Page 4-The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - November 9, 1992
Rushing
Player Att Yds Avg Lg
Wheatley 23 143 6.2 16
Johnson 6 35 5.8 16
Powers 5 34 6.8 23
Legette 2 4 2.0 2
Collins 3 4 1.3 7
Davis 1 -1 -1.0 -1
Grbac 2 -21 -10.5 -10
Total 42 198 4.7 23
Passing
Player C-A Yds TD Int
Grbac 7-14 205 3 2
Collins 5-9 92 1 0
Total 12-23 297 4 2
Receiving
Player No Yds Avg TD
Toomer 3 112 37.3 0
Alexander 3 91 30.3 3
Johnson 3 24 8.0 0
Smith 1 35 35.0 0
Legette 1 24 24.0 0
Hayes 1 11 11.0 1
Total 12 297 24.8 4
Punting
Player No Yds Avg Lg
Stapleton 3 130 43.3 47
Punt Returns
Player No Yds Avg gL
Alexander 1 2 2.0 2
Kickoff Returns
Player No Yds Ava Lg
Alexander 1 30 30.0 30
Hayes 1 29 29.0 29
Burkholder 1 12 12.0 12
Total 3 71 23.7 30
Defense
Player Tac Ast Tot
Ware 6 3 9
Dobreff 3 4 7
Dyson 4 2 6
Brown 3 3 6
D. Johnson 2 3 5
Hutchinson; 2 2 4
Zenkewicz 2 2 4
Powers 2 2 4
Peoples 2 1 3
Law 2 1 3
S. Collins 2 1 3
Henderson 1 2 3
Horn 1 2 3
Blankenship 2 0 2
Maloney 1 1 2
Davis 1 1 2
Morrison 1 0 1
Burkholder 1 0 1
Stuek 1 0 1
Smith 0 1 1
Buff 0 1 1
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Toomer makes
FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK big impression
by John Niyo
and Matthew Rennie
Daily Football Writers
EVANSTON - Freshman
wide receiver Amani Toomer had
the biggest day of his promising
career Saturday against North-
western. Toomer caught three
passes for 112 yards.
His first catch was a 65-yarder
from Elvis Grbac, setting up
Michigan's second touchdown.
Toomer caught the short pass over
the middle, broke several tackles,
and turned upfield.
"It kind of surprised me,
because I think they were trying to
tackle me up high and nobody hit
my legs," Toomer said. "So I just
stayed on my feet and just tried to
spin out."
After dragging defensive backs
Greg Gill and Willie Lindsey for
about ten yards near midfield,
Toomer seemed to have broken
away, but he was tripped up at the
14-yard line.
"It was real frustrating because
(the defender) kind of nicked my
ankle and I felt I should have
stayed up," Toomer said.
Fellow frosh Mercury Hayes
scored Michigan's final
touchdown on an 11-yard pass
from Todd Collins. Big things
were expected of both rookies
coming into this season, and after
a short adjustment period, they are
delivering.
"After a few games I'm getting
a little more used to playing in
front of these larger crowds,"
Toomer said. "Still, though,
there's a lot of pressure, because
we're going for a Big Ten
championship, not a league
championship in high school."
Toomer added that the veteran
players have not treated Hayes and
him as rookies.
"They've done a lot to try to
make us feel more comfortable on
the field," he said. "They know
they're going to have to count on
us, because we're playing."
FUMBLE-ROOSKI: Northwes-
tern tried to run the fumble-rooski
play against Michigan, but the
Wolverines read it perfectly.
Defensive tackle C h r i s
Hutchinson scooped up the ball
for the Wolverines.
"They were keyed on it,"
Barnett said. "Len (Williams,
Wildcat quarterback) told the
referee before the play that we
were going to try something.
When I looked over at their
sideline, their coaches were
pointing at the ground. They were
on it faster than we were. It was a
well-diagnosed play."
THE 12TH MAN: Barnett
created a bit of a stir last week by
accusing Michigan of
circumventing Big Ten rules by
sending more than 11 players into
its offensive huddle. The
Wolverines' no-huddle offense
often results in numerous players
shuffling on and off the field just
seconds before the ball is snapped.
While several Wildcat
defensive players admitted the no-
huddle kept them off-balance,
nobody felt it was the difference in
the game.
"The controversy had nothing
to do with it," linebacker Steve
Ostrowski said.
"We did have some problems
with the no-huddle," Ostrowski
added. "They went to the quick
count and had us all running
around. We were a little
confused."
POLL TALK: Much of the talk
after Saturday's game centered
around Michigan's ranking in the
national polls. Last week's narrow
victory over Purdue prompted
voters to vault an idle Alabama
team ahead of the Wolverines.
"I didn't like dropping last
week," Moeller said. "I thought it
was unfair, if you want my
opinion. But that's why I say don't
get hung up on the polls.
"It's a great example of why
you can't let your players think
about it, because that would be
like 'You won, but you lost.' And
you never want to put yourself in
the position where you're
attempting with a football team to
control something that is virtually
out of your hands."
INJURY UPDATE: Michigan
inside linebacker Dave Dobreff
suffered a "significant" injury to
his right knee Saturday. Moeller
said Dobreff will probably miss
the rest of the season.
