Huskers Illustrated 42-08 January 2023

SECRET RECIPE

Vincent Carroll-Jackson, an aspiring chef, is about to blow his cover.

JUST GETTING STARTED

BY BRIAN LINDER

Vincent Carroll-Jackson wanted to be a chef. After one season of football, he’s finding his true talent is not over the griddle but on the gridiron.

AN UNCOMMON PATH

BY MICHAEL KELLY

A Benson Bunny turned a bad break as a Husker into an unforgettable life story.

TURN BACK THE CLOCK

BY SHANE G. GILSTER

Ryan Terwilliger grew up in a football family. That experience helped him find a spot on two national championship teams.

28

RHULE’S FIRST CLASS

Even with little time to work, Matt Rhule and his staff signed the Big Ten West’s top class.

TOUGH STRETCH

BY SHAWN EKWALL

The Nebraska women’s basketball team dug itself a hole in December and January. Is there enough time to dig out?

PLAYERS GALORE

BY LINCOLN ARNEAL

The Nebraska volleyball team somehow avoided a scholarship crunch – unlike some other top teams.

THE COVER

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Soaking Up The Nebraska Culture

Matt Rhule and his staff continue to show through social media – and better yet, recruiting results – they are holding up to the expectations of being grinders. Photos of Rhule and Co. flood social media documenting where they are and who they are seeing.

And it goes beyond recruiting. They are happy to be here and eager to learn Nebraska culture.

Recently photos of special teams coach Ed Foley appeared with Sam Foltz’s father, Gerald, at the Foltz home in Greeley, Nebraska. Foley’s post stated, “Great to spend time at the Foltz house to better understand his greatness and legacy.”

Foley’s posts continued as he visited high schools in Grand Island, Hastings, Central City, Aurora, Doniphan-Trumbull and others on his central Nebraska swing.

Central City head coach Troy Huebert told the Omaha WorldHerald that in his 10 years with the program, this is the first time a Nebraska assistant has stopped by the school even just to introduce themselves.

“It’s pretty typical for Nebraska coaches to go to Omaha and Lincoln schools, but there’s some guys out here and to have a coach take the time and effort to come out here is pretty awesome and special,” Huebert said.

Rhule has also been busy. He has posted photos attending a Nebraska gymnastic meet and a women’s basketball game. He also sat with Tom Osborne during the meal portion of the Outland Trophy

banquet in Omaha. Prior to the dinner, I watched Rhule deftly work the crowd, shaking hands and posing for photos.

Salaries for eight of the assistant coaches and coordinators have been released. For the first time in Nebraska history, coordinators will be making at least $1 million.

The list begins with offensive coordinator/QB coach Marcus Satterfield at $1.4 million. Defensive coordinator Tony White is at $1 million. Defensive pass game coordinator and secondary coach Evan Cooper comes in at $670,000 followed by special teams coordinator Foley at $550,000. Strength and conditioning coach Corey Campbell is at $450,000. Defensive line coach Terrance Knighton will make $400,000. Offensive line coach Donovan Raiola, the only holdover from the previous staff, is at $325,000, and running backs coach E.J. Barthel is at $285,000.

Rhule also rounded out his coaching staff by hiring Bob Wager (tight ends), Rob Dvoracek (linebackers) and Garret McGuire (receivers). Their salaries have not been released as of press time.

Said Rhule in a release: “I am proud to add three more outstanding football coaches to our Nebraska staff. Bob’s experience as a head coach will be invaluable for me, and Rob and Garret’s experience in the NFL will help our studentathletes as they chase their goals to play at the highest level. Each of the three coaches brings great energy to

Nebraska and will fit our program very well. I am excited to have all our full-time assistants on board as we finish up the 2023 recruiting cycle and begin to work toward the start of spring practice.”

***

In this edition you will find Nebraska’s 32 new recruits and transfers. Rhule landed 22 freshmen, nine transfer portal players and one JUCO transfer. You can see their faces and bios starting on Page 8.

***

Mike Kelly catches up with a 1961 Benson Bunny football and track standout who had a bad break at Nebraska, volunteered to serve in Vietnam and then went on to a fascinating professional career. Mike’s story starts on Page 22.

***

The transfer portal is a mystery to many, especially in volleyball. Why do some highly successful players leave their programs when they still have a COVID-19 year available?

Lincoln Arneal explains what is happening in the volleyball ranks not only at Nebraska but also other schools. You can read Lincoln’s explanation on Page 42.

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As always, we appreciate you subscribing to Huskers Illustrated. Please remember, this is your magazine. If you have any questions or suggestions for a story, please contact me.

Somethin’s Cookin’

An Aspiring Chef Who’s Only Played One Season of Football Has NU Coaches Licking Their Chops

By Brian Linder - Special to Huskers Illustrated

Vincent Carroll-Jackson knows he is not like most big-time college football recruits, and it does not take long talking to him for that much to become clear.

Want to really peel back the layers? Just ask the big fella from Central Dauphin East High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who he idolizes. Most kids headed off to play big-time college ball probably spit out the name of someone playing on Sundays.

Carroll-Jackson?

“Gordon Ramsay,” he said with a belly laugh.

As in celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay?

“It’s different,” Carroll-Jackson offered.

It’s not just lip service. There is a good reason why Carroll-Jackson, who signed with Nebraska in December, names Ramsay, and an even deeper reason why the kid dreams of being a chef in his own right someday, and we will get to that.

But Carroll-Jackson’s ability to cook up a steak – he recently completed a course outside of his high school and has perfected

the art – isn’t the reason Matt Rhule and his staff are licking their chops and counting down the days until they can get him on campus.

If you want to really know why Rhule pulled out every trick in the book to flip the 6-foot-5, 270-pound defensive lineman from his Syracuse commitment, just talk to Carroll-Jackson’s high school coach Lance Deane.

Deane trains Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons when he comes home to Harrisburg, so he knows a thing or two about star athletes. And he is the guy who talked Carroll-Jackson into giving football a shot in the first place.

“I think he is one who could be playing on Sundays,” Deane said. “One thing that I think will surprise people when he goes (to Nebraska) is he is not going to be as far behind as some people think.”

Remember, Deane said this about a kid who has only played one season of high school football.

“He has that rare combination of so

many things,” Deane added. “You have a guy with size, that is always a plus. But with him you have a guy with size who is also athletic, plus he is physical and smart and can pick up on things, and that is just extremely rare in this world.”

Finding Gordon Ramsay

Carroll-Jackson has a big personality, is one heckuva storyteller and constantly cracks himself up.

So he couldn’t help but laugh when he talked about explaining his adoration for Ramsay to Rhule during his whirlwind recruitment. He told the Nebraska coach about his hopes of becoming a chef and owning his own chain of restaurants in the future. Rhule’s response? He made sure that on Carroll-Jackson’s official visit he received a tour of the different kitchen facilities and various programs offered at Nebraska.

“He definitely thinks that is interesting,” Carroll-Jackson said. “He fully supports it, and he just said, ‘Whatever I can do to

After top schools like Georgia and Florida came in late, Vincent Carroll-Jackson and his family let the world know he was headed for Nebraska during a commitment ceremony on Dec. 21. “I’m ready to spend the next four years terrorizing quarterbacks and running backs and bullying dudes up front,” Carroll-Jackson said later in an interview.

MARK PYNES/PENNLIVE.COM

help you with it, let me know.’ He talked about me maybe finding some internships at restaurants and stuff like that.”

Cooking is important to Carroll-Jackson, not because he is a big guy who likes to eat, but because it has always been a refuge.

He is quick to let folks know that he is a “glass-half-full kind of person,” and he has a knack for making tough times sound pretty darned good. So when he talks about his family – he has eight siblings – having to bounce from hotel to hotel, to his grandma’s house or anyplace else decent they could find for a night or two – he has a way of making it sound not so bad.

“I didn’t really have a dad in my life,” he said of growing up in Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania state capital in the heart of the Susquehanna Valley and its near600,000 residents about 100 miles west of Philadelphia. “But I had a mom who taught me that with hard work you can achieve success.”

Carroll-Jackson’s mother, Tyra Turner, said the family was homeless multiple times. But Vincent makes one thing clear, often.

“I grew up in a home,” he said.

Turner was the hero of that home, CarrollJackson said. When things were tough, she kept it together.

“She never let it show that maybe she thought we couldn’t get through it,” he said.

“So we are super close. We are probably closer than you would think most families should be, but it is just that all the things we have been through, we have been through together. A lot of times it was just against the world.

“There were times where we could have said, ‘Forget it,’ and just gave in to the system,” he added. “But we stuck together, and we knew God would make a path for us.”

It was while the family bounced around and Turner was busy working most days that Carroll-Jackson found Ramsay. Something about the crude chef clicked with the youngster – he said he was about 7 when he first saw him – as he flipped through the TV channels.

“Just his demeanor and the way he put things … I started to like it and look up to it,” he said. “The way that guy carries himself … I decided that is how I want to be.

“He doesn’t take crap.”

It was not long after, Turner said, that she would come home to find young Vincent with her spices on the countertop and pots on the stove.

Her son would see Ramsay cook up something, she said, and then he would head into the kitchen and try to emulate it. And Carroll-Jackson, who says Ramsay is a “mentor” despite never meeting him, began to dream that perhaps one day he could make money cooking, too.

The dream hasn’t faded – he has lists of potential restaurant names like “Vincent’s Place” and photos in his phone of dishes he has created – and it dominated his life right up until the day he walked into Deane’s physical education class in 2021.

Deane took over as the head coach of the high school’s struggling football program two years ago, and as part of the deal, he was given the PE class to teach.

When the big guy walked through the door, the coach’s eyes lit up. CarrollJackson’s life was about to change.

‘He Has Done His Part’

Carroll-Jackson is a three-star prospect in the eyes of most recruiting services.

Which is great, but also a bit misleading, Deane said. Carroll-Jackson played 10 football games for the Panthers last season. Those are the only 10 football games he has played in his life.

“If he would have been playing just an additional year, where he would have been in his development, I think he definitely would have been more well known,” Deane said. “Even in that situation, he had his choice of schools, but I think that would have even been much more of the case if he had played just another season.”

Carroll-Jackson admitted the fact that being in this position is still a bit surreal. It’s something he could not have imagined a year ago.

But when Deane saw him walk through that door he knew he had to talk to him

A two-way player for his Pennsylvania high school, Syracuse wanted Carroll-Jackson as an offensive lineman. At Nebraska, his future will be on defense.

Carroll-Jackson buries a ball carrier in one of the 10 football games he’s ever played. Carroll-Jackson has size and athleticism, said his high school coach Lance Deane. “Plus he is physical and smart.”

MARK PYNES/PENNLIVE.COM

VICKI VELLIOS BRINER/SPECIAL TO PENNLIVE.COM

about football. And when he saw CarrollJackson play some hoops, observed how gifted he was in the way he moved, he got to work right away making his pitch. And, Deane said, when college coaches would stop by to see him about other players, they would ask about the big kid in the class, too. Deane relayed those asks to Carroll-Jackson as part of his attempt to reel him in.

It took daily recruiting to get him to see the bigger picture.

“He did that, and he trusted me,” Deane said, “but he told me that if he was going to play he would want to play college football, too.

“I don’t make promises with my kids when it comes to playing college football,” he said. “But I did tell him that if he came in, bought in with what our coaching staff was trying to do, we would work our hardest to make his dreams a reality.

“He has done his part.”

Carroll-Jackson was a standout on both sides of the ball. Syracuse recruited him as an offensive lineman. On defense, he finished with 60 tackles, 20 for loss, and 10 sacks.

The film was incredible. He was big, explosive and dominant. Who is this kid? The phone started to ring.

‘He Has What It Takes’

When Carroll-Jackson gave his pledge to Syracuse he said he was done.

No more visits. He really did mean it.

He met the players in New York, and really liked the vibe he got from them. But Nebraska offered the next day, and soon Rhule started working Carroll-Jackson hard.

“When he called, I don’t think he knew Nebraska had already offered me, but he offered me again, and then he just asked if it was OK if he could come by the next day,” Carroll-Jackson said. “He was persistent, so finally I said, ‘Sure, why not?’ Then, he said, ‘Well, I’m here on the jet, and I don’t have any place to be,’ and he asked if it would be OK if he did a home visit.”

Slowly, Carroll-Jackson said, Rhule whittled away at his commitment to ’Cuse. While he connected with the players there, he began to feel a connection with Rhule and his staff. He felt like that was most important.

“He kept telling me he had to get me to Nebraska, even if it was just an hour or two or three or four or a half-day,” CarrollJackson said. “He just wanted me to get up there and see what they had to offer.”

Again, Rhule got the big man to give in, and Carroll-Jackson said the bond grew stronger. He had an offer from Georgia, another from Florida, and Deane said schools kept coming in – LSU and Auburn offered the night before signing day – but Carroll-Jackson was locked in. On signing day, he flipped the Syracuse hat to the side and put on the Nebraska hat. It felt just right.

Now, he is ready to get to work.

“I know the history of the program,” Carroll-Jackson said. “Five-time national champions. Won back-to-back national championships. We have had a little rough patch, but every team has that, and we are going to get over it. With how well he did with this recruiting class, I think we picked up a lot of good, physically dominant players that are going to help turn this program around and keep fighting.”

The fact that he is one of those players is something Carroll-Jackson said sets in a little more each day. He is working out and preparing himself for Big Ten football, and Deane is certain the sky’s the limit for his prized pupil. Carroll-Jackson can play inside, he said, but he is fast enough and explosive enough to play on the edge, too. Carroll-Jackson said Cornhuskers coaches told him they envision him being at around 295 pounds and playing up and down the defensive front.

