Ashley Conklin Emerald Sports Reporter I he emergent e ot I In* t )regon defense anil the emergent e nt I)erek 1 lorton h.is pl.i\ ml .1 Ini; rule ill the Dm ks rise to being .1 fniithall pott ei in the !’.u iln It) ( i illtelein e When I lurliin I n st i nine In Oregon in I'in', .mil appearing in l'liti. as a redshirt freshman the l)ui ks were anything hut good nil deten.se Oiegon has i Imihed hat k til lespei Inhibit with its pl.yt and defensivelt thanks to an altitude ( hange among the group In the past it tt as alw at s an ns in them' thing the senior starting tree safety said It erytmdv would alvvavs hlame somebodt else It was always the linebai kers unit’s hiult or the delensive trout's fault or it was the sei unitary s fault Now plating together as a w e re unit 1'he "> tool I 1 till pound Horton play ed just about evervthing m his i In high school ho played c cirnor hack hut moved to free safety and staitod the lust game of his sophomore season An ankle m|im lore eel him out ol the line-up though and he lost Ins starting |oh to junior college Iranslei Thom kaumeior After strong safety Anthony Newman graduated to the Ni l. in PIH~ Horton was inserted .it that position so that defensive coordinator Denny Schuler could utilize the talents of both haumever and I lorton lies a natural tree safety and that's where he started out at ' Sc huler said lie played strong salety last year so yve c ould yet he and huumey ei in the line-up .It the same tillle hut lie's muc h more c omfort ahh at tree salety 1 lorton interr eptecl three passes last sr.lsOll .111(1 U.IS .1 strung defender against ihr run lie finished Ihr season ss ilh Mi l.n k les .nnl ss .!'> third .inning defensive players lit lu l.d p1.1 \ s As guud .is | lotion u.is Inst simsoii uni' look .it his phis tills siMsiin slums svhs lie's inure .idrpt .it tier s.ilrls svllrrr he i .in pi.is i enlerfirld instead nl pi.is mg i lu.se In the line as all strung s.duties ilu * * l_ft_. —■ Derek Horton I Ici'l .1 lui more i omfortable ,il free s,lifts Horton said Strung saints pist wasn't lor me and I didn't feel comfort able plas mu it Horton is sei ond on the team w ith lour interceptions behind i ornerbai k Ohris Oldham not iniludmg a lumble he picked out of the air at Brigham Young He also has one olhel tumble re<..overs is fourth on the scpiad with tel talkies and leads all defensive players in total plavs Si lluler lor one has been pleased with the plus of Horton and thinks he has been more impressive I ban ka times ei "lie s mm h better than kaumever stoppmu the inn and eipialls as good as kaumeser cmrrmtt ihr pass Schulrr said llrirk ll.is rc.lllv bios sumi'il min .1 lop i alihrr -ill i onlrrrm i' pl.l\i'i Although Horton has devcl opi'il into one of fhr lop drtrn SISl hai ks m lfi»' f' I I loss lo Ihr ( '.oligars. Horton had Ihr onr fumble In- |in krd oil m a da\ w In-1r 11 was hard lo "point fin gns al anyhod\ I sualls it's oni- person w ho does something wrong that gets Mamed for the loss, but that das the whole defense had .1 had game He knew \s e were a better defensive team than that " The Dinks showed that last week m a :t8-~0 w in over the Hruins in which the Oregon de tense couldn't stop t’t'I.A in the lirst halt and the Bruins couldn't move the hall in the sei ond lull! Horton made two key (days to help the cause by breaking up a tout lldoss u pass on l'( LA's opening drive of the second half and later intercept mg a p.iss and returning it 14 s aids to set up a I)uc k sc ore Horton also had I I lac kies and was instrumental in shutting dow n the Brum running atlac k III the sec ond halt Head coach Rich Brooks has also been impressed with Hoi GO DUCKS!! Help support the Ducks —And wear your colors! ALL UOf 0 SPORTSWEAR 20% OFF!! We Feature the Best in Quality, Design & Colors. The Best Off Campus Prices! k I MVI KM IN III \ $ I* I K l I n Campus Connection — u of 0 * 720 E. 13th (Next tQ Dairy Queen) Photo bv Andrr Ranirn Derek Horton has been described as a “natural" free safety since his return to that position this year. ton's plav and said the Ni l. st outs arr ret ogni/.ing Horton's ri’i i*nl sin c.rss "Derek Horton has played outstanding lootball. Urooks said "He doesn't gel the ink or the credit or anything because most ol that has been going to ('hris Oldham 'The hist two weeks he has i learlv played heller than an\ player on our defense " Urooks added Against BYU and l '( I A lie u.is outstanding lie's tome up with some turn overs and made some ke\ tat k les I |e s j11sI done a stipei job t hie group ol people th.it Ills play hasn't gone unnoticed lii is the (NFL) scouts who have been asking tor a lot ot film on him.'' he said. ‘'They're very high on him.'' While it's hard to evaluate who will or will not make it in the NFL. Schuler likes Horton's i ham es "1 think he has the ahilit\ to play in the Ni l. under the right circumstances." Schuler said "You can't sac somebody is .1 can't miss player because very tew people are "lie's as close an athlete to Anthony as am hody l'\e had he added, "so I think he deli nitek has .1 shot Oregon West FITNESS - 6am 11pm 7 Days a Week 485 1624 1475 Franklin Blvd Across from Campus J