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SPORTS/ENTERTAINMENT
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1990
Hummings: Leads fellow athletes with actions not words
By ERIK SCHMIDT
Sports Writer
Most football players that compete on the col-
lege level generally play the same position that
they did in high school.
But for senior split end Sean Hummings,
who will be in action Saturday evening against
Auburn (7:30 p.m. on ESPN), this was not the
case.
“Sean’s the best quarterback we’ve ever had
here at Camden County High School,’ said Bill
Thom be, Hummings’ high school coach. “He
was a great competitor and a great student-ath
lete.’
As a senior at Camden County, Hummings
completed 96 passes for 1,458 yards and 18
touchdowns, while rushing for 1,182 yards on
152 carries. These totals earned Hummings AA
All-State honors from The Atlanta Journal-
Constitution and invitations to both the
Georgia High School and Georgia-Florida High
School all-star games.
The 6-foot-l -inch Hummings also played de
fensive back during his senior year. In fact, that
was the position that he was initially desig
nated at Georgia.
“I thought he’d be a great competitor on ei
ther side of the ball," Thombs said. “He’s that
great of an athlete."
The transition to the offensive side of the
pigskin didn’t take long.
“I was switched (to offense) the second day I
got here," Hummings said. “I enjoy receiver
more because you score more touchdowns and
can be more creative.”
This desire for creativity was a key factor in
Hummings’ decision to choose football over an
other sport that he lettered in at Camden
County, basketball.
“I ei\joy football more (than basketball) be
cause you can be more creative," Hummings
said. ‘“You have more room to make your
moves.”
Those moves have aided Hummings in his
role as one of the top Bulldog receivers, year in
and year out.
During his sophomore year. Hummings
played in all 11 games for Georgia, including
four starts. He caught nine passes for 138 yards
and one touchdown. His junior year, Hum
mings started every game at split end and
caught 26 passes (accounting for nearly 20 per
cent of Georgia’s completions) for 429 yards and
two touchdowns.
“Sean’s a very consistent wide receiver,” said
wide receivers coach Bob Harrison. “He’s our
leader.”
This season, Hummings is the team’s leading
receiver with 21 receptions for 318 yards and
one touchdown (12th in the SEC). Hummings’
totals would more than likely be higher if a
strained arch in his foot didn’t keep him out of
the Vanderbilt game in which Georgia rolled up
a season-high 216 aerial yards.
In the eight games that he has played, Hum
mings dropped only his first pass last week
against Florida.
“I take pride in not dropping any passes,”
Hummings said.
Another of Hummings’ strong suits is his
ability to aid the younger players. As a senior,
Hummings is the most experienced receiver on
the roster and imparts his knowledge to the
younger players.
“I don’t like to talk as much as some of the
other guys,” Hummings said. “I try to lead by
example.”
“He helps to coach those young guys,” Har
rison said. “He does a great job of correcting
some of their mistakes."
The opposition also respects Hummings.
“You hear a lot about (Andre) Hastings, but
Hummings has caught just about the same
amount of passes,” Auburn defensive coordi
nator Wayne Hall said. “They’re both great re
ceivers.”
Sean Hummings: Split end for the Bulldogs.
Clay courts improve groundstrokes
By RANDY WALKER
Sports Editor
As many American collegiate
tennis players prepare for this
weekend’s DuPont National In
tercollegiate Clay Court
Championships in Panama City,
Fla., the American Davis Cup
team prepares for a date with
Australia in the Davis Cup finals,
which will be played on a clay
court in St. Petersburg, Fla. later
this month.
With both events being played
on this soft, green, granular sur
face, the importance arises of the
need to develop the games of
American junior players from
slow clay courts.
The United States Tennis As
sociation’s choice to play the
Davis Cup tie on clay to suit the
games of Andre Agassi and Mi
chael Chang, marks the high-
water mark for U.S. play on clay.
Exemplified by emabarrasing
Davis Cup losses on clay and lull
of top U.S. players in the mid-
1980s, the USTA produced
plavers without strong clay court
DacKgrounds.
‘The USTAs coaching staff
saw it (playing on clay) as crit
ical,” said Ron Woods, the Head
of Player Development for the
USTA. “It was the missing link
for our players the last few
years."
As for college players, the exis
tence of the DuPont Clay Courts
as one of the Intercollegiate
Tennis Coaches Association’s
Grand Slam championships, is
an example of a new commitment
to American clay-court tennis.
