T H E
O R I G I N A L
M A G A Z I N E
D E D I C A T E D
ILLUSTRATED
T O
N E B R A S K A
A T H L E T I C S
M AY 2 0 2 2 VOLUME 42 | NO. 02 | $ 6 . 9 5
BIG JUMP
How a Husker walk-on became an NBA VP
BIG TEN CHAMPS Softball team earns automatic bid
HUSKERS
HEARTLAND IN THE
Husker volleyball spring game draws big crowd at the Heartland Events Center in Grand Island
From the Publisher
BY JEFF BUNDY
jbundy@smithkroeger.com
Softball Is Latest Husker Program To Gain Big Ten Foothold
T
he women have been carrying the flag for Husker athletics this year. Most recently the softball team brought home its first Big Ten tournament title. Rhonda Revelle’s squad went extra innings to defeat Michigan 3-1 and secure an NCAA slot. Earlier, the volleyball team made the final four, and Amy Williams’ basketball squad ended with a 24-9 season and made the NCAA tournament. By contrast, football, men’s basketball and baseball all, shall we say, left something to be desired. Athletic Director Trev Alberts fielded a question on a call-in show about the women’s successes and the men’s struggles. “It’s a great question,” Alberts said. “If we knew what the answer was, we would have cracked that a long time ago.” All kidding aside, winning at the top levels of college sports is hard. And it’s cyclical. Lots of things have to come together. And when you are winning it almost seems easy to those on the outside. And in one way, it is easier: Winning tends to attract top players. For example, the volleyball team produced Lexi Rodriguez, who was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. The basketball team’s Alexis Markowski was Big Ten Freshman of the Year. And in softball, catcher Ava Bredwell was Big Ten Freshman of the Year.
It appears this upward cycle for the NU women could be a long one. Coach John Cook’s loaded volleyball squad has defied down cycles for years, of course, and is poised to make a run at a national title yet again with the final four in Omaha this upcoming season. Williams’ basketball team returns its starting five and gets transfer Maddie Krull, who starred at Millard South High School and at the University of South Dakota for two years. With Krull’s help, USD made the Sweet 16 last season. Our Shawn Ekwall caught up with Krull and you can read more about her story in this edition. Also in this edition, Lincoln Arneal explores the importance of the volleyball team playing its spring matches outside the Devaney Center and in different locations across the state. Arneal’s look at the team’s unique connection to its fans is our featured story this month. Lastly, Steve Beideck recaps Revelle’s softball team's run to the Big Ten tournament title. The success of women’s sports creates awareness and buzz for young women. Recently a friend of mine along with his wife and 9-year-old daughter, Grace, were vacationing in Honolulu. They were walking along the beach when Grace said, “Dad, there’s Nicklin.” The family was unaware Husker setter Nicklin Hames and the Husker sand volleyball team were in Hawaii, but
Grace recognized Hames immediately and even got her photo taken with her. The family was impressed that Hames would take the time to visit with their daughter and make their vacation even more special. Elsewhere in this edition, we have a classic story on how a former Nebraskan, somewhat quietly, made it to the NBA – not as a player, but as administrator. Writer Mike Kelly caught up with Garth Glissman, the Waverly, Nebraska, native who at one time lettered as a Husker quarterback. As Glissman’s professional career flourished, he went from being a partner at the Kutak Rock law firm to being recruited by the NBA to be a vice president. Kelly’s story takes you through all the interesting twists and turns of Glissman’s life that has the 40-year-old with a big-time job in the world of professional sports. Hopefully you, the readers, are noticing the changes we are making with headline and subhead fonts. We are working to make the magazine look better and easier to read. I have even changed the picture that runs with my column after one subscriber chided me for not wearing red and looking too serious. As always, this is your magazine. If you ever have any story ideas, comments or suggestions, please reach out. I enjoy the feedback.
COURTESY PHOTO (2)
Nebraska volleyball players Kenzie Knuckles and Madi Kubik wait for a serve during a Queen’s Cup sand volleyball match in Honolulu. 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
Husker Nicklin Hames poses with a young fan, Grace Brion, on a Hawaiian beach.
CONTENTS MAY 2022 * VOLUME 42 * NO. 02
02 08 22 42
FROM THE PUBLISHER
BY JEFF BUNDY
Women’s athletics stole the show in 2021-22, while the men’s teams struggled.
MAKING IT BIG
BY MICHAEL KELLY
Garth Glissman grew up in a small town in Nebraska. He now works in New York City as an NBA vice president.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
BY SHAWN EKWALL
Millard South star Maddie Krull took her game to South Dakota but is now headed to Lincoln to play for Amy Williams.
HUSKER LEGENDS: BARRON MILES
BY SHANE G. GILSTER
The cornerback played much bigger than he was for the Huskers in the early ’90s.
04 14 38
SPRING VOLLEYBALL
BY LINCOLN ARNEAL
The Husker volleyball team takes its game to the fans in central Nebraska and beats Kansas.
SOFTBALL
BY STEVE BEIDECK
The Nebraska softball team is back on the radar after capturing its first Big Ten tournament title.
TURN BACK THE CLOCK: PROP 48
BY SHANE G. GILSTER
One of Nebraska’s best football teams was built with the help of players enrolled under Proposition 48.
ON THE COVER Madi Kubik serves against Kansas in Nebraska’s spring volleyball match in Grand Island. The Huskers won 3-1. PHOTO BY JIMMY RASH
The next Huskers Illustrated edition will mail in late June.
More Than A Magazine Huskers Illustrated is published by: Smith Kroeger, 111 S. 108th Ave., Omaha, NE 68154. Periodicals postage paid at Omaha, NE, and additional mailing offices. Publisher: JEFF BUNDY | jbundy@smithkroeger.com Lead Designer: TODD BIRCHARD Copy Editor/Proofreader: MARILEE MAGIERA Photographer: KEN JUSZYK Photographer: AMARILLO MULLEN Photographer: JIMMY RASH Photographer: REGGIE RYDER Beat Writer: SHANE G. GILSTER Contributing Writer: LINCOLN ARNEAL Contributing Writer: STEVE BEIDECK Contributing Writer: JACOB BIGELOW Contributing Writer: SHAWN ELKWALL Contributing Writer: MICHAEL KELLY Contributing Writer: MIKE MALLOY Contributing Writer: SCOTTIE SPINAZOLA ADVERTISING Solo Tree Media Shane G. Gilster at 402-742-0125 | shaneg@huskersillustrated.com
PRINT | Huskers Illustrated Magazine Huskers Illustrated Magazine, the original publication dedicated to Nebraska Athletics, is in its 41st year of publication with the best Husker coverage, including our annual football yearbook (pictured).
INTERNET | HuskersIllustrated.com Follow Nebraska 24 hours a day at huskersillustrated.com
SOCIAL MEDIA | Facebook, Twitter & YouTube
Join the thousands of other Husker fans who follow Huskers Illustrated online. Follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/huskersillustratedfan or on Twitter at twitter.com/hillustrated.
Huskers Illustrated (USPS 658-450 ISSN 0279-3474) is published monthly January, February, March, April, July, August, September, October, November and December and bimonthly May/June by Smith Kroeger, 111 S. 108th Ave., Omaha, NE 68154. Subscriptions: $64.95 per year. Postmaster: Send address changes to Huskers lllustrated, 111 S. 108th Ave., Omaha, NE 68154.
huskersillustrated.com | customerservice@huskersillustrated.com | 800-524-9527 M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 3
VOLLEYBALL
Hottest Ticket in Town The Husker Volleyball Traveling Road Show Is a Must See By Lincoln Arneal • Photos by Jimmy Rash
F
or Lara Swerczek, not getting tickets wasn’t an option. When Nebraska volleyball announced it would be playing its spring match in Grand Island in early March, she was given an ultimatum by her teenage son, Bennett, to make sure they were there. Swerczek, who lives in Cedar Rapids, Nebraska, tries to attend a few matches a year at the Devaney Center, but those are usually weekend-long outings. Now with the Huskers just an hour away, she wasn’t
4 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
going to miss out on the opportunity. So she scheduled a day to work from home, where the internet was more reliable, and set an alarm on her phone so she could log on promptly at 10 a.m. on March 10. She and her son were among the lucky ones. They got tickets for the spring exhibition match. Tickets for the 6,000-seat Heartland Events Center sold out in less than 10 minutes. “Our state rallies behind the Huskers, good or bad,” Swerczek said. “To see vol-
leyball come, especially as successful as they’ve been … it’s just really exciting to let them see the rest of the state. They’re gonna get the same support that they would when they are at Devaney.” The match was the third time in the past 11 years that the Huskers have played a spring match in Grand Island. It has become the most frequent stop in the nine spring matches NU has played outside Lincoln. Each host city for Nebraska’s most successful high-profile sport has treated the oc-
casion like a mixture of a sporting extravaganza, hometown celebration and traveling red carpet. Tickets sell out in quick fashion and autograph signings after the matches become celebrity encounters. “Anytime you can get an event of the caliber of Nebraska volleyball, there’s a deep sense of pride that they would choose to come to our community and play this game,” said Brad Mellema, executive director of Grand Island Tourism. “It’s neat to see a big-stage event like that. They feel like it was a big breath of fresh air to have a normal, full house event like this in our community.” *** Nebraska’s spring exhibition matches weren’t always the big production they are today. In Terry Pettit’s early days as coach, he took his teams to tour the state. Those exhibitions were more about connecting to
the high school programs and building volleyball culture than attracting crowds. That all changed in 2010 when the NCAA adopted a rule to allow teams only to travel by bus during non-championship segments. Previously, the Huskers would fly to Florida and Hawaii for training and exhibitions. With the team’s travel limited, NU began to add matches elsewhere in the state, starting with Grand Island in 2011, which attracted a crowd of 5,522. While teams can schedule up to four spring matches, the Huskers have only scheduled one indoor match since 2015, traveling to cities around the state, including Ogallala, McCook, Kearney and Grand Island. “For me, we just try to get one match, a big crowd, make it special and not have all these play days,” Nebraska coach John
Cook said before this year’s exhibition in Grand Island. These matches aren’t just about volleyball. Nebraska also takes time to connect with the communities. For example, when NU played in Wayne in 2014, it served as a fundraiser to help the community recover from a recent tornado. In 2019, residents of McCook used the match to raise funds to help Nebraskans impacted by the floods that spring. For the players, it’s a chance to connect with more parts of the state than they would get to otherwise. Senior Madi Kubik said she had never been to Grand Island before last month and she was blown away by the support they received during the entire weekend. “People are like, ‘Hey, we love you, we know you,’ for everyone and that’s really special and something you don’t get any-
Tickets to the Nebraska-Kansas volleyball match at the 6,000-seat Heartland Events Center sold out in less than 10 minutes. M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 5
Ally Batenhorst and Lexi Rodriguez celebrate during the spring match with Kansas.
