NATIONAL LETTER OF INTENT DAY : Nebraska Wants Another Rodgers : But Does Terry, Son of Johnny, Want the Cornhuskers?

Tom Osborne is waiting. And hoping.

The University of Nebraska football coach said Wednesday that he still has a scholarship available for Sweetwater High running back Terry Rodgers.

Now all he can do is wait and see if Rodgers wants to use it.

The 5-foot 9-inch senior, who was the Times’ Back of the Year last season, has yet to decide where he’s going to play his collegiate football. He’s leaning towards either Nebraska, Texas or USC. Wednesday was the first day that high school athletes were allowed to sign official letters of intent to attend the colleges of their choice.

“Some schools put a week or two-week deadline on a kid to sign but we don’t do that,” said Osborne by phone Wednesday night from Lincoln, Neb. “We’ll go as far as we need to go with Terry.”

Rodgers visited Nebraska last December and went on a recruiting trip to Texas in January. Last week, he took trips to USC, Arizona State and Ohio State.

“From what I understand, he got off the plane last week and decided that he needed to take some time to assimilate the whole thing,” Osborne said. “He seems to be interested in coming here but we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m sure he and his father wants to take some time to talk it over.”

Rodgers’ father, of course, is Johnny Rodgers, who played at Nebraska in the early 1970s and won the 1972 Heisman Trophy. His son was second in San Diego County in rushing last season with 1,491 yards and scored a county-leading 28 touchdowns.

“This is the year we really need to sign an I-back and we’ve tried to get four or five so far,” Osborne said. “But Terry is the only one left.

“Doug (Dubose) is going to be a senior next year and I think it’s important that we get someone.”

Dennis Rasmussen, Sweetwater High’s Athletic Director, said Wednesday that Rogers will wait until at least this weekend to make his decision. Rasmussen said Rodgers was staying with friends for the next few days to avoid all of the media attention he has received lately.

Neither Rodgers or his coach, Gene Alim, could be reached for comment Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Osborne is just hoping that he’ll have better luck with Rodgers than he did with another Times’ All-County back, Vista quarterback Sal Aunese. Aunese decided on Colorado over Nebraska on Tuesday.

Among San Diego high schools, there wasn’t much news on the first official letter-of-intent day. Most of the area’s top players had already made up their minds earlier in the week.

Some of the notables included San Pasqual center Tom Dabasinskas (USC), Vista running back Roger Price (BYU), Helix quarterback Jeff Hammerschmidt (Arizona), Orange Glen quarterback Brett Salisbury (BYU), Mira Mesa wide receiver Kevin Hancock (Texas El Paso) and Crawford linebacker Mark Hayes (San Diego State).

One new development involved Mira Mesa quarterback DeWayne Odom, who originally appeared to be headed to Oregon. Wednesday, Odom changed his mind and will now go to California.

“I think he wanted to go to Cal all along,” Mira Mesa Coach Brad Griffith said. “At the last minute, a scholarship for a linebacker opened up and he took it. So, I guess he’ll be going to Cal to play linebacker.”

Meanwhile, Lincoln quarterback Malcolm Glover’s situation remained up in the air. Glover, who led the Hornets to last year’s 2-A championship, received only an academic scholarship at Cal. His high school coach, Skip Coons, said that Glover will probably turn that down for a chance to play at either Yale or Penn.

Another player who has yet to make a decision is Rodgers’ backfield mate at Sweetwater, Martell Black. Black, a 6-3 220-pound fullback, has narrowed his choices to Utah and Nebraska but he’s not expected to make a decision until next week.

For Tom Osborne, as is the case with Terry Rodgers, all he can do is wait.

Dave Hatz and Steve Beatty contributed to this story.

Where They’re Going

Player (High School) Pos. Ht. Wt. College Sal Aunese (Vista) QB 6-0 185 Colorado Andy Byrne (Poway) QB 6-2 200 Colorado State Demetrius Bell (Morse) OL 6-2 280 San Diego State Jason Bill (San Pasqual) OL 6-6 220 San Diego State Steve Casper (Torrey Pines) OL 6-2 1/2 245 Texas El Paso Aaron Christian (Helix) OL 6-6 230 Nevada Las Vegas Daryl Crawford (Montgomery) RB 6-1 200 San Diego State Tom Dabasinskas (San Pasqual) OL 6-5 245 USC Jeff Hammerschmidt (Helix) DB 5-10 170 Arizona Kevin Hancock (Mira Mesa) WR 6-3 190 Texas El Paso Craig Hartsuyker (Orange Glen) LB 6-4 211 USC Mark Hayes (Crawford) DL 6-7 235 San Diego State Bill James (Monte Vista) RB 5-11 180 Army Harold Jones (Poway) DL 6-2 205 Cal State Fullerton Brian Lockwood (Vista) LB 6-4 205 UCLA Damien Macaluso (San Pasqual) TE 6-3 200 Cal State Fullerton Melvin McFarlin (Monte Vista) DB 6-0 180 Utah State Omar McDade (Lincoln) DB 6-2 180 Utah State Patrick Newman (Lincoln) WR 6-1 185 Utah State DeWayne Odom (Mira Mesa) QB 6-3 215 California Roger Price (Vista) RB 6-1 193 Brigham Young Okland Salavea (Oceanside) DL 6-6 235 Colorado Brett Salisbury (Orange Glen) QB 6-3 190 Brigham Young Mark Thomas (Torrey Pines) RB 6-2 195 Brigham Young David Woodhouse (Bonita Vista) DB 6-3 225 San Diego State Tom Wurth (Monte Vista) K 5-11 175 San Diego State