Waywe Jaafcaaa/The Rad and Black
Caryn Moss
Why is clay-court tennis so im
portant to developing junior and
collegiate players? Besides cre
ating more versatile players with
a solid baseline game, young
Americans will find that over
one-third of the tournaments on
the IBM/ATP Tour and the Kraft-
/General Foods Tour are con
tested on clay.
“Playing on clay is good for
U.S. juniors in general," said
Georgia’s A1 Parker, the top-
seeded male at this year’s Du
Pont. “Besides developing a good
base to your game, it helps you
improve your footwork and your
ground strokes. You really need to
play on clay.”
‘The significance of playing on
clay is that it teaches you pa
tience,” said Georgia’s Caryn
Moss, a finalist at the 1989 Du
pont. "You need to be more con-
sistent and hit more
groundstrokes.”
According to Woods, there are
three areas that clay courts help
in the development of a player.
• Physical stamina and endur
ance are greatly improved by
playing on clay as the slow sur
face creates long rallies and thus
longer matches.
• Psychologically, the grind of
a long match strengthens a
player’s mental capacity.
• Players improve their tech
nical skills. They learn to work
the points, use the whole court
and to go for the winner on the
correct shot.
Georgia men’s coach Manuel
Diaz adds that the height of the
ball over the net and shot selec
tion are also important.
“You have to be more selective
on your approaches to the net,”
Diaz said. “You want to keep your
opponent behind the baseline
with good depth. You keep them
back by aiming the ball high over
the net to emphasize depth.”
All of Georgia’s six representa
tives at the DuPont have faired
well on clay courts.
Ivan Baron won the Italian
Open junior title this summer on
the slower, European red clay,
while Patricio Arnold has won
many South American junior ti
tles on clay. Shannan McCarthy,
this year’s No. 2 seed in the
women’s draw, won the 1988 Na
tional Amateur Clay Court
Championship, while Moss and
freshman Laura Kimel have won
many junior titles on the clay.
Parker, who won many of his 25
national junior titles on clay, was
a semi-finalist at the 1989 Du
Pont.
Dogs may run tuck-tail Saturday
By ERIK SCHMIDT
Sports Writer
When Georgia attempts to break
a three-game jinx against Auburn
Saturday evening, they will be tan
gling with a jungle full of ferocious
Tiger players determined to whip
the Dogs.
DARREL CRAWFORD, ILB
Crawford has a team-leading 94
tackles for the Tigers this season,
along with three broken-up passes.
He also has one interception and
one sack. The 6-foot-2-inch junior
form Montrose, Ala. was a first-
team pre-season All-SEC selection
and was rated the 14th best inside
linebacker in the nation by The
Sporting News.
DAVID ROCKER, DT
Rocker is the Auburn sack
leader with five, and the team-
leader in most caused fumbles with
three. The 6-foot-4-inch senior
from Atlanta is fifth on the team in
tackles with 67 and was an All-
nitely been an impact player for
season. He also has
SEC performer last season. Rocker
was a pre-season All-American
choice as well.
JAMES WILLIS, ILB
Willis is Auburn’s third-leading
tackier with 83 and is coming off of
a whopping 16-tackle game against
Southern Mississippi. The 6-foot-3-
inch freshman linebacker has defi-
ely *
the Tigers this season,
one recovered fumble to his credit
this year.
And now for some offense.
STAN WHITE
The red-shirt freshman from
Birmingham, Ala. idolizes Joe
Montana, and with a little work,
who knows? White is second in the
conference in passing yardage
(1,842) and has completed 148 of
277. He’s thrown 12 touchdown
passes but has been picked Qff 10
times.
GREG TAYLOR, WR
Don’t be deceived by this wide
receiver’s 5-foot-8-inch frame. The
guy can play. The Opelika, Ala. na
tive is the fourth-leading receiver
in the SEC with 41 receptions for
601 yards and seven touchdowns.
He has two eight-catch games this
season against Tennessee and
Louisiana Tech.
JAMES JOSEPH, FB
Joseph is Auburn’s leading
rusher (10th in the SEC) with 386
yards on 88 carries. The 6-foot-2-
inch Phenix City, Ala. native was a
pre-season All-SEC selection and
was rated the third-best fullback in
the nation by The Sporting News.
He has three touchdowns this
STACY DANLEY, TB
The 6-foot-3-inch senior from
Winston is Auburn’s sixth 2,000-
yard rusher with 2,315 yards (318
yds. this season). Danley was rated
the 10th best tailback in America
by The Sporting News and has
scored one touchdown this season.
