursday
10B = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2002
Ultimate Frisbee
Brandon Rice, Olathe senior, describes a play to Mike"Ace" Jones, St Louis senior, and Tyler Beard, Olathe junior look on.
Contributed art
The Associated Press
Broncos may lose assistant
DENVER — A Denver Broncos assistant coach is being mentioned as a candidate for a head coaching job for the second consecutive week.
A week after offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak was included in the list of potential candidates at Texas A&M, wide receivers coach Karl Dorrell's name surfaced after UCLA fired coach Bob Toledo on Monday.
Texas A&M named Dennis Franchione as its coach on Friday.
"I think Karl would be an excellent candidate," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "He's a heck of a coach, a first-class person, he knows the area well."
Beforejoining the Broncos, he coached 12 years on the collegiate level, including stops at Colorado, Central Florida, Northern Arizona and Arizona State.
Dorrell, in his third season with Denver, played at UCLA and was a graduate assistant there.
"He's one of the kind of guys you like to be around as a head coach and fits right into that player-coach type coach," Broncos receiver Scottie Montgomery said. "At the same time, he's a
good disciplinarian and has a lot of talent. He's real smart at what he does and he studies the game as much as anybody else. He's like having another offensive coordinator."
Dorrell was the offensive coordinator at Northern Arizona.
Injuries: Shanahan said there were no significant injuries from Sunday's 19-13 loss to the New York jets.
He also said QB Brian Griese, TE Shannon Sharpe and RG Dan Neil were doing well after coming back from injuries.
Sharpe, who missed three games with a partially separated right elbow, caught nine passes for 100 yards in his first game since Nov.11.
He said he wasn't able to extend his elbow fully while wearing a heavy brace but didn't feel as much soreness on Monday as he thought.
"It's seems to be getting better and hopefully in the next week or two I'll be able to extend it fully." Sharpe said. "I think I got comfortable with the brace in the week leading up to San Diego, so I kind of knew what to expect. Coming into this week I really felt comfortable with the brace and I think as the days go by I'll get more and more comfortable, and after a while I won't
even recognize that it's on there."
Shanahart said Griese lacked some mobility after missing two games with a sprained left knee, but he did well under the circumstances.
Neil had the most amazing return, playing just five days after having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
Montgomery's neck: Montgomery, who didn't play against New York, said his neck was feeling much better and he expects to play this weekend against Kansas City.
Montgomery sat out after spraining ligaments in his neck during a kickoff Dec. 1 against San Diego.
Montgomery was still sore the week before Jets game and Shanahan thought it would be a good idea to keep him out.
"I'm feeling a lot better and I'm excited to get back on the field this weekend," Montgomery said. "It's (the pain) no where near what it was a week ago at this time and it's nowhere near what it was three to four days ago. I do have certain pains at night. It's almost like you have a crick in your neck and sometimes you can't sleep the way you want to. But I get paid to play football, not to sit and watch."
Heisman race still wide open; finalists announced today
Knight Ridder-Tribune
Sixty-six men have won the Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding player in college football.
Ready for five more?
So a five-way tie is about as likely as attempting a field goal from 65
yards out and having the ball get stuck in the corner of the goalpost.
Finalists will be announced today — there are usually four or five — and the winner will be announced Saturday night. One of these five players is expected to win the trophy: Miami (Fla.)
quarterback Ken Dorsey, Miami running back Willis McGahee, Iowa quarterback Brad Banks, Southern California quarterback Carson Palmer or Penn State running back Larry Johnson.
Dorsey is the only survivor from the preseason watch lists.
He's the unquestioned leader of the Hurricanes, who have won 54 consecutive games.
His backfield mate, McGahee,
has rushed for 1,686 yards (fifth in
the nation), 6.44 yards a carry and
a nation-leading 27 touchdowns.
Banks led the nation in passing
efficiency (166.1) and yards per attempt (9.18). He threw for 25 touchdowns and just four interceptions for a team that finished 11-1. He was named Associated Press player of the year Monday. But were Heisman voters watching when he put on his 12-week show?
Palmer doesn't have that worry. He lit up Notre Dame in his season finale, which was televised in prime time on ABC.
Johnson also put together a show at the end of the season. He led the nation with 2,015 yards and ran for 20 touchdowns.