He knows that having just 10 games under his belt means he still has a lot to learn, but he is ready for that as well.

“I have never been one to shy away from a challenge,” he said. “I definitely know it’s going to be a dogfight, but I think the only thing guys at that level have over me is experience. And I never go into battle thinking another man can beat me. I always believe there is a way I can be someone else. Every obstacle can be overcome.

“So, I’m definitely excited,” he added. “I’m ready to spend the next four years terrorizing quarterbacks and running backs and bullying dudes up front.”

It’s an improbable story.

The epitome of an under-the-radar prospect, Vincent Carroll-Jackson is different from just about any other big-time college football recruit on the planet. But if his coach is right, everyone – maybe even Gordon Ramsay – is about to know just who he is and what he can do.

“He has what it takes,” Deane said. “Assuming he continues to grow, he has the foundation to definitely be playing on Sundays. The intangibles, the foundation and the framework, those things are there for it to be a reality.”

Brian Linder is the high school sports editor for PennLive.com in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He can be reached at blinder@pennlive.com.

Already big and fast at 6-foot-5 and 270 pounds, Nebraska sees Carroll-Jackson eventually playing at 295 pounds with the ability to secure more than one spot on the defensive front.

SEAN SIMMERS/PENNLIVE.COM

Wasting No Time

Alost class? Far from it. Typically when a coach is fired, the first class under the new regime can be written off – understandably – as a wasted year on the recruiting trail. But thanks to some solid work by the previous staff, a good in-state bunch of prospects, and the

connections and quick work of Matt Rhule and his new hires, the 2023 Husker recruiting class defies the odds.

Class rankings are typically about as dependable as Nebraska weather, but for the record, Rhule’s first Husker class ranks by most as the best class in the Big Ten West,

the fourth best in the Big Ten and on the cusp of the Top 25 nationally.

Plus there are nine transfer portal players – including a top-level quarterback – and a junior college transfer. There are also more transfers surely to come via the portal and another signing day in February.

TRISTAN ALVANO

Tristan Alvano was a record-breaking kicker for Omaha Westside. As a senior, he set state allclass records for most field goals in a game and in a season, while his 27 career field goals were the most in Class A (large school) history. Alvano made 16 field goals as a senior, the most in a season in the history of Nebraska high school football, regardless of class.

He kicked five field goals, including a 50-yarder and a 45-yard game-winner as time expired, in Westside’s state championship victory over Gretna at Memorial Stadium. His five field goals were the most in any state playoff game in Nebraska history and tied for the most field goals in any high school game in state history. Alvano scored 118 points in his senior season, the most points by a kicker in state history.

Alvano was 119-of-120 in his career on extra points, according to MaxPreps. He handled

kickoff duties for Westside for three seasons, booting 141 touchbacks in 225 attempts, including 73 touchbacks as a senior.

Alvano was named to the Omaha WorldHerald All-Nebraska first team as both a junior and senior. He also earned a spot on the Lincoln Journal Star Super State first team both seasons. Alvano also plays soccer at Westside, which finished as the Class A state runner-up in his junior season. Kohl’s Kicking, the leading evaluator of kickers and punters, ranks him as the No. 6 kicker in the country.

Quotable

“At this time last year I still wanted to play college soccer, but I fell in love with kicking and dedicated my whole off-season towards it.”

— Alvano to Westside Wired following his December commitment to Nebraska

Bootle played for two seasons at Palmetto High and spent one season at Killian High. As a senior at Palmetto, Bootle recorded 32 tackles according to MaxPreps. In his junior season at Killian, Bootle was credited with 67 tackles, 22 pass breakups and one interception. He helped Palmetto to the state semifinals as a sophomore, the best playoff run in school history.

Bootle, ranked among the top 85 cornerbacks in the country by Rivals, is the younger brother of Dicaprio Bootle, a Husker cornerback from

2017 to 2020. Dicaprio played in 44 games and started 32 straight games over his final three seasons, while serving as a Nebraska team captain in 2020. He has spent the past two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Quotable

“I just felt like it was a great place for me to continue my legacy and piggyback off of my brother. It was just the move. I’ve been there already, I’m familiar with it and I know the coaching staff will push me to the max.”

— Bootle to the Lincoln Journal Star after committing to Nebraska under the previous staff

Dwight Bootle comes to Nebraska from Miami and is the second player in his family to sign with the Cornhuskers.

247Sports: 3 stars

On3: 3 stars Rivals: 3 stars

Other Offers: Florida, Georgia, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Syracuse

VINCENT CARROLL-JACKSON

Vincent Carroll-Jackson was a versatile lineman for Central Dauphin East High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he drew recruiting interest as both an offensive and defensive lineman despite playing only one season of high school football.

Carroll-Jackson and fellow signee Rahmir Stewart are the first Pennsylvania natives to sign with Nebraska out of high school since 1999. As a senior, Carroll-Jackson had more than 50 tackles and 20 tackles for loss with 10 sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He earned all-conference accolades in his lone season as a football player.

The highest-rated recruit in Central Dauphin East history, Carroll-Jackson was ranked among the nation’s top 60 defensive linemen by On3. Georgia and Florida among others came calling late, but he committed to Syracuse. Nebraska under Matt Rhule then got involved and he ended up signing with the Huskers.

Quotable

“He is big and athletic to start. Normally kids that big can’t move, or the athletic kids aren’t big. He has a good mix of both.”

— Central Dauphin East football coach Lance Deane to ABC affiliate WHTM Channel 27 in Harrisburg on Carroll-Jackson

Regarded as the No. 1 recruit in Nebraska and one of the top prospects in the country, Malachi Coleman has been a standout on the football field and on the track at Lincoln East. Injuries limited Coleman’s availability and productivity during his senior season, but he flashed his ability as a junior.

In 2021, Coleman caught 17 passes for 561 yards, averaging 33 yards per reception. Ten of his 17 catches went for touchdowns. On defense, Coleman had 57 tackles, 7.5 sacks and four forced fumbles. He was also a stellar returner for the Spartans.

On the track as a junior, Coleman finished second in both the 100 and 200 meters at the 2022 Class A (large school) Nebraska Track and Field Championships. His ability was not limited to his speed, as Coleman finished third

in the triple jump at the state meet as a junior and fourth as a sophomore. Coleman also played basketball for Lincoln East.

Coleman, a 2023 Under Armour All-America Game invitee, is ranked as the No. 68 overall prospect in the country by On3 while 247Sports ranks him the nation’s No. 84 overall recruit.

He was also a consensus pick as one of the top five athletes nationally. Coleman had offers from many of the nation’s top programs, but narrowed his decision to Nebraska and Colorado before picking the Huskers.

Quotable

“We staying at home, that’s for sure. We ain’t going nowhere.”

— Coleman on his final decision of Nebraska over Colorado

247Sports:

3 stars On3:

Jaidyn Doss comes to Nebraska from Missouri, where he was one of the top receivers in the state for Raymore-Peculiar High. Nebraska’s first prep signee from Missouri since 2017, Doss totaled more than 2,000 career receiving yards and rushed for nearly 1,000 yards.

Doss caught 121 passes for 2,212 yards in his Panther career, according to MaxPreps. He averaged more than 60 receiving yards per game in his career with 21 touchdowns. Doss also had 94 carries for 922 yards and seven touchdowns, including three career 100-yard rushing games.

A first-team all-state selection in 2022, Doss caught 47 passes for 794 yards and nine touchdowns while rushing 22 times for 261 yards and one score as a senior. He also was all-state as a junior and sophomore when he burst onto the

scene by averaging more than 21 yards per reception, hauling in 46 passes for 976 yards and seven touchdowns while finishing with 1,600 all-purpose yards.

Rivals ranks him among the top 85 receivers in the country.

Quotable

247Sports: 3 stars On3: 3 stars Rivals: 3 stars Other offers: Colorado, Illinois, Kansas State, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon and TCU among others JAIDYN DOSS WIDE RECEIVER 6-0, 195 | RAYMORE-PECULIAR (MISSOURI) HIGH

“His mobility and his way of doing things is awesome. There’s a toughness about him ... I’d never met the kid, but you watch the tape and you kind of get a feel for him. And then when he came in on the visit, you see him, you see the body type and it all starts to make sense.”

247Sports: 3 stars

On3: 3 stars

Rivals: 3 stars

Other offers: Arizona State, Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri among others

Eric Fields recorded nearly 270 tackles over his final two seasons at Ardmore High in Oklahoma. As a senior, the linebacker recorded an incredible 180 tackles in only 10 games, including 120 solo stops. He also recorded two sacks and forced a pair of fumbles. As a junior, Fields had 88 tackles before suffering a season-ending injury in the sixth game. Fields also lined up at running back for Ardmore Fields, ranked among the top 100 linebackers in the country, also is a standout on the track for Ardmore. As a junior, he was a member of

Quotable

“It was out of the blue. (The new) coaches weren’t even there yet and I got hit up and it said, ‘What would you think about playing for Nebraska?’ And I think it would be pretty cool.”

MASON GOLDMAN

6-5, 260 | GRETNA HIGH

son, Goldman helped the Dragons to a Class A state title that was later vacated by the state association. He posted 28 tackles with five tackles for loss and three sacks as a junior.

Goldman was a two-way starter as a senior when Gretna finished as the Class A (large school) runner-up with a 12-1 record. His play helped the offense average 42 points per game. On defense, Goldman recorded 55 tackles, three sacks and one fumble recovery. In his junior sea-

Goldman is ranked among the top 75 inside offensive linemen nationally by On3 and among the top 100 offensive tackles in the country by 247Sports.

Quotable

“I just like to hit people, basically.”

Ardmore’s 4x100-meter relay team that won the 2022 Oklahoma Class 5A state title and the 4x200-meter relay team that finished second.

— Goldman to the Lincoln Journal Star after committing to Nebraska

247Sports:

3 stars On3: 3 stars

Gunnar Gottula was a standout offensive lineman for Lincoln Southeast High playing for his father and head coach Ryan Gottula. Gunnar was a three-year starting lineman for the Knights and was named first-team All-Nebraska by the Omaha World-Herald as a senior and second-team All-Nebraska as a junior. He was also named first-team Super State by the Lincoln Journal Star as a senior and second-team Super State as a junior.

6-5, 300 | LINCOLN

Southeast advanced to the playoffs in each of Gottula’s three seasons as a starter, including a run to the Class A (large school) quarterfinals in 2020.

Rivals ranks him among the top 35 offensive tackles in the country.

Quotable

“This is where I want to be.”

247Sports: 3 stars On3: 3 stars Rivals: 3 stars Other offers: Temple and UConn among others

RUNNING BACK 6-2, 185 | PALMYRA (NEW JERSEY) HIGH

Ives ran for 3,055 yards and scored 49 touchdowns in his junior and senior seasons combined, according to NJ.com. He averaged 10.1 yards per carry and 160.8 yards per game over his final two seasons.

As a senior, Ives ran for 1,617 yards and 26 touchdowns on 157 carries. He averaged 10.3 yards per carry and had at least 100 rushing yards in all nine games including three 200-yard efforts. Ives also caught 15 passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns and had a 79-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on his lone return of the season. He began his senior season with a 50yard touchdown on his first carry and then had a 57-yard touchdown on his second carry.

In addition to his production on the football

field, Ives also stars on the basketball court and as a standout in track and field. On the hardwood, Ives entered his senior season with 907 career points and 492 career rebounds, averaging 14.9 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. In track and field, Ives finished second at the county championships in the long jump as a junior and was fourth in the 100 meters. As a sophomore, he won the Burlington County Divisional Championship in the 100 meters, 200 meters and long jump.

On3 ranks him among the top 35 running backs in the country and a top-10 player in New Jersey.

Quotable

“He’s an exciting, versatile kid that really can be special with the football in his hands. And we just can’t wait to get our hands on him, get him here and get him going.”

Brock Knutson was one of the top offensive linemen in Nebraska. He played three seasons for Mitchell High before playing his final season at Scottsbluff High.

As a senior, Knutson helped Scottsbluff to the semifinals of the Class B playoffs. He was chosen as a first-team Super State offensive lineman by the Lincoln Journal Star and was recognized as a second-team All-Nebraska selection by the Omaha World-Herald. He has also competed in wrestling and track and field. Knutson, who pro-

jects as a tackle, is ranked among the nation’s top 50 offensive tackles by On3.

Quotable

“Ever since I was little, my dad has always told me, there’s something about playing football with that ‘N’ on the side of my helmet. He told me I could do that, and it’s always been a dream of mine to make that true.”

— Knutson, as quoted in the Omaha WorldHerald

Originally from Staten Island, New York, Cameron Lenhardt played two seasons at Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey before heading to Florida powerhouse IMG Academy for his high school years where he became a highly sought after edge rusher.

As a senior, he recorded 21 tackles with seven tackles for loss for a defense that recorded 30 takeaways against a national schedule.

Lenhardt had previously committed to Nebraska last summer but decommitted after the Scott Frost firing. He was recruited by Matt Rhule and his staff, revisited Lincoln with the new staff in charge in December and trimmed his list, according to one report, to Nebraska, Ohio State, Auburn, Houston and Colorado. He made his commitment to NU public on Jan. 3 on national television during the Under Armour

All-America Game.

NU’s new defensive coordinator, Tony White, was recruiting Lenhardt when White was at Syracuse. The relationship helped to confirm his previous good feelings toward Nebraska.

Lenhardt ranks as the No. 37 edge in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite and the No. 62 player in Florida by On3.

