Huskers Illustrated Issue #42-3 August 2022

T H E

O R I G I N A L

M A G A Z I N E

ILLUSTRATED

D E D I C A T E D

T O

N E B R A S K A

A T H L E T I C S

AUGUST 2022 VOLUME 42 | NO. 03 | $ 6 . 9 5

FAMILY TRADITION

Maverick Noonan and Sam Sledge P. 4

USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten is a boon for Nebraska. P. 10

From the Publisher

BY JEFF BUNDY

jbundy@smithkroeger.com

Is This the Year?

W

ell, that time of year has finally come. Husker Nation has been debating since the spring game over whether this will be Scott Frost’s breakthrough year or his final year. Since last football season we have had a coaching staff overhaul, a revised head coach’s contract, 16 new faces from the portal and a small recruiting class that didn’t much impress the experts, ranked No. 41 nationally and No. 10 in the Big Ten, according to 247Sports composite.

Frost has to make it work this year, for himself to retain his job and for the fan base’s morale. To what degree of success Frost must reach, only Athletic Director Trev Alberts knows.

For the record, I am a Frost fan. I covered him as a high school athlete, at Nebraska as a quarterback and now as the head coach, but here is a fact: With Frost’s current record of 15-29, it would take four years of 8-4 seasons to reach a winning percentage of .500 at Nebraska. In the Big Ten, 8-4 is not easy. Cleveland.com in its Big Ten preseason poll of writers who cover the league picked Nebraska to finish fifth in the West Division ahead of only Illinois and Northwestern. That’s a good indication of what those outside the program think of Frost’s work. Let’s hope they are wrong.

A lot is riding on this season. If Frost does not get it done, can the fan base take another coaching search and the inevitable rebuilding years? Will the sellout streak stay intact? Will donors continue to open up their wallets?

When answering the phone here at the office, I always get the same questions.

How does the team look and is this Frost’s year? It’s hard for me to answer. Just because we cover the team does not mean we have unlimited access. We were allowed to watch two practices for 30 minutes during fall camp. Here is what I can tell you: The team appears to be holding each other accountable for their mess ups. This 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2

is a little thing, but during stretching one player called out a teammate for not doing all of his jumping jacks. The entire team did the exercise again. You may think, who cares about jumping jacks? But it was an example of players holding other players accountable. We heard that theme over and over through fall camp.

Off the field, there have been a lot of dynamics that appear positive for Nebraska. All the Big Ten schools look to financially benefit from the addition of UCLA and USC. A new television deal starting in 2023 will bring in more than $1 billion annually to the conference with games being broadcast on Fox, NBC and CBS. With ESPN out of the picture, more people – meaning even those without cable – will have access to the games and that could help with attracting players.

I would imagine that Husker fans will travel very well to California rather than going to New Jersey. Contributing writer Thad Livingston breaks down the move of UCLA and USC to the Big Ten and what it means for Nebraska football. You can read Livingston’s column on Page 10.

Our cover story is about family tradition – Sam Sledge and Maverick Noonan following in their fathers’ footsteps to play football for the Huskers. Bob Sledge was an offensive tackle who graduated in 1988.

Danny Noonan was a nose guard who graduated in 1986. Their sons, both 2023 recruits, are impressive young men. At the photo shoot both shook my hand, looked me in the eye and confidently visited with me. These are not the first sons to follow in their fathers’ footsteps. Nebraska has had quite a list of father/son combos. Here are a few: Larry and Scott Frost; Tom, Barrett and Bo Ruud; Johnny and Terry Rodgers; Tony and Josh Davis; Dean, Baker and Ty Steinkuhler; Jimmy, Jamie and Dan Burrows; Tom and Josh Banderas; Barney, Sam, Ben and Jake Cotton; Ben and Morgan Gregory; Bill and Jesse Kosch; Tony and

Joey Felici; Dan and Cole Pensick; and Scott and John Raridon.

You can read more about the Noonans and Sledges in the story written by contributing writer Clark Grell on Page 4. *** Husker volleyball was selected No. 1 in the AVCA preseason poll. The last time John Cook’s squad was preseason No. 1 was in 2016. That team went 31-3 and was eliminated by Texas 3-0 in the NCAA tournament semifinals.

With the national championship being held in Omaha this year, you know Cook’s radar will be pointed 50 miles north all season. Contributing writer Lincoln Arneal will be covering the volleyball team for Huskers Illustrated. You can read more about the team in Arneal’s story on Page 32. *** Men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg also has a restructured contract. Will the hiring of assistant coach Ernie Zeigler from Mississippi State and native son portal transfer Sam Griesel help the basketball team get over the hump? Jacob Bigelow offers his opinion on Page 36.

Ernie Zeigler

As always, thank you for for being a subscriber to Huskers Illustrated. We appreciate your support and readership. Go Big Red!

CONTENTS AUGUST 2022 * VOLUME 42 * NO. 03

04 10 38

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

BY CLARK GRELL

Omaha high school stars Maverick Noonan and Sam Sledge are headed to Nebraska, just like their fathers.

06

BY THAD LIVINGSTON

32

TURN BACK THE CLOCK: KICKOFF CLASSIC

42

WELCOME ADDITIONS

Why USC and UCLA joining the Big Ten is good for Nebraska.

BY SHANE G. GILSTER

The Tommie Frazier-led Huskers were way too much for West Virginia in 1994.

DAD IN THE STANDS

BY CLARK GRELL

Charles Thompson will be back in Memorial Stadium on Sept. 17 – this time to see his son Casey play against his old team.

LOTS OF LEADERS

BY LINCOLN ARNEAL

The Husker volleyball team has more than its share of players with leadership potential.

HUSKER LEGENDS: TODD BROWN

BY SHANE G. GILSTER

The split end out of Holdrege came to Nebraska at 160 pounds but quickly proved he was a bigtime player.

ON THE COVER Former Huskers stars Danny Noonan and Bob Sledge pose with their sons and Husker recruits Maverick and Sam. The next Huskers Illustrated edition will mail in late September.

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@huskersillustrated.com Lead Designer: TODD BIRCHARD Copy Editor/Proofreader: MARILEE MAGIERA Photographer: JIMMY RASH Photographer: REGGIE RYDER Contributing Writer: LINCOLN ARNEAL Contributing Writer: STEVE BEIDECK Contributing Writer: JACOB BIGELOW Contributing Writer: SHAWN EKWALL Contributing Writer: SHANE G. GILSTER Contributing Writer: CLARK GRELL Contributing Writer: THAD LIVINGSTON Contributing Writer: MIKE MALLOY Contributing Writer: NICK RUBEK ADVERTISING: Solo Tree Media | Shane G. Gilster at 402-742-0125 or shaneg@huskersillustrated.com

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FOOTBALL

FILE PHOTO

An offensive tackle, Bob Sledge was named All-Big Eight in 1988.

JEFF BUNDY/HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED

Sam Sledge, a four-year starter at Omaha Creighton Prep, is destined for Nebraska’s offensive line.

Like Father, Like Son

Sam Sledge and Maverick Noonan Are Headed to Nebraska; Their Dads Blazed the Trail

By Clark Grell

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ob Sledge and Danny Noonan were teammates at Nebraska for a couple of years in the 1980s.

They made a living in the trenches – Sledge at offensive tackle, and Noonan on the defensive side at middle guard.

There may have been some moments of mixing it up, Sledge said. Some scuffles with teammates, but it was always fun.

“He was a very good nose guard and very powerful,” Sledge recalled of Noonan, who was a consensus All-American his senior year in 1986. “It was a lot of fun. You learned a lot going against him, I know that, because he was a tough dude.”

They were both tough dudes (Nebraska had a lot of them back then).

More than 30 years later, their last names are resurfacing. Bob and Danny each have sons in Nebraska’s 2023 recruiting class, and like their fathers, Maverick Noonan and Sam Sledge are tenacious and tough.

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Maverick is a 6-foot-4, 235-pound rush end at Elkhorn South. Sam is a 6-4, 270-pound offensive tackle at Creighton Prep. They’ll be helping their high school teams this fall before tackling college football at Nebraska, a program they know very well through stories, VHS tapes, YouTube clips and old jerseys.

Maverick didn’t have a full understanding of his father’s impact at Nebraska until recent years when he started diving into the highlights.

“He just kicked the (crap) out of the center every time,” said Maverick, who committed to Nebraska in June. “He just bull-rushed everyone on every play for four quarters.”

Bob was a longtime offensive line coach at Omaha Gross so Sam grew up on football fields. But it wasn’t until Sam started playing the game around the sixth or seventh grade when he started to go down

some YouTube rabbit holes.

Sam zeroed in on No. 62, a physical tackle who liked to get down the field and maybe take out a defensive back or two. By his senior year of 1988, Bob was an All-Big Eight lineman.

“Blocking a cornerback or a linebacker, he would always get into them and try to hit them as hard as he could,” Sam said. “I feel like I have that same kind of trait.”

A four-year starter, Sam is one of the state’s top offensive linemen, maybe the best. Funny thing is, he grew up with no interest in playing with his hand in the dirt.

When he tagged along with Dad to practice at Omaha Gross, Sam could always be found around the quarterbacks, wide receivers and kickers.

“He wanted to catch the balls and kick the balls and stuff like that,” Bob said.

Sam played quarterback when he was in the seventh grade. He played some tight

FILE PHOTO

Danny Noonan was a one-man wrecking crew for the Blackshirts in the mid-1980s.

end, too, before outgrowing that position.

Maybe it was the work in the weight room, or the family DNA, but Sam was destined to play offensive tackle like his dad.

“I knew he had a lot of ability just watching him because there’s certain things that came easy for him,” said Bob, who is Creighton Prep’s O-line coach, giving him a chance to coach his son. “Football sense, I think that’s part of being around it a lot. As far as his physical ability, he could do a lot of things.”

Sam had a big junior year and he was offered a Husker scholarship in January.

Committing to Nebraska was a “nobrainer,” he said.