where else in the country,” the All-American outside hitter said. “We are so thankful for our fans and how loyal they are.” *** On the court, Nebraska started the match against Kansas sluggish as they had to rally to win the first set before dropping the second. The Huskers improved as the match progressed when its elite defense took over and Kubik and sophomore Whitney Lauenstein provided the offensive firepower. Many fans hope they saw a preview of a team that ends its season at another instate venue as CHI Health Center Arena in Omaha hosts the final four this year. But the events on the court were just as important as everything else that happened at the Heartland Events Center. As Cook said, the event was “a celebration of volleyball in the state.” In addition, the Huskers often recognize local high school coaches for their success and contributions to the volleyball culture 6 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
in the state. Cook also meets with donors and other VIPs to provide an inside look at the program and field questions. Afterward, the Huskers signed autographs for almost two hours as the line initially stretched down two hallways, wrapped around the lobby and back out to the arena floor. *** Volleyball is unique in the Nebraska Athletic Department. Currently it is the only sport to play a “home” competition outside Lincoln and Omaha. Others, such as baseball, offer summer camps around the state, but none play a game during the year. Cook said he hasn’t talked to Athletic Director Trev Alberts about how other programs could duplicate its spring matches, but only a few can do it because of scheduling and facilities issues. “I don’t know why more teams don’t do it, but I’ll just tell you it sold out in eight minutes,” Cook said about this year’s brisk
ticket sales. “So it tells you how fired up people are. ... We have cities already lining up for the next couple of years requesting us to come there, so it’s really important.” Dianne Willey, sales and marketing director at the Heartland Events Center, said her organization had 30,000 hits on its ticketing website the day the spring match tickets went on sale. While the Heartland Events Center has hosted popular events, such as the Beach Boys in 2009 and Meat Loaf in 2016, nothing came close to the popularity of the Huskers. “They love coming here as much as we love having them,” Willey said. “They are always so well-received in central Nebraska. And if we could have had three games that night, we would have filled the arena all three times.” When the Huskers played in McCook, fans lined up outside the ticket booth for hours in 28-degree weather to secure their share of the 1,750 tickets available. Then
they camped out the night before the match to get the best seats for the general admission seating. The downside to the sky-high demand is that often people are shut out of getting tickets. The people selling the tickets can go from being the most popular people in town to the most vilified if someone ends up on the wrong side of the sellout. Steve Morgan, the longtime prep volleyball coach in Ogallala, said after the tickets sold out, he was confronted by a fan in WalMart who didn’t get tickets, even though he had nothing to do with ticket sales. Despite some people left out because of the smaller venues, the overall mission of the traveling spring show was a success by connecting to new fans and providing opportunities for people who otherwise couldn’t see the Huskers in person. “A lot of people in western Nebraska especially just don’t get an opportunity to
have season tickets or get out to see a game that often,” Morgan said. “I just know it’s just like yesterday to me – just the magic was a whole thing. People still talk about it and will as long as they remember it.” That same feeling happens everywhere else in the state the team visits. Bob Elder, who owns the Sports Shoppe in McCook, said people still bring up the Huskers playing in their town often to him. He rallied the town and neighboring communities to help recruit the Huskers to come to their corner of the state. He calls it one of McCook’s biggest events, and they hope the Huskers will return at some point. “People have told me that that was huge for McCook,” Elder said. “We want to make it right and I hope we did.” Where NU takes the roadshow next isn’t set yet. It’s a decision that starts every January anew after the championship season concludes. People from all over the state
send emails and letters to Lindsay Peterson, NU volleyball’s director of operations, making a case for their community to be the next host of the Huskers. Cook floated the idea of hosting the spring match inside the 15,500-seat Pinnacle Bank Arena, almost double their usual crowd in the Devaney Center. However, ask someone from a town outside one of the state’s metropolitan areas and they argue to keep the statewide tour intact. “Nebraska is a big place,” said Mellema, of the Grand Island Tourism office. “Playing that out here is bigger than the sum of its parts in terms of long-term connection to the state and to those girls that are growing up in the small towns. Some of those girls are going to grow up and have that ability to play. Making those connections and coming out here is remembered fondly.”
Bekka Allick, No. 5, collects some high-fives from her Husker teammates.
M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 7
Garth Glissman’s name plate at an NBA committee meeting.
COURTESY PHOTO
Garth and Katie Glissman with their 3-year-old daughter, Grace. 8 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
JEFF BUNDY / HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED
COURTESY PHOTO
NU SPORTS INFORMATION
Glissman lettered as a Husker quarterback in 2004.
Glissman at the 2017 NBA Finals in Cleveland.
A Slam Dunk
Garth Glissman’s Road to the Big Time Was Paved by Hard Work and Vision By Michael Kelly
H
mm, here’s an unusual way you could become an executive in the NBA: Coach Class D-2 high school basketball in Nebraska for eight years, and then open an email from the pro league that says it has never seen a resume quite like yours. Wait. You didn’t send in your resume. This must be a joke. Out of curiosity, you reply. After a number of phone discussions over the next few months, you fly to New
York for an interview. Then you stun your friends and colleagues by accepting a job with, yes, the National … Basketball … Association. That’s the very condensed version of how Garth Glissman – a Nebraska native who sold peanuts, pizza and pop in the stands at Husker football games during his high school years and then was an invited walk-on at NU for basketball and football – went to work in 2016 for the NBA. Today at 40 he is the vice president of basketball
operations. “Garth is a very gifted and skilled professional,” said Byron Spruell, the NBA’s president of league operations. “He truly embodies the essence of teamwork and commitment.” How did the NBA find him? It was as simple as the league’s human relations office being intrigued by his resume on LinkedIn as a practicing attorney who also coached high school basketball. Yes, the short version of how Garth M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 9
Scott Frost and Glissman were together before the Independence Bowl in 2002. Frost was an interim graduate assistant for the game.
Glissman went to work for the NBA leaves out parts of his life path. Among them: • In college, he said publicly that someday he’d like to be governor of Nebraska. • At graduation, he was conferred a degree “with highest distinction” (summa cum laude). • He became a Rhodes Scholar finalist. • He won a top award at the University of Nebraska College of Law and then worked at the state’s largest law firm, where he rose to partner. • He married a lawyer, Katie Kotlik, and they have a daughter, Grace, who turns 4 in July. Garth’s job is based in New York, but they keep a home in Omaha. From his last year in law school through the first several years of his legal career, Glissman loved moonlighting as a nonpaid high school basketball coach. Though he was a longtime pro basketball fan, he never dreamed of becoming part of the NBA. It’s quite a story. Better start back at the beginning. *** Garth Glissman was born in 1982, son of Blayne and Susan, and grew up on a small farm 15 minutes north of Memorial Stadium. His supportive parents, he said, instilled a love of learning but he was “fanatical” about sports. (After a divorce, his school teacher-administrator mother remarried and is now Susan Volker.) 1 0 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
Garth attended K-12 in the Waverly School District and in boyhood read about the Huskers in the Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha World-Herald. With his own money, he subscribed to Huskers Illustrated. In those days, he said, only a few regularseason Husker games were televised, so he also listened intently on his radio. “I tell young people today that they don’t know how good they have it,” Glissman said. “They have an entire world of information on their smartphones.”
At age 10, he became interested in politics because of the 1992 presidential campaign. That’s the year Bill Clinton defeated incumbent President George H.W. Bush and third-party candidate H. Ross Perot. Garth’s fifth-grade teacher, he said, was the “dynamic” Sue Munn. As an incentive, if any of her pupils achieved reading a certain number of pages in books, they could ask her to invite someone to the classroom. Though he had taken a liking to politics, Garth asked not for a politician but for a particular star high school athlete – Scott Frost, now the Husker coach. He arrived at Hamlow Elementary wearing his Wood River High football jersey and stayed the entire school day. Even as he went to Stanford his first two years of college, Garth wrote him letters. In eighth grade, Garth got a job selling concessions at Memorial Stadium. He thinks back to the ’90s as a “romantic era” in Nebraska football, including the historic run of three national titles in four years. At Waverly High, he was a “good-notgreat student.” A late bloomer physically, he grew to 6-foot-5 and led the Viking teams in football and basketball. After a promising junior year of basketball, averaging 17 points and 11 rebounds, he played on the select Godfather’s AAU summer team. But at practice before his senior season, he suffered a double-dislocation of an ankle while trying to dunk over a teammate. “I couldn’t quite grasp the rim,” Glissman recalled, “and we fell down simulta-
COURTESY PHOTO (2)
Glissman, bottom left, invited Frost as a special guest to his fifth-grade class.
neously. He landed on me at the same time I hit the floor. The doctors were worried they might have to amputate my foot.” College recruiters backed off, and after graduating Garth spent the 2000-01 year at the New Hampton prep school in New Hampshire. He went there to play basketball but it turned out to be a transformative year academically. “It was a combination of maturity and having my eyes opened to a different part of the country and a different way of thinking,” Glissman said. “By the time I showed up back at the university a year later, I was a serious student. I applied the same rigor to academics as I did to athletics, and I was just as competitive.” He had drawn interest from Ivy League schools but wanted to return home for a simple reason: “I loved Nebraska.” Accepting an invitation to walk on from NU basketball coach Barry Collier, Glissman practiced with the team but didn’t play in games. On days when the Huskers traveled, he stayed in Lincoln and began winter weight training with the football team. COURTESY PHOTO Noting his strong throwing arm one day, Glissman coached Parkview Christian School in Lincoln to its first state coach Frank Solich invited him to walk on tournament appearance in the school’s 36-year history. as a quarterback in the spring of 2002. *** about sports. That led to their broadcasting Glissman drew attention from sportsIn 2005-06, Glissman taught Amerihigh school games, with Glissman as color writers by playing well in scrimmages, and can history at a different Eastern academy, commentator. he started for the White team in the 2003 Salisbury School in Connecticut, an allAnd that led to his receiving an offer in Red-White spring game, completing nine boys boarding school. He was the varsity 2008, while still in law school, to become of 17 passes for 78 yards. But he didn’t rise quarterback coach and co-head coach of the the boys basketball head coach (as a volto the top of the depth chart. JV team, as well as the JV head basketball unteer) at College View Academy, a small One weekend, though, he served as host coach. high school in Lincoln. for a recruit and his parents on an official “In hindsight,” he said, “seeds were Meanwhile, Glissman received another visit – Zac Taylor. A quarterback, Taylor sown that year that led to where I am now. I big academic honor in ’08 – the Ted Sobecame the Big 12 Offensive Player of the rensen Fellowship, named for Year as a Husker and in President John F. Kennedy’s February this year coached adviser and speechwriter, who the Cincinnati Bengals in He had drawn interest from Ivy League schools was from Lincoln. It is given to the Super Bowl. but wanted to return home for a third-year law student who “as Glissman lettered as a a simple reason: “I loved Nebraska.” voted on by the law school facHusker in 2004, Bill Calulty, best represents academic lahan’s first year as head excellence and commitment to coach, and ran onto the field to cheers on fell in love with basketball again.” public service.” (Glissman had two meetSenior Day. But that was it. He never comHe could have attended almost any law ings with Sorensen, who died in 2010.) pleted a pass in an actual game. school but returned to Nebraska, living After law school graduation in 2009, No, Garth Glissman didn’t make Husker with his parents to save money. “I wanted Glissman accepted an offer from Omahistory. Academically, though, he received to live and work in Nebraska. I had the ha’s biggest law firm, Kutak Rock, which the Glenn Gray Memorial Award as the top goal of someday entering public service. If has hundreds of attorneys in 14 states and undergraduate majoring in … history. my heart was in Nebraska, I thought that’s Washington, D.C. His practice focused on If Glissman didn’t dazzle on the court where I should go to law school.” complex commercial disputes, sometimes or the field, he surely starred in the classHis main hobby in those years, no representing Fortune 500 companies, as room – in four years of college courses, all surprise, was sports. Chris Schmidt, who well as on governmental issues. A’s. (He is still disappointed about two Ahosted a Lincoln radio show called “Hail Bart McLeay, then head of the litigaminuses.) But before entering law school, Varsity,” invited him on regularly to chat tion department and still an attorney with he decided to take a gap year. M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 1 1
