Epley Satisfied With Husker Football Testing Results

Lincoln, Neb. - Two position records were broken and one school record was set on Wednesday at the Nebraska football team's pre-winter conditioning testing in the Cook Pavilion, NU Director of Athletic Performance Boyd Epley announced Friday.

Sophomore defensive lineman Jon Clanton became the first Nebraska athlete to break 1,000 points on one performance indicator when he notched a pro-agility time of 3.97, also a position record. The 277-pounder's time translated into an index score of 1,018 points, the most ever recorded by a Husker. The previous record was set by Dan Alexander, who scored 997 points in the pro-agility run.

"Jon Clanton was the story of the pre-testing," Epley said. "It was just a great effort. It's quite an honor when you look at all the athletes that we've had come through here. It's something that we won't forget. The added strength that he will gain in the next six weeks will increase his agility. He could see even better times at the end of the program."

Clanton led the way in the performance index, scoring 2,648 points. Freshman linebacker Jason Richenberger scored 2,477 points in the performance index, while freshman defensive back Willie Amos scored 2,449 points in the performance index.

The fourth-best performance index of the day was recorded by freshman fullback Curt Tomasevicz, who notched 2,421 points. He broke the vertical jump points record for his position with a leap of 37 inches. The 214-pounder scored 677 points in the event. The previous record was set in 1988 by Lance Lewis, who weighed 200 pounds and leaped 37 inches.

"Curt Tomasevicz is a kid that you're going to see move up the charts in the spring," Epley said. "The coaches are going to be watching him a little closer. He's done well in practices on the scout team. They're pleased with where he's at and the power that he's brought to that position. He's always been very explosive."

In the 10-yard dash, the Huskers were led by junior linebacker Randy Stella, who notched a time of 1.56. Amos recorded the top 40-yard dash time with a mark of 4.45. Amos' mark came on his second attempt - after a slow start on his first run.

"I saw Erwin Swiney standing there, who is a former state champion sprinter, so I asked him to go over to show Willie what to do," Epley said. "He helped him with him a few starts. Willie got more familiar with how to do it, stepped up for his second run and had an excellent start. He has unbelievable acceleration. He may be as fast as we've seen on a team in the middle of a run. He has tremendous closing speed - very impressive."

The Huskers averaged 1.74 in the 10-yard dash, which is better than last season's time and ties the average time ran by the 1999 team in the pre-winter conditioning testing. The 1999 team ran on turf, while this year's squad ran on FieldTurf, which is a slower surface.

"The FieldTurf is categorized by the NFL as grass," Epley said. "So this is like comparing grass times to turf times. People that read our times across the nation thinking Nebraska's slow. That's just fine with us. I promise you, we are not slow."