Beranek Awarded Scholarship; Huskers Add Walk-ons

Lincoln -- Nebraska Men's Basketball Coach Doc Sadler announced that senior guard Drake Beranek has been awarded a scholarship for the 2010-11 academic year, which began Monday.

Beranek walked on to the program last season after spending three years at the University of Nebraska-Kearney. He scored 1,453 career points at UNK and ranked 11th nationally in Division II with 21.9 points per game in 2008-09. Beranek will have one year of eligibility remaining at Nebraska.  

Beranek was surprised to find out the news when he was informed by the coaching staff on Sunday.

"I got a call from Coach (Chris) Croft that Doc wanted to talk to me and the first thing that crossed my mind was that I was in trouble," Beranek said. "I was eating dinner with my family, and he said the family could come, so I didn't think it was too bad.  It was a nice surprise, and I am thankful to be given this opportunity. Coach has given me plenty of opportunities in practice, and I tried to take advantage and play to my maximum potential. It is a lot of hard work paying off, and I am thankful that I've been given this opportunity."

"This is something that has been earned by Drake," Sadler said. "As I told him and his parents, I didn't think it would be available, but it is, and he has earned it though his hard work, leadership and spirit to this team. I value scholarships, but when one is available, you like to reward people who deserve it like Drake has."

Huskers Add Five Walk-ons to Basketball Roster
Lincoln - Nebraska Coach Doc Sadler announced that five walk-ons have been added to the Nebraska men's basketball roster for the upcoming season.

The group features three in-state products, including Trevor Menke (Beatrice), Kye Kurkowski (Grant) and Jordan Tyrance (Lincoln), as well as Marshall Parker (Fort Smith, Ark.) and Bo Spencer (Baton Rouge, La.).  Menke was on campus for the second five-week summer session and practiced in preparation for the team's trip to the Bahamas, while the other four players enrolled for the start of fall classes.

In addition, scholarship newcomers Andre Almeida and Kamyron Brown are now on campus for the start of the academic year. They joined Caleb Walker, who started school in July, as Nebraska's three scholarship newcomers for this season.

Name	Yr.	Pos	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown (Previous School)
Kye Kurkowski	Fr.	F	6-10	200	Grant, Neb. (Perkins County)
Trevor Menke	Fr.	G	5-10	170	Beatrice, Neb. (Beatrice)
Marshall Parker	So.	F	6-9	250	Fort Smith, Ark. (Van Buren/Hendrix College)
Bo Spencer	Sr.	G	6-2	186	Baton Rouge, La. (Glen Oaks/LSU)
Jordan Tyrance	Fr.	G/F	6-4	195	Lincoln, Neb. (Southwest)