“It was really special,” Sam said. “It was my decision, but (Dad) was in it the whole way, and my mom and so was the rest of my family. It was all of our decisions and they’re all happy with me going down there.

I wouldn’t want to do it any other way.”

The Noonans experienced a similar feeling in June when Maverick and his family drove down to Lincoln to deliver Scott Frost the news that he’d be a future Husker.

Though his father remains one of the greatest Blackshirts to play the game, there was no guarantee that Maverick was going to follow in Dad’s footsteps.

JEFF BUNDY/HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED

Nebraska was the first school to make an offer to Maverick Noonan, who stars at Elkhorn South.

In fact, “That probably hurt Nebraska more than it helped with me being a former player,” Danny said. “When people would come up to Maverick, (and ask), ‘You want to follow your dad down there?’ That’s the wrong thing to say to him if they were recruiting him. Not that he doesn’t like going there but he’s got to create his own path.

“It’s his own path, not mine.”

Nebraska was the first school to offer Maverick, and 10 more Division I offers followed, including Iowa, Stanford and Minnesota.

Wanting to be close to his family, including his 6-year-old sister Marisa, Maverick, who also plays offensive tackle at Elkhorn South, chose the Huskers.

“I was just going to do whatever felt best for me,” Maverick said when asked about going to the same school as his father.

“Is it cool? Yeah. But is that any factor whatsoever? No.” If anyone knows a great defensive player when he sees one, it’s Danny Noonan. He was the Big Eight Athlete of the Year as a senior before being drafted in the first round of the 1987 NFL Draft. He played seven years in the league, six of them with the Dallas Cowboys. He later served as an assistant strength and conditioning coach

at NU where he worked with the Kelsey brothers, Grant Wistrom, Michael Rucker and others.

When Danny played, he relied on brute strength to dominate inside. In Maverick, Danny sees a player that has an array of moves to get around the edge and is a true student of the game.

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

Danny and Bob are each in the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame. They are known names in Husker lore. They shared similar traits as players and followed identical approaches as fathers: support their kids and don’t push them to a certain sport or school.

In the end, Maverick and Sam became Nebraska legacy recruits, and their fathers couldn’t be more proud.

“I don’t know how to say it, just a lot of pride went through me,” Bob said of when Sam committed to NU. “It was fun to watch.”

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J. PAT CARTER/HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED

Former Oklahoma quarterback Charles Thompson holds a portrait of himself and his son, Casey, now a quarterback at Nebraska after transferring from Texas. “I’m 100% supportive and behind my son,” Charles said.

Casey Thompson Gets Another Shot at OU Charles Thompson Will Be in the Stands When Sooners Return to Memorial Stadium

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harles Thompson loves talking football with his three sons, including Casey. They’ll talk strategy before games. They’ll recap the games. They are film junkies.

On this winter day in Lincoln, Charles was talking history with his middle son – a little Sooner-Cornhusker blast from the past.

Casey, who had just entered the transfer portal after four years at Texas, was on an unofficial visit to Nebraska. It was his first look at Memorial Stadium. But not Dad’s.

About 35 years after leading Oklahoma to a victory over NU, the memories are still clear as day.

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By Clark Grell They walked around the stadium.

Charles showed Casey where he made some big plays. He pointed out that it was the Sooners running out of the northwest tunnel on a cold November day.

“I told him the sideline on this play …,” Charles recalled. “‘You remember this play I ran? …’”

This, however, was more than a trip to revisit the past. It was about Casey’s future and where he was going to finish his college career. Dad wanted his son to go to a school that put him in the best position to succeed – even if that meant playing for the rival Huskers.

Casey, of course, picked Nebraska. It

was a proud and emotional day for father and son, and somewhat of a surreal moment for Charles, who has and always will bleed Oklahoma red.

Now imagine the emotions Charles will encounter on Sept. 17 when he watches Casey, who is projected to start under center this fall, lead the Huskers against his beloved Sooners in Lincoln.

“No one questions my love and passion that I have for the University of Oklahoma, the fact that I played there and what it means to me,” Charles said from his home in Oklahoma City. “But I’m 100% supportive and behind my son and I want him to have success. To answer your question that

J. PAT CARTER/HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED

Football is never too far from Charles Thompson’s thoughts. His old Sooner jersey and a magazine cover that hang in his home are just two of many constant reminders.

may come: Who will I be rooting for? Of course, it will be Casey and the Nebraska Cornhuskers.”

The man who delivered Nebraska fans heartache in the “Game of the Century II” will have the Huskers close to his heart this year.

he was the only kid on the sideline that never took his helmet off,” Charles said.

“He loved hitting. He was a physical guy, and he was kind of tough to be honest with you, at a young age. You could feel he had a knack for the game of football from a very early age.”

tough critique without Casey taking it the wrong way.

“A lot of people that are around us will say, ‘Gosh, you’re really hard on Casey,’” Charles said. “But that’s how we can identify and talk to each other. He expects me to push him to be the best he can be.”

*** *** Charles Thompson wasn’t The Thompsons love supposed to start under football. For Charles, that center when No. 2 Oklahoma included watching each of visited No. 1 Nebraska on his three boys play on Friday Nov. 21, 1987. Jamelle nights in Oklahoma. His Holieway, who led OU to oldest son, Kendal, played - Charles on Casey a national championship in quarterback at Oklahoma By the sixth or seventh grade, Casey 1985, was the Sooners’ rock at QB, but he before finishing his collegiate run at moved to the position he loved most – tore his ACL against Oklahoma State.

Utah and later in the NFL. Casey had an quarterback. Dad was there every step of Enter Charles, a 5-foot-9, 165-pound illustrious prep career before heading to the way, grooming his son to be a collegeredshirt freshman who played much bigger Texas. Cade, the youngest, also played high ready signal-caller. than his size listed in the program. school football.

Does Charles see a little of himself when The Lawton, Oklahoma, native was now Since they were little, Charles has watching Casey play the position? mentored his boys, coaching them in his the Sooners’ starting QB two weeks ahead “I think just a little OCD,” Charles said. youth football program. Interestingly, of the showdown in Lincoln. OU was No. 1 “(We) just want to be perfect. The one because he had a couple other talented when it played Missouri in mid-November thing that we have in common is we love – a week ahead of NU – but the Sooners quarterbacks on the team, Charles had watching film. You don’t have to force barely escaped (17-13), and they swapped Casey play tight end, running back and Casey to do it. He’s just going to do it places with Nebraska in the Top 25. linebacker growing up. automatically. That’s just who he is.”

All that did was ignite a spark in That was OK with Casey.

Their relationship is built on love, trust “People used to identify Casey because Thompson. and honesty. Charles knows he can offer a

“He loved hitting. He was a physical guy, and he was kind of tough to be honest with you, at a young age.”

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FILE PHOTO

Above: Charles Thompson was a 5-foot-9, 165-pound redshirt freshman when he ran for 126 yards to help the No. 2 Sooners beat No. 1 Nebraska in 1987. Below: Huskers Illustrated commemorated what some dubbed the Game of the Century II with a remake of a 1971 Sports Illustrated cover previewing the Game of the Century.

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What stands out about the highly anticipated Game of the Century II? Charles remembered seeing Nebraska’s defensive linemen warming up without sleeves on a frigid day, even though teammate Keith Jackson told him, “Don’t look at the linemen,” during warmups.

He remembered a loud Memorial Stadium making it tough to get the game’s first snap off.

“I can’t explain to you the knots that were in my throat,” Charles said.

“But I lived and prepared for that moment, and it was something that I just knew I had to go out there and do what I’ve known and knew how to do my entire life and play the game of football.”

He ran the wishbone offense like a veteran, rushing for 126 yards as the Sooners bulldozed their way to a 17-7 one-sided victory.

“When you talk about a big-stage game … (When) I was 6 years old I dreamed of playing in that game, and I watched it many, many times on Thanksgiving Day,” Charles said. “And here I was a part of it – a right to not only win a Big Eight championship, but a chance to play for a national championship in the Orange Bowl.”

Charles was an All-Big Eight quarterback in 1988, but his collegiate career came to an abrupt stop after a drug arrest. He never played for the Sooners again, but Thompson grew from the experience.

He eventually returned to school to earn his degree and became a motivational speaker. He’s a licensed minister and runs the Oklahoma City Inner Youth Football Program, which unfolds over a 22-acre plot of land.

“My dad has done a great job of just preaching patience, just being ready for my opportunity, and also staying focused,” Casey told ESPN last year. “The experiences he went through in life, having to deal with adversity, has molded who I am today and I’m very appreciative of that.”

Charles’ sons have seen most of his Oklahoma games on tape, and yes, the NU-OU game of 1987 comes up a lot. On that day, Charles cemented his place in one of college football’s best rivalries.

“We’ve watched years of me even playing back from my high school days all the way to my college days, so they certainly know a lot about what I consider the best game I played at Oklahoma,” Charles said. *** Sept. 17 will not be the first time Charles has rooted for his son against the Sooners. Just last year, Casey piloted Texas’ offense against OU in the Red River rivalry, another one of college football’s great clashes.

The intertwining story was a part of ESPN’s “College GameDay” broadcast on the same day OU and Texas met in Dallas. ESPN’s Chris Fowler asked Charles what he was going to feel watching his son play against his school.

“When people say it and they talk about it in a futuristic tense, it doesn’t really do it justice when it’s in the moment,” said Charles, who knows the Red River rivalry well – he broke free for a 65-yard touchdown against the Horns in 1987. “I remember how I felt leading up to it. (Fowler) even tried to explain what I was going to feel, and it wasn’t nearly as close to what it felt like.”

A nervous father watched as Casey, making his fourth start, completed 20-of-34 passes for 388 yards and five touchdowns in the Longhorns’ 5548 loss to the Sooners. Charles, of course, wanted a different outcome for his son.

It took a long time to get used to watching Casey don the burnt orange, Charles added, which is why he wore a black Texas shirt to his son’s games.