the firm, said Glissman is highly ethical His job in the league ofand made an early impact. “He is one of fice focuses on the Board the kindest people I have ever met, and was of Governors, general one of the most well-liked and respected managers, coaches and lawyers in the firm in all my decades here. the Players Association. It He has a gentle personality but at the same also includes overseeing time, he’s ‘in a case to win a case.’” playing rules and officiatMcLeay and Glissman represented a cor- ing, which includes referporate client in a six-week California jury ees’ “points of emphasis” trial that required weekly travel from Oma- as well as the tweaking of ha. “Garth was a very capable second-chair rules. The game evolves, lawyer,” McLeay said. “The client loved he said, as do rules interhim, and we prevailed.” pretations. Along the way, Glissman met Katie, a As he immersed himformer volleyball setter at Gross Catho- self in his new job, Garth lic High School and Morningside College and Katie found an apartand a member of the Abrahams Kaslow & ment in Manhattan, where Cassman law firm. They were introduced at she worked remotely for a bar meeting – so to speak. Actually, at a her Omaha firm. After the bar in Omaha’s Old Market. pandemic struck widely in Glissman had coached at College March 2020, NBA staffCOURTESY PHOTO View for four years and then four more at ers worked from wherever Parkview Christian School, leading the lat- was convenient. Katie and Glissman purchased NBA gear for some of his high ter to its first state tournament appearance in daughter Grace have lived school players after being hired by the NBA. the school’s 36-year history. in Omaha full time since In fall of 2015, the NBA contacted him then, and Garth has comhe “kicked the tires” about an early run for after seeing his resume on LinkedIn, the muted between New York and Omaha. Congress. “I hope sometime in life to proonline professional networking website. He is increasingly involved with college vide public service in some capacity.” Meanwhile, Glissman became a partner at basketball and the NCAA Division I ComHe still loves football, he said, but its Kutak Rock, a big step in a lawyer’s career. petition Oversight Committee. He leads the players line up on either offense or defense. He coached Parkview in 2015-16, quietly NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee, In basketball they play both ends of the continuing talks with the pro league. which provides players with confidential court. After a big win one night, he went home feedback as to where they would likely be “In my opinion,” he said, “NBA playfor a two-hour nap before catching an early selected in the annual draft. That helps ath- ers are the best athletes in the world. I say flight to New York to that because it’s a game meet NBA folks. That “It was surprising to me that he was moving to New York, that requires a unique spring, May of 2016, combination of size, exbut New York City could use more people like Garth.” he resigned at Kutak plosiveness, agility and – Bart McLeay Rock, leaving a rising skills.” career at 34. Garth Glissman “I was stunned,” McLeay said. “He had letes decide whether to declare for the draft didn’t achieve his own athletic dreams but worked hard and become a partner, and we or to stay in college. loves his job in a league with some of the were all celebrating that. His Nebraska hu“Because of my roots,” Glissman said, greatest athletes. Coaching small-school mility came through a lot. It was surprising “I understand what college athletics means, basketball in Nebraska is hardly a normal to me that he was moving to New York, but particularly in certain parts of the country.” stepping stone to the NBA, but there he New York City could use more people like His name was listed in news reports last stands. Garth.” year as a potential candidate for the athletic Spruell, his boss, said the NBA appreci*** director job at Nebraska. Glissman declined ates Glissman’s passion for his work and Glissman said it was especially hard to to comment on that but said he fully sup- for basketball, calling him “a well-rounded leave all his players. “I loved them like my ports the vision of AD Trev Alberts. and grounded family man and professional family.” Among them were juniors Henry His NBA job is apolitical, but he hasn’t who is doing great work at the league ofTanksley, who later played for Peru State, forgotten about his political dream in Ne- fice.” and Nosa Iyagbaye, who went on to Wayne braska. “There’s a time and place in life to In college, Garth walked on twice. Now State. assert oneself in politics,” he said, adding he has clearly stepped up – and made the He also appreciated mentors and col- that for himself, now is not the time. NBA office’s starting lineup. leagues at the law firm and throughout his He is a registered Republican, and belife. “I’ve been the beneficiary of a lot of fore taking the NBA job he served for three Mike Kelly retired in 2018 after 48 years people who have helped me pursue my own years in Omaha as legal counsel for the at the Omaha World-Herald, including 1981intellectual and creative interests.” Douglas County Republican Party. He says 91 as sports editor and sports columnist. 1 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
Changing the score was still done the old-fashioned way in 1977 when the Husker baseball team hosted Wayne State. Nebraska’s Brian Banks scores on Missouri in second-half action at the Devaney Center on Feb. 12, 1977. Nebraska defeated the Tigers 60-58.
TED’S
TAKES
Kansas defenders close in on Nebraska quarterback David Humm in 1974. Nebraska won in Lawrence, 56-0.
Ted Kirk is a Lincoln-based photographer who has been a photojournalist since 1970. The Sioux Falls, South Dakota, native covered Nebraska Athletics from 1973 through 2018. During that span he covered thousands of Husker Athletic competitions around the United States. His work is being donated to the University of Nebraska Library Photo Archive.
M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 1 3
SOFTBALL
Seems Like Old Times For Husker Softball Big Ten Tournament Champs Head to Old Haunt for NCAAs By Steve Beideck • Photos by UNL Sports Information
The Nebraska softball team celebrates its win over Michigan in the Big Ten tournament title game.
T
he chant of “Go Big Red” that emanated from Memorial Stadium may have come as a surprise to random passers-by the morning of May 14. But there was good reason, and the stadium just happened to be filled with attendees and honorees at the 2022 Nebraska Spring Commencement. So Nebraska Chancellor Ronnie Green urged them on: “Go Big Red!” and say it loud enough to be heard all the way to Secchia Stadium in East Lansing, Michigan. That’s where the Huskers were playing Michigan, 727 miles away, for the Big Ten 1 4 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
softball tournament championship. The sizable crowd at Memorial Stadium happily obliged, and the Huskers did indeed go on to beat Michigan, 3-1, and earn their first Big Ten tournament championship and first softball conference title since winning the Big 12 crown in 2004. It was a huge victory for the program that has battled through some rough times. The 2017 season began with 10 consecutive losses and ended with a 24-29 record. Identical 31-23 records were posted the following two years, but neither felt like much of a success.
The 2018 campaign ended with losses in nine of the final 10 games, and in 2019 the Huskers once again lost their first Big Ten tournament game. The 2020 season was called off because of the global pandemic after a 9-14 start, and 2021 produced a middling 22-22 record in a season of conference-only opponents. Securing their first NCAA tournament berth since 2016 roughly 28 hours before the brackets were revealed on ESPN2 allowed this young team to take a breath, appreciate the moment and maybe realize it’s begun to put a perennial power back in the
Once all the regional fields were an- the brackets has never been a discussion softball spotlight. Being one of the four teams selected for nounced, a quick review of the brackets point in any meetings. The Huskers focus the Stillwater, Oklahoma, regional, hosted shows the selection committee placed Ne- on what they can control – themselves. by No. 7 national seed Oklahoma State, braska as the fifth-best team in the Big Ten. “If you look at he all-tournament team, is providing a trip down memory lane for Northwestern was given the No. 9 national three of the pitchers on there we had victocoaches and others within the program. seed and is hosting a regional that features ries over,” Revelle said. “We were facing Recollections of so many Big Eight and Oakland, McNeese and Notre Dame. good pitching. You get to this time of year Big 12 conference showdowns – prior to Michigan was nearly awarded a home you don’t expect high-scoring games. In the Big Ten era that began with the 2012 regional but instead goes to No. 16 Central these tournaments they all have hitting and season – brought on a few cases of deja vu. Florida and will play South Dakota State pitching and can do some things.” The nostalgia hit home as soon as the in the first round. Illinois and Ohio State When he shouts “Go Big Red” the next team bus arrived at the hotel in Stillwater. also were placed as No. 2 seeds against time, the players likely will hear the chanCoach Rhonda Revelle said radio play-by-play man, Nate Rohr, was the first to bring it up. “Nate and I talked about that when we got to town,” Revelle said. “Nate said, ‘This feels oddly familiar.’ He was right. When we get to the field and practice on it, it will feel even more familiar.” Nebraska is 48-47 all-time against OSU, but the two teams haven’t played since 2014. When the Huskers’ destination was announced, a delay in the video feed made it appear the Huskers weren’t pleased with where they were heading. Revelle said that wasn’t the case. “We weren’t mad at all,” Revelle said. “Number one, we’re getting on a bus. We didn’t have to get on a plane, and that was great news. Second, we’re still in the Central Coach Rhonda Revelle received an ice water shower after Nebraska’s win. time zone, so that was another national seeds lower than Oklahoma State. cellor because Ronnie Green will be in plus.” To get a shot at Oklahoma State in The Fighting Illini are paired with No. 15 Stillwater. They heard him on May 15 when the winner’s bracket (the Cowgirls open Missouri and the Buckeyes travel to No. 11 the team gathered for the selection show, and Green represented the championship against Fordham), the 40-14 Huskers first Tennessee. A second-place finish in the regular seatrophy – the only one Nebraska has won in must defeat North Texas in their May 20 son standings and the tournament champiany sport this season – at Bowlin Stadium. first-round matchup. onship didn’t appear to be enough for the He also acknowledged the three seniors Riding a five-game winning streak after posting an 18-game win streak that includ- committee even though Nebraska was 3-0 who missed the commencement exercises – ed a 13-0 start to the conference portion of against Michigan and 2-2 against Ohio Ybarra, Wallace and Anni Raley – because the schedule, then losing four of their next State. The Huskers won the last two games they were taking care of business in East five, has taught the Huskers how to handle against the Buckeyes, including a 2-1 vic- Lansing. tory in the tournament semifinals. Just as they have in the classroom, every ups and downs. Nebraska also had four players on the player is continually learning on the field. “The win streak helped us learn how to “They’ve learned not only how to exist embrace the excitement around our pro- all-tournament team – pitchers Olivia Fargram but also be able to shut it out when the rell and Courtney Wallace, second baseman in a close game, but how to come out on focus needs to be on getting better,” Revelle Cam Ybarra and first baseman Mya Felder. top,” Revelle said. “They’ve been learning said. “We love that people are noticing Ne- Ybarra was named the tournament’s most as they’ve gone along; they’ve been learning to win and learning different ways to braska softball, but we need to keep them outstanding player. excited.” Revelle said where Nebraska landed in win.” M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 1 5
BASEBALL
Answers Hard to Find During Lost Season Huskers Stumbled Out of Gate and Never Recovered By Mike Malloy • Photos by Amarillo Mullen
B
efore a late-season series at Illinois – and the long bus ride that preceded it – Husker baseball players gathered at Hawks Field, many with a rolling suitcase in one hand and a pillow in the other. A press conference with coach Will Bolt and three players was held prior to departure. The group dutifully answered all questions, but there was really only one that has been on everyone’s mind: What happened this season? “I wish there were happier questions,” sophomore third baseman Max Anderson said. The answers have been clear – poor hitting, ill-timed errors and an inability to win close games – but solutions have been elusive the past few months as Nebraska went from an NCAA Tournament team in 2021 to one wondering if it will make the Big Ten Tournament in 2022. As Huskers Illustrated went to print, Nebraska was 20-29 overall and tied for ninth in the Big Ten at 8-13 with one conference series remaining. The top eight teams qualify for the league tournament.
