This Job Means Taking One for the Team

W anted: One player representative for the Denver Broncos. Qualifications should include communication skills to deal with teammates, the ability to understand sometimes-complicated union matters . . . and being prepared to move.

The last reason is why no Bronco wants the job this season. The last two guys who had it got cut--punter Mike Horan and, about two weeks ago, backup quarterback Shawn Moore.

“Not me,” tight end Shannon Sharpe said when asked if he wants the job. “We’re oh for two on our last two player reps.”

John Elway probably will be the safest choice when the Broncos elect a representative in about three weeks.

“It would be nice if we could find a guy that wanted to do it, and had the time to do it and really represented what the team felt,” Elway said. “But we’ve always kind of gone different directions, and the union’s never meant much to this team.”

Trivia time: Besides being current or former NFL head coaches, what do Norv Turner, Wayne Fontes, Joe Gibbs, John Robinson and Dave Wannstedt have in common?

Familiar ground: First-year assistant coach Doug Williams heads into San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium tonight with Navy to open the season against San Diego State. He should recognize the surroundings.

It was on Jan. 31, 1988, on the same field, that Williams starred in one of pro football’s most memorable performances, when he passed for four touchdowns against Denver and led the Washington Redskins to a 42-10 victory in Super Bowl XXII.

“I know a lot of people won’t believe me, but I got more pleasure out of coaching at Northeast High in my hometown (Zachary, La.) last year than in winning the Super Bowl,” Williams told the Baltimore Sun.

“We went 13-1, got to the state semifinals, and my parents, aunts, uncles and close friends were up in the stands cheering us on. That’s something you can’t buy. Everyone should enjoy an experience of sharing like that once in their lifetime.”Maybe they won’t notice: All the attention will be focused on the expected debut of Ron Powlus as Notre Dame’s quarterback today at Soldier Field in Chicago, and maybe that’s a good thing for quarterback Tim Hughes, who will also be playing for the first time after transferring from a junior college in Oroville, Calif., to Northwestern.

Said Northwestern Coach Gary Barnett: “If I were in his shoes, I’d probably be wetting my pants.”

Say what?”They weren’t as physical as I thought they’d be,” West Virginia’s Puppy Wright said. “They weren’t as physical as Virginia Tech and Rutgers.”

Wright was talking about the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who beat West Virginia in the Kickoff Classic, 31-0. Nebraska out-rushed West Virginia, 368 yards to eight.

Trivia answer: All have been assistant coaches at USC.

For the record: Washington State has gone the longest without winning a Pacific 10/Pacific 8/Pacific Coast Conference football title. The Cougars last won in 1930.

Quotebook: Fresno State Coach Jim Sweeney, after losing to Ohio State in the Pigskin Classic, 34-10: “The next time I schedule a game like this, I’m going to talk to our athletic director and ask him to give me a lobotomy.”