Osborne Shifts Stance On Suspension Of Phillips
The college career of Lawrence Phillips, the Nebraska running back and Heisman Trophy contender, who was kicked off the team after allegedly beating his girlfriend, may not be over after all.
Coach Tom Osborne kicked Phillips off the defending national champions’ roster Sunday night after Phillips was arrested. On Monday, however, Osborne hinted the junior’s college career may resume sometime in the future.
“Obviously, we’ve lost a great player,” Osborne said. “Lawrence was playing as well as any I-back we’ve had in a long time. … Unfortunately, he will not play for quite a while, if at all.”
Asked if Phillips could return to the No. 2 Cornhuskers, Osborne said he didn’t know.
“You never say never,” he said. “But he’s certainly got to get some things accomplished. … There’s no time limit on his suspension. Obviously, if he did return, it would not be any time real soon.”
Cougars-UCLA game on tube
Washington State’s Sept. 23 football game against visiting No. 12 UCLA has been selected by ABC-TV for a regional telecast.
Because of ABC’s coverage, game time has been changed to 12:30 p.m., WSU athletic director Rick Dickson said.
Pac-10 honors players
Tailback Karim Abdul-Jabbar of UCLA, linebacker Jeremy Asher of Oregon and linebacker Armon Williams of Arizona are the Pacific-10 Conference players of the week.
Despite missing 21 minutes of the game due to an injury, Abdul-Jabbar, a junior from Los Angeles, rushed 22 times for 147 yards (a 6.7 average) in UCLA’s 23-9 win at BYU.
Asher, a senior from Tigard, Ore., had a game-high 18 tackles, 11 unassisted, in Oregon’s 34-31 win against Illinois.
Williams, a junior from Tempe, Ariz., earned special team honors for his play in Arizona’s 20-19 win against Georgia Tech. With 3:56 remaining, Williams blocked a punt and recovered the ball on the Tech 4-yard line to set up Arizona’s winning touchdown.
Vandal has surgery
University of Idaho junior running back Joel Thomas had arthroscopic surgery on Monday to repair torn cartilage in his left knee and is expected to miss Saturday’s home opener against Sonoma State.
Thomas could be back at practice on Sept. 24 in preparation for Idaho’s Big Sky Conference opener at Idaho State on Sept. 30.
The Vandals have a bye week following Sonoma State.
Thomas was injured while rushing for 67 yards on 24 carries in Idaho’s 14-7 loss to Oregon State on Sept. 2.
He’ll be replaced by Lavoni Kidd, whose backup will be sophomore Marcelle Williams.
Vandals slip
Idaho had an open date last week, but it was costly in terms of the Vandals’ ranking in The Sports Network I-AA poll. UI (0-1) dropped from No. 14 to No. 16.
McNeese State remains No. 1. Boise State jumped up two places to No. 3 and Montana fell from fourth to seventh following a 38-21 loss to Washington State.
Northern Arizona moved into the rankings at No. 25.
Big Sky standouts
Boise State quarterback Tony Hilde was named the Big Sky offensive player of the week after throwing three touchdown passes in a 38-14 rout of Utah State on Saturday.
Idaho State cornerback Marcus Jackson won defensive honors. In ISU’s 28-22 win over Cal Poly-SLO, Jackson had an interception return for a touchdown.
Northern Arizona punter/place kicker Kevin O’Leary won the special teams award. O’Leary was 3 of 3 in field goals and averaged 54.5 yards on two punts as NAU dumped Sacramento State 62-7.
Garrity moves on
Mike Garrity, former Idaho assistant sports information director, is the new SID at Arkansas-Little Rock, a non-football-playing Division I-A member of the Sun Belt Conference.
Missouri players return
Three University of Missouri football players who had been suspended after pleading guilty to fraudulent use of a credit card were allowed to return to the team.
Coach Larry Smith said in August he was suspending redshirt freshmen Ramone Budgetts, Maurice Daniels and Chris Meredith for three games, but left the door open for shortening the suspensions by a game.
, DataTimes MEMO: Cut in Spokane edition