Charles doesn’t like to use the word “hate,” but back when he played there was no other way to describe Texas. “It’s hard as you get older to use the word hated, but that’s how you described it as an adjective,” he said.

“We really had this hatred for Texas. With Nebraska, it was a rivalry, but it was a mutual respected rivalry. Kind of like we almost feared that these guys could be on your level.

J. PAT CARTER/HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED

“We really had this hatred for Texas,” said Charles Thompson of his playing days at Oklahoma. “With Nebraska, it was a rivalry, but it was a mutual respected rivalry.”

“With Texas, it was just more I can’t serving as offensive coordinator at Oregon masterpiece in a 10-3 Husker win.

For Casey, it will be another shot at the stand them, and I want to beat them.” and then recruited the quarterback at UCF. Sooners after falling short last year. Charles But those feelings have passed. Charles Their paths finally crossed in Lincoln. will be in the stands, his legacy painted enjoyed watching Casey emerge as Texas’ Casey had to wait a little to show his new in Sooner crimson but his rooting interest starting quarterback last year. teammates what he could do with his arm, He watched as Casey threw for 2,113 but he didn’t waste any time putting his firmly in the corner of Nebraska.

Speaking of corners, Casey and his yards and a Big 12-best 24 touchdowns. smarts on display. Just two weeks into his new teammates will enter But when UT coach Steve the field from the same Sarkisian told reporters that he northwest tunnel that was opening the quarterback Charles ran out of 35 years competition ahead of the ago. And for the second 2022 season, the junior-tostraight year, Casey will be decided it was in his best be staring straight into interest to pursue a new - Casey Thompson the rich history of the opportunity.

“Honestly, I think sometimes in life you time in Lincoln, Casey took his offensive Oklahoma program, one that includes his just feel like it’s time for a restart,” Casey linemen to Rodizio Grill for dinner, picking father.

“When I look at it, it’s kind of weird how told reporters in the spring. “It’s time for up the tab. a change. I kind of just felt like I stuck Then he went to work with the wideouts. life goes,” Charles said. “Oklahoma and Texas is a rivalry and Oklahoma-Nebraska around. I went through different offenses Casey was feeling at home. is a rivalry. To have a son to participate in and coaching staffs, and I just felt like it *** both of those rivalries … it’s modern day was time for me to move on.”

It’s the spiciest home game of the college football that you can have a son, the Casey chose Nebraska over Oklahoma and Auburn in early January, then plunged season. When Nebraska hosts Oklahoma in same son, one year play against my school into a new playbook. He already had a September, the Sooners will likely be a top- and next year be at the other school and connection with Scott Frost. The Nebraska 10 team. The last time they were in Lincoln participate in that rivalry.

“You can never say never.” head coach began following Casey while (2009), Bo Pelini put together a defensive

“My dad has done a great job of just preaching patience, just being ready for my opportunity, and also staying focused.”

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FOOTBALL

FILE PHOTO

The Huskers take the field in 2012 at UCLA's home field at Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California. The Bruins beat Nebraska in both 2012 and 2013.

Welcome USC and UCLA, Nebraska Is Happy to See You Conference Realignment and NCAA Rules Changes Are Working to NU’s Favor Opinion • By Thad Livingston

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ave you come down from the high yet?

No, I’m not talking about the Husker softball team’s Big Ten championship. Which, these days – I admit – does rank among the biggest news in Husker Athletics.

And folks, Nebraska will take all the championships it can get, softball or otherwise. Congratulations. But the big news I’m talking about is USC and UCLA joining the family in 2024.

It’s been almost two months since the announcement, and I’m still somewhat staggered, often finding myself pondering 1 0 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2

the long-term effects of this wonderfully unexpected happenstance.

The Huskers, in a fly-over state with little recent athletic success – enter the requisite volleyball exception here – are right in the middle of the coolest club in college athletics, also known as the Big Ten, and the jealousy is palpable. There’s SEC resentment. We’re still the best football conference! Some bring up logistics. Good luck with the travel! And the cultural differences. Tinseltown vs. states with small towns.

Then there’s the irony of feeling sorry for a school like Kansas just months after the

Jayhawks won a national basketball title.

We are among the best basketball programs in basketball-loving America. Can we come too?

Sorry boys. We told you the toxic Texas thing would blow up eventually. But we’ll put in a good word for you with our friends Michigan, Ohio State, USC and UCLA at the next pool party over in the gated community.

I know, snobbishness doesn’t wear well in Nebraska, but then again, it’s not Nebraska’s fault the college sports Pangaea is separating in such a way as to position Nebraska in an ideal climate in which to

thrive, while other perfectly fine universities are sliding to the cold, harsh poles where survival is difficult and few venture.

One glance at a sepia photograph of a polar explorer – beard frozen, face awkwardly windblown, coat made of four dead goats and hugging a penguin – is proof enough you don’t want to be out there.

It’s perfectly understandable why Kansas, which is actually good at something, would be pulling out its feathers in frustration.

Kansas fan is looking at Nebraska and saying, “Herbie, you’re only in the cool club because of events more than two decades in the past.” Herbie can counter by saying, “I have a fan base that continues to fill a huge football stadium and there are Nebraska expats and football connoisseurs spread across the nation who know the Husker brand and who will watch me play on their televisions out of nothing more perhaps than morbid curiosity.”

OK, maybe Herbie doesn’t say the morbid curiosity part, but he wouldn’t be wrong.

To most of the country, Herbie was born on third base. They don’t remember – or care – about the mid-1990s. They view the great Husker teams of the early ’70s much like Herbie views the great Minnesota teams of the mid-’30s and early ’40s. Wait, Minnesota was good at football? Yep. I Googled it. True.

The lens most people see Nebraska through is this: Since 2011, when Nebraska joined the Big Ten, its records in football are 9-4, 10-4, 9-4, 9-4, 6-7, 9-4, 4-8, 4-8, 5-7, 3-5, 3-9. Those last four are Scott Frost’s.

It’s almost not worth mentioning, but the second-most watched sport, men’s basketball, has this to show for its 11 years in the league: 12-18, 15-18, 19-13, 13-18, 16-18, 12-19, 22-11, 19-17, 7-25, 7-20, 1022. Those last three are Fred Hoiberg’s.

Instead of the Big Ten, Nebraska has somehow performed as if it joined the NFC North and the Central Division of the NBA’s Eastern Conference.

When it comes to football, I have the feeling Nebraska’s all-to-often miserable play – at least in the beginning – somehow boosted the confidence of others in the league. It shouldn’t have. Nebraska hasn’t been Nebraska since joining the league.

It’s not them, it’s, well, us! Nebraska has not been what the league thought it was getting, and that’s a bit scary with tectonic

FILE PHOTO

The cover of the game program from USC's visit to Memorial Stadium in 1969. The Trojans won, 31-21. The next year, the Huskers and Trojans played to a 21-21 tie, but Nebraska would go on to win a share of the national title.

shifts rumbling through college sports every other year.

But for now, with USC and UCLA, two of the shiniest brands in the land, shaking the landscape, along with several NCAA rules changes, Nebraska football is in position to take major steps back toward relevance.

Here are some reasons why:

Money, of Course

The Big Ten media rights windfall will put Nebraska on a level few will be able to approach. Remember, Nebraska sells out a 90,000-seat stadium seven times a year. Men’s basketball and volleyball are also revenue producers. There is also Big Ten Network revenue and other revenue we won’t go into here. As of this writing, the league’s massive new media rights agreement is reportedly anywhere from seven years for $7 billion to nearly $8

billion starting in 2023. According to a Los Angeles Times report on this magazine’s deadline, there are “financial escalators” that could push it to almost $10 billion. That puts each Big Ten school’s annual payout at an estimated $62.5 million on the low side, and depending on the escalators, it could be much, much more. The LA Times also reported the deal is backloaded and increases significantly in Years 3 through 7.

For comparison, one projection for 2022 many media types point to has each vested Big Ten school receiving around $57.2 million under the old deal, which would already be the highest in the country. It’s true the Big Ten was doing just fine without USC and UCLA, and was already in line for a mega media rights deal. With the two newcomers, it will be even larger.

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Nebraska has a history with UCLA, playing the Bruins 11 times since 1972. Nebraska won seven of those games, and also won the last

different time slots each Saturday, and still other games will be on BTN and there’s talk of a streaming package. Good heavens, if it seems like the Big Ten will be taking over college football, that’s because it is.

Much has been made of the Big Ten’s pending split with ESPN, which will be allin on the SEC, and will now have money to spend on the Big 12 and Pac-12, which is good for those two leagues. Having a predictably smaller presence on “College GameDay” will hurt, and having ESPN pumping the SEC 24/7 will push the Big Ten into the shadows, at least in some homes.

That said, in the era of cord-cutting, the Big Ten suddenly is on three national over-the-air networks in three different time slots. So, if you have a television, you can watch Big Ten football for nine hours each Saturday. You don’t need cable.

Regardless, until the next shake-up at least, schools in the Big Ten and SEC stand head and shoulders above those in other conferences. Over time, it’s not a stretch to say those are the two conferences where the best players and best coaches will want to be. They are where the nation’s eyeballs will be fixated. That means most of the rest of the schools in the country are potential feeder schools. Current coach not getting it done? Open the vault, pay him off and grab the guy who’s proved he’s ready for the big time after cutting his teeth at one of those suddenly “less elite” schools with comparative paltry athletic budgets – like Florida State, Baylor or Arizona.

If that’s too much of a stretch for you, look at it in the most practical terms: As any administrator will tell you, it’s a luxury to 1 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2

have profits to pour back into your product and spend time working with your staff to find ways to make your product even better. And it’s drudgery being forced to cut spending and talent to meet budget, which in the end, hurts the product and just makes everyone miserable.

Nebraska will be the former group. For as far as the eye can see.

Athletes I

A reason often cited for Nebraska’s rough go in the Big Ten is that it lost its recruiting pipeline to Texas when it left the Big 12.