The Huskers pushed No. 1 Arkansas to a regional final before being knocked out of last year’s NCAA tournament. Following the loss, Bolt talked about the importance of following up on a strong season. “I think the future is certainly bright and the seniors and the upperclassmen have built a pretty solid foundation for what’s to come,” Bolt said. That foundation is showing cracks 12 months later. Nebraska went from first to last in the Big Ten in batting average, and after being held to three or fewer runs 10 times a year ago, Nebraska has had 20 such games this season. Nebraska is also last in the league in slugging percentage and 10th in runs per game. “We’ve been in a lot of close games,” Bolt said. “We’ve gotten off to good starts in games but haven’t finished it.” For some coaches, that would be a throwaway line but it’s the truth. Prior to the season-ending series against Michigan State, Nebraska had played 26 games decided by one or two runs, winning eight. Despite the offensive woes, Bolt first ref-
Griffen Everitt and Garrett Anglim celebrate Anglim’s home run against nonconference opponent Oral Roberts. 1 6 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
erenced defense as an explanation for why his team has come up just short so many times. Nebraska is ninth in the league in fielding percentage (it topped the conference in ’21), but Bolt said it’s not so much how many errors as when they’ve occurred. “Other teams are making throws to throw us out at the plate and we’re making errors to extend innings,” Bolt said. His words were prophetic a few days later in a 5-4 loss May 15 against Illinois. Colby Gomes’ grand slam gave the Huskers an early 4-0 lead, but Illinois scored in each of the last four innings to rally. The winning run crossed in the bottom of the ninth on an error. Pitching has been strong despite a rash of injuries. Twenty pitchers have been used this year including nine starters. Last year, five Huskers started games with Cade Povich (15 starts), Chance Hroch (14), and Shay Schanaman (12) providing a consistent weekend rotation. Schanaman moved into the Friday slot this season after Povich and Hroch moved on, but after that it was often anyone’s guess as the Huskers entered
Max Anderson and Core Jackson shake hands after their 9-5 win over Oral Roberts on May 17.
several Big Ten series with the dreaded “TBA” appearing where a starting pitcher’s name should in school-issued press releases. “That’s how our team was built – from the back of the bullpen to the front. We knew we had some depth. When you lose as many guys as we’ve lost it’s difficult to think that you could be competitive and we have done that because we have had some guys step up,” Bolt said. “Having that depth has allowed us to at least be competitive.” The term “everyday lineup” has also been a misnomer as only Anderson and senior catcher Griffin Everitt have started every game; 15 Huskers had at least eight offensive starts. Anderson, the 2021 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, has put up a respectable .285 average this season, though that was a drop from last season’s .332. Freshman outfielder Garrett Anglim leads the team in hitting at .302 – the only Husker hitting above .300. Things went wrong immediately this spring as Nebraska lost three of four to Sam Houston, then fell to 1-6 after being swept in three games at TCU. The Huskers were 4-9 before conference play started, a mark that included a series loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. In conference, Nebraska won just one series prior to the season finale against Michigan State. “This season hasn’t gone the way anyone wanted it to, or expected it to,” Everitt said, repeating words often said with slight variation this season. Anderson, Bolt and others assured that it hasn’t been a lack of effort. So why did the season play out the way it did? Maybe that’s a question that can’t be answered. “It’s definitely not (a lack of) talent,” Anderson said. “It’s so hard to tell in baseball.” 2022
2021
Avg. .245 (last)
.279 (1st)
Slg. .387 (12th)
.443 (4th)
Obp. 358 (10th)
.379 (3rd)
R/gm 5.79 (10th)
6.97 (1st)
Right-hander Dawson McCarville took the mound against Oral Roberts.
Close games 8-18 12-7 M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 1 7
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Two New Huskers Bring The Homestate Flavor They Are at Different Ends of Their College Careers, but Their Goals Are the Same BIGELOW ON BASKETBALL
N
Opinion • By Jacob Bigelow
ebraska fans have a lot to like in two of the latest in-state additions to Fred Hoiberg’s basketball pro-
gram. Lincoln East grad Sam Griesel announced back in April that he would join the Huskers as a graduate transfer from North Dakota State, while Ashland-Greenwood guard Cale Jacobsen, the top unsigned in-
state player in the class of 2022, announced on May 7 he’d be accepting a preferred walk-on offer. The two local kids are at opposite stages of their college basketball journeys, but they have much in common. One of Hoiberg’s buzzwords, perhaps ironically, is “adversity” – specifically, how his players respond to it. Adversity is something Griesel and Jacobsen know about, both overcoming significant medical issues. More on those later. Griesel and Jacobsen have shared similar experiences off the court, and they also
share a trainer in Thomas Viglianco of Lincoln, who has worked with Isaiah Roby and Bryce and Trey McGowens, among other top local players. The first time Jacobsen watched Griesel play was during Griesel’s senior year at Lincoln East in a game against Omaha South. He followed Griesel and North Dakota State when the Bison were kicking the tires on his own recruitment. But it’s through their work with Viglianco that has helped them become close friends. It’s been hard for Husker basketball fans
Sam Griesel’s parents are happy to have him back in Lincoln after playing the first years of his college career at North Dakota State.
1 8 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
to fall in love with Hoiberg’s teams. One reason, of course, is poor performance, but another is the rotating roster. Players are here today, gone tomorrow, and almost none are from Nebraska – disappointing considering the state’s high schools have been on a good run of talent in recent years. Griesel and Jacobsen are among that group. It will be good to see them in red. Though he may only have one year as a Husker, it’s easy to see Griesel, the hometown kid, as an immediate fan favorite and playing a lot of minutes. Jacobsen, while perhaps not seeing the court right away, is definitely not your typical walk-on. Griesel grew into a Big Ten player at North Dakota State. The plan is for Jacobsen to grow into that level of player while at Nebraska. Griesel’s Path Griesel said receiving the phone call from Hoiberg after entering the transfer portal was “surreal,” and “a dream come true.” It wasn’t until a week or two after his final game in a Bison jersey in the Summit League Tournament championship game that he even imagined playing for Nebraska. “Nebraska’s always been my dream school,” Griesel said, “I grew up watching Nebraska basketball and I looked up to the players like they were superheroes.” As a local kid, Griesel knows the hunger in the community for basketball success, and he wants to be a catalyst to make it happen. “More than anything I want to win basketball games and bring joy to the Lincoln community,” he said. Griesel, listed as a 6-foot-6 guard/forward on the Bison roster, was a part of a successful run at North Dakota State, making two trips to the NCAA tournament. He credits the success to the program’s culture and “buying into the process.” He believes similar buy-in will lead to success at NU and he emphasizes the importance of trusting Hoiberg and his vision. He clicked right away with Hoiberg and he can’t wait to learn from him. “I’m a huge culture guy and coach Hoiberg knew that,” Griesel said. He added that he is excited to get to play with guys like Jacobsen who he said has similar characteristics to himself. “He plays the game the right way,” Griesel said. The first road trip of Griesel’s final season at North Dakota State is one he’ll never forget – and it wasn’t because of anything that happened on the court.
The night before the game at Cal Poly er-beating basket in the title game. in San Luis Obispo, California, Griesel was Jacobsen accepted the preferred walk-on feeling lightheaded and sick to his stomach. offer from NU after holding scholarship ofHe could barely stand up, could hardly stay fers from North Dakota and Holy Cross. He awake and began throwing up blood. He immediately was taken to the hospital. A severe stomach ulcer resulted in a dangerous loss of blood. He underwent surgery and a blood transfusion. The incident was an eye-opener for Griesel, but initially, he said, “all I was thinking about was basketball.” He was looking forward to starting off the year right against the Bison’s first Division I opponent of the season. Instead, he got a “perspective shock.” “Obviously I Cale Jacobsen led Ashland-Greenwood to a Class C-1 title love basketball and last season. He turned down scholarships elsewhere to walk that’s what I do,” he on at Nebraska. said. But, he added, that since November continued to play with Nebraska Supreme he’s shifted more of his focus to his faith, on the Under Armour circuit last summer family and friends, and said he is grateful and had other schools showing interest. now to have gone through what he did. He said there were multiple things that made Nebraska standout, most notably the Jacobsen’s Path people, both on the staff and on the roster. Jacobsen tore an ACL in December 2020 Husker assistant Nate Loenser emphasized during the first weekend of his junior sea- the staff’s excitement over the incoming son. He missed that entire year as well as players and the vision for the program, as a summer of AAU ball with Nebraska Su- well as their desire to “continue to bring in preme. good people.” He said the toughest moment of the re“Surrounding your program with good hab was being told by his physical therapist people leads to good things,” Jacobsen said. he would not be able to play during the first He wants to “build something special live recruiting period that July. Jacobsen and be a part of something bigger than mysaid he “definitely grew up a ton” during self.” the battle to return to the court. Athletes like Jacobsen develop into Big The 6-4 Jacobsen was a two-sport star at Ten players with coaching and by competAshland-Greenwood but gave up football ing against other top athletes every day in in the fall to focus on his return to basket- practice. He will get that at Nebraska. He ball. It turned out to be a good move. He said that what the coaching staff likes most averaged 17.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.1 as- about his game is “versatility offensively” sists and 4 steals per game. He capped off and “playmaking ability.” his senior season by winning the Class C-1 “They want me to come in and make title at Ashland-Greenwood after making everybody else better,” he said. the assist to the corner that led to the buzzIt should be fun to watch. M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 1 9
FOOTBALL
More Huskers Headed for the NFL Nebraska Has Three Drafted and Five Sign as Free Agents By Scottie Spinazola • Photos by UNL Sports Information
Cam Jurgens Center Philadelphia Eagles
A
dd three more names to Nebraska’s list of all-time NFL draftees. After the 2022 draft in April, the number is up to 364 and puts NU on a three-year streak of having players drafted. The previous stretch ran from 1963 through 2018. Nebraska’s total added to the Big Ten’s number of 48 players picked, second among conferences to the SEC with 65. Georgia, the national champion, had a stunning 15 picks. LSU had the second most from the SEC with 10. Penn State led the way in the Big Ten with eight picks. Ohio State had six and Michigan five. Nebraska’s total of three was eighth
2 0 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
Cam Taylor-Britt Cornerback Cincinnati Bengals among Big Ten teams. NU’s highest pick was center Cam Jurgens, who went in the second round and No. 51 overall to the Philadelphia Eagles. Nebraska also had five players sign with NFL teams as free agents after the draft, and one former Husker – Wan’Dale Robinson, who had transferred to Kentucky – was selected by the New York Giants in the second round and No. 43 overall.
- - - Huskers Drafted - - Cam Jurgens Center, No. 51, second round, Philadelphia Eagles
Samori Toure Wide receiver Green Bay Packers The Philadelphia Eagles have not had to worry about the center position for the past 10 years with stalwart Jason Kelce manning the spot for all but 18 games in that stretch. Kelce’s career is starting to wind down, so Jurgens is in a good spot to learn and take over. Kelce was interviewed by local media in Philadelphia during the draft and said this after the pick: “If he were still available, I knew we were taking him. This is my favorite player in the draft. I am not just saying that because we picked him. The Eagles have been using me to evaluate some of the centers coming out and of all the guys that I have looked at for the past two to three years that I compare to myself, this guy is him.”
Kelce is a five-time pro-bowler and fourtime First-Team AP All-Pro. Jurgens, in a press conference with Philadelphia media, said he met Kelce during a pre-draft visit. “That is a dude that I look up to,” he said. “I am so stoked to be going there.” Jurgens came to Nebraska out of Beatrice, Nebraska, as a tight end, but eventually moved to center. Explosive and mobile at 6-foot-3, 307 pounds, he clocked a 4.92 40, fifth fastest among offensive lineman in the draft. Jurgens’ offensive line coach at Nebraska, Greg Austin, once coached with Eagles line coach Jeff Stoutland – a plus for Jurgens. “His reputation speaks for itself,” Jurgens said of Stoutland during his press conference. “A lot of stuff I did at Nebraska and what I was taught and the terminology is similar to what (the Eagles) do.” Jurgens said Stoutland was Austin’s mentor. “I learned from his protege, so a lot of his stuff is a carryover to coach Stout so it’s a dream come true because it’s stuff that I have been doing already,” Jurgens said. “I am excited to keep learning, learning from him with all the incredible guys that he has coached and all his years in the NFL.” Cam Taylor-Britt Cornerback, No. 60, second round, Cincinnati Bengals Bengals coach Zac Taylor, a former Nebraska player himself, got his Husker. Taylor-Britt will help shore up a defensive backfield, which the Bengals addressed with their first two picks: Michigan safety
Daxton Hill in the first round and TaylorBritt in the second. Last season, the Bengal pass defense ranked No. 26, allowing a total of 4,222 yards. Taylor-Britt offers them a smart, fast – 4.38 40-yard dash – and long-armed option to help fix those numbers. The Bengals, who reached the Super Bowl last year, traded two picks to ensure they could grab Taylor-Britt. “That was someone we identified that we wanted and we didn’t want to risk there, with two or three teams in front of us that could take him, so we felt we needed to do that,” Taylor said in a press conference after the second round. The Bengals like Taylor-Britt’s versatility. They believe he can play outside and slot corner as well as safety. Lou Anarumo, the defensive coordinator, said Cincinnati is trying to collect players who can play more than one position. The more players like Taylor-Britt they can get, he said, the better their defense will be. Anarumo said Taylor-Britt can play both zone and man-to-man. “He is a good press corner but has also shown some flexibility in playing in some deep zone, safety stuff,” Anarumo said. “He has done a little bit of everything, which is great.” Taylor-Britt said he is looking forward to practicing against young Bengals stars like receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. “That was the first thing that I thought about,” Taylor-Britt said. “I cannot wait to bring the juice to practice just like it’s a game. And going against those types of receivers will help my game so much that guarding other receivers won’t be as hard.”
