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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 2004)
i...... ...—- 1 Danielle Hickey | Photo editor Oregon senior Ramone Reed, seen here at practice on Tuesday, recorded 10 tackles during an injury-riddled 2003 season. Reed: Senior to start Big Brother program Continued from page 4B He established himself his fresh man year as an excellent special teams player and led the special teams in tackles before a wrist injury slowed him down. Unfortunately for Reed, he was riddled with injuries during his first two years. “For two years it was just injuries,” Reed said. “I broke my thumb, I sprained my MCL real bad, and I haven’t really recovered from that still. ” The loss of a loved one Coming into 2003, there were great expectations on Reed as a special teams player and a backup line backer. Two days after a loss at Ari zona State on Oct. 13, Reed got the worst news of his life. He was told his mother had died. This struck Reed hard and he was in and out of the lineup for the rest of the season and didn’t go to the Sun Bowl. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do at that time,” Reed said. “My team mates helped me through it and coach, Jerry Matson, Demetrius (Williams) and all the other guys were there for me.” Another tough thing for Reed was knowing his 17-year-old brother was without his mother now. He knew if he left school to go back, that would not have been what his mother would have wanted. “My mother would want me to get my education and become the first to graduate from college in my family,” Reed said. He knew his brother would hurt because of his mother’s loss and his presiding in Eugene. “It’s kind of hard because you can only do so much over the phone,” Reed said. “He’s never had that fa ther figure, and he really doesn’t un derstand how to listen to his elders, especially since our mother passed. I Ramone Reed intercepted a pass against Idaho earlier in the season. The senior leads Oregon with 19 tackles. Danielle Hickey Photo editor was really the only one who could put my knee down on his neck. ” Beyond Oregon Though this season has been suc cessful for Reed, he says football is taking a toll on his body. Once he finishes at Oregon, the fam ily and human services major wants to start his own Big Brother program and give back to the community. “I want to work with troubled youth because I was heading in the same direction,” Reed said. “There was a time that I dropped out of school myself, but football is the rea son for me to come back.” Head coach Mike Bellotti said Reed is one of the bright spots on this Ore gon football team. “We talk all the time about Ramone overcoming all the difficulties in deal ing with losing your family,” Bellotti said. “It has lead me to be very proud of Ramone and pleased with what he has done. He’s doing the things he needs to do to graduate, get his degree, play football and to hopefully ensure a bright future for himself.” clayton)ones@dailyemerald. com Preview: Putting pressure on Swogger key for Ducks Continued from page 2B speed to make things happen with his legs. In order for the passing game to thrive, Oregon needs to establish the run. Washington State ranks second in the Pac-10 in pass defense but sits in the bottom half of the conference against the run. Running back Ter rence Whitehead has rushed for 330 yards in 63 carries this season and will need a solid game Saturday. The last time an Oregon running back had a big day in Pullman was when Onterrio Smith exploded for 285 yards in 2001. The Ducks will be facing a Cougar defense led by first team All-Pac-10 linebacker Will Derting. The junior has racked up 30 tackles and a sack this season. Safety Hamza Abdullah has 18 tackles and a sack. Defensively, the Ducks will be fac ing the nation’s 12th-best passing at tack and sophomore quarterback Josh Swogger. The Cougars are aver aging 283 yards passing per game, and the Youngstown, Ohio native has thrown for 795 yards and nine touch downs. Swogger is susceptible to pressure, however, and has complet ed less than 50 percent of his passes. If Oregon can get a pass rush from the defensive line, the young quarter back can be rattled. Eugene native and Sheldon High School graduate Alex Brink has passed for 278 yards and a score as a backup. Chris Bruhn is Washington State’s leading rusher with 243 yards on 58 carries. Allen Thompson and Jerome Harrison have two rushing touch downs apiece. The Cougars are also solid on spe cial teams. Punter Kyle Basler has been named conference special teams player of the week twice al ready this year and boomed an 87 yard punt against Arizona. Kicker Loren Langley has struggled with field goals, however, connecting on just two of five. jonmetman@dailyemerald. com IN BRIEF Minnesota seeks revenge for Michigan's comeback win A year later, the memory still stings Minnesota coach Glen Mason. The unbeaten Golden Gophers were dominating Michigan by three touchdowns with a quarter left, yet ended up losing 38-35. “Do you really think that I have to remind them we blew a 21 point lead in the fourth quarter against Michigan last year? I don’t think so,” Mason said. “That’s not something we are very proud of, but that’s not Michigan’s fault, that’s our fault. Michigan did what they were supposed to do.” Mason said the idea that his team is out for redemption when it takes on the No. 14 Wolverines in the Big House on Saturday is downright laughable. “This idea of revenge, you waste time thinking about last year and all those kind of silly things, you’re not going to have a chance,” Mason said. "That (revenge talk) is all rhetoric. It all sounds good until the first play when you get punched in the mouth, then you forget about that stuff and it’s back to playing football. ” The game will likely revolve around the elemental subplot of Minnesota wanting to run the ball and Michigan wanting to stop them. The Golden Gophers are muscling their way to 323 yards a game on the ground, third best in the country. They have the na tion’s top 1-2 punch in Laurence Maroney and Marion Barber III, fifth and eighth, respectively, in the country. Michigan permits just 47 rush ing yards a game — not even a productive drive for the 13th ranked Gophers. “That’s going to be motivating,” Wolverines safety Ryan Mundy said. “We want to stay number one. ” — The Associated Press Need Cash? extra money for back-to-school expenses? 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