He had ankle surgery last spring.
Hoop Dogs take the floor Saturday
SI ranks Dogs tenth
Injuries pose threat to Lady Dogs
By BILLY COPELAN
Sports Writer
profc
women’s baske tDall coach Andy
Landers has contended with
during pre-season has been nu
merous injuries to players.
The situation nas been bad
enough at times that the Lady
DogB have practiced with only
seven players, and Landers has
been forced to ask for people to
walk on and practice with the
team.
“People reach their limitations,
(because of irvjuries) then we have
to excuse them from practice at
any given point,” Landers said.
Landers has even had former
Georgia player Carla Green prac
ticing with the team to have
enough players to scrimmage. Two
walk-ons also began practicing
with the team Monday.
Landers’ biggest concern with
the number of injuries is with the
conditioning of his team. This
season he plans to use the running
game and press teams full court, so
conditioning will be crucial to the
success of tne Lady Dogs.
Because of ankle injuries to se
nior point guard Kim Berry and ju
nior guard Lady Hardmon, a back
injury to freshman Deborah Reese
and a knee injury to sophomore
Camille Lowe, Landers has not
been able to concentrate on condi
tioning like he normally would.
“We haven’t been able to (con
centrate on conditioning) because
of injuries,” Landers said. “If we
tried or worked any harder than
we’re working right now on any
given day, the following day we’d
be minus players.”
Landers said that Berry and
Hardmon have almost fully recov
ered, but Reese’s back injury and
Lowe’s knee injury must be eval
uated on a day-to-day basis.
The Lady Dogs opens up its reg
ular season Nov. 28 against N.E.
Louisiana in the Coliseum.
By RANDY WALKER
Sports Editor
When the Georgia men’s basket
ball team takes the floor in the Col
iseum Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
against Marathon Oil, the Bull
dogs will not face just another
walkover exhibition-game oppo
nent. Last month, the Marathon
squad upset No. 17 Connecticut 95-
90 in Storrs, Ct. and Wednesday
night in Knoxville, Tenn., Mar
athon knocked off Tennessee 80-
76.
Tickets for Saturday’s game are
$3 for the public, $1 for high school
kids and younger, while Georgia
students are admitted free with ID.
SEASON OPENER - Over the
Thanksgiving break, the defending
SEC Champs will open up their
1990-91 regular season against Wi
chita State in the Central Fidelity
Classic in Richmond, Va. on Nov.
23. If Georgia can defeat the
Shockers, they will face the winner
of the Dartmouth-Richmond game.
Wichita State (10-19 in 1990)
hail from the Missouri Valiev Con
ference and have produced such
NBA players as Xavier McDaniel
(Seattle Supersonics), former At
lanta Hawks Antoine Carr (now at
Sacremento) and Cliff Levingston
Hugh Durham
(now at Chicago). This year, the
Dogs will have to contend with for
ward John Cooper, a 6-foot-6-inch
forward from Kansas City, Mo.
Last year for the Shockers, Cooper
averaged 17 points and 7.2 re
bounds per game.
In the only meeting between the
two squads, Georgia defeated the
Shockers 67-59 in the first round of
the 1985 NCAA Tournament at the
Omni in Atlanta.
WILSON QUESTIONABLE -
Georgia senior forward Marshall
Wilson is listed as questionable for
Saturday’s exhibition game
against Marathon Oil, following a
sprained ankle suffered last Sat
urday.
FIRST SIGNEE - Dathon
Brown, a 6-6 forward from Doug
lass H.S. in Atlanta, signed a letter
of intent Wednesday to play for
Georgia conch Hugh Durham next
season. Regarded as one of the
state’s top prospects, Brown aver
aged 16 points and 10 rebounds in
his junior season last year. Brown
chose Georgia over Alabama.
SI RANKS DOGS TENTH -
Sports Illustrated ranked the
Georgia men’s basketball team
tenth in its pre-season poll, the
highest pre-season ranking the
Dogs have received this year. The
Associated Press ranked the Dogs
No. 21.
HOOP HOUND TICKETS
SOLD OUT - All 575 “Hoop
hound” season tickets have sold
out for the 1990-91 season. Regular
student season tickets go on sale
Jan. 7-11 at the Coliseum.