Quotable

“Everybody thinks it’s cornfields and nothing out there. But it’s actually like a little city. Lincoln is a college town and Omaha is 45 minutes, and that’s the bigger city. I loved it. It’s different. Being from New York City, it’s different. But I really do love it. It’s not just cornfields. It’s a great place.”

— Lenhardt to 247Sports on recommitting to Nebraska

Jaylen Lloyd was a two-sport star who played his final season at Omaha Westside after beginning his career at Omaha Central.

Lloyd was one of the state’s top receivers on the football field and was a national champion in track and field. On the gridiron, Lloyd caught 44 passes for 784 yards and five touchdowns in his senior season at Westside, which was cut short due to injury. He averaged nearly 18 yards per reception, and his play helped the Warriors win the large-school state title.

Lloyd was named to the Omaha World-Herald All-Nebraska first team as a senior in addition to earning a spot on the Lincoln Journal Star Super State first team. At Central, Lloyd was an all-metro selection as a junior when he caught 20 passes for 420 yards. In track and field, Lloyd is a four-time state champion.

As a junior, Lloyd won Class A (large school) titles in the 100 meters, long jump and triple jump. He was also the Class A long jump champ as a sophomore. On the national level, Lloyd won the 2022 National Junior Olympic Championships in the long jump while finishing third in the 100 meters. He also won the national title in the long jump and placed second in the triple jump at the 2022 Nike Outdoor Nationals. At the

2021 National Junior Olympic Championships, Lloyd finished second in the triple jump and third in the long jump.

Lloyd is ranked among the top 85 athletes in the nation by 247Sports and among the country’s top 100 receivers by On3. Before deciding to compete in both sports at Nebraska, Lloyd nearly committed to focusing on track and field for Florida, the 2022 NCAA outdoor national champions.

Lloyd’s mother, Dalhia (Ingram) Lloyd, was a standout jumper for the Nebraska track and field program and was a seven-time Big 12 Conference champion, winning five long jump titles and two triple jump crowns.

Quotable

“One of the comments he made to me was, ‘People think I’m just a track guy and not a football player. I’m a football player.’ When he said that it kind of gave me chills a little bit. Me and coach Rhule kind of looked at each other like, ‘All right, there’s that chip on the shoulder he needs to take that next step as a very good football player.’”

— NU offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield in an interview with NU Athletic Communications on his first visit with Lloyd

247Sports: 3 stars

On3: 3 stars Rivals: 3 stars Other offers: Kent State, North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota and South Dakota State

Lineman Jason Maciejczak was one of the top players in South Dakota. He played his final season for T.F. Riggs High after playing for his father, Dan, at Douglas High his first three seasons.

Maciejczak helped Riggs to a perfect 12-0 record and a state championship as a senior. The Governors averaged 48 points per game and scored at least 35 points in all 12 games, including five 50-point performances. Maciejczak was deemed the “best lineman” in the state by Riggs head coach Steve Steele. On defense, Maciejczak recorded 26 tackles with eight tackles for loss and three sacks as a senior.

At Douglas High, Maciejczak was a threetime all-conference selection and was an allstate pick as a junior. As a senior, Maciejczak was named a finalist for state player of the year by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

JASON MACIEJCZAK

In track and field, Maciejczak finished second at the Class AA state meet in the shot put and discus as a junior. As a sophomore, Maciejczak was second at state in the discus and third in the shot put.

In addition to coaching Jason in high school, Dan Maciejczak was a three-year starting offensive lineman at Chadron State in Nebraska. Jason’s brother, Jared, also played football at Chadron State.

Quotable

“Jason is a mountain of a man but moves like an avalanche and can easily overwhelm any opponent with his raw power and athleticism. He has a deep understanding of football and is someone who can always be trusted to do their job to the best of their ability.”

— Riggs coach Steve Steele in the Watertown Public Opinion about Maciejczak

ETHAN NATION

5-10, 165 | ROSWELL (GEORGIA) HIGH

wind recruitment that had Nation in Lincoln within a day of receiving a Husker offer in midDecember.

247Sports: 3 stars

On3: 3 stars Rivals: 3 stars

Other offers: Auburn, Colorado, Houston, Ohio State and Oregon among others

As a senior, Nation was the co-athlete of the year in his region and totaled 36 tackles on defense with three interceptions, 11 passes defended and one fumble recovery. He also caught 27 passes for 427 yards and three touchdowns on offense while finishing with 629 all-purpose yards. As a junior, he totaled 37 tackles with one interception, three passes defended and one forced fumble. On offense, he caught 45 passes for 565 yards and 10 touchdowns.

The Huskers and position coach Evan Cooper worked quickly to get in on Nation, who had offers from across the SEC but trimmed a long list to six before picking the Huskers after a whirl-

A four-star prospect by ESPN, 247Sports reported Nation had a strong week of practice against many of the top-rated players at the Under Armour game in Orlando. ESPN has him among the top 20 cornerbacks and top 170 overall players in the country.

Quotable

“I feel like the coaching staff and what we’re bringing in, we really have a chance to turn it around and make Nebraska great again. It sounds cliche, but I really feel like we can do it.”

— Nation to 247Sports on picking Nebraska over a long list of suitors

Ethan Nation was a late addition to the Husker class after committing on national television at the Jan. 3 Under Armour All-America Game.

stars

A second-generation Cornhusker, Maverick Noonan is following in his father’s footsteps by playing at Nebraska. The Elkhorn South product was one of the state’s top defenders and was named to the Omaha World-Herald All-Nebraska first team as both a junior and senior, as well as earning spots on the Lincoln Journal Star Super State first team both seasons.

As a senior, Noonan led Elkhorn South in tackles and added nine sacks and 17 tackles for loss. He also played on the offensive line. He helped the Storm to a Class A (large school) state runner-up finish as a sophomore and quarterfinal appearances as a junior and senior.

MAVERICK NOONAN

State and Stanford.

Maverick’s father, Danny, was a three-year letterwinner for the Huskers. As a senior in 1986, Danny was a unanimous first-team AllAmerican and the Big Eight Athlete of the Year. He recorded 140 tackles in his career with 36 TFLs and 25 sacks. A first-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1987 NFL Draft, the elder Noonan went on to play in 73 games in his sixyear NFL career.

Quotable

others

Noonan is ranked among the nation’s top 40 weakside defensive ends by Rivals and among the country’s top 55 edge rushers by On3. He held offers from numerous Power Five programs including Arizona State, Iowa, Michigan

“He does stuff that 95% of high school players don’t. He watches film, he watches tendencies of the offensive linemen, what they do, if they’re pass rushing, maybe their stance is a little wider when in passing … he picks up on little things.”

— Danny Noonan, a former Husker and Dallas Cowboy, on his son, Maverick

DYLAN ROGERS

247Sports: 3 stars

On3: 3 stars

Rivals: 3 stars

Other offers: Colorado, Houston, Kansas State, Missouri and Texas among others

Dylan Rogers is a versatile defender capable of playing on the defensive line, as an edge rusher or as a linebacker. Rogers was a tackling machine for Houston-area Cypress Woods, recording more than 230 tackles in his prep career with 16 tackles for loss, five sacks and five interceptions, according to MaxPreps. He was a three-time all-district selection.

As a senior, Rogers totaled 83 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, two passes defended, one fumble recovery and forced a fumble. He had no fewer than 70 tackles in each of his three high school seasons.

Rogers is rated among the top 25 inside linebackers in the country by Rivals and had offers from schools in all five power conferences.

Quotable

“It feels good. It’s been a long process –stressful, kind of – but it feels good that I finally committed. I wanted to focus on my senior year, but I really wanted to lock in with Nebraska. They really wanted me, so I wanted to lock in my spot at Nebraska.”

— Rogers to Inside Nebraska after committing to the previous staff in July

247Sports:

3 stars On3:

Syncere Safeeullah starred at Hillsboro High in Nashville, Tennessee, before transferring to IMG Academy in Florida for the 2022 season where he helped IMG win the 2022 National Post Grad Athletic Association national championship.

Safeeullah was ranked as the No. 1 defensive back in Tennessee by Prep Redzone before deciding to play his final season at IMG in 2022.

In his lone season there, Safeeullah recorded 43 tackles and he was a ballhawk with seven interceptions, 11 pass breakups, one forced fumble,

6-2,

one fumble recovery and a blocked punt.

In the division championship game, Safeeullah did not allow a completion while breaking up four passes with two interceptions.

Quotable

“As a player it got me insight on how the college system is going to work. We practice in the morning, meetings, lifting; like a college schedule, so it got me used to that.”

guard prospects in the country.

Sam’s father, Bob, is a member of the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame and was a three-year letterwinner from 1986 to 1988. He earned AllBig Eight honors as a left tackle in 1988.

Quotable

247Sports:

3 stars On3: 3 stars Rivals: 3 stars Other offers: Kansas and

Sledge helped Creighton Prep to three Class A (large school) state playoff appearances, including a semifinal berth as a senior in 2022. He was tabbed as a first-team All-Nebraska selection by the Omaha World-Herald as both a junior and a senior. Sledge was also twice named to the Lincoln Journal Star Super State first team.

Rivals ranks him among the best 35 offensive

“I knew he had a lot of ability just watching him because there’s certain things that came easy for him. Football sense, I think that’s part of being around it a lot. As far as his physical ability, he could do a lot of things.”

RAHMIR

247Sports: 3 stars On3: 3 stars Rivals: 3 stars Other offers: Georgia, Michigan, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State and Texas A&M among others

Stewart was a two-way star for Imhotep, playing running back on offense in addition to being regarded as the top safety in Pennsylvania. As a senior, he totaled 31 tackles with three interceptions according to MaxPreps. Stewart was credited with 12 tackles and three interceptions as a junior and 14 tackles with three picks as a sophomore. On offense, Stewart rushed for 451 yards in his career with 10 touchdowns. His play helped the Panthers to a runner-up finish in the

Pennsylvania 5A playoffs in both his junior and senior seasons.

Stewart is ranked among the nation’s top 60 safeties by Rivals and held an impressive list of scholarship offers.

Quotable

“As I arrived from the airport I saw the atmosphere this was a college town, so for me that was a no-brainer. I could literally see the stadium coming from the airport. And before I even came from home, I knew I was going to feel at home from the coaching staff. They have some Philly guys from Temple, so yeah, it was good.”

The first player to commit to coach Matt Rhule at Nebraska, Brice Turner was a standout on the football field and on the track for Bay City High School. The wide receiver demonstrated big-play ability on the gridiron and is a multiple state champion as a sprinter.

As a senior, Turner caught 22 passes for 495 yards and six touchdowns according to MaxPreps, with 14 carries for 170 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 22.5 yards per reception and 12.1 yards per carry en route to an average of 18.5 yards per play on offense. Turner also returned six kickoffs for 121 yards and one punt for 17 yards.

On the track, Turner was the 2022 Texas Class 4A state champion in the 100 and 200 meters as a junior. His winning 100-meter time of 10.25 would have ranked as the fifth-fastest 100-meter

time in Nebraska outdoor track and field history. Turner finished second in the 100 meters and third in the 200 meters as a sophomore in 2021. He was also a member of a 4x100 relay team that finished second at the 2021 AAU National Junior Olympic Games and was third in 2019.

A late riser in the recruiting rankings, he is ranked among the nation’s top 85 receivers in the On3 Consensus rankings. Nebraska was the first to offer a football scholarship, and Turner accepted.

Quotable

He “can absolutely fly.”

— NU offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield on Turner, whose recruiting profile had him listed for a time at 5-foot-9. Satterfield said in an interview with NU Athletic Communications that he is more like 6-1 or 6-2 and extremely fast

Princewill Umanmielen was one of the nation’s top defensive line prospects while starring at Manor High in Texas. The all-stater was a consensus pick as one of the top 300 recruits in the country.

Umanmielen had 130 tackles, 47.0 tackles for loss and 21.0 sacks over 23 games in his final two seasons at Manor. As a senior, Umanmielen recorded 65 tackles with 22.0 tackles for loss, 8.0 sacks and one forced fumble. He was chosen as the district defensive lineman of the year as a senior. In his junior season, he totaled 65 tackles with 25.0 TFLs, 13.0 sacks and three forced fumbles. For his efforts, Umanmielen was named a first-team all-state pick and was the district co-defensive lineman of the year.

Umanmielen was ranked among the nation’s top 300 prospects by ESPN, Rivals, 247Sports and On3. He was listed among the nation’s top 25 edge rushers by 247Sports and among the

country’s top 20 strongside defensive ends by Rivals.

Umanmielen has two older brothers playing college football. Princely is a sophomore defensive lineman at Florida, and Prince is a junior defensive lineman at Tarleton State.

Quotable

“We’ve had some pretty talented guys and he ranks right up there with them. I think he went out at track and did a 23-foot long jump without warming up. He didn’t even really do track, but he went up to districts, competed and ended up at regionals. He’s an athlete. He has the bone structure to put on the weight they need. Right now he’s a little light at 230, 235, but his brother was the same way and he’s 270 now. Once he gets on the meal plan he’ll put on the weight as needed.”

— Manor High football coach James Keller on Umanmielen, as told to 247Sports

Riley Van Poppel is a coveted defensive linemen out of Texas where he was a dominant force for Dallas-area Argyle High. Van Poppel recorded 19 sacks and 37 tackles for loss with nearly 150 career tackles in his prep career.

