14 Great Expectations Junior Lord looks towards future NFL in receiver's plans? Time will tell. BY ALAINNA BROOKS Staff Writer Although Junior Lord was approached by the NFL last year, he enters his final season for the Quakers with a clear mind. "I plan to take it day by day," says Lord. His focus is on the success of the present season; he has expec tations of himself and the other members of the team. "I hope we can win the conference, but I'm confident we will be in the play offs. We've all been playing for awhile and we know how to work as a team. We complement each other." During the past three years at Guilford, Lord completed 50 receptions in one season, was named all conference every year, and was a pre-season All Ameri can this year. After all of those accomplishments, Lord still has one more goal: he hopes to gain 1000 yards. Teammate, Jason Gunter, says, " Junior can have 1000 this year. Where there's a will there's a way, and he definitely has the will." Head coach Mike Ketchum comments, "That's the good thing about Junior. Since his first year here, he hasn't settled for where his game is. He has worked to im prove it every year by setting new goals. I think it is very possible that he will reach his goal of 1000 Return of the Fearless Forecast ♦Our fearless prognosticates risks life, limb, and the wrath of Duke fans to predict this week's games BY ADAM LUCAS Editor-in-Chief Yes, folks, it's about that time again. Time to go out on a limb, make a few predictions, and alien ate Duke fans. After finishing close to 75% last year, it's a new season. De cent games are few and far be tween this week, so we had to pick some less-than-ESPN-quality games, but we promise we'll do a little better next week. North Carolina (-29) over In diana: Indiana's new coach is named Cam Cameron. That should be worth 14 points right there. Seriously, the Tar Heels will yards. If David Heggie and "Squirt" (William Rochelle) stay healthy that will prevent the other teams from double-teaming Jun Ha dvhrLr,' 1. - #•- S&k -jJk A ior." Lord attributes his athletic abilities to the Boys Club. "My mom would drop me off at the Boys Club every morning before going to work. I stayed there until four o'clock everyday. I never at tended any football camps or paid any money to learn the game. I became interested in sports there and that's where I learned the be looking to prove that all the hype over them is deserved. Caro lina in a rout. LSU (-36) over Texas-El Paso: Somehow, Carolina has gotten all the publicity that LSU deserves. With the return of Kevin Faulk and a solid defense, the Tigers will be a national contender. Syracuse (-10) over Okla homa: The Orangemen should be thoroughly embarrassed by their performance last week against North Carolina State. This one is in Norman, so at least they won't have to put up with a booing Car rier Dome crowd. Tennessee (-14) over UCLA: UCLA's defense couldn't even stop Sports most." Surprisingly, Lord did not be gin playing football until his sophomore year of high school. "I did not really want to play but the coach encouraged me. He said I was built like a receiver." His fa ther wanted him to play soccer and his senior year he had a tough de cision. "I did not know if I wanted to play college basketball or foot ball. I decided on football because it came more natural to me." Bigger colleges such as Syra cuse, Boston College, and Stanford Washington State. The offense may have even more trouble than the defense, as Leonard Little leads the Vols to a big win. Georgia Tech (+2O) against Notre Dame: On a hunch, look for the Yellow Jackets to cover. The Irish may be distracted by all the talk about expanding the stadium, and it will be close at halftime. N.C. State (-7) over Duke: Can anyone present a compelling rea son why Duke should still be Divi sion I in football? The win against Syracuse is the kind of games that springboards teams like State to a surprising season, and playing at Duke is hardly a road game-State will probably have more fans there The Guilfordian Septembers, 1997 tried to recruit him. "It was crazy. I got letters and phone calls every day. Between my junior and se nior years my parents counted over 100 letters from Syracuse." However, those schools could not promise him playing time his freshman year and Guilford could. Lord will en ter this season with a small in jury that oc curred the first day of hitting. Luckily, the chipped bone in his right hand has not affected his game physically or mentally. He is still holds a posi tive outlook for the season. How he will feel at the end of the season is un certain. If the team has a good year he will be happy. If his football career ends with Guilford and not the NFL, he will be sad but he has other op tions. As a business and economics major he interned for a New York company this summer. After graduation he has the opportunity to return there. Lord said, "If I am not in the NFL, I will definitely be in New York. I love it there." than the Blue Devils. Florida State (-12) over South ern Cal: Next to Notre Dame, the Trojans are some of the biggest underachievers in the country. FSU's Thad Busby hopes to do bet ter in his second year in the Fast Break offense. Air Force (+6) against Rice: Going up against the wishbone is not an easy proposition in the first game of the season. Rice struggles. Walce Forest (+l4) against Northwestern: Lightning strikes two years in a row. Despite the fact that the Deacs are trying to lure fans to the game with a WCW promotion, they will be improved this year. They'll make it close.

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