Samori Toure Wide receiver, No. 258, seventh round, Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers shipped Davante Adams, arguably the best receiver in football, to the Las Vegas Raiders. During the draft, they did their best to fill the hole. They took receiver Christian Watson out of North Dakota State in the second round, Nevada receiver Romeo Doubs in the fourth and Nebraska receiver Samori Toure in the seventh. Toure now gets the opportunity to work with future hall-of-fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who amazingly has thrown only four touchdown passes to a first-round passcatcher in his career – all four to Marcedes Lewis, a tight end. “He’s one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever do it,” Toure said in a post-draft press conference. “Anytime that you are in the same building as that is a blessing and good opportunity.” The 6-1, 191-pound receiver transferred to Nebraska from Montana and is already 24 years old. As a Husker he lined up in the slot, outside and even the backfield. His goal is to find a quick connection with his quarterback. “I’ve been watching them for years,” Toure said of the Packers. “Davante has always been one of my favorite receivers and the connection that he and Rodgers had has rarely been seen before in the NFL. They were always on the same page and making spectacular plays. That is something that I have tried to pick up and I am just excited to see how I fit in.”
- - - Undrafted Free Agents - - -
JoJo Domann Linebacker/safety Indianapolis Colts
Austin Allen Tight end New York Giants
Damion Daniels Defensive tackle Houston Texans
Ben Stille Defensive tackle Miami Dolphins
Deontai Williams Safety Seattle Seahawks
M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 2 1
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
A Perfect Fit
Maddie Krull Is Bringing Her Versatility And Tenaciousness Back to Nebraska By Shawn Ekwall • Photos by Madisen Martinez/USD Athletics
I
t was a tournament run player’s dream about for Maddie Krull and her South Dakota teammates. It started with the Coyotes’ knocking off seventh-seeded Ole Miss 75-61 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. A 61-47 upset of second-seeded Baylor on its home floor followed, propelling USD to the Sweet 16, before falling to Michigan 52-49. The loss ended the most successful women’s basketball season in school history. For a mid-major Summit League school to flex its muscle in the NCAA tournament is rare, to say the least. “Gosh, it was incredible,” Krull said of the historic run. “You dream as a kid to go to college, win a conference championship, play in the NCAA tournament. But beating Baylor was a feeling I can’t even explain. We just kept going and it didn’t even feel real. It was new to everybody and we enjoyed every second of it.”
Nebraska native Maddie Krull helped lead South Dakota to the Sweet 16 last season. 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
The Yotes’ 29-6 record and epic tourney run made USD coach Dawn Plitzuweit and her staff a hot commodity. Plitzuweit was named the new head coach at West Virginia in late March, taking the majority of her staff with her. That led Krull, an Omaha native and 2020 Millard South graduate, to enter the transfer portal. Though her stats weren’t eye-popping, Krull was the model of consistency since setting foot on the Vermillion, South Dakota, campus two years ago. She started every one of the teams’ 60 games over two years. Known for her unwavering defensive tenacity, she averaged 6.8 points per game during the past season. Many suitors came calling once she entered the portal, but ultimately, after a visit to Nebraska, the choice was clear. It came down to fit, culture and proximity to home. “Definitely culture,” Krull said. “It’s something so valuable and when I took my visit I wanted to have a connection with my teammates. I follow Nebraska and Al (Allison Weidner) and the chemistry there is not faked. It’s real on and off the court, and that was important to me. “Also, being close to home. Family is important and being 45 minutes away from home was a no-brainer.” A strong family bond was mentioned several times during Krull’s interview with Huskers Illustrated. Krull grew up playing YMCA and early club basketball for her dad, Keven. The father-daughter combination continued with the Krush club team and her fifth-grade year with the Grizzlies, before they both joined the Nebraska Attack organization, which started when Maddie reached eighth grade. “My dad is such a great advocate for girls basketball,” Krull said. “It’s fun to see him continue coaching. He can’t get away from it, he loves it so much. Our early years were ... interesting. I kept thinking, ‘He yells at me the most, this sucks.’ “But I can’t take it for granted. I can talk basketball with my dad all the time. And my
mom (Brenda) has been my biggest supporter. Both my mom and dad have always told me two things you control are your attitude and effort. They’ve both played such a big part in helping me become a leader.” A self-described competitor, Krull hopes to bring that edge to NU, to learn from and push teammates to continue to achieve at a high level. “I’m competitive, no matter what,” Krull said. “My teammates know I’m going to give it my all. I’m extremely excited to play with and learn from the returning players at Nebraska.” Zach Isherwood, Krull’s coach with Nebraska Attack, talked about her high motor and competitive nature. “Maddie goes 100% in every practice, drill, game and shooting workout. Her constant energy makes everyone around her go harder. And not many kids have the ability to lead both by example and verbally, but Maddie does.” Isherwood said those traits, along with playing against the nation’s top players on the summer circuit, have more than prepared Krull for the leap to a Power Five conference. Caitlin Clark (Iowa), Paige Bueckers (Connecticut) and Cameron Brink (Stanford) are a small sample of the many top-end players Krull and her Nebraska Attack teammates went toe-to-toe with over the years. Weidner, who Krull played with in Krull’s final AAU season, is someone Krull is especially excited about being reunited with. “That summer we played together on the circuit was kind of eye-opening,” Krull said. “To play against some of the best players in the country helped us so much. The sky’s the limit with Al, and I can’t even wait.” And although Alexis Markowski played in the Nebraska Lasers AAU program, Krull knows what a force she can be. “Alexis is a pain to play against. Let’s just say I’m excited to be on the same side as her. I’m excited to grow with them both.”
Krull averaged about seven points a game for South Dakota, but the guard is best known for her lock-down defense and ability to control the flow of the game.
Success has followed wherever Krull has been. In her four seasons at Millard South, as a four-year starter, the Patriots went 9913. However, a state title eluded the Patriots each year. And although Krull has regrets about not cutting down the nets in Lincoln, the close calls provided extra fuel and motivation. “It makes my stomach turn just thinking about it,” Krull said. “But I realize now it was just part of my journey. Part of how I grew into the player I am today.” Patriots coach Bryce Meyers calls Krull the consummate two-way player. One that can push pace on offense and lock opponents up on the defensive end. “She can control the tempo of the game by herself,” Meyers said. “She sets the tone defensively with a tone of energy and pressure. Her leadership on and off the floor is what makes Maddie, Maddie. She is an absolute fierce competitor and off the floor is an absolute delight to be around. Her personality is contagious and so is her work ethic.” Meyers believes the match between Krull and Nebraska will be ideal. “Maddie will fit in perfectly at Nebraska.
From the outside looking in she seems to be exactly the kind of kid they are looking for in their program. She will compete for everything, not take anything for granted and do it with a smile on her face.” Although Krull is ecstatic to be joining the Huskers, she took time to delightfully reflect on her two years in Vermillion. “I was challenged immediately at USD. The coaches put me in tough positions with experienced players and without that I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in. In two years, I’ve grown a remarkable amount in terms of knowledge, skill and understanding the game. I’ll cherish everything about my time here and I’m so thankful. It’s bittersweet.” Though reopening the recruiting process for a second time wasn’t originally in Krull’s plans, she credits the help of both Meyers and Isherwood for making it a seamless experience. Isherwood said he heard from more than 40 Division I schools within the first 36 hours of Krull joining the portal. The list included multiple schools ranked in the Top 10 in 2022. “They both helped me navigate the portal
and had faith in me,” Krull said. “They’ve always had faith in me and helped me believe I could do anything I put my mind to. “My parents are both from Hastings (Nebraska). Originally my goal was to work as hard as I could to get a scholarship to play at Hastings College. When this all started I didn’t know if any of this was possible.” Needless to say, Krull has exceeded those original aspirations. And as she turns her attention to the future, she joins a Nebraska team that returns its entire starting five. She aims to add depth and help the Huskers move deeper into the tournament in 2023. “I’m hoping this year I can learn from Sam (Haiby) and Jaz (Shelley). That they can teach me what it’s like to play at this level week to week. And I want to help the team win and be successful. As far as topping this past season? Anything is possible. “I hope we have an incredible season. Because I know it’ll be tough to beat last year.” M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 2 3
Taking Shape The landscape is changing fast around Memorial Stadium as the $155 million stadium addition rises on its northeast edge. The expansion includes the much ballyhooed football facility expected to push Nebraska to the front of the pack among its peers in the college football world with new locker facilities, strength and conditioning space, coaches offices, meeting rooms, training table and academic center. The building is set to open before the 2023 season.
2 4 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 2 5
2 6 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 2 7
John Cook Knows Darkness By Leo Adam Biga/Flatwater Free Press
N
ebraska volleyball coach John Cook entered the 2009 season having won 281 of his first 300 games – a ridiculous .937 winning per-
centage. He had already won two national titles. At age 52, he had ascended to the pinnacle of his profession. But, inside, Cook knew he didn’t feel like you are supposed to feel when you reach the summit. Instead, even as his squad went 31-3 and reached the final four, Cook felt empty. He felt lost. He felt like a failure. “I thought I had it figured out and then it all came crashing down. I woke up one morning and the world was upside down … I was like, ‘There’s no more joy
sity of Nebraska–Lincoln psychology professor and now a University of Nebraska administrator. They met weekly until Cook started to emerge from the depths. “A lot of it is breathing, being aware of the signals your body’s sending and coming up with strategies on how to deal with it as opposed to letting those sensations get to you,” Cook said. “It’s a very natural, holistic way to work on the mind and the body.” Seeking help also meant being vulnerable with people Cook had long admired. He sought counsel from his mentor, Husker football legend and then-Big Red Athletic Director Tom Osborne.
“I asked coach Osborne how he dealt with the stress of the job and he said, ‘John, I didn’t, I had a heart attack at 49.’” in this,’” Cook said. For his entire career, Cook had been a fit, confident coach, husband and father. Now he couldn’t sleep. He felt tired, anxious. His moods swung wildly. He went to doctors. To specialists. To the Mayo Clinic. The white coats ran test after test on the living legend volleyball coach. “After they ran all the tests they couldn’t find anything wrong,” Cook said. “It basically came down to stress. “It’s one of those things where you hit bottom and you’ve got to make changes.” What Cook now understands is that hinging happiness on winning or perfection can make you sick. Cognitive behavioral therapy and a host of other changes have helped Cook, now 66, learn this and much else about his mental health. Now he’s willing to talk about what he’s learned – to his teams, to volleyball fans who revere him, to anyone who may be helped by hearing his story. “At first I was very skeptical,” he said about therapy and the other changes. “But it worked.” After Cook hit his self-described “bottom” in 2009, he began to work with nationally known cognitive behavioral therapy expert Debra Hope, a Univer-
2 8 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
“I asked coach Osborne how he dealt with the stress of the job and he said, ‘John, I didn’t, I had a heart attack at 49,’” Cook said. On Osborne’s recommendation, Cook started to meditate. He read a book the football legend recommended on stress, diet and the heart. He started to pay attention to things he had rarely considered before – nutrition, sleep, recovery, breathing. “The little things matter,” Cook said. “You can’t just run yourself into the ground.” He has to pay close attention to the little things, Cook now knows, because the stress of Nebraska volleyball isn’t ever going to go away. Last year, for example, Nebraska was just short of the national title, falling to Wisconsin in the championship match. For almost any other program and any other coach in the country, that season would have been an unprecedented success. For Nebraska: “We’re expected to win,” Cook said. “There’s a lot of pressure. … People just assume we’re going to be in the final four every year. “Well, it’s hard to get to the final four. We feel that. That’s where I’ve had to take my ego out of it and realize it’s about Nebraska volleyball, the team, maxing out and those student-athletes having a great experience.” Now Cook has a game plan for the daily man-
He’s Located the Light
The highs of coaching championship-level volleyball at Nebraska can be exhilarating, but the pressure of winning never goes away.