As a senior, Van Poppel was a unanimous choice for district defensive player of the year after totaling 80 tackles with 10 sacks and 17 tackles for loss, according to MaxPreps. He helped the Eagles to a 14-1 record and a state runner-up finish in his final season. As a junior, Van Poppel recorded 38 tackles with seven sacks and 14 TFLs. He was also on the varsity as a sophomore, when Argyle finished 16-0 and won

the 2020 Class 4A Division 1 state title.

On3 ranks him among the nation’s top 260 players.

Van Poppel is the son of Todd Van Poppel, who was a first-round pick in the 1990 Major League Baseball Draft. The elder Van Poppel pitched for 11 years in the majors, appearing in 359 games with 98 starts.

Quotable

“I don’t want to go ride the bench for four years and not do anything. Maybe not the first year, but the second year, I want to get on the field and make a difference for that team.”

— Van Poppel to Husker Extra

CHIEF BORDERS

Chief Borders spent two seasons as a reserve linebacker for the Florida Gators before transferring to Nebraska. He played in all 12 regularseason games for the Gators in 2022, primarily on special teams, recording an assisted tackle against South Carolina and an unassisted tackle against Georgia. He appeared in four games and redshirted in 2021. Borders has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

Although from Chicago, Borders played his high school football at Heard County High in Georgia and was a four-star recruit. He was invited to the 2021 Under Armour All-America Game in Orlando. He also threw the shot put and discus in track and field.

Borders chose Florida over Arkansas, Auburn,

Quotable

“When you meet him live, it’s like he’s living on Red Bull or something. He’s got so much energy, so much passion. Academic All-Americantype young man. Mother’s a doctor. You watch his tape and you see speed, you see physicality, you see aggression. Being a transfer guy, (he’s) more ready to play with that experience. You add all those things together and then talk about passion and just loving where you’re at, with Chief, that’s a guy who I’m looking forward to being with.”

— Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White when asked about Borders in an interview with NU Athletic Communications

a true freshman in 2021.

Collier was rated as one of the nation’s top safety prospects after a standout career at Palmetto High School in Miami. A four-star recruit by the 247Sports Composite, he was a first-team

Miami Herald All-Dade 8A-6A selection as a junior in 2019 when he had 52 tackles, 13 pass breakups and four interceptions, helping Palmetto a 10-2 record and 8A district title. Collier was one of 100 invitees to the Army All-American Bowl in San Antonio in January 2021.

Out of high school, he chose Florida over Miami, LSU, Clemson, Georgia and Tennessee among others.

Michigan State and Stanford out of high school.

Previous school: Florida

Miami native Corey Collier Jr. comes to Nebraska after two seasons with the Florida Gators. He played in three games as a redshirt freshman in 2022 and made his first career tackle against Eastern Washington. Collier played in two games and redshirted as

Previous school: Baylor

Josh Fleeks joins the Nebraska program as a wide receiver after playing parts of five seasons and 43 games at Baylor. Fleeks was recruited to the Bears’ program as part of the 2018 class by coach Matt Rhule and his staff and was a versatile offensive playmaker.

A four-star recruit out of high school at Dallas-area Cedar Hill High, Fleeks rolled up a combined 795 receiving and rushing yards and scored five career touchdowns, but made just one career start. He entered the portal in October after appearing in three games in 2022 following a 2021 injury that carried into 2022.

He is slated to play his sixth and final season as a receiver at Nebraska.

His most productive season came in 2019 –Rhule’s final season at Baylor – when he played in all 14 games and had 25 receptions for 262 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 27 yards and a touchdown. In the return game, he returned 11 kicks for 242 yards. Fleeks tied a career-best with six receptions for 42 yards against TCU. He had a career-high 126 receiving yards on three catches at Oklahoma State, including a careerlong 64-yard catch.

At Cedar Hill, Fleeks had 313 rushing yards and four touchdowns as a senior and also had 32 catches for 363 yards and five scores. He had 663 yards and eight touchdowns as a junior and was a first-team All-District selection, helping his team to an 11-2 record.

Fleeks ranked among the top 20 all-purpose players in the country and among the top 25 players in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. He was also a track standout at Cedar Hill, competing in the 100 and 200 meters and high jump. He picked Baylor over Georgia, Arizona, Missouri and Texas A&M out of high school.

Quotable

“He’s a guy that’s played in some really big games over the last five years and (who) we’re going to lean on for his experience. He understands the culture, he understands how we do things, he understands the offseason.”

— NU offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield on Fleeks, who will be leaned on to help implement the Rhule culture among the young receivers, in an interview with NU Athletic Communications

Previous school: Texas A&M

As a redshirt freshman in 2022, Jeudy appeared in November games against Florida and LSU.

Jeudy was a standout performer at Philadelphia’s Northeast High where he was coached by Chris Riley. Jeudy made 51 tackles and had six sacks as a senior and was regarded as one of the top 10 players in Pennsylvania and among the

Family Ties

A four-star prospect by all the major recruiting outlets out of high school, Jeudy also participated in track and field.

Quotable

“Them being from Philly they’ll know how to push me, push the buttons that’ll get me to do more than I know I can do. Having people on the staff that know how it is Philly-wise definitely helped. That was one of the big ones.”

— Jeudy to 247Sports on the Nebraska coaches and one reason he picked the Huskers

Four recruits have family members who are former Huskers. Sam Sledge’s father, Bob, was an offensive linemen who lettered from 1986-1988. Maverick Noonan’s father, Danny, was a middle guard who lettered from 1984-1986. Dwight Bootle’s brother, Dicaprio, was a defensive back who lettered from 2017-2020. Jaylen Lloyd’s mother, Dalhia (Ingram), was a long and triple jumper on the women’s track and field team who lettered from 1997-2000.

Defensive lineman Elijah Jeudy joined the Nebraska program after spending two seasons at Texas A&M. The Philadelphia native played in one game while redshirting in 2021 and made a tackle against Prairie View.

nation’s top 15 edge players.

Billy Kemp comes to Nebraska with one season of eligibility after five productive years at Virginia – 50 games, 25 starts. After missing several games in 2022 because of injury, he’s fourth on the Cavaliers’ career receptions list (192) and had 1,774 career receiving yards – 10th most in Virginia history. Kemp is also the first Cavalier ever to lead the team in punt returns and punt return yardage in four straight seasons.

Kemp’s sixth season of eligibility stems from an NCAA decision to grant Virginia seniors an extra year after the shooting deaths of three football players and the cancellation of the Cavaliers’ last two games. Kemp had declared for the NFL Draft, but entered the portal after being granted another year.

Out of high school at Virginia powerhouse

Highland Springs High, Kemp was a three-star recruit by ESPN and a two star by 247Sports, Rivals and Scout. He outplayed those expectations as a Cavalier and made third-team All-ACC in 2021 and honorable mention in 2020. He reportedly received at least half a dozen Power Five offers after entering the portal.

Quotable

“We’ve got some good receivers, I just think we need to build the depth there and the different types of receivers. You don’t want them all to look the same and be the same. You need different body types.”

— Nebraska offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield before Kemp’s decision, in an interview with NU Athletic Communications

MARCO ORTIZ

Marco Ortiz joins the Husker program as a graduate long snapper after competing for the past five seasons at Florida. Ortiz played in 16 games during his career with the Gators, including all 13 games in 2021, when he served as the starting snapper. He appeared in only one game in 2022 and has one season of eligibility remaining.

During his time at Florida, Ortiz was a member of five bowl teams, including the 2020 team that won the SEC East Division.

Ortiz was rated as a five-star prospect and the No. 6 player overall at his position by Ru-

bio Long Snapping coming out of high school. He attended Benedictine College Preparatory and Catholic Military High School, helping his team to state championships in 2014 and 2015. His twin brother, Antonio, was a long snapper at TCU for four seasons.

Quotable

“You can’t mess up or else that’s when people will notice you. And you don’t want people to notice you.”

— Ortiz on floridagators.com about simply doing his job as a long snapper

Previous school: Florida

Previous school: Arizona State

Ben Scott, who is slated to play center, will have two seasons of eligibility with the Huskers after transferring from Arizona State.

Scott started 28 games for the Sun Devils from 2020 to 2022 after redshirting in 2019. He started all four games at right tackle during the abbreviated 2020 season and all 13 games at right tackle in 2021. In his final season at Arizona State in 2022, Scott started 11 games at center.

In 2020, Scott’s play helped the Sun Devils rank seventh nationally in rushing. The next season, Scott was on the field for 794 of Arizona State’s 808 offensive snaps. Scott ranked 28th nationally in run blocking among all offensive tackles with at least 500 snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.

A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, Scott was a three-time state champion for powerhouse St. Louis High School. In Scott’s three seasons on varsity, St. Louis compiled a 33-1 record, in-

EDGE

Previous school: Georgia

(HAWAII) ST. LOUIS HIGH

cluding 27 straight victories to end his career. The Crusaders averaged 46.5 points in his senior season and were ranked as the No. 6 high school team in the country by MaxPreps.

Scott was regarded as a three-star prospect out of high school. He was swarmed with offers when he entered the transfer portal and narrowed his decision to Nebraska, Miami and Auburn.

Scott has Husker ties. He is familiar with NU offensive line coach Donovan Raiola and his family, who also hail from Honolulu. Scott’s mother, Renee, is a native of Columbus, Nebraska.

Quotable

“When I was there it just felt like home. The atmosphere is great, the coaches are great. (Nebraska coach) Matt Rhule is coming in and he’s not playing around. He’s not going to settle for no mediocre season.”

— Scott to the Omaha World-Herald on choosing the Huskers

MJ SHERMAN

6-2, 250 | WASHINGTON, D.C., ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE HIGH

A five-star recruit out of high school, MJ Sherman was a part of Georgia’s two national title teams the last two seasons. He committed to Nebraska out of the portal on Jan. 16. He has two years of eligibility remaining.

On a star-studded Georgia team, Sherman mainly contributed on special teams over his three seasons. He played 140 snaps at linebacker and was credited with 15 tackles during his Bulldog career. In 2022, he reportedly played 42 defensive snaps, but led the team with 226 special teams snaps.

Sherman, whose full name is Mekhail Jacques Sherman, hails from Baltimore, Maryland, and was a consensus top 50 player in the country

in 2020. He picked Georgia over finalists Alabama and Ohio State. He was a PrepStar Magazine five-star prospect and a Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN four-star prospect. He was selected to play in the 2020 Under Armour All-America Game, among numerous other prep honors.

Quotable

“He’s become a key cog in our special teams. … He’s a leader on the punt block and return team. I’m just really proud of the maturity he’s shown, and he’s gotten a lot better as an outside linebacker, too.”

— Georgia coach Kirby Smart on Sherman’s progress this past season to DawgNation writer Mike Griffith

WALK-ONS

Quarterback Jeff Sims, who has two years to play plus an available redshirt, started 23 games for Georgia Tech over the past three seasons, accounting for more than 5,500 yards of total offense. In 2022, Sims started seven games before being sidelined by injury. He threw for 1,115 yards and five touchdowns, while rushing for 288 yards and a touchdown.

Sims played in seven games with six starts in 2021, passing for 1,468 yards and 12 touchdowns, while rushing for 372 yards and four touchdowns.

He threw for a career-high 359 yards against eventual ACC champion Pitt, the most by a Tech quarterback in 20 years.

Sims started 10 games as a true freshman in 2020, and was one of the top freshman quarterbacks in the country. He passed for 1,881 yards and 13 touchdowns, while rushing for 492 yards and six touchdowns. Sims was named ACC Rookie of the Week three times, becoming the first Yellow Jacket since receiver Calvin Johnson to earn the honor three times.

Sims made a quick impression with 277 yards passing and 64 rushing yards in his col-

legiate debut at Florida State. Sims was the only freshman and one of nine FBS players in 2020 to rush for 100 yards and throw three touchdowns passes in a game when he accomplished the feat against Duke.

Sims was a four-star prospect and one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the nation after a standout career at Sandalwood High in Jacksonville, Florida. He earned recognition as one of the nation’s “Elite 11” quarterbacks in the prestigious annual quarterback competition. In his career as a three-year starter at Sandalwood, Sims amassed more than 5,000 passing yards, 1,200 rushing yards and had 55 total touchdowns.

Quotable

“I like the coaches, I like the vibe of the program. It was a good feel. Just talking with coach Rhule and coach Sat (offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield), I feel like they have a plan. They’re excited about the future and their main goal is to develop players and that will lead to winning. That stood out to me.”

— Sims to the Omaha World-Herald on picking Nebraska

Kai Wallin joins Nebraska after spending one season at American River College in California. Wallin, who played his prep ball for Jesuit High School in Sacramento, will have three seasons of eligibility at Nebraska.

In his lone season at American River, a community college, in 2022, Wallin posted 33 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks in 10 games mostly as an edge rusher. He ranked fifth in the NorCal Conference in sacks and also forced one fumble and had two fumble recoveries.

In his final season at Jesuit High in 2021, Wallin made 35 tackles with 14.0 TFLs and 9.5 sacks, according to MaxPreps. He also played offense, catching 14 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns to help Jesuit to a 10-2 record as a senior.

Wallin was ranked as one of the top 40 junior college prospects in the country by 247Sports. The three-star recruit also visited Kansas and Oregon State and had several other Power Five offers including Arizona State, Indiana, Louisville and Utah.

Quotable

“It was the opportunity to play in front of the biggest crowds, play the biggest teams, play on the biggest stages with the best coaches. It was the opportunity for the development of my game and just the coaches – feeling really good about every person on the staff from the top to the bottom of the totem pole. Positionally, head coachwise, coordinator, strength coach, everything.” — Wallin to Husker247

The Critchlow Chronicles

By Michael Kelly

Paul Critchlow dreamed of becoming a Cornhusker football star. That didn’t exactly happen, but he scored two touchdowns for the Big Red and, really, that’s something. Then an unfortunate “something” happened – a broken leg in spring practice, 1968, just before his senior year. A teammate’s crack-back block had cracked Critchlow’s right fibula.