If so, that same theory now should work to Nebraska’s benefit in California. Texas has about 30 million people. California has 40 million. Nebraska is the closest school in the Big Ten to California. Nebraska has always recruited California, but the competition is tough. It just got easier now that the two premier California football schools are moving Nebraska’s way.

Athletes II

It bears repeating: If you are truly a top athlete coming out of high school, it will be hard not to be attracted to one of the two conferences that provides the best coaches, the best training, the best competition, the best facilities and the most national media coverage.

The Shake-Up

USC and UCLA will take the monkey off Nebraska’s back. As Nebraska did, USC and UCLA will shoulder the burden of losing their identities and having to reshape them in a league with a different mentality.

The Trojans and Bruins will poo-poo this

notion, and then after a decent win, will realize they have to play the next game with two third-string offensive linemen because three in the two-deep got hurt in their “big win” and a fourth had to move to bolster the defensive line because the starting defensive tackle got put in concussion protocol.

Also, the original Big Ten teams have been playing each other since the ball was stuffed. Nebraska gave them a new toy to smash – something to get excited about.

Now it will be USC and UCLA who will get to be the league’s new tackling dummy.

They will get everyone’s best shot. And won’t it be compelling television when Southern Cal plays a November game in Ann Arbor when it’s windy and 15 degrees?

Where’s the Beef?

At Nebraska, which has adjusted to the league in the most important way – finally. Here, I give kudos to the nutrition and strength staffs. Last season, while not a success, finally proved there is enough beef up front on both sides of the ball to be competitive. The Big Ten is all about lineman attrition. You can’t have too many big bodies. Build from the inside out.

The flashy stuff comes second. The few real good teams have both. Nebraska has stacked the bodies, now it needs to execute and let the flash, well, flash.

New Rules

NIL, the transfer portal and football’s one-time transfer exception all present timely opportunities for Nebraska. The league’s monetary windfall will help make Nebraska, already a good landing spot for “free agents,” an even better one.

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matchup, 37-29 in the 2015 Foster Farms Bowl in Santa Clara, California. Pictured here is the 2012 Nebraska-UCLA game in Pasadena.

Nebraska wisely took the portal plunge and used the summer as a second recruiting cycle, attracting 16 transfers. NIL money undoubtedly helped and will continue to help. As the years roll on, Nebraska’s facilities and fan base should continue to attract highly thought-of transfers. And the new football facility, new coaches and a decent season this year could ignite prep recruiting for the 2023 and 2024 classes.

There are schools that pride themselves on not turning to the transfer portal – Clemson for one. Iowa, too. They like to send the message that “we’ve done our homework and we already have the players we want and they like us, too.” Good for them. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Nebraska has always used anything it could to its advantage. Proposition 48 helped build the powerhouse teams of

the ’90s and then the NCAA changed the rules. Nebraska pioneered strength and conditioning and then everybody else caught up. The list goes on.

It’s hard to say that conference realignment, NIL and athletes switching schools like they change their daily underwear are good things for college athletics. But are they good for Nebraska?

They sure are.

FILE PHOTO

Husker receiver Jamal Turner evades UCLA defenders in a 2012 matchup at Rose Bowl Stadium, a game won by UCLA 36-30.

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On the Bandwagon?

Proof Is Needed Season’s Second Half Will Tell the Story Opinion • By Steve Beideck

S

ometime this season Nebraska football will celebrate the 25th anniversary of its last national championship.

Scott Frost was still coaching at Central Florida, Dave Rimington was the interim athletic director and the 2017 season had already begun to implode – remember the 21-17 loss to Northern Illinois? – the last time the 1997 champions gathered for a celebration of those glory days at Memorial Stadium.

Milestone anniversary seasons for that most recent title team, with maybe one exception, have been forgettable campaigns. They also illustrate the coaching instability that has gripped the program since Tom Osborne retired following the Orange Bowl victory over Tennessee that secured Nebraska’s fifth national championship.

Here’s a quick review of those anniversary seasons: • 2002 – Despite a 3-0 start, Frank Solich’s fifth NU team ended the season 7-7 with some tough-to-take, double-digit road losses at Penn State (40-7), Iowa State (36-14) and Kansas State (49-13).

Despite a 10-3 record the following year with a revamped coaching staff, thenAthletic Director Steve Pederson made the catastrophic decision to fire Solich and sent the Husker program on a descent into mediocrity from which it has yet to recover.

• 2007 – As the program descended beyond mediocrity under the guidance of Bill Callahan and Kevin Cosgrove, ultimately ending in Pederson’s midseason firing by Chancellor Harvey

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Perlman, the Huskers gave up 76 points to Kansas and 65 to Colorado in their final two losses in a 5-7 season. Osborne, who replaced Pederson as AD, fired Callahan.

• 2012 – The 15th anniversary season produced Nebraska’s last appearance in a conference championship game, and it’s one Husker faithful would like to forget.

Wisconsin scored 21 points in each of the first three quarters as Nebraska’s defense gave up a record 539 rushing yards in a 70-31 loss to the Badgers. There also was a 63-38 regular season loss to Ohio State, but Bo Pelini’s fifth team still posted a 10-4 record. That’s the last time Nebraska posted a double-digit number of victories.

• 2017 – On the 10th anniversary of Pederson’s midseason firing, AD Shawn Eichorst was fired by Perlman following the loss to Northern Illinois. The ’97 team gathered for the 20th-year reunion at the Wisconsin game, which ended in a 38-17 NU loss. That setback began a run of six losses in the final seven games, resulting in Mike Riley’s dismissal after four seasons. In the final three games, the Huskers lost to Minnesota 54-21, Penn State 56-44 and Iowa 56-14. Nebraska’s streak of five consecutive seasons without a bowl game appearance began this year as well.

So here we are in 2022. Not since the 1950s have the Huskers had such a difficult time winning football games.

There has been plenty of optimism prior to each of Frost’s first four seasons, but all have ended in profound disappointment.

Athletic Director Trev Alberts has given Frost this season to show progress – a bowl appearance would be a good

start – with a revamped coaching staff a la Solich in 2003. While everyone around the program is saying the right things during fall camp, there’s still plenty of reason to wonder if the Huskers can win six games in 2022.

A review of the schedule favors the Huskers chances of potentially winning two more games than they did in the 3-9 2021 campaign. Replacing Michigan State and Ohio State with Indiana and Rutgers as East Division opponents provides a ray of optimism.

It’s easy to envision a 5-1 start to the season. Nebraska thumped Northwestern 56-3 last season, so a loss to the Wildcats would put a cloud of doom over the program as soon as they board the plane in Dublin to return to Lincoln.

If the Huskers do beat Northwestern – Nebraska was a 12.5 favorite at the time of publication – they can’t get overconfident against their first two nonconference opponents. North Dakota and Georgia Southern are must-win games. If there’s a 2017 Northern Illinois slip-up in either of those games … let’s don’t think about that for now.

Picturing a 3-0 start heading into a home game with Oklahoma is the ideal – and for some, only – way to begin the season. A win over the preseason No. 9-ranked Sooners ignites genuine optimism not seen around Lincoln in close to two decades.

A loss to OU? It wouldn’t doom the season, because the final eight games are more important to the overall narrative.

Those are the conference games to show if the Huskers really have learned how to

REGGIE RYDER/HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED

Players and coaches from Nebraska’s 1997 national championship team that beat Tennessee and Peyton Manning in the Orange Bowl acknowledge fans as they enter Memorial Stadium during a 20-year reunion at the 2017 Wisconsin game. Those pictured include Steve Warren, Jack Pierce, Charlie McBride, Aaron Taylor and Tom Osborne.

win under a group of new coaches.

The three most important games in the first half of the season are Northwestern, Indiana and Rutgers.

Winning those three puts NU at 3-0 in the Big Ten West heading into the second half of the season, which is the most concerning part of the schedule. The last time the Huskers played all six of those teams – 2021 – they lost. That’s true even for Indiana – the Hoosiers beat NU 3831 the last time they met (2019) – but IU was 2-10 last season.

Yes, those setbacks to Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa all were by seven or fewer points. Nebraska hasn’t shown in recent years that they can consistently be competitive with any of those teams under a staff helmed by Frost.

That reluctant pessimism last season led me to predict a 4-8 finish for the Huskers. Even that was one game too optimistic.

Right now, I can’t get past this scenario for 2022 – a 5-1 start followed by an 0-6 second half and the streak of no bowl games growing to six seasons.

A loss to any of those first three Big Ten opponents, and the picture only gets more bleek. It’s easy, and lazy, to just assume Nebraska should beat Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota and any other West Division foe.

If this was 1997, those would be perfectly logical assumptions, just sub in Kansas, Kansas State and Iowa State for those three. But this is 2022. On-field proof is needed.

Hopefully that is what happens.

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Huskers Striving for Fast Start to Season

Does Last Year’s Blowout Win Against Northwestern Give Nebraska an Edge?

N

ebraska players were hopeful a year ago the thumping they put on Northwestern would be a momentum-builder for the final six games of the 2021 season.

The Wildcats were the defending Big Ten West champions and harbored hopes, at the least, of another bowl game appearance.

Instead of that 56-7 victory igniting a second-half resurgence following a 3-3 start, the Oct. 2 blowout was the last time Nebraska would win a game.

The 2022 battle of the Big Ten teams with Ns on their helmets – both of which finished 2021 with 3-9 records – has a different theme than recent meetings. Both schools are looking for fast starts to a crucial season.

Northwestern has demonstrated an ability in recent years to bounce back from subpar seasons. In 2019, the Wildcats had another of those 3-9 seasons, but went 7-2 in the pandemic-abbreviated 2020 season and reached the Big Ten title game.

Does the yo-yo come back up in 2022 for Pat Fitzgerald’s charges? More was expected of Northwestern last season, but an anemic offense and underachieving defense produced mostly disappointing results.

The Wildcats have rarely been offensive juggernauts. Even when they’re eking out victories and winning seasons, much of the credit rightly lends to consistently stellar defensive efforts.

Nebraska’s yo-yo keeps hitting the floor.