STEPHANIE M AY 2 0 2 2 | HCARPENTER U S K E R S I L L/UNU S TCOMMUNICATIONS R AT E D | 2 9
Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook has come up with his own ways of dealing with the stress of coaching big-time athletics. 3 0 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
NU COMMUNICATIONS
agement of stress – a plan that doesn’t feel all that different than devising a strategy for a tough on-court opponent. He does yoga. Cook found a good yoga teacher who taught him breathing and mindfulness. The book “Where You Go, There You Are” by Jon Kabat-Zinn deeply resonated with Cook when he first read it. Now he uses it as a guidepost, referring back to it when he needs to. He has improved his diet. He even gave up coffee. “My nervous system was fried from the caffeine.” This selfdescribed “animal of routine” said he finds himself automatically meditating now in order to “calm my mind down.” He sticks to a consistent exercise pattern. He tries to get consistent sleep. “Those things all become more important in your life than whether you win or not,” he said. Anxiety issues don’t only affect coaches. Cook now recognizes that his players obsess over winning, losing, roster spots, classes, tests, dating and everything else 18- to 22-year-olds juggle. To help, he enlisted Ron Hruska from the Postural Restoration Institute in Lincoln to work with NU’s in-house performance team. Hruska guides athletes with posture, nutrition, sleep and stress management. Two psychiatrists and a retired Navy SEAL commander have helped the coaching staff understand this new generation of players – why their attention spans seem shorter, and what makes them tick. A calm app on their iPhones now helps Nebraska volleyball players with meditation. There were no phone apps when Cook went through his struggles. His meltdown coincided with the much publicized panic attack football coach Urban Meyer suffered in 2009. “He was burned out.” Cook understands how it happens. The endless hours, the intense pressure, the do-or-die attitude to be elite are part of an unforgiving syndrome. “That’s why you’ve got to meditate – you’ve got to let your mind-body calm down, otherwise you’re on 90 miles an hour, 14-15 hours a day. That’s what happens in coaching.” That grinder’s mentality builds win-
NU COMMUNICATIONS
“Whatever John takes on, he makes a project of it,” said Terry Pettit, Nebraska’s former coach who hired Cook.
ners. But, taken to the extreme, it turns counterproductive. “Coaching is like a drug,” said Cook, noting success breeds a hunger for more that can’t ever be fulfilled. “Eventually you reach a point where it’s hard to do any more.” Like Osborne before him, Cook has learned to lean into the process without being so results-oriented. That isn’t easy, Cook said. But as he gets older, he finds himself not worrying as much about wins, losses, expectations or pleasing people. That shift in thinking is why Cook thinks
handpicked Cook as his successor and remains close to him. He agreed that in modern coaching – and in many aspects of modern life – you must adapt if you want to stay at or near the peak. “I don’t think John’s ever standing still,” Pettit said. “He’s a lifelong learner.” Power Five coaches aren’t the only Type A personalities and high achievers susceptible to burnout. Everyone from physicians to CEOs to student-athletes to fast food delivery drivers to telemarketers can struggle with performative stress. When the bar gets set too high, it often becomes a vicious all-
he’s done and the progress he’s made “Whatever John takes on, he makes a project of it,” Pettit said. “He researches it and then identifies the behaviors he thinks are applicable to him or to the program and then he goes with it.” This work will always remain a work in progress for Cook, who has kept NU dominant since joining the Big Ten, adding two more national titles and selling out every home match. The need to get away from the job’s external and internal noise led him to take up flying as a hobby. He’s also gotten into
Finding that bliss is a choice. “Some of my best teams didn’t win conference or national championships but those teams maxed out, so you have to feel good about that.” he’s enjoyed coaching his last few teams as much as he has. He now realizes: Finding that bliss is a choice. “Some of my best teams didn’t win conference or national championships but those teams maxed out, so you have to feel good about that,” he said. “You have to savor the good experiences.” Along the way, Cook has learned to lessen his own load by trusting and delegating more, rather than trying to control everything. Bottom line, he thinks, coaches today must be masters of adaptation. “I had to make some major changes to survive in coaching,” he said. “I see, every day, coaches that don’t make those changes and don’t survive.” Former NU volleyball coach Terry Pettit
or-nothing proposition. “The more I talked with people I found out most were not dealing with it very well,” Cook said. “This is a problem.” Cook and Paul Meyers, then-NU associate athletic director for development, organized a workshop on male burnout and stress for the school’s top donors. Experts from various fields presented. Today Cook considers it one of his greatest moments in coaching The biggest takeaway, he said, is that in the midst of a crisis “you’ve got to take charge of it,” adding, “The key is do you stay with it or do you revert back. You’ve got to stay with the plan.” He shared much of what he’s learned in his book “Dream Like a Champion.” Pettit admires Cook for sharing the work
horseback riding. “You don’t think about volleyball perfectionism, are we going to win, who’s getting in trouble when you’re flying a plane or riding a horse,” Cook said. Cook, who exudes a Zen master demeanor that can be mistaken for aloofness, is more at peace with himself than ever since finding joy in the journey of discovery. The more he removes distractions and attachments, this Big Lebowski of the Great Plains is fine with just being. The Volleyball Dude abides. The Flatwater Free Press is Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter. M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 3 1
TRACK AND FIELD
Raising the Bar Young Husker High Jumper Keeps Flying Higher and Higher
S
ometimes PRs don’t come in the biggest meets. Jenna Rogers is just fine with that – at least for now. The Nebraska freshman high jumper is flying higher and higher, but her best performances haven’t been coming at the biggest meets. Still, Rogers has become the first female Husker in 18 years to win both the indoor and outdoor conference high jump titles. Rogers completed her Big Ten sweep May 14 by rallying from sixth place to win her first outdoor championship. She was the lone competitor to clear 5 feet, 11½ inches at Minnesota. That mark was a quarter inch higher than what the Rutherford, New Jersey, native cleared to win the Big Ten indoor title Feb. 25 at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio. Winning both competitions made Rogers the first Husker female to do so since Na’Tassia Vice won the Big 12 indoor and outdoor titles in 2004. Rogers came to Nebraska in 2020 as the owner of the national high school high jump record. After her prep career, she figured she’d stay close to home, maybe go to school at Princeton or Duke, to continue her college career. The year-round warm weather at the University of Arizona also was appealing. But Jenna’s mother, Lorianne, said she needed to search for a middle ground. “I was coerced by my mom to take a visit here,” Rogers said. “I was so naive I didn’t know where Nebraska was. She’s from New Jersey but went to college in Minnesota, so she wanted me to look at schools in the Midwest. It took just one day out here, and I knew this was the school for me.” Lorianne Rogers played volleyball and basketball at Southwest Minnesota, and Rogers’ father, Dennis, played bas3 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
By Steve Beideck ketball at Trenton State, which became The College of New Jersey in 1996. Rogers said she eventually admitted to her mother that she was right to have her find a Midwestern school.
“She figured I’d like the Midwest,” Rogers said. “Nebraska was stronger than Minnesota in the high jump, and the school is a huge powerhouse for sports, so it became a no-brainer for me once I visited.”
Husker freshman Jenna Rogers has swept the Big Ten’s indoor and outdoor high jump titles. Her personal best jump heading into the NCAA regionals is 6 feet, 1¼ inches.
Neither of Rogers’ winning jumps were a career best. The first time she cleared 6-0 as a collegian came indoors at the Feb. 5 Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln before clearing a then-career best 6-¾ one week later at the indoor Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Rogers continued to raise the bar for herself this spring. She started with an outdoor PR of 6-½ at the Florida Relays. Less than a week later, she had a new personal best of 6-1¼ (1.86 meters) at the April 7-8 McDonnel Invitational that still stands heading into the May 25-28 NCAA West Regional in Fayetteville.
The regional will be at the same facility as her 6-1¼ PR – John McDonnell Field at the University of Arkansas. In the three meets since that PR, Rogers has cleared 6-0 once and 5-11½ twice.
“It took just one day out here, and I knew this was the school for me.” – Jenna Rogers It doesn’t bother Rogers or Nebraska high jump coach Dusty Jonas that record heights aren’t coming in championship meets. The wins and 10 points toward the team totals that
SCOTT BRUHN/NU COMMUNICATIONS
go with the victories are more important for Rogers. “I have the best high jump coach in the nation and great teammates,” Rogers said. “Coach Jonas is an Olympian, so he knows what it’s like and what it takes to get to that level. He’s able to coach me and we’re still able to be friends. It’s nice to have someone there who knows what they’re talking about. “It’s worked out well for me and my teammates.” Rogers was one of four Huskers who scored in the high jump for the Huskers at the Big Ten outdoor meet. Madison Yerigan and Riley Masten tied for fifth by clearing 5-9¼, and Brooklyn Miller was seventh at the same height. Mayson Conner completed the same Big Ten indoor-outdoor sweep as Rogers for the men’s team. There was a bit more drama to Rogers’ win in Minneapolis than usual. Because she missed her first attempt at 5-8 and five other jumpers – including Yerigan and Masten – made it on their first attempts, Rogers was in sixth place when the bar was moved to 5-9¼. That momentary place in the standings didn’t faze Rogers. The weather was ideal – 70 degrees and no wind – and Rogers was prepared for the moment. “I had competed against the same people in the winter, so I came in pretty confident,” Rogers said. “I really believe in myself, and it ended up working out in my favor. I muscled the heck out of the jump to make sure I cleared it. “At one point I was in sixth place, then second place. I wasn’t in the lead until the final bar I could clear. As a jump squad we’ve become really good at the little things. Down to the last steps, Dusty has it down. He has it planned out day by day and we all just trust it.” Rogers and the rest of the Huskers who have qualified for the NCAA West Regional will head back to Fayetteville, which will determine qualifiers for the June 8-11 NCAA championship meet in Eugene, Oregon. “The main focus is just to be clean jumping,” Rogers said. “I want to clear every bar first attempt. That would put me in a real good position.” M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 3 3
FOOTBALL
From Huskers to Generals Former Nebraska Players and Coaches Are Populating the USFL By Steve Beideck
S
ix former Nebraska Cornhuskers are playing in the United States Football League, and three coaches with Husker ties are coaching in the new professional league. Wide receiver Alonzo Moore had his biggest game of the season on May 7, catching three passes for 104 yards and a touchdown to help lead the New Jersey Generals to a 21-13 victory over the Michigan Panthers, who have Kieron Williams at safety. The former Husker who has had the most impact for his team on defense is linebacker Josh Banderas. As the leading tackler for the Philadelphia Stars, Banderas has 41 total tackles, including 24 solo stops and two sacks for 15 yards through the first five games. Former NU defensive end Freedom Akinmoladun has 11 tackles for the Stars and the same number of sacks and yards lost – 2 for 15 – as Banderas. Tampa Bay Bandits safety Antonio Reed is the youngest former Husker in the league. Reed, 24, has 12 tackles (nine solo). Williams has 15 tackles (10 solo) for the Panthers, including eight stops in a
recent game against Philadelphia. One of the oldest players in the league is the Panthers’ former NU offensive lineman Keith Williams, 34, who played at Nebraska from 2007-10 for coaches Bill Callahan and Bo Pelini. Former Husker coach Mike Riley is leading the Generals. Riley brought along two people who worked with him during his threeyear tenure at Nebraska. James Rodgers Jr., who also played for Riley at Oregon State, was a Nebraska graduate manager in 2016 and 2017. He is coaching the New Jersey wide receivers, including Moore. The other Generals assistant who Riley famously brought to Nebraska is former defensive coordinator Bob Diaco. Listed on the Generals website as Robert Diaco, the former Connecticut head coach is the Generals’ defensive line coach. Diaco was NU’s defensive coordinator in 2017, Riley’s final season in Lincoln. Nebraska was 4-8 overall that season and 3-6 in the Big Ten.