Demoralized and depressed, that summer he took a most unusual step: Though a year remained on his college deferment from the military draft, he left school and volunteered for the Army in the midst of the worsening Vietnam War.

A year later came something else – far more serious than most football injuries.

Just before midnight on Aug. 19, 1969, in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, Critchlow was gravely wounded by an enemy’s rocket-propelled grenade. At 23, he lay in a pool of his own blood.

His wounds were many, and he couldn’t move. He felt the greatest fear of his life – that the Americans’ position on Hill 102 would be overrun, and he would be shot at close range or bayoneted.

Five hours later, though, carried in a poncho, he was flipped into a medevac helicopter, along with other wounded and dead. The chopper’s fuselage took a bullet on the way out, but he was flown to Da Nang and then Japan. Recuperation at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital near Chicago

took six months.

Despite all that, including decades haunted by that night, Critchlow has lived a life that is, shall we say, quite something:

• Six years with the Philadelphia Inquirer, including chief political reporter.

• Seven years as press secretary and adviser to the Pennsylvania governor, including for the Three Mile Island nuclear accident.

• Decades in corporate-finance communications with Merrill Lynch, where he worked on the 31st floor of the World Financial Center, across the street from the World Trade Center. On 9/11, he helped evacuate 9,000 colleagues, the chaos and screams reminding him of battle in Vietnam.

Paul Critchlow speaks during a news conference as press secretary and adviser to thenPennsylvania Gov. Dick Thornburgh. Critchlow’s time in the position included the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979.

Critchlow as a Husker in the midto late-1960s.

NU COMMUNICATIONS

• At 70, in retirement, he became an intern for Pfizer Inc. in New York City. Yes, like actor Robert DeNiro in the movie “The Intern.”

Now 76, physically fit after losing 40 pounds, twice-divorced Critchlow lives in Sarasota, Florida. He tends three aquariums at home, rides a bicycle most mornings, consults for Rockefeller Capital Management and continues speaking to groups about his life’s lessons.

With all his achievements, he also acknowledges his mistakes – such as leaving the university and giving up on Husker football because of his broken leg – and insists there is “power in failure.” That’s a frequent theme in his talks.

“When things are going bad,” he said in a January interview for Huskers Illustrated, “don’t throw in the towel. I wasn’t mature enough then to regroup. If I had it to do over again, I would absolutely pull myself up and say, ‘Let’s get the leg healed, go back and do this. Treat the injury as a delay, get over it and move on.’

“But on the other hand, that decision led to all the rest of my life and set me on a wonderful career path.”

***

The oldest of three children of John and Dorothy Critchlow of Omaha, Paul said his dad was a master carpet-layer. He had trained to pilot B-17s, and often said he was disappointed that World War II ended just before he could join the fight.

Paul was born the year after the war, and claimed he grew up a nerd – with thick glasses, acne and a tropical-fish collection. But he could run very fast. His first newspaper headline, as an eighth-grader at Monroe Junior High, was “Monroe’s Critchlow Paces Track Victory.”

Critchlow, who made National Honor Society, was featured in the Omaha World-Herald at 16 for acceptance into the summer Grinnell College Behavior Science Institute. A year later, he became a local celebrity on the football field.

Dennis Morrison, a North High athlete, had heard about this kid from Benson High and made a point to go watch him play. Morrison soon got a ground-level view when Benson beat North 25-0. The 5-11, 190-pound Critchlow scored two firstquarter touchdowns, including a 75-yard punt return.

“He was the fastest white kid I’d ever seen,” said Morrison, also white, and a future teammate and Phil Delta Theta roommate at Nebraska. “Plus, he was physical and had lifted weights. When it came time for a collision, Paul knew how to do it.”

Critchlow received his athletic scholarship from Nebraska in the spring of senior year – after he won the 220-yard sprint championship at the state high school track meet, also finishing high in the 100and 440-yard finals. At the Shrine Bowl All-Star football game in August, he was named the outstanding back.

So he entered NU with high Husker hopes.

He played freshman ball and then redshirted a year. In 1966, a sophomore in eligibility, Critchlow scored on a 6-yard run at home against Utah State and, in his best game, on a 1-yard run in a 12-6 win at Iowa State. “He just kicked ass and ran over people at Iowa State,” recalled Morrison, a tight end. “Paul was very physical, very fast, very coachable.”

The World-Herald said most Huskers walked off the field sober-faced after the

Critchlow, center, during a meeting with former President George H.W. Bush and Daniel P. Tully, Merrill Lynch chairman.

narrow win. “The only players wearing post-game smiles were Harry Wilson and Paul Critchlow. ... Paul’s 2-yard, fourth-down plunge, a first down by inches, kept the winning drive alive. Critchlow had reason to feel good over his important contribution to the victory.”

Unfortunately, that didn’t lead to a lot of playing time. Frustrated, psychology-major Critchlow half-kiddingly asked NU publicist Don “Fox” Bryant if a cool nickname might help, similar to those for fellow running backs Charlie “Choo Choo” Winters and Harry “Light Horse” Wilson.

Bryant alliteratively dubbed him “Crasher” Critchlow, which the media sometimes shortened to “Crash.”

Either way, it didn’t help.

Critchlow had bulked up to 211 pounds – not big by today’s standards – and was moved to defense during spring practice of 1967. The newspaper reported that he had been promoted to firstunit defensive end.

Partly because of injuries, he didn’t play a lot that fall. Wally Provost, World-Herald columnist, quoted Critchlow’s mature response when asked about the benefit of playing football: “A generous amount of priceless schooling, a number of sound moral lessons, many delightful trips and a chronically dislocated arm and hyper-extended knee.”

When he broke his leg the following spring, though, the Crasher was crushed. He felt like a failure and decided he needed “a change of venue.” It turned out to be 8,500 miles away.

***

Despite growing protests across the country, Critchlow says now, “I was largely indifferent about the war. My life had been intently focused on playing football at Nebraska.”

But his dad had regretted not serving in war, and his uncles did see combat. Paul had no death wish and was confident he could navigate the danger. He also saw the Vietnam War as “the defining experience of my generation.”

So in July 1968 he drove to the Selective Service office at the Federal Building in downtown Omaha, where kind clerks seemed stunned at his desire to give up his college deferment. One, about his mother’s age, asked: “Are you sure? This is one of the most important decisions of your entire life.”

“I need a change,” Critchlow recalled saying. “I’m ready, take me.”

Though he and the clerks had never met, he promised to write to them – and did so, first from training camps and then from Vietnam after his April 1969 arrival. They wrote back, and he carried their letters in his backpack.

On Aug. 12, 1969, he wrote: “My comrades are increasingly amazed that I get letters from my draft board. They run around shouting that I’m being drafted and will have to serve another year here.” He told the clerks that he finally got to see action firsthand, “exciting, frightening, appalling. I won’t go into details.”

A week later, on Aug. 19, Critchlow’s “Charlie” Company hiked into the Que Son Valley to reinforce Delta Company, which had encountered a large North Vietnamese Army force. On that day, an NVA rocket-propelled grenade shot down a U.S. helicopter, killing nine Americans. Critchlow saw it crash into a green mountainside only 1,600 feet away.

He served as “forward observer,” a job that required much more than observing. On a radiophone, using maps and coordinates, he called in artillery and airstrikes. Into the evening,

an American

Once enemies, Critchlow and former North Vietnamese Army Col. Mai Thuan embraced in 2000 in the Vietnam capitol of Hanoi.

Critchlow with Kim Phuc Phan Thi, the girl depicted in the 1972 photograph “The Terror of War.” Phan Thi, better known as “Napalm Girl,” was shown fleeing a deadly napalm attack in Vietnam in Associated Press photographer Nick Ut’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photo.

Critchlow’s football cleats and Husker news clippings are on display at Omaha’s Benson High, where he is a member of the school’s hall of fame.

AC-130 Spectre gunship, known to troops as “Spooky,” circled overhead, holding the enemy at bay with precision strikes Critchlow had summoned, raining lead.

The former Cornhusker, only 16 months after his last spring football practice and wearing a different kind of helmet, stood in the shelled-out, roofless ruin of a former French plantation building. A private first class, he pointed a strobe light skyward to mark the American troops’ location for the Spooky gunship.

The strobe was key for U.S. troops to call in protection from above. Knocking it out was a prime goal for the enemy.

At five minutes to midnight, Critchlow saw in the shadows the outline of a pith helmet, the mark of an NVA soldier. As the Nebraskan wrote in 2003 for American Heritage magazine: “He had slipped through the perimeter and stood just inside the doorway, a launcher on his shoulder, taking aim at the light I held. I knew I could not react fast enough.”

***

An enormous noise engulfed Critchlow, the grenade hitting the ground several feet in front of him, spraying shrapnel through the abandoned building that served as a command post. A comrade shot and killed the invader.

The son of a carpet-layer lay on his back, bleeding onto a floor of concrete and hardpacked dirt.

“My glasses had been blown off and an eardrum was shattered,” Critchlow wrote. “Eyesight blurred and half-deaf, I lay immobile through an apocalypse – screams, explosions and the arcs of tracer bullets all around me. For the first time I knew real fear, fear that another North Vietnamese soldier would get through and stand over me, and I would helplessly witness, by bullet or bayonet, my own execution.”

Capt. John Whittecar of Salina, Kansas, picked up the strobe and maintained contact with the airborne American gunship, preventing an enemy overrun. Five hours later, Critchlow was dragged to a medevac and eventually made it to the naval hospital near Chicago.

On Sept. 1, 1969, based on limited and understated information, his hometown newspaper reported on a name that had appeared often in its pages in the decade since a 1960 Monroe Junior High track victory.

Grenade Sidelines Ex-Husker Gridder

Former Nebraska University and Omaha Benson High footballer Paul Critchlow was reported hospitalized at Great Lakes Naval Hospital Sunday, recovering from wounds

suffered in Vietnam.

Critchlow was a forward observer for his Army unit on an operation 30 miles from Saigon when an enemy hand grenade exploded in the bunker he was occupying. He was wounded in the knee and ankle.

In fact, his wounds were far greater than “the knee and ankle” and would require a series of surgeries. Besides a broken ankle, shrapnel to both legs resulted in a calf “hanging out” and his right thigh “ripped wide open.”

Tendons were severed in his right arm, and he initially lost a lot of blood from a scalp wound. He suffered chest wounds that fortunately did not penetrate organs. Tiny lead fragments throughout his body continue to surface today.

Critchlow, whose weight at the hospital dropped to 140 pounds, received an emotional-for-all visit from his parents, who brought his Omaha girlfriend, Carli Kling. On Oct. 29, 1969, with no hint of irony, he wrote to the draft-board clerks that he “really enjoyed Vietnam” and would like to go back but doubted he would be healthy soon enough.

His physical injuries healed but emotional and psychological wounds remained. On Feb. 8, 1970, he was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, and was discharged

Critchlow, left, and Francis Whitebird, black shirt next to Critchlow, pose during the weekend of a 2004 adoption ceremony on the Rosebud Indian Reservation that made Critchlow and Whitebird “Lakota brothers.”

early on June 1 to enroll in summer classes at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Paul and Carli married on Aug. 1.

Inspired by the life of Associated Press photographer Oliver Noonan, 29, a civilian who died in the helicopter crash he witnessed from Hill 102, Critchlow sought a degree in journalism. He became a 1971 summer intern at the World-Herald, graduated from UNO and then earned a master’s degree in New York from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

After all he had endured, even with a Bronze Star for his bravery and a Purple Heart for his wounds, he told no one at Columbia that he was a Vietnam veteran. Anti-war protesters there got angry, he explained, and they blamed not just the government but soldiers, too.

***

Finally out of school the summer he turned 26, Critchlow saw his delayed career take off, first as a star reporter in Philadelphia and then as chief aide to Pennsylvania Gov. Richard Thornburgh. But not all was well.

He became a workaholic and a “highfunctioning alcoholic,” he said, and his first marriage eventually ended in divorce after nine years and one child.

When the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania suffered a near meltdown, Critchlow became a spokesman to news outlets everywhere. He later married novelist Patricia McCormick, and they had a son and a daughter.

In 1985, Critchlow became chief of communications for Merrill Lynch, working on “crisis after crisis,” including the 1987 stock market crash. But the ol’ “Crasher” from Nebraska said he enjoyed his long run at Merrill.

Morrison, his former teammate and roommate and a stockbroker himself, one day stood in Critchlow’s big office, exuding at his pal’s Wall Street success. He teased him as an old college buddy who had partied hardy and knew-him-when: “Paul, how did you do this? You were such a screwball!”

They laughed heartily. Life was good.

There was more below the surface, though, than the tiny pieces of shrapnel that occasionally worked their way out of Critchlow’s skin. Through the years, sudden noises startled him. As with many other combat veterans, dreams caused him to cry out.

In spite of career success, he said, he continued to both work and drink to excess. He was diagnosed with clinical depression, feeling guilty that he hadn’t finished his tour in Vietnam and had “left my men behind.”

He quit drinking in 1993 and began therapy in 1994. For the first time, he visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and solemnly studied names carved into the wall, more than 58,000 Americans in all.

In 2000, Critchlow became part of a Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund delegation visiting Hanoi. He met Col. Mai Thuan, commander of the NVA forces the night the Nebraska native was wounded. They spoke through an interpreter, they showed their physical scars, they embraced. And they both said, “I’m sorry.”

