LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst has announced plans to provide additional benefits to athletes that are now allowed under NCAA rules.

Eichorst said in a video statement on the athletic department’s website Wednesday that beginning this fall each athlete would receive a laptop computer and that an athlete who graduates and exhausts his or her eligibility will receive assistance for obtaining an internship, studying abroad or attending graduate school.

The university announced in January that athletic scholarships would increase in value this fall to include the full cost of attendance. An athletic department spokesman said Wednesday he didn’t have the exact dollar amount that would be added to scholarships to cover personal expenses. University officials in January estimated the figure at $3,600 per full scholarship.

Former University of Nebraska guard Terran Petteway begins his professional career this week, as he was signed by the Atlanta Hawks to play in the NBA Summer League.

Petteway signed with the Hawks for the Summer League after the NBA Draft last month. The Hawks will play in the Las Vegas Summer League, which runs from July 10 to July 20.

Petteway and the Hawks will play Denver (July 10), Golden State (July 12) and the NBA D-League Select Team (July 13) with the playoffs opening on July 15 and commencing with the championship game on July 20.

Continue reading “Petteway Begins Pro Career in NBA Summer League”

The University of Nebraska Athletic Department has recently added Tucker Zeleny as the Director of Sports Analytics and Data Analysis. Zeleny joins Athletics after building an impressive resume in various areas at UNL.

Zeleny will head a newly formed department that will be in charge of working with Nebraska’s 24 varsity sports to collect, analyze and summarize data related to team and individual performance. Zeleny and his staff will also work with support staff areas within the department to collect, analyze and summarize data related to department operations.

Continue reading “UNL hires staff to study data tied to athletic performance”

Nebraska juniors and team captains Tommy Armstrong Jr. and Maliek Collins were named to watch lists for prestigious national awards on Tuesday.

Armstrong was among the players named to the watch list for the 79^th annual Maxwell Award, given to America’s College Player of the Year since 1937. Collins was among the defensive players named to the watch list for the Bednarik Award, which has been presented to the College Defensive Player of the Year since 1995.

The 6-1, 220-pound Armstrong has engineered the Nebraska offense each of the past two seasons, compiling a 16-5 record as the Huskers’ starting quarterback. In 2014, Armstrong compiled 3,400 yards of total offense, the third-best single-season total in Nebraska history. Armstrong passed for 2,695 yards and 22 touchdowns, while rushing for 705 yards. The Cibolo, Texas, native set Nebraska sophomore records for passing yards, passing touchdowns and total offense in 2014.

Armstrong is one of 12 Big Ten players named to the watch list for the Maxwell Award.

Collins will man the interior of the Nebraska defensive front in 2015. Last season, the Kansas City native emerged as a dominant force at defensive tackle, leading the team with 14 tackles for loss, while adding 4.5 sacks. The 6-2, 300-pound Collins was at his best against the toughest foes, with 12 of his 14 tackles for loss coming in Big Ten Conference games or the bowl game against USC. Collins was named co-Defensive MVP for the Huskers in 2014, and was a second-team All-Big Ten pick.

Collins was among a group of 12 Big Ten defensive standouts on the watch list for the Bednarik Award.

Watch list announcements will continue throughout the next two weeks, with the watch lists for the Rimington Trophy (Center) and the Mackey Award (Tight End) unveiled on Wednesday.

Nebraska wide receiver De’Mornay Pierson-El was named to the Paul Hornung Award watch list announced Monday morning.

The Hornung Award presented by Texas Roadhouse, is given annually to the most versatile player in major college football by the Louisville Sports Commission and football legend and Louisville native Paul Hornung.

As a freshman, Pierson-El ranked second nationally in punt returns, averaging 17.5 yards per return to garner second-team All-America honors. He led the country with 596 return yards and tied for the national lead with three punt returns for scores. He was a two-time Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week and won the Jet Award for the returner of the year.

In addition to his punt return exploits, Pierson-El caught 23 passes for 321 yards and four scores, culminating in an eight-catch, 102-yard performance in the Holiday Bowl against USC, setting a school bowl record for catches in a game. Pierson-El also threw a touchdown pass against Northwestern in 2014.

Pierson-El is one of seven Big Ten players in the initial 44-player watch list.

Former Husker I-back Ameer Abdullah was a finalist for the award in 2014.

Lincoln – Nebraska basketball finished with its highest attendance finish in program history, as the NCAA officially released its 2014-15 men’s basketball attendance figures on Monday.

Nebraska ranked 10th nationally in average attendance, averaging 15,569 fans per game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2014-15. The Huskers drew 249,101 fans for its 16 home games, marking the second straight year Nebraska topped its single-season record for attendance. Nebraska’s average of 15,419 in 2013-14 ranked 13th nationally.

Nebraska helped the Big Ten lead the nation with a total attendance of 3,195,137, the second‐highest total number of any conference in history. The Big Ten also led all conferences in average attendance with 12,781 fans per game, marking the 39th consecutive year the Big Ten has led the nation in average attendance.

Nebraska’s fan support across the spectrum is evident in the fact that Nebraska was the only Division I program which ranked in the top-10 in average attendance in both football and men’s basketball, while the Huskers also ranked in the top-15 in attendance in volleyball (first), women’s basketball (11th) and baseball (11th).

In addition, the Huskers were one of only five programs to have men’s and women’s basketball programs that ranked in the top 15 in average attendance in 2014-15, joining Kentucky, Louisville, Tennessee and Michigan State.

On May 15 of this year Tim Miles announced the hiring of Rashon Burno as an assistant men’s basketball coach at Nebraska. Just seven weeks later, Burno has resigned at Nebraska and is off to fill a similar role at Arizona State University. Burno had spent the previous three seasons working under Billy Donovan at Florida and was hired to replace Chris Harriman, who took the head coaching job at New Mexico this offseason.

The Omaha World-Herald has more on Burno’s abrupt departure.

The soon to be completed University of Nebraska Soccer and Tennis Complex, located on 28 acres directly north of Nebraska Innovation Campus, has officially been named Hibner Stadium and Barbara Hibner Field for soccer and the Sid and Hazel Dillon Tennis Center.

In his third year as Nebraska’s Director of Athletics, Shawn Eichorst said the goal before building the new soccer and tennis complex was to develop a first-class on-campus facility that will provide the University the ability to recruit and develop the nation’s best and brightest student-athletes.

“We are very grateful to Chancellor (Harvey) Perlman, the Board of Regents and our tremendous supporters for their support of this wonderful project,” Eichorst said.

Continue reading “Complex Named Hibner Stadium, Dillon Tennis Center”

Heraklion, Crete – Behind a double-double from incoming Husker freshman Jack McVeigh, Australia pulled off the only upset of the day at the FIBA Under-19 World Championship with a 69-56 win over Serbia on Wednesday.

McVeigh posted 18 points 6-of-15 shooting from the field, and went 6-of-7 from the foul line to lead Australia into the quarterfinals. McVeigh grabbed 12 rebounds, including three offensive caroms, and added team bests in both assists (two) and blocked shots (two) in 26 minutes of action.

Australia, which finished third in group competition, used a 13-2 run in the second quarter to build a double-figure lead and never look back over a Serbia team which finished second in its group.

A 6-foot-7 guard/forward, McVeigh is averaging 10.8 points per game and a team-high 6.8 rebounds per outing in four tournament games.

Australia will meet Turkey in the quarterfinals on Friday starting at 5:45 a.m. (central). Turkey is 4-0 in tournament play following a 73-63 win over Iran earlier today.