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Show A. Doric s Dallas still tough as NFL kick By Gary Hinds Signpost senior reporter The National Football League played its annual Hall of Fame Game on Saturday. So, while NFL fans have many more meaningless preseason games toendure, it may be time to take a look at the league and make some wild predictions about what will happen when the real season gets underway. The League has free-agency fever. Add to that the newly installed salary cap and fans really may not be able to tell who some of the players are without a roster in hand. National Football Conference-The NFC has seen its share of movement on the free agent market, and then some. NFC East- In the NFC East, the Dallas Cowboys w ill be defend ing two straight Superbowl championships. The biggest change in the Cowboys during the off-season dealt with free agency of a different kind, however. The Cowboys flamboyant head coach, Jimmy Johnson, departed after repeated battles with owner Jerry Jones. Jones chose former University of Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer to fill the job and at least one Cowboy, wide receiver Michael Irvin, is unhappy. Dallas has a huge amount of talent and should be -able to overcome the shake-up. With all the big-name talent Dallas has, the real secret to their success is their offensive line. Eric Former WSU quarterback named to coaching staff Rich Ericson, who has served on the Weber State University football coaching staff for the past four years as a graduate assistant and restricted earnings coach, has been promoted to a full-time position. Ericson will be in charge of the Wildcat quarterbacks and runningbacks. "Rich probably knows our offense better than anyone," said WSU head football coach Dave Arslanian. "He's been a valuable asset for us. He could have taken a number of coaching positions this past winter, but he has been very loyal and wants to contribute to the success of Wildcat football, so we are extremely lucky he is with us." Ericson, 28, was a standout prep quarterback at Olympus High School. In two seasons as a starter for the Titans, he threw for 2,342 yards and was named the state 4-A Most Valuable Player his senior season. He signed a letter of intent with Williams and Mark Tuinei are the tackles, Derek Kennard and Nate Newton fill the guard spots and Mark Stepnoski returns from injury at center. The Cowboys have the best offensive line in football and it is widely believed in the NFL that good blocking cures everything but cancer. The benefactors of that good blocking are some of the biggest names in the game. Emmitt Smith was the league's leading rusher in 1993 and opposing defenses have shown no sign of being able to stop him. Troy Aikman was one of the top-rated quarterbacks in the NFL last year. Aikman's passing skills may make Michael Irvin a lot happier. Aikman will have Alvin Harper at the other wide receiver spot. Harper was supposed to go to Pittsburgh as a free agent, but he somehow missed a signing deadline and is back in Dallas for another year. With so much talent, Dallas should be one of the NFL's elite teams again this year. Look for the Cowboys to return to the NFC title game again and maybe more. The rest of the NFC East is a littlehard tojudge,butthe Arizona Cardinals look like the only other contender in the division. The Cardinals, too, have a new head coach. Buddy Ryan has come aboard and brought a number of his former players with him. See NFL page 8 WSU and played on the 1984 team, then left to serve a two-year LDS church mission to Oklahoma. Returning to the program in 1987, Ericson played in a backup role to Jeff Carlson and Jamie Martin for the next three seasons. "I often refer to Rich as the best backup quarterback in Weber State history," said Arslanian. "He had a tremendous influence on both players and I give him credit for helping those two become NFL caliber quarterbacks." Besides coaching the quarterbacks, Ericson has also had influence on a string of successful Wildcat runningbacks such as George Jackson, Geoff Mitchell, Dwight Richards and Markeith Ross. All four of those players earned First Team All-Big Sky Conference honors. Ericson earned a bachelor's degree in Education in 1990 and, in 1993, he was also awarded a master's degree of Education from WSU. r Seattle's Chris King was not informed that the Days of '47 Rodeo is over as he tries to stay on top of Utah's John Crotty for eight seconds during Thursday's action at the Delta Center. Jazz put on roclty display at Revue By Jared Page Signpost sports editor For the Utah Jazz, the 1994 Rocky Mountain Revue has been just that: rocky. After coming from behind to defeat the Seattle SuperSonics in their opener 83-77 on Wednesday, the Jazz have since then dropped two straight. Utah used 49.1 percent shooting to defeat Seattle, led by veteran guard Walter Bond with 23 points. Bond connected on 7-of-9 shots from the field, including a perfect 3-for-3 from n I- V 3-point range. He was also 6-of-8 from the free-throw line. The Jazz also got strong performances from veterans John Crotty and Bryon Russell and even Luther Wright had a few good moments on the offensive end. Overall, Wright's performance was less than impressive as he struggled to get up and down the floor and looked lost defensively. On Saturday night, the Jazz faced the recovering Bobby Hurley and the Sacramento Kings. It wasn't Hurley who delivered the knock-out punch to the Jazz, however. The King's hero turned out to be the unlikely center Mike STEVE CONLINTHE SIGNPOST Peplowski, who hit two free throws with four seconds remaining to lift Sacramento over the Jazz 80-78. Sacramento earned its first w in of the Revue, while the Jazz fell to 1-1 in the summer league. Led by veterans Stephen Howard with 18 points and Russell with 17, the Jazz were unable to get the job done without Crotty, who took the night off. On Sunday, Denver's Reggie Slater led a second-half comeback as the Nuggets edged the Utah Jazz 92-89, handing Utah its second straight loss. |