Hiring a guide, Critchlow and his wife soon set out to find Hill 102. In 100-degreeplus heat, partly on motorbikes, through “rice paddies, fields and jungle terrain,” past sugar-cane fields and thickets of bamboo, the former Husker fullback finally recognized it.

“This is it!” he yelled.

The roofless building was long gone, but he recognized the hill and the nearby ravines. Trembling and sobbing, he recalled, he scooped rocks and dirt into a film canister.

For 31 years, he had tried to reconstruct that day and evening. Now he had done so, and it was time to head home.

The name Critchlow, by the way, is said to come from the British “Cruc,” meaning hill, and “leah,” for a wood clearing. Make of the coincidence what you will, or nothing at all: Paul Critchlow had found closure at the spot where he survived horrible wounds – at the clearing on a hill.

***

A year and a half later, on a cloudless morning, Critchlow rode his bicycle along the Hudson River from his home in the West Village to his office, just west of the World Trade Center.

He heard a “thump,” swiveled in his chair and, out his window, saw the result of the impact in the North Tower. Some at first thought it was an accident. Critchlow said he sensed immediately that it was an attack.

The second plane, hitting the South Tower 17 minutes later, made the intent clear to everyone. As Critchlow and others helped colleagues evacuate and began walking north, he wondered if the North Tower might fall on them, or if innocent citizens might be strafed by enemy aircraft.

Merrill executives soon gathered at his townhouse on Perry Street, where he gave an interview outside to Leslie Stahl of CBS’ “60 Minutes.” He assured the public that the company was looking after its employees and would be up and running as soon as possible.

Air Force One headed for Omaha and landed at Offutt Air Force Base, where President George W. Bush met on video from the famed underground command center with top government officials. Then he departed to address the nation from the White House.

America began its recovery, but nearly 3,000 had died that day and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan lay ahead. Two months after 9/11, on Veterans Day, Critchlow spoke by invitation at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, one of many speeches he has since delivered.

He later left his communications job and switched to municipal bonds and investment banking before retiring from

Critchlow visited a war museum in Siem Reap, Cambodia, in 2008. He is holding an RPG-7, the kind of rocket-propelled grenade launcher used by the North Vietnamese Army to wound him in 1969.

his company, now called Bank of America Merrill Lynch, in 2015.

In retirement, Fast Company magazine wrote about his becoming a “senior intern” with the Pfizer pharmaceutical company, mentoring millennials but also learning from them.

Critchlow remains close to former U.S. senators from Nebraska, Bob Kerrey and Chuck Hagel, Vietnam War “blood brothers” who, like Critchlow, were seriously wounded there. All three serve on the advisory council for the Nebraska Vietnam Veterans Memorial being built in Papillion.

***

Critchlow seemingly has met enough people to fill Memorial Stadium in Lincoln and admires many of them. As he spoke of his life and career for this article, though, two similarly named people kept coming up – Francis and Frances.

Francis Whitebird, a Lakota Sioux from South Dakota, was a Charlie Company medic in Vietnam. In 2004, he adopted Critchlow as his brother in a stirring ceremony at the Rosebud Indian Reservation. “Paul and I became brothers in war, brothers in battle,” Whitebird told hundreds of tribal members, including Vietnam veterans in Native warrior regalia. “Now I want to make him my ‘hunka’ (adoptive) brother so we will be brothers for life.”

For Critchlow, the ceremony included a sweat-lodge soul-cleansing, a brushing with sage and induction into the Lakota Red Feather Warrior Society. “It was a very moving experience,” he said, “which brought a sense of closure, recognition and peace not afforded by my own culture.”

Last May, at the televised PBS National Memorial Day Concert in Washington, D.C., Whitebird was honored for his wartime bravery. Sitting next to him in the front row near the Capitol was his Lakota brother, Paul Critchlow.

Meanwhile, the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam draft was Jan. 27, 2023, and Critchlow was moved to write an open “love letter” to his draft board – in memory of a former chief clerk, Frances A. Tiner.

She was one of the three clerks he corresponded with, and he had carried their letters until his knapsack was lost amid the blood and chaos of Aug. 19, 1969. They wrote during his hospital recovery, but eventually he lost contact.

A year and a half ago, Critchlow was reached by Tiner’s granddaughter, Megan

Cunningham of Omaha. Frances had died in 2014 at age 91. Cunningham said she recently came across an envelope marked “Letters from Critchlow,” on which her grandmother had written: “Save – He could be famous one day.”

Critchlow isn’t claiming to be famous, but he is widely known in his profession, as well as among veterans and in other circles. In a written tribute to Tiner, he called her “gentle, soft-spoken, empathetic,” and recalled that when he told her his plan to surrender his deferment from the draft, “her eyes misted up.”

Because of the compassion of clerks Frances, Ethyl and Stephanie at a fraught time, he wrote, “I will never forget them.” ***

An ironic contrast in Critchlow’s personal history is that his wounding on Hill 102 near the village of Hiep Duc came the day after the anti-war Woodstock music festival, “Three Days of Peace and Music,” on a hillside near the small town of Bethel, New York.

If Vietnam was, as Critchlow called it, the defining experience of his generation, Woodstock was a defining experience for the 500,000 of his generation who attended, as well as for many others.

Into the fourth quarter of his rich and varied life, he said he lives a more balanced and healthful existence than in his earlier years. Unmarried, he keeps in contact with his three adult children and stays busy.

Yes, the Vietnam War was truly a defining experience for the country, but it doesn’t totally define Paul Critchlow. Others, he said, suffered far worse than he did. He came from a conservative family and sees the war as many historians and others do.

“The Vietnam War was a tragic mistake for the United States,” he said. “I think we were drawn into it through a combination of hubris and lack of thinking about the objectives.”

He didn’t become a Cornhusker star, but he starred in other fields. And his harrowing wartime service and survival hardened him for whatever followed. “Whenever I found myself in a difficult spot, in business or politics or some other crisis – Three Mile Island or 9/11 – I’d think, ‘They can’t kill me. They tried that and it didn’t work.’”

Mike Kelly retired in 2018 after 48 years at the Omaha World-Herald, including 1981-91 as sports editor and sports columnist.

Critchlow, after retiring at age 70 from the Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was easily the oldest intern in the room at Pfizer Inc. in New York City. As a “senior intern” he mentored millennials.

Back on Track?

February Looms Large for NCAA Tournament Hopes

By Shawn Ekwall • Photos by Amarillo Mullen

It’s been a roller coaster ride for the Nebraska women’s basketball team through the first half of January.

A disappointing three-game losing streak – including what coach Amy Williams called “one of the most disappointing losses of her coaching career,” a 57-45 loss at Rutgers on Jan. 7 – preceded Williams’ 300th career win, an 80-51 romp over Penn State on Jan. 11 at Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Halfway through the season, things haven’t gone according to script. Injuries and inconsistency have hindered Williams’ team. Getting things on track in February is vital for Nebraska’s chances of reaching the NCAA tournament.

The win over Penn State stopped the bleeding of losses to Michigan (76-59), Indiana (74-62 OT) and Rutgers. The loss in Piscataway saw Nebraska shoot an abysmal 2-for-25 from beyond the arc as the Scarlet Knights won their first conference game.

Williams talked about the importance of bouncing back after the win over the Nittany Lions.

“A lot of people wanted to talk about how poorly we shot the ball (at Rutgers), and rightfully so. But that’s not anything we talked about as a coaching staff. We just stayed on the grind and tried to stay consistent in our preparation.”

The message was helpful as Nebraska got one of its best all-around performances against Penn State. Five Huskers reached double figures in scoring, led by freshman Callin Hake’s 16. Hake was 4-of-6 from 3-point range and has seen her confidence grow after picking up the additional minutes left from Allison Weidner’s season-ending knee injury.

Hake credited the support she’s received from teammates.

“Playing with great teammates … they just uplift you, and make things click even more,” she said.

South Dakota transfer Maddie Krull is also heating up entering the season’s second

Isabelle Bourne scored 10 points against Penn State which got her to the 1,000-point club at Nebraska. Bourne, a 6-foot-2 forward from Canberra, Australia, scored a layup with 7:15 left to become the 36th 1,000-point career scorer in Husker history.

half. Krull recorded her second straight game in double figures, tallying 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting in the win. Since stepping into the starting lineup for Weidner weeks ago, the sophomore from Millard South is starting to find her niche.

The demoralizing defeat to Rutgers was something the team took to heart, Krull said. “We all took that loss very personally, and we didn’t want that (poor shooting performance) to be the case ever again.”

The team, and Krull, put in the work getting extra shots up. Krull has shot 50% or better in five of her past six games.

“It’s hard not to be confident shooting the ball when you have teammates consistently pouring into you, telling you to shoot the next one,” Krull said.

Williams called Hake’s and Krull’s efforts “two great performances from two newcomers in our program” after the PSU win.

Defense was the calling card for NU along with the hot shooting. Williams lauded her team for the effort on that end of the floor. Sam Haiby’s relentless pressure

on the ball was noticeable.

“For us to hold (PSU) to 51 points is a really special defensive effort,” Williams said. “They’re high-powered and play with great pace.”

Admittedly, when shots fall, it makes it easier to bring energy and intensity to the defensive end.

“When you shoot the ball well, there’s just a little more pep in your step,” Williams said. “It allows us to play with more confidence.”

The coach also made a point to mention a milestone reached by junior Isabelle Bourne, whose final bucket of her 10-point night put her in elite company, reaching 1,000 career points. She’s the 36th player to do so in program history.

“She’s just a consistent presence in our program,” Williams said. “It’s a really special accomplishment for someone who embodies what it means to be a Husker.”

Nebraska sat at 11-6 following the Penn State win. A home date with unbeaten and league-leader Ohio State (17-0) followed at PBA. Contests with Purdue, Maryland and

Iowa close out January before a home date with Michigan State to begin February. It’s a daunting slate in a league that leaves few, if any, breathers.

If the Huskers are to get back on track to a certain NCAA bid, they’ll likely need to ride the coattails of veteran presence Jaz Shelley, who narrowly missed a rare triple-double against Penn State. She finished with 10 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

“What a special effort from Jaz,” Williams said. “What really stands out is all the stats she stuffed … blocked shots, steals and the way she set the tone on defense.”

The junior from Moe, Australia, is averaging 14 points per game. She responded like a seasoned veteran after being shut out in the scoring column and going 0-for-10 from the field against Rutgers.

Shelley has twice eclipsed the 30-point mark this season – in wins over Mississippi State and Wisconsin. She tallied 24 in an 85-79 triple overtime win over No. 20 Kansas back on Dec. 21. It was that game that Nebraska lost Weidner to injury.

Shelley followed that gutsy effort with a 21-point outing against Michigan.

Sophomore forward Alexis Markowski is another important cog in Nebraska’s second-half NCAA tournament push. Markowski is averaging 12.2 points and 9.4 rebounds. She hauled down 15 boards vs. Penn State.

Williams challenged the team’s rebounding toughness following the Rutgers loss. She said she wanted to see two players reach double figures in boards against PSU.

“One (Markowski) had 10 at half; I said I’d count it if she got to 20,” Williams said. “Jaz ended up one short, but I thought we did a much better job rebounding the ball.”

Nebraska also welcomed Maggie Mendelson to the court Dec. 18 in a win over Wyoming. The 6-foot-5 two-sport standout finished the volleyball season before joining her hoops teammates.

“We threw a lot at her, helping her learn several months’ worth of schemes,” Williams said after the Wyoming win. “She’s picking things up very quickly. Just learning, adjusting. She’s so coachable … you tell her one time and the next time she gets it right. She looked really comfortable out there.”

Coach Amy Williams watches her team play against Penn State. The win marked the 300th of Williams’ college coaching career. Williams, who is in her seventh season at Nebraska, has a 107-90 record with the Huskers. Nebraska won 80-51.

Big Ten Chaos

Nebraska Has Pulled One League Surprise, Does It Have More Up Its Sleeve?

BIGELOW ON BASKETBALL

Opinion • By Jacob Bigelow

Bring your brooms because it’s a mess.

Just past the halfway point of the college basketball regular season, there are projections that have the Big Ten landing as many as 10 teams in the NCAA tournament. There is a clear-cut worst team in the conference in Minnesota, and a clear-cut best team in

Purdue, but chaos reigns from spots two through 13.

Squarely in the purgatory zone – sitting at 9-8 and 2-4 in the Big Ten as of Jan. 12, with a game at No. 3 Purdue looming – are Fred Hoiberg’s Cornhuskers. If the past month is any indication, fans need to buckle their seatbelts. It will get bumpy.

Following a blowout loss in Kansas City to now 11th-ranked Kansas State, Derrick Walker didn’t mince words. “We got punked. We got punked. I don’t know what else to say about it. We just got flatout punked in the first half.”

Said Hoiberg: “We’re not talented enough; we’re not good enough to get outworked, and, for those first 20 minutes, they were definitely the aggressors.”

The message was clear. If Nebraska is going to win, it has to play harder than the other team. Juwan Gary said that mentality was reemphasized when the team returned from the holiday break.

The Huskers then proceeded to dominate Iowa at home, winning 66-50. Up to that point, Iowa was the highest-scoring team in the league.

It was the perfect example of what

Juwan Gary gets past two Iowa defenders for a dunk in the Huskers’ 66-50 win in Lincoln. Gary, who scored 14 points against the Hawkeyes, later re-injured a shoulder against Illinois and was expected to miss the Purdue game.