TOM PENNINGTON/USFL/GETTY IMAGES
Through five games, linebacker Josh Banderas was the leading tackler for the Philadelphia Stars. 3 4 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
New Jersey Generals ALONZO MOORE, RECEIVER No. 13 6-1, 195 Age 29 Winnfield, Louisiana Years at Nebraska: 2013-16 Stats through five games: 3 starts, 7 catches, 139 yards Season highlight: In May 7 win over Pittsburgh, Moore had three catches for 104 yards and one touchdown.
Tampa Bay Bandits ANTONIO REED, SAFETY No. 42 6-0, 212 Age 24 Memphis, Tennessee Years at Nebraska: 2015-18 Stats through five games: 12 total tackles (9 solo)
Michigan Panthers KIERON WILLIAMS, SAFETY No. 20 6-1, 195 Age 27 Shreveport, Louisiana Years at Nebraska: 2014-17 Stats through five games: 15 total tackles, including 10 solo Season highlight: In May 6 loss to Philadelphia, Williams had eight total tackles, including seven solo stops. KEITH WILLIAMS, OFFENSIVE LINEMAN No. 77 6-7, 290 Age 34 Florissant, Missouri Years at Nebraska: 2007-10
Philadelphia Stars FREEDOM AKINMOLADUN, DEFENSIVE END No. 92 6-3, 278 Age 26 Grandview, Missouri Years at Nebraska: 2015-18 Stats through five games: 11 total tackles (8 solo); two sacks for 15 yards JOSH BANDERAS, LINEBACKER No. 52 6-2, 238 Age 27 Lincoln, Nebraska Years at Nebraska: 2013-16 Stats through five games: 41 total tackles (24 solo); two sacks for 15 yards Season highlight: The leading tackler on the team, Banderas had eight tackles (five solo) and one tackle for loss in the Stars’ May 6 victory over Michigan.
HEAD COACH: MIKE RILEY Years at Nebraska: 2015-17, head coach ROBERT DIACO, DEFENSIVE LINE Year at Nebraska: 2017, defensive coordinator New Jersey Generals Coaches
JAMES RODGERS JR., RECEIVERS Years at Nebraska: 2016-17, graduate manager M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 3 5
DYLAN BUELL/USFL/GETTY IMAGES WESLEY HITT/USFL/GETTY IMAGES
Kieron Williams is a safety for the Michigan Freedom Akinmoladun, a defensive end, has 11 tackles and two sacks for the Panthers and had 15 stops through five Stars. games.
MICHAEL WADE/ICON SPORTSWIRE/GETTY IMAGES
Receiver Alonzo Moore is putting up good numbers for the New Jersey Generals.
3 6 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
WESLEY HITT/USFL/GETTY IMAGES
The much-traveled Mike Riley is the coach and general manager of the New Jersey Generals. Besides leading the Nebraska (2015-2017) and Oregon State programs, he’s also been a head coach in the NFL and Canadian Football League, among others.
FOX SPORTS/USFL/GETTY IMAGES
James Rodgers Jr. played for Riley at Oregon State and was a Nebraska graduate manager for two seasons. He now coaches receivers for Riley with New Jersey.
FOX SPORTS/USFL/GETTY IMAGES
Bob Diaco was Nebraska’s defensive coordinator for a season under Riley. He now is New Jersey’s defensive line coach.
M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 3 7
TURN BACK THE CLOCK
It Was All Academic Prop 48 Players Were Major Contributors on NU’s 1995 Team
NEBRASKA N CORNHUSKERS U
TURN BACK THE CLOCK Story by Shane G. Gilster
I
t’s safe to say Nebraska will benefit this upcoming season from the NCAA’s transfer portal and name, image and likeness policies. But in the 1990s, it was a regulation known as Proposition 48 that enabled Nebraska to bring in players who, otherwise, probably would not have been Huskers. Nebraska built some of its best teams with the help of Proposition 48, which enabled it to enroll players who were partial or non-qualifiers academically.
Husker stars such as cornerback Michael Booker, defensive tackle Christian Peter, cornerback Tyrone Williams, receiver Reggie Baul and defensive end Jared Tomich all started for the Huskers during the 1995 championship season. All were “Prop 48s.” At the time, partial qualifiers were prospective athletes who met only one of two minimum academic requirements – grade point average or standardized test score. The minimums were a 2.0 GPA with a 900
JONATHAN DANIEL/GETTY IMAGES
Christian Peter, out of New Jersey, was a first-team All-Big Eight defensive lineman. 3 8 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
Tyrone Williams, from Florida, was a first-team All-Big Eight cornerback.
on the SAT or 21 on the ACT or a 2.5 GPA with a 700 SAT or 17 ACT. A non-qualifier met neither standard. If a school accepted a partial or non-qualifier, the athlete was ineligible for athletics for one year. The NCAA enacted Proposition 48 in January 1986, which allowed schools to enroll partial or non-qualifiers, and Nebraska took advantage, bringing in players who spent a year not playing but getting their grades in order. Many would then be eligible to play. But on Dec. 20, 1995, the Big 12 presidents voted unanimously to limit each school to four partial qualifiers per year (two men, two women) and no more than one in a single sport. That effectively ended the Husker success with a high number of Prop 48 players. Some say minimizing Prop 48 numbers was one of the main reasons Nebraska’s championship streak ended. That reasoning
NU MEDIA RELATIONS
has some merit considering the five Prop 48 starters on the 1995 squad thought by many to be the greatest college football team of all time. Tomich was a first-team All-American who led the team with 10 sacks. Peter, a first-team All-Big Eight pick, led the defensive line in tackles. Williams was a firstteam All-Big Eight selection, and Booker was the team-leader in interceptions and the player-of-the game in the Fiesta bowl against Florida. Other prominent Prop 48s on that team were outside linebacker Jamel Williams, who was the third-leading tackler; Eric Warfield, a backup safety; and running back Clinton Childs, who started one game at Iback and was the fourth-leading rusher and top kickoff returner. In all, Nebraska had 12 partial and nonqualifiers on the 1995 roster. A coach from
another high-profile team at the time commented: “Among elite schools, Nebraska is a true haven for partial and non-qualifiers. That coach wouldn’t get any argument from Childs. “I think Nebraska knew how to use Prop 48 players more than other teams,” Childs said. “For the state of Indiana to lose a player like Jared Tomich and the state of Florida to lose Tyrone Williams was crazy. It is a credit to the University of Nebraska because we had very successful Prop 48 players that played key roles on the team.” Childs was a highly recruited running back out of Omaha North and could have gone most anywhere in the country if he had fully qualified academically. “I got recruited by everyone in the Big Eight except Oklahoma,” Childs said. “My top choices were Kansas and Kansas State, but I also liked Miami, and when I didn’t
NU MEDIA RELATIONS
Eric Warfield, a safety from Arkansas, was a key player in 1995, playing in every game. M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 3 9
qualify, Miami offered James Stewart who later became their starting running back.” Childs had the necessary grade point average but was short on his ACT score. Nebraska offered a scholarship and he was part of the 1992 recruiting class but since he wasn’t going to qualify academically, he had to decide between junior college or take the Prop 48 offer from NU and sit out from competition for a year. “The junior college route wasn’t as glorified as it is today,” Childs said. “It didn’t appeal to me to go junior college and then go to Nebraska. Knowing that you had a full ride at Nebraska after your first year just seemed like the best route to go.” Once he arrived on campus, Childs felt like part of the team, even though he could not play. He had workouts, study table and
meal plans that were the same as the rest of the team. “The way it was constructed for Prop 48 guys made it seem like you weren’t missing a whole lot of stuff,” Childs said. “We had access to numerous things. We just couldn’t practice, suit up and play with the team on game days.” It was Nebraska’s academic support that was monumental in helping Childs make the grades and become eligible after his first year. He said he specifically remembered working with a woman named Pat Engelhardt. “She was a phenomenal person,” he said. Like Childs, Baul, from Papillion-La Vista, was another Prop 48 player who flourished in Nebraska’s system during that time. And like Childs, he had plans to go
out of state to play college ball, if not for his grades. “Nebraska offered me a scholarship but I told them no because I was going to go to Colorado State,” Baul said. “Their head coach was Earl Bruce and he sold their school. They passed the ball because they were in a pass-friendly conference.” Baul signed a letter of intent with CSU but he didn’t make the grades and fell under Proposition 48. The school released him from that commitment. “I didn’t have issues with the ACT score, but there were some core classes I didn’t know I needed. But coach Osborne and Nebraska kept in contact with me, even after I committed to Colorado State,” Baul said. “They were accepting Prop 48 players and asked me to be a walk-on with a chance to
NU MEDIA RELATIONS
Clinton Childs, out of Omaha North, was Nebraska’s fourth-leading rusher and top kickoff returner in 1995.
4 0 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
earn a scholarship.” After sitting out the 1991 season, Baul earned his scholarship the following year due to good grades and a fast 40-yard dash time (4.4). He also performed well in practices. He didn’t play in 1992 as NU decided to redshirt him. He became the Huskers’ second-leading receiver in 1995 and a second-team All-Big Eight pick as a punt returner. Warfield, who was from Texarkana, Arkansas, wasn’t a starter but played in every game in 1995. Like Childs and Baul, he could have gone to a lot of places if he had qualified academically. His top schools during the recruiting process were Arkansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska, but after he found out his ACT score was not high enough, a
Prop 48 offer from NU was his best choice. “The year I sat out, I made the necessary grades with ease,” Warfield said. “I played basketball and got to know the guys on my dorm floor and on the team. I was there to get an education and to play football and ease my way into adulthood and develop independence. I was accepted into an environment I didn’t grow up in and learned how to adapt.” Would Nebraska have won the 1995 national championship if there wasn’t Proposition 48? That debate is hypothetical. It is possible NU still might have gotten some of those players eventually after they qualified academically. The bottom line was Proposition 48 benefited NU and the players who fell under its
guidelines. It gave high school athletes like Childs a chance to prove themselves after being denied – sometimes by a single test score. “Probably 80% to 90% of people don’t even utilize stuff from those ACT and SAT tests, and those (tests) don’t determine if you can be successful in college,” Childs said. “You have tests made up by a bunch of people who probably have no idea the impact it has on kids’ lives.” Yes, Nebraska won championships with Prop 48 players, but as time has gone on, perhaps it’s more important that a lot of good football players also received elite academic support and ultimately received degrees. Either way, it’s a good legacy.
NU MEDIA RELATIONS (2)
Jared Tomich, from Indiana, was a first-team All-American at defensive end.