SEC may face East, West division; Al Parker top seeded
FROM STAFF REPORTS
The Southeastern Conference could be di
vided into East and West Divisions for the
1991-92 basketball season and the 1992
football season if proposals made by the
SEC athletic directors in Birmingham, Ala.
Wednesday are accepted by the league’s
university presidents.
Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Caro
lina, Tennessee and Vanderbilt would com
pete in the East, while the West could
contain Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU,
Mississippi and Mississippi State.
Auburn’s football program is unhappy
with the system, which would limit their
games with traditional rivals Georgia,
Florida and Tennessee. The divisions would
allow for each team to play one game with
every team in their section and then play
two teams from the other conference once a
season for a two-year stint. The SEC ath
letic directors will coll for an evaluation of
SPORTS BRIEFS
the system after a two-year run to soothe
the Tigers’ qualms.
Basketball teams in the SEC would play
a 16-game schedule and then compete in a
12-team post-season tournament beginning
next year. The 16-game schedule would in
volve each team playing twice against
teams in their own division and once
against teams in the other one.
PARKER TOP SEED AT DUPONT -
Georgia senior Al Parker is the top-seeded
player at the DuPont Collegiate Clay Court
Championships, which begin today in
Panama City, Fla. Parker faces Jack Waite
of Wisconsin in the first round. Bulldog
freshman Ivan Baron will take on Doug Liv
ingston of Arizona, who won the consolation
event at Volvo Tennis Collegiate
Championships this month. Patricio Ar
nold, who received a wildcard into the
event, will play Marcos Garzo of Fresno
State.
Third-seeded Caryn Moss, a finalist at
the 1989 DuPont, will play UCLA’s Mamie
Ceniza, a native of Hawkinsville, Ga.
Shannan McCarthy, the No. 2 seed, plays
Gabrille Villiger of Anderson (S.C.) Jr. Col
lege. Freshman Laura Kimel takes on Me
lissa Nelson of Kentucky.
SHEPPARD SIGNS - Stacy Sheppard,
one of the nation’s top junior tennis players,
signed a letter of intent to play for coach
Jeff Wallace’s squad. Sheppard, who com
peted at this year’s junior U.S. Open, won
the 1990 National Junior Clay Court
Championship.
SWIMMERS TAKE ON CATS - The
Georgia men’s and women’s swim teams
take on Kentucky today in Lexington. The
Lady swimmers, ranked No. 9 in the
country, upped their record to 3-0 with a
win over Tennessee last weekend. The men
lost to the Vols to drop to 1 -2.
MEN’S SOCCER — The men’s soccer
club will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala. this
weekend to compete in the SEC Soccer
Tournament. The 12-team tourney marks
the first time since 1986 that the team has
been invited to the event.
‘This is probably the strongest Georgia
team we’ve had in several years," player-
coach Brian Buttrick said. “We expect to
fare well."
Led by the solid goalkeeping tandem of
Andy Schulstead and Keegan Kettering, the
Bulldogs have posted a 4-1 record including
a victory over International, a tough club
team from Atlanta.
POLO — The Georgia men’s polo team
shocked Virginia 7-6 last Saturday at the
Mount Vernon Farm Polo and Equestrian
Center. The Georgia women’s team de
feated 15-2 on Sunday. The team’s next
competition will take place in January
when they travel to Tulane.
You Pick 'Em
Saturday'*
Game*
Favorite
Pts
Underdog
AUBURN
19
Georgia
Georgia Toth
18
WAKE FOREST
North Carolina
11 n
DUKE
VIRGINIA
23
Maryland
Syracuse
5 1/2
WEST VIRGINIA
MICHIGAN
26
MinnaaoU
DlinoU
8 1/2
INDIANA
COLUMBIA
PK
Brown
CIJCMSON
17
South Carolina
Florida St
29
MEMPHIS ST.
CORNELL
11
Pennsylvania
Yalo
2
HARVARD
Florida
21
KENTUCKY
VANDERBILT
2
TENNESSEE
12 1/2
Mississippi
BYU
32
UTAH
Michigan St
31
NORTHWEST
Ohio St.
21
WISCONSIN
COLORADO
32
Kanaaa
AJABAMA
40
Cincinnati
MISSISSIPPI ST
11 n
i-su
NOTRE DAME
7 1/2
Ponn St,
Baylor
7
RICE
Southern Cal
4 1/2
UCLA
MIAMI. PLA
36
Boaton CoU.
Homo Teem in CAPS
Stephen Mo rook I/Th# Red and Black