REGGIE RYDER/HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED

Nebraska needs to do to win: combine intense defensive effort with balanced scoring. All five Nebraska starters scored in double figures, and Iowa had to fight for every point.

Nebraska followed with a road loss to Michigan State, a gutsy overtime win on the road at Minnesota and an ugly blowout loss at home to Illinois.

A loss at Michigan State can be forgiven,

the road win over the Gophers was encouraging, but the home loss to Illinois was a clear setback. For Nebraska to have a chance at postseason play, it has to protect its home court.

That’s why the win at Minnesota was so important. The Gophers are clearly the worst team in the conference and a loss there would have been a black mark on even an NIT resume. Instead, it became a

confidence-booster – or should have, at least. Minnesota hit a late 3 to force overtime, but Nebraska leaned on its veterans and eventually prevailed, earning the program’s first win in an overtime road conference game since 2001.

Thank veterans Walker, Sam Griesel and Gary – three guys who all played in winning programs before finding their way to Lincoln. They combined for 57 points against the Gophers.

However, that all-important trio scored just 20 points in the blowout loss to Illinois. Worse, Gary, also a key cog defensively, reaggravated a shoulder injury, left after 16 minutes and would miss the next game at Purdue. With Gary out, Hoiberg will have to turn to freshmen Jamarques Lawrence and Denim Dawson for expanded roles.

Yes, defense and rebounding are far better than on previous Hoiberg teams, but the Illinois game once again made the point that NU needs to find some offensive rhythm.

The deeper they get into conference play, the more Big Ten opponents will have scouted them. It’s only going to get tougher on offense.

C.J. Wilcher, Keisei Tominaga and Emmanuel Bandoumel have all shown flashes of what Nebraska needs them to be to win, but NU needs more consistency from them and their 3-point shooting. Nebraska is last in the Big Ten in 3-point accuracy at just 27.9%, something I did not expect in Year 4 under Hoiberg.

The Huskers have shown progress, but Northwestern, Rutgers and Penn State –teams usually grouped with NU as on the outside looking in – have shown more. Those three have all outperformed preseason expectations and own wins over teams near the top of the league.

Since losing in Lincoln, Iowa has bounced back. Indiana has fallen to 1-4. No league team is immune to an upset. Nebraska is still in position to help cause chaos and be a spoiler. It has already pulled some surprises: the Iowa win, the Creighton road win and the near miss vs. Purdue.

But it remains to be seen if NU can hit a win streak that even puts it on the NIT radar, let alone the NCAA bubble.

For now, let’s say an NIT berth is a reasonable goal. The good news is that any win in the Big Ten is a resume builder. That’s also the bad news, because it means there are no bad teams. Big Ten wins are hard to come by. It will be an uphill battle.

Sam Griesel scores two of his 17 points against Minnesota. Griesel also had six boards and five assists as Nebraska defeated the Gophers 81-79 in overtime. The win snapped a six-game streak of overtime losses and marked NU’s first overtime road win in conference play since 2001.

NU SPORTS INFORMATION

Ryan Terwilliger was a long, lean and fast linebacker in Nebraska’s 4-3 defense where speed was at a premium. Terwilliger found his spot playing alongside first-team All-Americans like rush end Jared Tomich, No. 93.

HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED FILE PHOTO

Born Into It

There Was No Avoiding Football for Ryan Terwilliger

TURN BACK

NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS THE CLOCK

Story by Shane G. Gilster

Ryan Terwilliger couldn’t help but become a football player.

Growing up in Grant, Nebraska, his dad, Marlin Terwilliger, was the high school football coach.

Marlin “was an old-school coach, very intense,” according to his son.

And football was a constant. The game never stayed on the field.

“It was a prominent part in every part of our lives,” Terwilliger said. “It was our lifestyle. My brother, Troy, was a year older than me and the quarterback. At the time everybody in the community had high expectations, so playing for my dad wasn’t any different.”

With the help of the Terwilligers, Grant High – now Perkins County High – won the C-2 state football championship three years in a row: 1988, 1989 and 1990.

With the success came recruiting exposure, and Ryan became a highly regarded recruit after his sophomore season. Again, his father helped with that aspect. Marlin knew the ropes, being recruited as a high school player in 1967 by then NU assistant coach Tom Osborne.

Marlin was a scholarship recruit who

injured a knee after his redshirt year at a time when medical procedures were far from guaranteeing a decent recovery.

“They really couldn’t fix it so it was a career-ending injury,” the younger Terwilliger said. “Coach Osborne thought highly of my dad, so I guess he was a pretty good athlete.”

Ryan was also a pretty good athlete at 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds, and schools recruited him as such. Colorado, Colorado State, Wyoming, Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State all came knocking. Nebraska offered the summer after his junior year, and he accepted during his senior season.

Huskers Illustrated had this analysis of Terwilliger in its 1992 recruiting issue:

A versatile athlete who lives for defense, but has seen time across the ball. As a running back Terwilliger racked up 670 yards and nine touchdowns. Has a knack for finding the ball and causes defensive havoc with his great outside rushing ability. Nebraska likes him because of his tenacity and frame, which they hope to increase by 20 to 30 pounds. As a track athlete he triple jumped 48-8 and long jumped 22-11.”

Marlin, his father and coach, also had this comment in the issue:

Ryan has a lot of athletic talent, but I think it is untapped. He’s been hurt off and on for three years and hasn’t been able to build up his legs. With Nebraska’s weight program, his speed will improve. He has excellent leadership abilities and can really hit.

Nebraska was known for taking raw players like Terwilliger and developing them physically. The problem was finding a position. Osborne liked him at tight end while outside linebackers coach Tony

Growing up in a sports-loving town with his father as a hard-nosed football coach and an older brother as quarterback, Terwilliger could hardly avoid a similar path, which took him all the way to winning two national championships as a Husker.

Samuel wanted him on defense.

They left the decision up to Terwilliger and he chose defense. Little did he know that NU would soon switch the defensive alignment from a five-man front to a 4-3. Terwilliger was moved off the ball to inside linebacker.

“I guess you could argue with me being 6-5, I should have switched to tight end after we transitioned to a different defensive alignment,” Terwilliger said. “I was probably built better for a tight end than a linebacker.”

But Terwilliger benefited from three position coaches on defense – Samuel, Kevin Steele and Craig Bohl. They had different styles, Terwilliger said. Samuel was laid-back but a great teacher. Steele was a technician and extremely intense. Bohl

was a combination of the other two and a “product guy” who didn’t care how you got to the ball, but demanded you get there. It was a good educational experience for Terwilliger who wanted to coach someday.

To keep up with players recruited from all over the country, Terwilliger dedicated himself to the weight room and was a finalist for the Nebraska Lifter of the Year as a senior.

“We were so loaded with talent on those teams that if you didn’t do something to make yourself better physically the chances of you seeing the field were pretty limited,” he said. “My dedication to lifting came out of necessity.”

Terwilliger had to compete at his position with the likes of Ed Stewart and Terrell Farley, two of the all-time Husker greats at linebacker. He held his own despite not having the optimum body type for the

position – tall and lanky and playing at about 220-225 pounds.

“Terrell Farley was a unique athlete,” Terwilliger said. “It would have been interesting if he would have been coached by Steele because Terrell wasn’t a big technique guy. He was an instinctual player who made plays that were unconventional.

“My strength was a run-stopper who was technical and didn’t make many mistakes. I was usually in the right place to make plays, whereas Terrell wasn’t always in the right place, but took more chances and was still making more plays.”

After redshirting in 1992, Terwilliger ended up seeing action in 40 games, starting 11 from 1993 to 1996. One of his more memorable games was when he filled in for Stewart in Nebraska’s national championship win over Miami as a sophomore in the 1995 Orange Bowl.

Stewart tweaked a hamstring. Terwilliger was the next man up.

“That was the most fun I had playing in a game like that in front of all those fans and on national television,” he said.

Terwilliger helped the Huskers win another national title the following year and was one win away from playing in it again as a senior in 1996.

So what might have happened if NU would have beaten Florida State in the Orange Bowl to end the 1993 season for Osborne’s first championship? Does Terwilliger believe NU still would have won back-to-back titles in ’94 and ’95?

“I don’t think winning or losing that (Orange Bowl game vs. Florida State) would have impacted us winning the next two years,” Terwilliger said confidently. “I think the consensus opinion out there was we lost that one which motivated us the

Terwilliger gets after Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer in 1996 during a 19-0 Sun Devil upset of the Huskers.

HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED FILE PHOTO

following year and after that. But our group of guys were just motivated period and would have been that way if we would have won that game against Florida State. There would have been no let down and we would have won three in a row.”

With the success Nebraska had during that stretch in the 1990s, multiple players were being drafted and signed to free agent contracts every year. Terwilliger had the size and skill to be noticed by NFL scouts –up to nine teams inquired about him.

But Terwilliger had to have reconstructive shoulder surgery after his final season, cooling the interest. But to be honest, Terwilliger said, his heart wasn’t into pursuing a pro career. Instead, he wanted to do what his father did – teach and coach.

A full-time teaching position and football job opened at Malcolm High School in 1998. He landed the jobs and was the coach there for six years, turning around a program in his second season and winning a playoff game. The Clippers had made the playoffs only once before in their history.

Since then, Terwilliger has transitioned out of coaching and into administrative roles. He currently is the superintendent of Malcolm Public Schools.

“I thought I would just be a coach because that is what my dad did, but my plans kind of changed,” he said. “I wanted to take over as superintendent so we could keep what we had going because it was moving along very well.”

One of his ongoing efforts is working with

Malcolm city officials on accommodating a growing population and coordinating housing and education around that growth. It’s a tall task. There is typically a waiting list of kids wanting to enroll at the high school, he said.

“Currently, we are C-2 in football and C-1 in basketball, but we are on the bubble with the number of kids we have,” he said. “We could easily be a Class B school if we could accept more kids. We just don’t have the space to make it happen right now.”

Growth is a good thing, as Terwilliger learned both literally and figuratively at Nebraska. You just have to do it the right way, just as Marlin would have demanded.

Terwilliger

make a

beat the fired-up Cougars 35-21.

takes flight to

tackle against Washington State during the 1995 national championship season. Nebraska

HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED FILE PHOTO

A Program Guy

Mike Grant Stayed Loyal to Nebraska – And It Has Paid Off in Numerous Ways

By Shane G. Gilster

For college football fans still a bit uneasy with players jumping from team to team through the transfer portal and seeking name, likeness and image deals, it might be refreshing to go back in time and consider a player like former Husker quarterback Mike Grant.

Grant, who today might have the longest job title in college football – he’s the associate head coach/offensive passinggame coordinator/wide receivers coach at

Wyoming – was a widely recruited high school star who found himself in a logjam at Nebraska. That snarl, filled with names like Gdowski, Joseph and Frazier, was difficult to bust back then, but the experience of trying has paid off exponentially for him today.

Grant was a three-year starter at Brandon High School outside of Tampa, Florida. His record from 1985 to 1987 was 25-9 in the state’s largest school class. His offensive

coordinator was former Husker running back Tony Davis.

“I coached Mike his sophomore and junior years,” Davis said. “Brandon was a very large high school, one of the largest in the country, and there were an enormous number of kids going out for football.

“Mike comes in as a sophomore and no one knew anything about him. He wanted to play quarterback and we noticed he could really throw. In the first game of the year,

I was concerned about him being ready so I asked him and all he said was, ‘Watch.’ He ended up running for 200 yards and throwing for two or three touchdowns … he was phenomenal.”

Davis left Brandon to be a graduate assistant coach at Nebraska after Grant’s junior year but kept in contact with his former quarterback and was instrumental in his recruitment to NU.

“I called Mike after his senior season and asked him what he was going to do. He said he has all these offers and I told him that I wanted him at Nebraska. So, I took Mike’s film and showed it to coach (Tom) Osborne and that’s all it took. He asked me if there was a chance to get Mike because he was from Florida and it was late in the recruiting process. I told him I was pretty sure I could (get him) so after Mike visited, I called him and told him we were offering him but I needed a commitment right there and then. He said, ‘You got it.’”

Grant was highly rated and among the top quarterbacks in the South if not the entire country in 1987. He could have gone anywhere but was only interested in schools that had a history of playing Black quarterbacks. That eliminated in-state powers Florida, Florida State and Miami. His final list included Nebraska, Alabama, Notre Dame, Purdue and Clemson.

“I loved watching the Black quarterbacks in the NFL like Doug Williams and Warren Moon. Those were my idols and they inspired me,” Grant said. “In the South, college teams weren’t really playing Black

quarterbacks. Schools in that part of the country wanted to move me to receiver or safety, but Nebraska was playing Black quarterbacks and had Steve Taylor when I was recruited. If Nebraska didn’t come in late, it would have come down to Alabama and Notre Dame.”

Grant arrived in Lincoln and started at quarterback for head coach Shane Thorell’s freshman team in 1988. The freshmen finished 5-0 and averaged 53 points per game. Grant rushed for 444 yards with seven touchdowns and threw for 468 yards with 11 TDs. His total offensive output of 912 yards almost topped Turner Gill’s freshman team record of 979 in 1980.

William Washington, who was a tight end recruit in that same 1988 class, predicted greatness for his teammate. “After what he did as a freshman, I thought he would be the one to lead the Huskers the next three years. He had a strong arm and ran with tenacity. He was truly special that first year.”

Grant’s trajectory toward stardom continued during the spring of 1989. In the spring game, he led the White team (second- and third-teamers) to a 40-28 upset win over the Red (first- and fourth-teamers). Grant guided two touchdown drives of 67 and 89 yards against the No. 1 defense in the third quarter.