A coaching change from Mike Riley to Scott Frost following the 2017 season has produced more heartache than reasons to celebrate.

The Huskers haven’t had a winning season since 2016. They haven’t won a postseason game since the 2015 Foster Farms Bowl in Santa Clara, California.

Their record at Memorial Stadium since 1 6 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2

By Steve Beideck • Photos by Reggie Ryder

Running back Jaquez Yant had his best game of the season against Northwestern in 2021 with 13 carries for 127 yards, which included a 64-yard run.

2017 is 13-18.

Frost-led teams haven’t come close to a winning season since his ballyhooed arrival from Central Florida. The Huskers are 1529 in Frost’s four seasons, including an 1113 record in home games.

Some of that can be forgiven by the fan base if fortunes begin to change early and continue through the 2022 season. A lateAugust game shouldn’t be a make-or-break affair for a coach, but it could be just that

for Frost and Co. with a poor showing on the national stage in Dublin, Ireland.

Especially after Nebraska annihilated the Wildcats a year ago when quarterback Adrian Martinez had three rushing touchdowns in the first 10:46, and placekicker Connor Culp had yet to catch the yips that would cost him his starting job.

Nebraska will be properly favored against the Wildcats, but no one can count on a blowout in the season opener,

especially in this series.

Six of the 11 Nebraska-Northwestern games played since the two programs became conference mates in 2011 have been decided by three points or less. Both teams have won three and lost three.

Nebraska should be more familiar with Northwestern’s personnel. Not just because of the Wildcats number of returning starters, but because the Huskers had so much turnover in both their roster and coaching staff.

The Huskers hit the portal hard to remake an offense that now will be run by offensive coordinator Mark Whipple. Quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, even a few offensive linemen will be new to the Northwestern defense.

Northwestern’s defense will have a few new faces, but the way Fitzgerald builds from the linebacker spots both forward to the D-line and backward to the safeties will again spell trouble for opposing offenses. Bryce Gallagher, like Garrett Nelson for the Huskers, will be the pulse of the defense from his linebacker spot.

If Whipple wants his offense to throw the ball around Aviva Stadium – the soccer pitch that will host this game in Dublin – he’ll have to solve an experienced secondary trying to stop Nebraska’s new corps of receivers. Coco Azema, Cameron Mitchell and A.J. Hampton all are returning Wildcat starters.

The only drawback to having that group back is that Northwestern defenders picked off just six passes all of last season, and the star who had two of those – safety Brandon Joseph – transferred across the Illinois-Indiana state line to play for Notre Dame.

Even with several offensive players back for the Wildcats, the quarterback position is still up for grabs. Ryan Hilinski and Brendan Sullivan are vying for the starting spot.

The strength of the Northwestern offense likely will be the offensive line with four starters returning, led by left tackle Peter Skoronski.

Andrew Clair and Evan Hull are expected to be the one-two punch in the backfield behind Hilinski or Sullivan.

Here’s the recent history that is on Northwestern’s side. Only once under Fitzgerald have the Wildcats had back-to-back losing seasons (2013 and 2014). He figures to have his team ready.

What’s the recent history that supports a Nebraska victory? The Huskers defeated the Wildcats both in 2013 and 2014, though one of those wins took a miracle heave from Ron Kellogg III to Jordan Westerkamp on the final play to secure the victory.

But the most telling item still favors the Huskers – that 56-7 victory last season.

Edge Garrett Nelson, left, and JoJo Domann celebrate a sack against Northwestern.

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Frost Short on Words Scott Frost Was to the Point in Indianapolis

By Shawn Ekwall • Photos by UNL Sports Information

S

cott Frost knows there’s only so much to be said. Perhaps that’s why the fifth-year Nebraska coach was brief and to the point during Big Ten media days the last week of July at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

When asked if he’d like to give an opening statement while at the podium, Frost deferred and requested to go right to questions. With the many offseason changes – especially on the coaching staff – Frost is well-aware the 2022 season may decide his future as the Huskers head man.

With a 15-29 record since coming to Nebraska in 2018, Frost understands the “pressure to win now” mindset, not only from the fans, but from within the athletic department. And while last season’s 3-9 finish was extremely disappointing, Frost can point to the fact NU was competitive in each loss, with only one (26-17 to Ohio State) being by more than one score.

“We were competitive in every game last year. We had our chances to win,” Frost said while answering questions from the media.

“We made a ton of progress as a program from a talent perspective and a culture perspective. We haven’t gotten where we want it yet.”

An off-season overhaul on the assistant coaching front, especially on offense, will bring a new look to the Huskers in 2022.

Four new assistant coaches come on board, along with 16 new players from the transfer portal.

Mark Whipple takes over the play-calling duties as the new offensive coordinator.

Last year as the OC at Pitt, Whipple directed a potent offense, led by Kenny Pickett.

Pickett, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in April, completed more than 67% of his passes, while throwing for more than 4,300 yards.

Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi recently threw shade at his former offensive coordinator for his perceived lack of wanting to run the football.

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Scott Frost answers questions from the media in Indianapolis during Big Ten media days.

“Our old offensive coordinator had no desire to run the ball,” Narduzzi said in a recent interview. “Everybody knew it. He was stubborn.”

But Whipple’s results speak for themselves. The Panthers ranked No. 8 in total offense in 2021, ranked third in passing yards and put up 41 points per game.

Can Whipple duplicate that type of success in Year 1 in Lincoln? According to Frost, he doesn’t care how it occurs.

“If we score as many points as they did last year (at Pitt), I don’t care if we run it, throw it or kick it,” Frost said.

With Frost handing over the playcalling duties, it will allow him to be more involved in other areas, including special teams – an area of well-known struggles for the Huskers in recent years.

“It makes me a little sad,” Frost said of handing over play-calling duties. “But it’s also helped me focus on a lot of areas where we can get better.” Frost vowed to “remain involved a lot” with the offense in

collaboration with Whipple.

Frost was joined in Indianapolis by three players: tight end Travis Vokolek, edge Garrett Nelson and cornerback Quinton Newsome.

Vokolek stressed the importance of taking things one game, one day at a time to turn the corner.

“I’ve said it before: We want to go 1-0 every week,” Vokelek said. “In every rep, in everything we do, we want to go 1-0.”

Nelson, whom Frost called “one of the best leaders to ever come through the program,” said NU players are approaching the season with a chip on their shoulders.

“Everything’s right in the world when you win football games, and that hasn’t happened in my life in college yet,” Nelson said.

It’s human nature to hear the outside noise. Especially when wins are few and far between. Nelson said it’s that motivation to quiet the critics and defend his head coach – whom he calls a “father figure” – that has him and teammates geared up.

“It’s time to play. Growing that chip on your shoulder from the negative stuff … it’s time to play.”

Players, coaches and Nebraska Athletic Director Trev Alberts all pointed to one area – leadership – as a vital piece in turning things around.

“It’s going to take great leadership,” Alberts said. “I think Scott can do that – I know he’s working hard on that – but that’s going to be really critical. Because a team full of talent isn’t necessarily a team.”

Newsome’s mindset this offseason has been to take over the leadership void left by Cam Taylor-Britt, now with the Cincinnati Bengals.

“My mission is to lead,” Newsome said in reference to the secondary. “To help bring along the new guys … all of them are really starting to come along and we’re headed in the right direction.” Frost echoed Alberts’ statement that a talented team

doesn’t always equate to winning.

“You can have a lot of talent, but that doesn’t always make a team,” Frost said.

“We gotta become one team, one heartbeat both as a coaching staff and as a team.”

Losing wears on players, coaches and fans – especially when those losses are competitive close losses. Nebraska knows it was close in 2021. The goal is to finish and get over the hump in 2022.

Alberts wouldn’t bite when asked what the magic number of wins needed for Frost to keep his job. However, he acknowledged that pressure exists.

“Every single coach in the Big Ten is under the pressure to win. We’re in the competition business – that’s not going to change,” Alberts said. “We don’t get tenure in athletics.”

Nelson, who never minces words, offered an interesting analogy to the narrow defeats in 2021.

“It’s like going to a bar every Friday and talking to a chick all night and all of a sudden her boyfriend walks over and takes her home.”

Defensive back Quinton Newsome, tight end Travis Vokolek and edge Garrett Nelson were Nebraska’s player representatives in Indianapolis.

BIG TEN MEDIA DAY NOTES • The preseason media poll was released at the start of Big Ten media days. Nebraska was tabbed to finish fifth in the West. Wisconsin was the preseason favorite, followed

by Iowa, Minnesota and Purdue. Nebraska was picked ahead of only Illinois and Northwestern.

Ohio State was the overwhelming pick to finish atop the East. The Buckeyes were followed by Michigan, Penn State, Michigan State, Maryland, Rutgers and Indiana.

The Buckeyes return a top Heisman candidate in quarterback C.J. Stroud as well as Rose Bowl recordsetting receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who torched Utah for 347 yards and three TDs in Ohio State’s 48-45 win.

• Running back Markese Stepp entered the transfer portal in July. The USC transfer never fully found his comfort zone at NU and was slowed by injuries and inconsistency in a crowded running back room. Stepp rushed for 177 yards and two touchdowns in 2021.

• Scott Frost mentioned that QB Casey Thompson would get first-team reps when camp opens. He also said that the quarterback position battle would go well into camp and that Chubba Purdy, among others, would be there to push Thompson. According to Frost, a two-deep depth chart likely wouldn’t be out until late into camp, and maybe into the week of the Huskers’ Aug. 27 game vs. Northwestern in Dublin.

• Defensive terminology will look slightly different in 2022. Nebraska adds two newly worded positions – edge and nickel – to describe players on that side of the ball.

Edge is basically a pass rusher/outside linebacker. Garrett Nelson and Ochaun Mathis will be listed as “edges” moving forward.

A nickel is a hybrid player, which is a mix of linebacker/ defensive back who can help in run support but can also cover tight ends and slot receivers.

• Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren had plenty to say about the expansion that is changing the landscape of college athletics. USC and UCLA recently accepted invitations to join the Big Ten in 2024.

“USC and UCLA will come in as full members,” Warren said. “They bring a lot of value to our relationship, a lot of panache to our relationship. We look forward to welcoming them to the Big Ten family in 2024.”

Although not mentioning schools by name, Warren hinted that Big Ten expansion may not be finished.

Notre Dame is an obvious target of the league. Oregon, Washington and others remain possibilities as well. With expansion comes talk of a new, bigger TV rights deal.

Warren didn’t get into details, but said media rights “are being finalized” and an announcement would come sooner rather than later.

With the additions of the Trojans and Bruins, the Big Ten will have schools from coast to coast. Expect games from morning to late into the evening to be the blueprint in a new TV deal expected to distribute record amounts of money to each Big Ten school.

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FILE PHOTO

If Nebraska is 3-0 before going head-to-head with Oklahoma in Lincoln, the Huskers would be brimming with confidence – a rare occurrence in recent years.

Quick Start to Season Could Lead to Donnybrook Oklahoma Returns to Lincoln for First Time Since 2009

By Steve Beideck

O

klahoma fans who endured the misery that came from Lincoln Riley’s abrupt departure for USC are hopeful their restlessness takes a Shakesperean turn as the 2022 football season begins.

New coach Brent Venables can help the OU faithful view the next two seasons – Oklahoma’s final two as members of the Big 12 Conference before moving to the SEC – as the “winter of (their) discontent” by kicking off his tenure just as Venables’ mentor Bob Stoops did in Norman.

Win, and win often.

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Richard III, which means a time of unhappiness is soon to end – already is looking like a difficult task for Venables and his staff.

Oklahoma’s first true test of the 2022 season is expected to be presented by Nebraska when the Sooners travel to Lincoln Sept. 17 in the first game between the two teams at Memorial Stadium since the Huskers defeated OU 10-3 Nov. 7, 2009.

It’s not just the Huskers being the strongest early season test for the Venablesled Sooners – Oklahoma opens with home games against UTEP and Kent State before playing NU – that could make things tough

on the Sooners.

Internal turmoil flared up during the first week of practice when longtime assistant Cale Gundy abruptly resigned Aug. 7 after reading a word from an OU player’s iPad during a film session.

Gundy, who had been an assistant at OU since Stoops became head coach in 1999, said he read a single offending word just once. When Venables addressed the issue in a written statement, he presented a drastically different version of what happened.

“Coach Gundy resigned from the program because he knows what he did was wrong,” Venables said. “He chose

to read aloud to his players, not once but multiple times, a racially charged word that is objectionable to everyone, and does not reflect the attitude and values of our university or our football program. This is not acceptable. Period. Coach Gundy did the right thing in resigning.”

That statement by Venables prompted Gundy’s daughter, Cat, to accuse Venables of not properly handling the situation in a since-deleted post on her Twitter account.

“Interesting you told your players to keep their mouths shut about what really happened and their heads down,” Cat Gundy allegedly wrote in her tweet. “The truth will always come to fruition, it’s only a matter of time.”

Not an ideal way to start a new era. On the field, there also have been some major changes to the Sooners roster from the group that had to hang on late to defeat the Huskers 23-16 last season in the first meeting between the storied programs since 2010.

Eight players from the 2021 team that finished 11-2 after a 9-0 start left Norman via the transfer portal. Included in that number are two who followed Riley to Los Angeles – starting quarterback Caleb Williams and one of his top receiving targets, Mario Williams.

The offensive line will open as an area of concern. Having three starters back who were part of a unit that gave up 33 sacks in

13 games is not necessarily a good thing.

Central Florida transfer Dillon Gabriel is expected to take the reins of the new-look OU offense. Gabriel threw for just over 8,000 yards and 70 touchdowns in two-plus seasons at UCF, and he’ll be reunited with Jeff Lebby, his UCF offensive coordinator from 2019 who left Mississippi to join the Sooner staff.

Oklahoma is unproven at running back and the top returning wide receiver is Marvin Mims after the departure of Mario Williams and Jadon Haselwood, who transferred to Arkansas.

The outlook is brighter on the defensive side even though the OU run defense took a big hit in its first loss of the season. Baylor controlled the ball for 35:19 and racked up 297 rushing yards in a 27-14 victory that started a 2-2 finish which took the Sooners out of a chance to play for another Big 12 title.

Expect Venables to work with defensive coordinator Ted Roof to put his stamp on this and future OU defenses. Long one of college football’s top defensive strategists, Venables will not be satisfied with a unit that gives up nearly 400 yards and 26 points per game as the Sooners did last season.

The addition of Tulane transfer Jeffery Johnson in the middle of Oklahoma’s defensive line should help that group avoid a big drop after several key players moved on via transfer or graduation.

Oklahoma’s linebacker corps with DaShaun White, Marcus Stripling and Danny Stutsman could turn into one of the Big 12’s best by midseason.

Transfers will have to step up immediately to help OU’s secondary avoid becoming a liability as was the case in key moments throughout 2021. Trey Morrison (North Carolina) and C.J. Coldon (Wyoming) are the top hopes to make that a better group.

This game won’t carry the conference and national importance as it once did for many decades. Last year the Huskers weren’t supposed to even be on the same field with the Sooners, but NU hung tough and came close to notching a big upset.

While the conference games are still the biggest hurdles for the Huskers, they’re expected to be competitive with an Oklahoma team that again is earning preseason Top 10 accolades. Nebraska will be brimming with confidence if the Huskers can take care of business against Northwestern, North Dakota and Georgia Southern before the Sooners come calling.

If OU’s internal turmoil is still an issue and the Sooners again struggle in one of their first two games – remember they had to hang on to beat Tulane 40-35 in the 2021 opener – a national TV audience and engaged Memorial Stadium crowd could be witnessing an early season donnybrook.

FILE PHOTO

Johnny Rodgers and Barry Switzer, two legends of Nebraska’s and Oklahoma’s past, talk on the sidelines before the 2021 game in Norman.

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2022 Nebraska Fo Nebraska Football Hall of Fame Will Recognize Class of Eight at Georgia Southern Game

S

ix former Cornhuskers will be among the eight inductees into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame Sept. 9.

The former Huskers and two state college athletes will be inducted at a banquet in Lincoln and then recognized the next day at the Huskers home game against Georgia Southern.

Prior to 2015, players must have been either an All-American or first-team all-conference selection to make the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame ballot. Beginning in 2015, Huskers who earned secondteam all-conference honors dating back to the expansion of the Big Eight to the Big 12 (1996) and now the 14-team Big Ten are eligible. Players are not eligible for the ballot until a 10-year waiting period from the end of their collegiate careers. Major national award winners earn automatic induction. Active NFL players are not on the ballot.

2022 INDUCTEES

Ron McDole Offensive Tackle, 1958-60

A three-year letter winner, McDole served as a team captain in 1960. In the NFL, he moved to defense and went on to play 18 professional seasons with the Cardinals, Oilers, Bills and Redskins.

McDole was a five-time first-team All-AFL selection and played in 240 career games. He was selected from the Legends category.

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Lee Kunz Linebacker, 1976-78

Kunz led Nebraska in tackles in both 1977 and 1978 and earned second-team All-Big Eight and honorable-mention All-American honors in 1978. He still holds the school record with 95 assisted tackles in 1977 and ranks sixth at Nebraska with 276 career tackles. Kunz was selected from the Legends category.

Ric Lindquist Defensive Back, 1979-81

A three-year letter winner, Lindquist was an All-Big Eight choice as a senior cornerback, leading a Blackshirt secondary that led the nation in pass defense. Lindquist finished his career with nine interceptions, 11 breakups and nearly 100 tackles. He was also a firstteam Academic All-American in 1981.

ootball Hall of Fame

Bruce Pickens Cornerback, 1988-90

A two-time first-team All-Big Eight selection, Pickens helped Nebraska to a Big Eight Championship and appearances in the Orange, Fiesta and Citrus bowls. Pickens had four interceptions, 13 breakups and 84 tackles in his career. He was the No. 4 overall selection in the 1991 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons.

Toniu Fonoti Offensive Guard, 1999-2001

Fonoti was a dominant offensive lineman helping Nebraska to a pair of NCAA rushing titles in 2000 and 2001.

Fonoti was a first-team All-American selection and Outland finalist in 2001 when the Huskers reached the BCS national championship game. Fonoti recorded a school-record 379 pancakes and did not allow a sack or receive a penalty in 2001. He went on to play five seasons in the NFL.

Prince Amukamara Cornerback, 2007-10

A first-team All-American and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year in 2010, Amukamara was part of dominant defenses his final two seasons. He played in 49 games with 31 starts in his career and finished with 181 career tackles, 27 pass breakups and five interceptions.

A two-time first-team All-Big 12 selection, Amukamara was a finalist for the Thorpe Award as a senior. A firstround NFL pick, Amukamara made 99 career starts in nine pro seasons.

2022 STATE COLLEGE INDUCTEES Coach Darrell Morris Nebraska-Kearney, Coach 2000-14

Morris served as the head coach at NebraskaKearney for 15 seasons from 2000 to 2014. He posted a 101-63 career record with the Lopers and guided UNK to four Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championships and four NCAA Division II playoff berths. His 2009 team posted a school-best 11-2 record.

Ross Wurdeman Concordia, Tight End 1998-2001

Arguably the top tight end in Concordia program history, Wurdeman owned many of the program’s receiving records at the completion of his career.

A two-time NAIA All-American, Wurdeman was named to the NAIA All-Decade team of the 2000s.

He finished his career with 168 catches, 2,458 receiving yards and 24 touchdowns.

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7.26.2022

2022 FAN DAY 2 4 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2

JEFF BUNDY/HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED

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FOOTBALL

2023 Class Continues to Build Huskers Reel in Recruits as Signing Day Beckons

Omarion Miller 6-2, 190, receiver Vivian, Louisiana North Caddo High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.9373 (4 stars) As of early August, Miller is the Huskers’ highest-rated recruit at No. 100 nationally, according to 247Sports.