Michigan's Amani Toomer caught three passes for 112 yards Saturday.
MURRAY
Continued from page 1
the two, and since this could be a
burglary, a quiet but fast arrival is
in order.
"Probably some employee set it
off," he says. "But you never
assume with alarms. You take them
for what they are. An alarm's an
alarm - you have to treat it for
real."
The car speeds up behind
another. The driver does not budge.
A short burst from the siren catches
her attention, and she hurriedly
pulls to the side.
We turn onto a road that runs
behind Cranbrook Village and
begin to look for Galen Circle.
After reaching a business area,
Murray realizes we must have
overshot the location and turns
around.
"There are so many new streets
in Ann Arbor, sometimes you don't
know what's going on."
He pulls the car into a
subdivision and finds Galen Circle.
The neighborhood is still rubbing
the sleep from its eyes this early in
the morning, and only a small
construction crew breaks the
silence. The alarm turns out to be at
a house.
Murray steps out of the car and
approaches cautiously, disappearing
around a corner. Another officer
appears in the distance. The two
meet and circle the building again
but see nothing suspicious.
"They probably got a motion
detector," Murray says. "They
might have a cat in there, and it
probably set it off. All the windows
and doors are locked so..."
We pull onto an adjacent street
and Murray starts some paperwork.
The dispatcher comes on, saying
doesn't even flinch. After a
thorough search, he steps back
outside. The neighbor resets the
alarm and then gives him some
information.
Thanking her, he gets back in the
car. "You gonna do this job or
what?" he grins, making a pitch for
the department. But then it's time to
get back to the boring part - the
paperwork. "If you don't take five
or seven minutes to catch up, you're
gonna be here until seven at night
doing it.
"I have a tendency to rush. They
always review my reports. But I
want to get through them; I like to
stay busy."
...
Busy for Vada Murray always
meant football. As a child to an all-
American with national high school
power Cincinnati Moeller to a
three-year letterman at Michigan.
Murray still keeps in touch with
the program, working out at
Schembechler Hall and watching
the team practice when he can. He
also is one of the few people who
likes the 3:30 p.m. start, because it
is the only way he can make it to
games. You can take the man out of
football, but you can't take football
out of the man.
'In football, if you
make a mistake you
just hear about it from
the coach. But if you
make one out here,
you might not go
home.'
"There are always ties," he says.
"It's like a family down there."
Murray arrived in Ann Arbor as
the football team's first Prop 48
student. The stigma that tag carries
their opinions no matter what. I
graduated in four and a half years. I
got my degree. I live well."
His problem was, and still is,
dyslexia. The learning disability
impairs his ability to read and write.
He sees sentences inverted, words
flipped around. School was tough,
police academy just as difficult. But
tutors, study groups and his
girlfriend got him through.
Murray sat out his first year in
Ann Arbor and then was redshirted
for another. So by the time he
finally got on the field in 1988, he
had not played competitive football
for two and a half years. But he
earned a starting job right away at
free safety, part of one of the
Wolverines' most talented
defensive backfields in recent
memory - with corners David Key
and Lance Dottin and fellow safety
Tripp Welborne.
A couple months after his career
ended in the 1991 Gator Bowl,
Murray received an offer from the
AAPD. Suddenly, he had another
option. And football went to the
sidelines.
"I wanted to do it. But I had
other factors to consider," he says.
"Playing ball is good, but I want my
kids to grow up in a city and not
have to worry about moving to the
East Coast, the West Coast. I want
them to go to the same school, to
have the same set of friends. To be
in a place with a diverse population.
Plus, my girlfriend got a job here,
and who says she wants to try to get
a new job every year."
Murray and his girlfriend Laura,
a high school teacher, recently
decided to make things official and
tie the knot. They just bought a
condominium and have a wedding
planned for next August.
"I wanted to do one or the other,
stuck against a light post.
The driver gives his version of
the story - that a woman had her
pickup stopped in the middle of the
street and he couldn't brake in time.
He says she pulled into the high
school parking lot, but a quick
search reveals nothing.
"She probably went out the other
side," Murray tells the truck driver.
"Damn! " he snaps.
They discuss the incident some
more, and then Murray heads back
to the car. He pulls out some forms
- more paperwork - while we
wait for Officer Kemp of the motor
unit, which handles most traffic
accidents.
Murray says that, with a quick
glance, Kemp will know exactly
what happened and what to do. And
sure enough, when Kemp arrives he
describes te accident just as the
driver had said. "See what I mean?"
Murray smiles.
Kemp snaps a few photos and
then has one of the driver's
supervisors back the truck out. The
scene moves to a nearby street. The
supervisor starts the truck speeding
dn n the road and then slams the
t : s, leaving long skid marks. He
tua- he vehicle around and does
this Twice more.
The driver knocks at the
window. "What's he doin'?"
"Trying to figure out how fast
you were going," Murray answers.
"They should be goin' uphill."
"You better go tell them that."
Unfortunately for the man, the
test is already over. Murray
continues to do paperwork, at one
point pulling out a stencil to draw
the accident scene, and then reports
back on call.
The dispatcher tells him to take
an '80', meaning a 20-minute break.
Officers also get a '90' - a 40-