He had 114 yards rushing with a 14-yard touchdown in those drives. For the game, he rushed 19 times for a game-high 157 yards. That performance bumped him up from No. 6 to No. 3 on the depth chart going into the fall behind senior Gerry Gdowski and

sophomore Mickey Joseph.

The plan had been for Grant to redshirt in 1989, but his performance had Osborne reconsidering that decision.

“Gerry was going to be the guy and Mickey was there so I just figured I would just redshirt,” Grant said. “Coach Osborne talked to me during the second game about shedding my redshirt, but I told him I would rather keep it. Then the next week leading up to the Minnesota game he wanted me to get ready to play, so figuring I was really needed, I said OK.”

Grant shared second-team duties with Joseph until he suffered a separated shoulder against Iowa State that caused him to miss the final three games and bowl game.

“The injury happened on an option play,” said Grant, who carried 210 pounds on his 6-foot-2 frame. “A bigger guy fell on top of me and squished me into the turf.”

His clavicle “popped out” and a ligament tore in his throwing arm. It took surgery to repair all the damage.

From that point on, injuries continued to derail Grant’s promising start, but he gutted it out and became the starting quarterback to begin the 1990 and 1992 seasons. He continued to be a team-first player and played a back-up role both those years and then redshirted in 1991.

“I wanted to redshirt in 1991 because we were all stacked up at the quarterback position with fifth-year seniors Keithen McCant, Mickey Joseph and Tom Haase,” Grant said. “I wanted to be a program guy. I was the only one to have a redshirt year

Mike Grant, Wyoming associate head coach, addresses his players during an October game at New Mexico. The former Husker quarterback likes to pattern himself after Tom Osborne. “I use a lot of coach Osborne’s demeanor in my coaching style,” he said.

(who could) come back with experience at quarterback. Coach Osborne saw it the same way I did.”

Grant never considered transferring. He said he wanted to get his degree and that he loved his teammates.

“I didn’t care about my personal glory,” he said.

Grant’s final season at Nebraska tested his mettle though. After breaking his collarbone in the spring, he fell behind redshirt freshman Tony Veland before he suffered the same injury before the start of the season.

Grant had the starting job for the first five games until late October when a true freshman by the name of Tommie Frazier took over. Again, Grant put his pride aside and accepted his role for the betterment of the team.

Besides, he was one of Frazier’s biggest fans.

“I recruited Tommie to Nebraska and he needed me to be on his side and coach him,” Grant said. “Tommie and I are from the same area in Florida and are still close. I read in his book that he appreciated what I did for him at Nebraska.”

Grant finished his collegiate career appearing in 24 games – starting eight plus the 1991 Citrus Bowl –throwing for 1,086 yards and 11 TDs and rushing for 467 and six scores.

After his playing days, Grant still wanted to be part of the Husker program. He got his degree and was interested in coaching. During the season, he went to Osborne and asked if he could be a graduate assistant. Osborne said yes.

school.

From 1998 to 2006 he coached receivers, defensive backs, linebackers and running backs at Iowa State. His journey didn’t stop there. Grant continued coaching around the country with stints at Southern Miss, Western Michigan and North Texas. Everything led up to landing his current job at Wyoming in 2016.

It’s not surprising that Grant models his coaching after one of the all-time greats.

it will hurt the kids who it was intended to help.

“I heard Walter Payton say one time that if someone is not treating you like a person but rather buying you like a product, and if the product doesn’t produce, then he’ll have no more use for you,” Grant said. “So, kids better think about that when they are chasing these NIL deals.”

Grant cut his teeth in the days when a school would recruit 25 guys and maybe 10 or 12 wouldn’t pan out. “But teams keep them, work with them, and make sure they get their degrees,” he said. “But now you can just cast them aside and go get another product quickly in the transfer portal. So, it’s the kid that ends up suffering right now.”

The transfer portal is also being used to the detriment of the sport, Grant said. No longer do kids have to be patient, stick it out and figure out a way to succeed, he said. Instead, some just transfer to another school thinking they will get instant playing time. And it doesn’t matter where they transfer, even if it’s a rival school in the same conference.

“Back when I played, I couldn’t even imagine transferring to a rival school like Oklahoma,” he said. “But now kids would do it in a heartbeat. I don’t know where the loyalty and love for your teammates have gone.”

Grant appeared in 24 games as a Husker, eight as a starter. Along the way, he began to set his sights on coaching.

Grant began as a student assistant recruiting coordinator. For a year he watched film, stuffed letters and helped the coaches make decisions on who to recruit. He then became a graduate assistant working with receivers from 1994 to 1996. He also worked Husker football camps, workshops and clinics and served as the executive producer of the “Tom Osborne Show.”

Not only did Grant gain loads of experience and get to be a valuable part of the program, he was at Nebraska during a national championship run. It all helped make him an attractive candidate when searching for full-time coaching positions.

His first stop was at James Madison where he coached receivers for one year. Soon, he would land a spot at a Power Five

“I use a lot of coach Osborne’s demeanor in my coaching style,” said Grant, who hopes to be a head coach someday. “Because of his demeanor, I never wanted to let him down when I was playing. When I threw an interception, I didn’t want to look at him. He wasn’t going to yell at me but I knew what he demanded of me. You can let yourself down but you don’t want to let your coach down.”

Grant also models his approach to recruiting after how Osborne did it. Therefore sometimes it pains him to see how NIL is being used by some.

“I don’t mind NIL if it’s used the correct way,” he said. “But I don’t like it being used as a signing bonus which coaches are doing now. If a kid has done nothing to create a name, image and likeness, then there is no reason for him being paid for that. The University of Wyoming can’t compete with that type of recruiting, so if a kid we are recruiting gets a Power Five offer, we just move on.”

Grant said if NIL continues to be abused,

He went on: There are kids who have gotten to a point where they see themselves as one of the top players in the nation and want to move on to a Power Five school, he said. For instance, Wyoming lost a good receiver to Texas this past year because he wanted a taste of the Power Five.

“You put all your effort coaching up a young man and now someone else is going to reap the benefits,” Grant said.

It might be easy for some to dismiss Grant as a grumpy coach from a non-Power Five school. Far from it. At Wyoming, he said, he is coaching and recruiting for the right reasons and is staying true to his character and philosophy.

“I am not surprised he’s doing what he’s doing now,” Davis said. “He’s a guy who is extremely intelligent and understands kids. He never loses his cool, never too high or too low. He is a relationship-builder with kids and a great recruiter.”

It sure sounds like all those years at Nebraska paid off.

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Logjam Averted

Balancing Scholarship Numbers Became More Complicated After Pandemic

By Lincoln Arneal • Photos by Reggie Ryder

Kenzie Knuckles was the ultimate teammate at Nebraska for four years.

After starting at libero for two years, she gave up the position to a more talented teammate who earned All-American

honors. Knuckles thrived at a new position and emerged as a team leader and backbone of the team-first culture.

Then, at the end of her fourth year at Nebraska, Knuckles was confronted with another decision that perhaps pitted her

self-interest over that of the program. Once again, Knuckles decided the program comes first.

The predicament arose from the NCAA’s decision two years ago to grant a blanket waiver to give every college student-athlete

After four years at Nebraska, Madi Kubik (front) and Kenzie Knuckles are moving on. Kubik will play professionally in Puerto Rico, and Knuckles will work for a collective that secures name-image-likeness deals for student-athletes.

Knuckles was the epitome of team-first culture at Nebraska. “I have absolutely loved this program. It’s like a family to me,” she said.

an additional year of eligibility because of the pandemic.

The “COVID year” rule was wellintentioned and meant to ensure college athletes received the opportunity to play a real senior season. However, it also created the unforeseen ramification of creating scholarship logjams, forcing schools to decide between extending careers of players they’ve developed for four years or building for the future with incoming athletes. The question: Who gets the scholarship, the fifthyear senior or the incoming freshman?

Nebraska, which recently signed 2023’s consensus top recruiting class, avoided the issue because of Knuckles and fellow senior Madi Kubik, who decided to call it a career after four seasons with the Huskers. Knuckles said it was a tough decision and she met with NU coach John Cook multiple times during the season to discuss options.

“I have absolutely loved this program. It’s like a family to me,” Knuckles said. “It’s so hard saying goodbye to it, but I just think that after 4 1/2 years, I think that the time has come where it’s like me and Madi –we got here together and we’re gonna leave together.”

The NCAA waiver for the 202021 academic year was the result of the chaos resulting from how various conferences responded to the pandemic. Ultimately, reconfigured schedules varied greatly. The Big 12 and SEC played fall matches, which allowed Texas, for instance, to play 29 times over two semesters. The Big Ten and other leagues only scheduled matches in the spring. Nebraska went 16-3, with six contests canceled. On the slim end, Stanford played just 10 times in the spring, going 2-8 with 12 matches called off.

At NU, seniors like Lexi Sun and Lauren Stivrins opted to return for an additional campaign in the fall of 2021. Because their last year was so unusual, the NCAA ruled that the scholarships for their fifth season would not count toward the limit of 12.

However, the initial blanket waiver impacted more than just the initial senior class. Fourth-year players could extend their careers for another year too, but schools had to account for

those players within the scholarship limit. So setter Nicklin Hames, for instance, had to fit within the Huskers’ allotment when she opted to return for a fifth season.

This is the dilemma that Ohio State ran into this offseason. The 2022 Buckeyes featured five seniors, all eligible for an additional year of eligibility in 2023. What a luxury to bring back Big Ten setter of the year Mac Podraza; Big Ten defender of the year libero Kylie Murr; outside hitters Gabby Gonzales and Jenaisya Moore, OSU’s second and third leading attackers, respectively; and middle blocker Adria Powell, the Buckeye’s leading blocker.

None, however, will use their additional year as a Buckeye.

OSU coach Jen Flynn Oldenburg and Podraza addressed the situation in interviews with VolleyballMag.com. They said there was no ill will from either side.

“I think it came down to the fact that I came with these girls, and now four years are up, and it’s time for me to leave with these girls,” Podraza said. “The scholarship money just isn’t there.”

Waiting in the wings is the fifthranked recruiting class, according to PrepVolleyball.com. OSU’s incoming class includes middle blocker Eloise Brandewie, the No. 8 overall recruit; outside hitter Grace Egan (No. 35); and setter Mia Tuman (No. 39).

The Buckeyes could have gone with the players they knew, but they chose the long-term view of program development. By May, all five seniors will have earned their undergraduate degrees. Powell is set to transfer and play for Clemson next year.

“If I make a choice to keep all five on my roster, on scholarship, then I’m telling incoming freshmen or players in my program, ‘Hey, sorry. Not yours anymore,’” Oldenburg said. “You can do that, and I had a choice to do that, and I chose not to do that – not because I don’t want these five. I want them forever.”

Other schools are also dealing with the fallout of the COVID-19 eligibility issues and player movement. Last year, Penn State went through a coaching change and saw an exodus

as middle blocker Kaitlyn Hord (Nebraska), setter Gabby Blossom (San Diego), outside hitter Adanna Rollins (Kentucky) and libero Jenna Hampton (South Carolina) spent their fifth season elsewhere.

In addition to the scholarship crunch, the rise of the transfer portal has caused more player movement than the sport has ever seen. The portal created a central database so all schools could see which players were looking for new schools. Programs cannot contact student-athletes before they appear in the portal, but once they are in, they essentially become free agents as their previous institution is no longer obligated to offer a scholarship.

Schools use the portal for different purposes. After Texas fell in the regional final in 2021, the Longhorns hit the transfer market hard, adding six new players from other schools, and won the national championship.

At Nebraska, Cook said he looks to fill unexpected gaps with transfers but doesn’t want to be in the position of having to rely on the portal. So after Rylee Gray stepped away from volleyball and Callie Schwarzenbach opted to transfer to Long Beach State –both of whom were middle blockers –the Huskers needed help in the middle. NU went hard after Hord and added the two-time All-American from the portal.

Because of Knuckles’ and Kubik’s decisions, Nebraska avoids the scholarship logjam. Kubik signed a contract to play professionally in Puerto Rico, and Knuckles will join the 1890 Initiative collective that works on name-image-likeness deals for student-athletes.

While the Huskers welcome five new freshmen, no seniors on the 2023 roster means NU won’t have to worry about bonus years anymore. Kubik said she is looking forward to handing off the baton to the underclassmen –including her sister, sophomore outside hitter Hayden – so they can step up for NU.

“I’m really excited for our younger players to get the opportunity to be leaders in the program,” Kubik said. “Just encouraging them and mentoring them this season has been really great. I’m excited for the future.”

Kubik ended her four-year career ranked 13th in career kills with 1,264 and had 983 digs. She went on to sign a professional contract to play volleyball with Cangrejeras de Santurce, a team in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

How many NCAA Tournament appearances does the men’s basketball team have? What is their record?

How many Huskers have been drafted in the NBA?

Which former Husker men’s basketball player was nicknamed the “Polish Rifle”?

How many No. 1 teams has NU men’s basketball defeated in its history?

Who was the only Nebraska native (not from the Omaha metro area) who has scored 1,000 points or more in NU men’s basketball history?

Which Husker (non-offensive player) finished the highest in the Heisman balloting?

What team was the preseason No. 1 in the 1971 football season? (Nebraska took over the top spot after week one.)

Who holds the career record for kickoff returns for touchdowns and how many? What is the most points scored by a Husker football team in the first quarter?

Which Husker walk-on played the longest in the NFL? A. Sam Koch

B. John Parrella C. Jimmy Williams D. Scott Shanle

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