Miller, who passed up Arkansas, LSU, West Virginia and Miami, was named the Shreveport Times 2022 Male Athlete of the Year after catching 76 passes for 1,502 yards and 20 touchdowns his junior season at North Caddo High School. Miller excels elsewhere, averaging 26 points a game in basketball and sports a 3.2 gradepoint average, according to the Shreveport Times.

“O is special due to the obstacles he’s overcome, while remaining focused on his goals and staying completely out of trouble,” North Caddo High coach John Kavanaugh said. “He has grown into a leader as he matured.”

Riley Van Poppel 6-4, 270, linebacker Argyle, Texas Argyle High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8994 (4 stars) Van Poppel had 23 scholarship offers but chose Nebraska over suitors like Arkansas, Colorado, Florida State, Kansas State, Michigan and Purdue. The son of retired Major League Baseball pitcher Todd Van Poppel, Riley had 14 tackles for loss, including seven sacks, for 11-2 Argyle High School in 2021, according to the Dallas Morning-News. 247Sports rates Van Poppel 286 overall and 14th best at his position nationally.

He told Huskers 247 that he didn’t think much of Nebraska before visiting campus, but afterward he was “blown away.”

“Lincoln wasn’t what I expected,” he said. “It was bigger; there was more to it than I thought it would be.”

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By Mike Malloy

Gunnar Gottula 6-6, 285, offensive tackle Lincoln Lincoln Southeast High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8767 (3 stars) The third-best prospect in the state, according to 247Sports, is staying home. Gottula, who plays for his father, Ryan Gottula, at Lincoln Southeast, committed to the Huskers last summer after attending a Friday Night Lights camp at Memorial Stadium. “(Offensive line coach Greg) Austin had me talk to him after camp and he asked me, ‘Would you like to be a Husker?’ After I answered, he offered me. That was pretty cool,” Gottula told the Lincoln Journal Star. “It’s pretty exciting because I always went to their games as a kid, so it was cool to get an offer and have the opportunity to play there.”

Jaidyn Doss 6-0, 195, receiver Peculiar, Missouri Raymore-Peculiar High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8794 (3 stars) Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Illinois, Colorado and Iowa State all came calling for Doss, but he’s coming to Lincoln.

One of four receivers Nebraska picked up this summer, Doss had 28 catches for 442 yards and five touchdowns at RaymorePeculiar High School. The small town with the odd name is just southwest of Kansas City, an area special teams coordinator Bill Busch has worked extensively this offseason.

“I'm not sure how much Nebraska had been in Kansas City over the last few years.

I know they’ve recruited it, but boy, it seems like coach Busch is doing it even more,” Raymore-Peculiar coach Richard Elkins told the Lincoln Journal Star in March.

Dwight Bootle II 5-10, 165, cornerback Miami, Florida Killian High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8630 (3 stars) Name sound familiar? The younger brother of recent Husker Dicaprio Bootle is following the path blazed from South Beach to the plains, passing up opportunities with Northwestern, Michigan, Indiana, Kansas and Boston College. The younger Bootle received a scholarship offer from Nebraska on Jan. 30 and committed Jan. 31.

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

Bootle had 22 pass deflections for Killian High School, which posted four shutouts in a 12-2 season last year.

Maverick Noonan 6-4, 225, defensive end Omaha Elkhorn South High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8759 (3 stars) Noonan and Gottula can argue about who’s got the better game and who’s got the better name. Noonan, a senior at Elkhorn South High School, was rated as the fourthbest prospect in Nebraska, one behind Gottula, by 247Sports.com. Noonan is the son of former Dallas Cowboy and Husker All-American Danny Noonan, who was the Big Eight Player of the Year in 1986.

“I know every dad thinks their kid is the greatest,” Danny Noonan told the Omaha World-Herald. “But Maverick is a thoroughbred. He was born to rush the passer. His skills now at 17 years old are as good as some of the pros. If you watch his film and break it down, his hand skills are unbelievable. I’d like to say I taught him that – I didn’t.”

The younger Noonan turned down Michigan State, Minnesota, Stanford, Iowa State and Iowa to follow his father’s path to Lincoln.

Benjamin Brahmer 6-5, 185, receiver Pierce, Nebraska Pierce High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8736 (3 stars) Another in-state recruit and another coach’s son. Ben Brahmer, who plays at Pierce High School for his father, Mark Brahmer, could be a receiver or a tight end when he gets to Lincoln. Height runs in the family; his older sisters Maggie and Jaci Brahmer both play volleyball at Wayne State.

Brahmer, who turned down Iowa State, told Rivals.com that his father taught him to be a more vocal leader on the field and “to treat everyone kindly and not be cocky … I’ve been playing football since I could stand so I’ve been able to catch it well because of him.”

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William Watson III 6-0, 175, quarterback Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield Central High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8769 (3 stars) Most coaches wouldn’t consider Massachusetts a recruiting hot bed, but new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple found a gem there in Watson. Known as “Pop” Watson on Twitter, the high school senior has known Whipple since middle school, according to MassLive.com, giving the Huskers the inside track. Watson led Springfield Central to a state championship in 2021, throwing for 2,026 yards, 22 touchdowns and three interceptions. He passed on Oregon, Michigan, Tennessee and Kentucky to head to join Big Red. “Whipple was the No. 1 reason,” Watson told Rivals.com about why he chose Nebraska. “He knows I’m going to make the correct read every time.”

Watson is the only quarterback in the Huskers’ 2023 class.

He also had offers from Iowa, Iowa State and Kansas State.

Dylan Rogers 6-3, 232, linebacker Cypress, Texas Cypress Woods High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8693 (3 stars) Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State and Houston came calling for Rogers but he only said yes to Nebraska with a tweet, “Husker Nation I’m home!!” on July 6. He piled up 58 tackles and four interceptions in seven games last season at Cypress Woods High School and played both inside and outside linebacker.

“I’m a family guy, and Nebraska made me feel like part of their family,” Rogers told Inside Nebraska.

Barry Jackson 5-11, 175, receiver Ellenwood, Georgia Cedar Grove High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8572 (3 stars) One of four receivers in Nebraska’s class, Jackson made 28 catches for 510 yards and seven touchdowns for Cedar Grove High School last season. He passed on Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, Kansas, Duke and Vanderbilt to come to Lincoln.

“The players and coaching staff made me feel like I was home,” Jackson said when he announced his college decision on TV station 11 Live in Atlanta.

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Sam Sledge 6-4, 270, offensive line/defensive line Omaha Creighton Prep Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8631 (3 stars) Sledge started his high school career as a tight end but after one game moved to tackle.

“I had to learn the plays in one week,” Sledge told HuskerOnline.

He proved so good there that he eventually became a starter on both sides of the ball.

Sledge, whose father, Bob Sledge, was an All-Big Eight lineman at Nebraska in the 1980s, had offers from Kansas and Miami (Ohio).

Brock Knutson 6-7, 270, offensive tackle Scottsbluff, Nebraska Scottsbluff High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8672 (3 stars) Knutson transferred from Mitchell High School – a Class C-1 program – to Class B Scottsbluff last year to possibly graduate early and head to Lincoln a semester sooner. He told HuskerOnline that he was a “fat tub of lard” when he started high school but credited his strength coach for helping him add 70 pounds of muscle the past three years.

Playing at a bigger high school also gave Knutson more publicity, which attracted offers from Iowa State, Arizona State, Kansas and Kansas State.

“Exposure was hard for me at Mitchell. I had to do a lot work on Twitter,” Knutson said.

“I wrote up a little resume and sent it to everybody.”

Hayden Moore 6-3, 210, linebacker Aurora, Colorado Regis Jesuit High Ratings: 247 Composite: 0.8533 (3 stars) Moore turned down offers from Iowa State, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Texas Tech and UCLA. He had 111 tackles, including 11 for a loss, in 12 games at Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora. He also was 5-0 as a pitcher on the school’s baseball team.

Nebraska’s Mark Traynowicz and Miami’s Tony Fitzpatrick exchanged different finger gestures after the Hurricanes upset the Huskers 31-30 in the Orange Bowl after the 1983 season.

TED’S

TAKES

Colorado’s Kyle Rappold grabs what he can to stop Nebraska’s Doug DuBose in first-quarter action at Memorial Stadium in 1985.

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.

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VOLLEYBALL

NU Packed With Burgeoning Leaders Several Huskers Captained Junior National Teams Over the Summer

By Lincoln Arneal • Photos by Jimmy Rash

Bekka Allick, a freshman from Waverly, captained the U.S. U18 national team.

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or Bekka Allick, the call came during math class.

On the other end was Jamie Morrison, the head coach for the U18 national team, asking the then-Waverly senior if she would serve as captain for the upcoming world championships.

“I got really emotional,” Allick said.

“I was like, ‘I got to pull myself together because I got to go to class.’”

Allick said she hadn’t thought about serving as captain before the call and instead was focused on being a good teammate.

“I didn’t think the girls saw me like that,” Allick said after her first week of fall practices for Nebraska. “I just thought they saw me as a regular teammate. So for all of them to agree that they wanted me to be captain, it felt, I don’t know, I felt really honored.”

Allick is one of several Huskers named captains of junior national teams recently. This summer at a pair of Pan Am Cup tournaments, sophomore libero Lexi Rodriguez was named captain of the U21 team, while freshman middle blocker Maggie Mendelson was tabbed the leader of the U19 group. In addition, sophomore setter Kennedi Orr was the captain of the U.S. team at the U18 World Championships in 2019. Add onto that list Husker legend Jordan Larson, the U.S. women’s team captain at the Tokyo Olympics last year.

Each of those teams achieved a high level of success. The U.S. won its first-ever gold medals at the Olympics and the U18 Worlds in 2019. They also captured the gold at both Pan Am Cups and took home the bronze at the 2021 U18 Worlds.