Reggie Baul, out of Papillion-La Vista, was second on the team in receiving yards in 1995. M AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 4 1
PRESENTED BY
HUSKER LEGENDS
It’s the Size of the Fight In the Dog Barron Miles Had the Heart and Desire to Succeed By Shane G. Gilster
UNL SPORTS INFORMATION
Barron Miles was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 2005 and was a sixth-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He had a long career with the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL. 4 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
W
hen it comes to describing Barron Miles, a Mark Twain quote comes to mind. “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” Miles wasn’t your prototype defensive back at 5-foot-8, 165 pounds, but he was able to play at the highest level in college and professionally because of his desire to succeed. “Barron was one of the most confident guys I have ever been around,” said former NU linebacker Troy Dumas. “He was so confident to the point that it could be offending sometimes because he wanted to be the best at everything on and off the field. He was super aggressive and played every play 100 miles per hour.” Miles not only had to overcome perceived physical limitations, but also academic issues that threatened his eligibility to play college football. Miles was a talented option quarterback and safety for Abraham Clark High School in Roselle, New Jersey. “I prided myself playing multiple positions on the football field,” he said. “As long as you put me there, I could play it.” Miles’ top schools were Syracuse, Kansas, Northwestern and the University of Massachusetts because they were recruiting him as a quarterback. “My ultimate school was Oklahoma because I loved watching their quarterback Jamelle Holieway run the option,” Miles said. “But my brothers loved Nebraska and Turner Gill, so we would watch the Nebraska-Oklahoma game all the time.” Schools backed off once Miles’ academic scores were known. But Nebraska maintained contact and told Miles about their Prop 48 program, which took partial qualifies and gave them a chance to make the team. “They said I needed a GPA of 2.0 and maintained that through the whole year and after that I could go on scholarship,” Miles said. “Nebraska’s Prop 48 program allowed me to prove that I could maintain a GPA well enough to stay in school and participate in sports.” During the 1991 fall and 1992 spring semesters at NU, Miles proved himself in the classroom and to his future teammates and coaches. He stayed on task because his main goal was to get his grades right to be eligible to play football when it was time. “The year I sat out, I was a pest,” said Miles, who couldn’t participate with the
Miles was the CFL East Division Rookie of the Year and played seven seasons in Montreal. He is still a coach with the Alouettes.
team during practices. “I did everything possible to try and get on the field but would get kicked off. I would watch the guys on the field and then off on the side; I would try and do the same things. I also hit the weight room hard and got stronger. “I would also play other sports like basketball to showcase my quickness, speed and athleticism. I wanted to show the rest of the team that I was a player and I would be ready to play the next year.” When fall practice kicked off for the 1992 season, Miles was ready for action. The NU coaches put him at cornerback and he quickly rose up the depth chart becoming a backup to senior Kenny Wilhite at left corner and played in every game that year. “I trusted the coaches at the University of Nebraska and that was all I needed,” Miles said. “It was an honor for me to be able to go in and sub for players like Kenny Wilhite. The upperclassmen were OK with it as long as we were successful and continued to grow as a team.”
Miles’ influence on the team also grew on special teams. He was the backup punter in 1993 and served as a kickoff returner. But his biggest impact was blocking kicks. “I remember one day in practice coach (Tony) Samuel asked if anyone could block a kick,” Miles said. “I was catching punts at the time but I ran up to coach Samuel and said I could block punts all day. So, he said, ‘Go ahead, let’s see what you got.’ I lined up on the next play, blocked the punt and that was history.” Dumas remembers Miles’ impact. “He took the special teams thing and ran with it,” Dumas said. “He made playing special teams cool because a lot of guys were reluctant to play it. He was intense coming off the corner trying to block kicks.” Miles would block three kicks that season, including a field goal attempt by North Texas, and punts against Oklahoma State and Iowa State. His blocked punt against the Cowboys, which he landed on for a touchdown, was the CNN/ESPN Play-ofM AY 2 0 2 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 4 3
DOMINICK GRAVEL ALOUETTES DE MONTREAL
Today, Miles is the defensive coordinator of the Montreal Alouettes.
the-Week. Also in that game, he added a career high eight tackles and one breakup to become the Big Eight Defensive Player of the Week and the ESPN Player of the Game. In the 1994 NU media guide, Miles said, “Special teams keeps me motivated. If I have a good play on special teams, it gets me more pumped up to play my normal position (left corner).” In his first year as a full-time starter in 1993, Miles earned first-team All-Big Eight honors by the conference coaches. He was sixth on the team in tackles with 50 stops, five breakups and an interception. Against UCLA that season, Miles had to match up against J.J. Stokes, the Bruins’ 6-4 AllAmerican receiver. The 5-8 Miles held Stokes to six catches for 65 yards and no touchdowns. He finished the game with seven tackles and two breakups. “My height gave me an advantage because opposing receivers took me lightly,” Miles said. “I took every challenge to heart and knew my capabilities. I could time the football in the air and had good hand/eye coordination. I trusted in myself and that’s all that mattered. When I knew I was going against a good receiver in a game like a Michael Westbrook (Colorado) or J.J. Stokes, I was geared up. I was on top of my game and didn’t falter.” Miles was one of the main reasons the Huskers won the national championship in 1994. He earned third-team All-America honors from The Associated Press and was first-team All-Big Eight at cornerback. He also won the New Jersey Sports Writers 4 4 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
Association College Defensive Back-ofthe-Year award with 13 breakups and five interceptions. He recorded a school-record six pass breakups against Kansas State and was named the player of the week by the Big Eight, ABC/Chevrolet and Athlon. After the game, NU coach Tom Osborne said, “I though Barron made some great plays out there. He’s a phenomenal athlete.” Miles also continued his special teams prowess that season, once again serving as the team’s backup punter and blocking four kicks as an edge rusher. In the final game against Oklahoma, Miles blocked a 33-yard field goal attempt by OU, helping preserve a 13-3 win for the Huskers. It was a school-record fourth blocked kick and seventh of his career (five punts and two field goals). In the 1995 Orange Bowl against the Miami Hurricanes, Miles had 12 total tackles and broke up three passes in Nebraska’s 2417 win. “He rose to the challenge when playing taller receivers,” Dumas said. “Against Miami in the Orange Bowl, there is a picture of him showing how high he could jump breaking up a pass. He was like our entire 1994 defense, which was up for the challenge with a do-or-die type of mentality in every game.” Despite all his success at Nebraska, he wasn’t looked at as a sure-fire NFL draft prospect. “A lot of teams looked at me and I didn’t pass the eye test,” Miles said. “I was undersized and teams didn’t want to take a chance on me early in the draft. My 40-yard dash fastest time (4.63) hurt my NFL draft status, but I was more of a game player; put me on the field and I played fast.” Miles was a sixth-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1995 but wasn’t able to establish himself on the team during a three-year, on-and-off relationship. So he left for the Canadian Football League, joining the Montreal Alouettes in 1998. He became the CFL East Division Rookie of the Year and played seven seasons in Montreal. He then played for the BC Lions in British Columbia from 2005 to 2009. Miles was a six-time CFL All-Star and finished his career with 66 interceptions in 12 years in the CFL. He also finished his playing career as the CFL’s career leader for blocked kicks (13) and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2018.
“The CFL was tailored to undersized guys,” he said. “It is a faster game that fit my ability.” Miles then transitioned into coaching, staying in the CFL coaching defensive backs. He currently serves as the Alouettes’ defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. “I always wanted to be a coach. It started at Nebraska when I was picking the brains of NU coaches like Tony Samuel, Turner Gill, Kevin Steele and George Darlington,” Miles said. “I was asking real questions, wanting to know why they were asking certain things and what motivated players. It all intrigued me.”
Miles blocked a punt and fell on the ball for a touchdown against Oklahoma State in 1993.
Miles, who is 50, would someday like to make it back to the United States and coach in the NFL or college. For him and his wife, Jennifer, the timing is better to do just that, as his youngest daughter, Ava, is graduating high school; his oldest daughter, Raven, 26, is independent; and his son, Barron Jr., is a redshirt freshman walk-on football player at Nebraska. “My son had trouble with his hips in high school, so he didn’t play as a sophomore and junior and a little bit his senior year. He didn’t have any recruiting offers, so we went to different schools,” Miles said. “When it came to Nebraska, we knew they would take care of him and when he was offered a walk-on spot, we took it. I try to get back to Lincoln at least twice a year but my wife (who is from Schuyler) and daughters get back there a lot more.”
FOOD, FESTIVALS & FUN. YOU’RE SURE TO FIND SOME IN SARPY COUNTY! We’ll Smoke U BBQ, Gretna 22
Papillion Days 20
Werner Park, Papillion
Wine, Blues, Beer & Balloon Festival, Springfield
JUNE 4-5 Wine, Blues, Beer & Balloon Festival Soaring Wings, Springfield, NE JUNE 9-11 Bellevue Rocks! Riverfront Festival American Heroes Park, Bellevue
Springfield Days 2022
Wicked Hen Farmhouse, Springfield
Pint NIne Brewing Co.
JUNE 10-11 Springfield Days 2022 JUNE 11-12 Omaha Potter Faire 2022 Bellevue Berry & Pumpkin Ranch, Bellevue JUNE 16-19 Papillion Days 2022 Sawyer Brown at Bellevue Rocks!, June 11th
Omaha Potter Faire, Bellevue
In Sarpy County, we have festivals and fun for everything and everyone! Try your hand at the Lucky Duck Races during Springfield Days. Watch fireworks ignite the night over the Missouri
Summer Kitchen Ca
fe, La Vista
River at Bellevue Rocks! Riverfront Festival. Or simply enjoy a frosty mug of homemade ale or sip on a fresh glass of Nebraska wine in one of our many local brewpubs, distilleries or winery. As we kick off the season here in Sarpy County, be sure to pick your event, mark your calendars and enjoy all that our communities have to offer! Visit us online at GoSarpy.com!
• BELLEVUE • GRETNA • LA VISTA • PAPILLION • SPRINGFIELD • OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE M AY OMAHA 2 0 2 2 | HMETRO U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | 4 5
HUSKER TRIVIA Presented by
3.
NU quarterback Casey Thompson’s father, Charles, was the starting quarterback for #2 Oklahoma that beat #1 Nebraska. What was this game called and what was the year?
4. 5.
Who was Nebraska’s only first-team AllAmerican defensive back in the 1980s?
6.
NU set a team and NCAA record with 36 first downs (rushing) in a game. Name the year and opponent.
7. 8.
What was the highest-rated team Bo Pelini beat as the head coach of Nebraska?
9.
Nebraska’s record during the 2010-2019 decade was 73-54. Where did that rank nationally?
10.
What two Huskers hold the NU fullback record for most rushing attempts (25) in a game?
What was the quickest score the Huskers had in a game?
Nebraska holds the NCAA record for consecutive bowl appearances. Which team has the best current streak?
4 6 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | M AY 2 0 2 2
Who am I?
I became the first Nebraska player to leave school for the NFL before my eligibility had expired.
ANSWERS 1) Dominic Raiola (second round, 50th overall) 2) 1963 (won 29-20 over #6 Oklahoma) 3) Game of the Century II, 1987 4) Bret Clark (1984) 5) Jerry Brown, 1956, & Ken Kaelin, 1986 6) 1982, New Mexico State 7) #9 Michigan State (2011) 8) Seven seconds into the first quarter (Terrell Farley fumble return vs. Texas Tech, 1996) 9) 42nd 10) Georgia, 24 bowl appearances (1997-present)
2.
When was Bob Devaney’s first win over a ranked team as the head coach at Nebraska?
WHO AM I? Johnny Mitchell (1990-1991)
1.
Cam Jurgens was selected in the second round, 51st overall of the NFL Draft this year. Who was Nebraska’s last center to have been picked that high?
Choices Treatment Center
Certified Problem Gambling Counselors 127 S. 37th Street, Suite B | Lincoln, NE 68510
24-Hour Helpline: 1.402.476.2300 ChoicesTreatmentCenter.com Nebraska Gamblers Assistance Program Helpline: 1.833.238.6837 ProblemGambling.Nebraska.gov National Problem Gambling Helpline Network 1.800.522.4700 ATEEDD | | 4477 D E C E M BMEAY R 22002212 | | HHUUSSKKEERRSS I ILLLLUUSSTTRRAT
THE ORIG I NA L MAG AZI NE DEDI CAT E D TO NE BRAS KA AT HL E T I CS
ILLUSTRATED
huskersillustrated@smithkroeger.com
1-800-524-9527
Big (Red) Smiles in East Lansing
4 8 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | UNL SPORTS INFORMATION
The Nebraska softball team poses with the Big Ten championship trophy on May 14 after beating No. 23 Michigan 3-1 in the conference title game at Michigan State’s Secchia Stadium. Nebraska (40-14) earned its first Big Ten Tournament title since joining the conference and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they played in the Stillwater NCAA Regional in Oklahoma. M AY 2022