Bellotti’s starters
always changing
■ Oregon football continues
the season-long shuffling of
its starting lineup for a
variety of reasons
By Mirjam Swanson
Oregon Daily Emerald
Pity the opposing coaches who
have to prepare for the ever-eclec
tic Oregon football team.
Factors ranging from injuries to
opponent’s strengths and weak
nesses and even individual Duck
performances have given head
coach Mike Bellotti reason to con
tinually shake up his starting line
up.
Bellotti sent seven starters onto
the field Saturday against Wash
ington State who had not started
in the Ducks’ previous outing.
“We’ve been making changes,”
Bellotti said. “Sometimes they’re
subtle changes. There might be
three guys on the offensive line
starting at different positions than
the week before.
“ [We’re] continuing to work very
hard to get better, and we’ve been
able to look at who’s performed on
the field, and that actually makes
us win and makes us better. ”
Of course, one of the seven new
starters last weekend was quarter
back Joey Harrington, who took
over for former starter A.J. Feeley.
Harrington’s performance —15
of 24 for 239 yards passing and
three touchdowns to go with one
rushing score—earned the sopho
more his second start this week
end against the Pacific-10 Confer
ence’s best defense.
“Yes, we do [have a new
starter],” Bellotti said earlier this
week. “Joey Harrington handled
himself very well. He operated the
offense very well. At this point in
time, he’s the starter.”
So after having began the season
so tremendously — ranking
among the nation’s top-20 in both
passing efficiency and total of
fense after five games — Feeley
fell into a rut against UCLA on Oct.
9 and is the backup, for now.
“I think that A.J. was not
healthy,” Bellotti said. “It was a
cumulative toll of playing five or
six games and getting hit and that
type of thing. He has some rib and
muscle injuries that aren’t out
wardly visible, but they do affect
the way you throw the ball. I feel
bad myself that I put him in that
situation.”
Like Harrington, Justin Peelle
also enjoyed a productive first
start against the Cougars, catching
two passes for 12 yards.
Unlike Harrington, Peelle ad
mitted that he was plenty nervous
before the game.
“I was nervous and tense
throughout the whole week,”
Peelle said. “I didn’t sleep that
much. But once I got playing, the
nerves got out of me.”
The lineup is due for even more
reconfiguration Saturday, with the
return of two offensive lineman
from the injured list.
Sophomore tackle A1 Cotton
and redshirt freshman Corey
Chambers are expected to play af
ter missing several weeks of action.
Reunited
This weekend’s trip to Berkeley,
Calif., is the Ducks’ first since
1995.
And it’s a trek that Bellotti — a
HH ill!
Scott Barnett Emerald
Tight end Justin Peeile was admittedly nervous before his first start last Saturday.
Central California native —
should especially enjoy. Before
coming to Oregon in 1989, Bellotti
held coaching positions at three
different colleges in the region.
“We haven’t been back there too
much,” Bellotti said. “But I still
have a tremendous amount of
friends and family and followers
down there in the Bay Area, and so
I’ll get a chance to visit with them. ”
But Bellotti isn’t the only one
who will be stepping into his
coaching past. Oregon defensive
line coach Don Pellum was the
Golden Bears’ recruiting coordi
nator and assistant athletics direc
tor between 1990 and 1992.
Concurrently, Cal running
backs coach Ron Gould started
nine games for the Ducks as a de
fensive back in 1987 and was a
graduate assistant with the Ducks
in 1990 and 1991.
Nickerson
Continued from Page 11A
would make it hard for some ath
letes to gain attention, but Ducks
head coach Tom Heinonen was
well aware of the talent that ex
isted in the small town.
“I took note of her when she
was a sophomore,” Heinonen
said. “Anybody who’s ever seen
her run knows she is a smooth
runner and strong competitor.
She came from a high school
with not a lot competition, and
she’s someone who loves to com
pete.”
Nickerson will be the first to
tell you, however, that there is
something she loves much, much
more.
i1 I think she'll be the next
big-time runner over the
next couple of years.
Katie Crabb
cross country runner
“The hardest thing I ever had to
do was leave my mom,” Nicker
son said. “We’re only two and a
half hours apart, but there was a
time when I didn’t think I could
leave her. We’re really close, and I
still call her every other night.
Looking back though, I realize it
was best to venture out on my
own.”
Her first fall hasn’t all been
smooth sailing. Nickerson has
had to deal with pesky injury
problems that seem to keep her
from enjoying her success.
Although she did win that first -
meet at Clackamas, she strained
her Achilles during that race and
was forced to miss her team’s vis
it to Notre Dame on Oct. 1.
“It was really tough to miss the
first traveling trip with the team,”
Nickerson said. “I spent about
two weeks aqua jogging and rid
ing my bike and had to work my
way back into shape.”
The Achilles injury and an ail
ing quadriceps make Nickerson’s
impressive finishes at the Pre
NCAAs and Pacific-10 Champi
onships all the more remarkable.
“This whole season has really
been frustrating,” Nickerson said.
“As far as results, I’m ecstatic
about that, but it’s hard when
you hurt every other day. I’ve
gotten to know the treatment cen
ter a little too well.”
With an upbeat attitude and a
tremendous work ethic, big
things are expected from the
freshman that never really liked
cross country until she started
competing for Oregon.
Sports Brief
Women golfers claim second
Led by Pam Sowden and Ang
ie Rizzo, the Oregon women’s
golf team finished second at the
Rainbow Wahine Fall Golf Clas
sic in Oahu, Hawaii.
The No. 21 Ducks shot a com
bined 929, which left them six
strokes behind first-place No. 25
UCLA in the 14-team tournament.
Sowden and Rizzo paced Ore
gon by tying for fourth place in
dividually at 229, four strokes
behind individual winner Laura
Moffat of the Bruins. The Ducks’
Jerilyn White also played well,
tying for eighth place with a 231.
Oregon doesn’t compete again
until Feb. 21-23, when the Ducks
travel to Tucson, Ariz., to partake
in the Arizona Wildcat Classic.
“Amy’s raced really well in
spite of not having gone through
the same amount of training,”
Heinonen said. “She’s rested a
lot, and what she has done this
fall has been based on pure talent
and not on preparation.”
“I don’t even think Amy has
tapped into anything running
wise,” Crabb said.
“She has a lot of raw talent,
and I think she’ll be the next big
time runner over the next couple
of years.”
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