For Mendelson, she found out she

was selected team leader after the team switched hotels between tryouts and the tournament. She said the team filled out surveys and she ended up with the title of “Team Mom,” which surprised her because she’s usually the youngest on the team.

Her responsibilities included ensuring everyone was on time for team events, trying to help with conflicts and making decisions about practice times. She also consulted with a leadership team to help make decisions.

Mendelson said she learned that understanding people’s needs and listening to them is an important part of being a leader.

“That’s gonna be really helpful moving forward, especially at the college level,” she said.

“Everybody here is just so awesome that I might never be the best one, but it’s always good to listen and be heard.”

Rodriguez said she learned more about her leadership style this summer and how she likes to figure out what motivates each player. She said she was shocked that the honor usually goes to a setter or attacker. Rodrigeuz said she didn’t have many preexisting relationships with her teammates.

“It was just such a big stage. It wasn’t my normal Nebraska team that knows me very well. It was complete strangers,” she said. “So to have that recognition was pretty cool.”

After earning first-team All-American honors and being named Big Ten defensive player of the year, NU coach John Cook already had challenged Rodriguez to grow more assertive on the court this season.

“We’ve talked to her about being a leader at some point, but (being named Team USA captain) really facilitated and sped up that conversation,” Cook said.

Allick, who also played for the U21 Pan Am Cup team, was Rodriguez’s roommate and saw firsthand her positive influence. Allick said leaders are often either peacemakers or peacekeepers, and Rodriguez fell into the latter.

“I think she absolutely crushed it because she spoke up when she needed to, and I think it kept the team level-headed,” Allick said.

When told the lengthy list of Huskers who were national team captains, Allick said she got goosebumps. After enjoying her first taste of team leadership, she said her ultimate goal is to be captain of the Huskers for at least one year.

“That just speaks volumes on the kind of girls that coach (Cook) recruits because he doesn’t just look at skill,” Allick said. “The Big Ten has a strong conference because we all have athletes, but Nebraska separates itself because he recruits leaders. He recruits strong women and peaceful people. He just recruits solid people and then just transforms them into incredible volleyball Sophomore Lexi Rodriguez captained the U.S. U21 national team. players.”

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SOCCER

Homegrown Huskers Show the Way Nebraska Returns Its Top Seven Scorers From a Year Ago

By Nick Rubek • Photos by Nebraska Communications Office

S

arah Weber hates to dwell on the ones that got away.

Learning opportunities, the Nebraska sophomore calls them. And there were plenty of them during her first year of college soccer.

“Looking back I’m glad I had last year under my belt,” Weber said, “but I know there were so many times I had a chance in front of goal and missed it. I learned a ton as a player.

“I was happy with last season ... I wouldn’t say that I was content.”

They are lessons and driving forces that Weber hopes come in handy in her second crack at it.

The Gretna, Nebraska, native is part of a returning core for NU that includes the top seven scorers from a season ago.

Weber is also – very proudly, she added – one of five in that group who are playing for their home state Huskers.

“It’s a talented group,” Nebraska coach John Walker said of the native Nebraskans.

“It’s kind of a fun, exciting group, too. A lot of them have grown up coming to games.

They have preexisting relationships.”

Preexisting accomplishments, too. Both Weber and junior Reagan Raabe – last year’s leading scorer – led prep teams to Class A state championships and were players of the year in the state during their high school careers.

Walker, who started five or six instate players in the spring, credited the development of the sport within Nebraska for a roster that is nearly half homegrown.

“A lot of them last year played big roles,” Walker said. “We kind of expect the same, and I think that’s exciting for them.”

Added Weber: “That just kind of shows that Nebraska can produce some really good athletes that can play at the Division I level.”

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Sarah Weber learned much in her first season as a Husker, when she tallied six goals. She looks forward to putting her experience to good use as a sophomore.

Reagan Rabbe, still just a junior, was one of two leading scorers for the Huskers in 2021 with seven goals.

It won’t take long to find out exactly what level that is.

A challenging schedule features eight of 18 matches against teams that played in last year’s NCAA tournament. Seven of the eight won a game there.

Walker sees it as the kind of slate that NU needs.

“That’s traditionally what we’ve tried to do,” he said of a tough schedule. “They’re exciting games. The goal is to get back into the NCAA tournament and contend for the Big Ten title. And the only way you’re going to achieve those things is by testing yourselves.”

Nine of the Huskers’ first 10 are at home, including nonconference clashes with Oklahoma and Arizona, as well as matches against tourney qualifiers North Carolina State and USC. There will certainly be road tests, too.

Nebraska’s first three matches away from Hibner Stadium – at Saint Louis in early September and back-to-back trips to Michigan and Purdue early in Big Ten play – all come against sides that were part of the postseason mix a year ago.

“Super, super pumped,” Weber said of the high-profile matches. “Those are the types of games that are going to push you and show you what you’re made of. We don’t get caught up in the names of the teams, though. When you get into the game, it’s 11 v 11.”

Both Weber and Walker like their 11.

Raabe and fellow forward Eleanor Dale are both back. Each tallied seven goals a season ago, tops on the team.

Dale, a junior out of England, gives NU more than just stats, though.

“She brings a level of class and expertise,” Weber said. “Really adds to our attack. Just the way she talks about the game … she knows everything that’s going on.”

Weber, an All-Big Ten freshman team selection coming off of a six-goal campaign, was tied for third with 14 points.

Sophomore Abbey Schwarz, an Omaha Roncalli graduate, had a team-leading eight assists to go with three goals.

Gwen Lane and Haley Peterson – a pair of Lincoln products – are back, too. The two finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in

points a year ago.

“This spring, our energy at practice was there,” Weber said. “We’re here to get better. I think we’re doing all of the little things that we need to focus on.”

It’s those details that Walker said will make the difference in close matches this season. He points specifically to one-score losses to Michigan and Rutgers a year ago for proof.

In a 3-2 loss against a Michigan side that reached the regional, Nebraska had a 21-10 advantage in shots. That came just two weeks after the Huskers went toeto-toe with national semifinalist Rutgers, eventually losing 1-0.

“Gave some of the best teams in the country a tough time,” Walker said. “That’s how tight it is. Those results need to turn into wins.”

And what’s the formula for that success?

“There’s no exact science to it,” Walker said. “Can you improve and be a bit more consistent? Game management. Handling the demands. Having the confidence that you’re good enough.”

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MEN'S BASKETBALL

School’s Back In Session

Can Fred Hoiberg’s Bigger and Longer Team Pass the Big Ten Test?

BIGELOW ON BASKETBALL

T

Opinion • By Jacob Bigelow

he fall semester officially begins Aug. 22, but for Nebraska basketball, the entire summer has felt like the first day of school.

There are new faces and new ideas. There’s been some get-to-know-you activities. There are new assistant coaches, including one, Ernie Zeigler, who officially came aboard just eight days before the start of classes. There are super seniors who feel like they have been in school forever. And there are hotshot freshmen and newcomers still finding their way.

And most of all, there is a sense of giddiness.

Is this the group that will finally bring home a pleasing report card with passing grades?

There are lots of first-day-of-school metaphors. The coach is a basketball professor who can lecture X’s and O’s for hours on end.

He’s in constant search of players who can navigate his curriculum. The syllabus is a schedule that could see as many as seven high major opponents in the nonconference before the meatgrinder of a 20-game Big Ten slate.

There are questions to answer. There will be tests early and often.

And following the restructuring of coach Fred Hoiberg’s contract, I don’t think Athletic Director Trev Alberts will be grading on a curve.

Over the summer, the media spoke to a handful of players, a mix of old and new faces – it’s not a total overhaul as in recent years. The only coach we heard from was Hoiberg, who spoke highly of his roster.

The headlining off-season addition is Lincoln East product and North Dakota State graduate transfer Sam Griesel, who grew up idolizing the Huskers and will spend his super senior season looking to turn the tide for his hometown team.

REGGIE RYDER/HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED The 6-foot-6 guard had surgery in the spring to repair the labrum in his hip. Once healthy, look Derrick Walker, who had to do the dirty work under the basket last season at only 6-foot-9, will have help this season with the arrival of 6-11 Blaise Keita. for him to become the face of the program when 3 6 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2

the season starts.

Another player recovering from surgery is sophomore forward Wilhelm Breidenbach, whose season-ending knee injury 10 games into his freshman season affected Nebraska’s depth.

Doctors repaired Briedenbach’s ACL that was injured in December as well as his meniscus which the 6-10 forward believes he injured as far back as his senior season of high school in California.

Also returning is big man Derrick Walker, who not only will get a third senior night at Nebraska but may very well be the biggest fan favorite of the Hoiberg Era by the time his Husker career is done. The head coach himself already waxes poetic about the 6-9 Walker, who has been at Nebraska for Hoiberg’s entire stay.

“He’s going to go down as one of my all-time favorites,” Hoiberg said.

And this could be Walker’s breakout year. He’ll have legitimate post depth around him in 6-11 JUCO transfer Blaise Keita, a touted recruit. Together, they could be a handful for Big Ten opponents who liked to feast on Nebraska’s lack of size and rebounding.

While the recruiting class going into last season centered around the first five-star recruit in program history and a purported cast of 3-point shooters who fit into Hoiberg’s pace and space offense, the new roster centers on length and versatility. Expect it to be much better defensively.

The roster won’t be overmatched in size at any position. There are also experienced transfers aside from Griesel, including 6-4 SMU grad transfer Emmanuel Bandoumel and 6-6 Alabama transfer Juwan Gary.

Both have been described as “energy” guys who were fan favorites on their previous teams. Their stats don’t jump off the page, but Hoiberg has spoken highly of both.

“I have not been around many guys like Emmanuel, just such a great character kid that is all about the right things,” Hoiberg said. “He’s all about the team.

You talked about the energy-givers, the energy-takers; he’s an energy-giver.

“Juwan Gary is going to be somebody that I think our fans will fall in love with right away because of just his tenacity of going to get the ball,” Hoiberg said. “We’re changing our offensive

rebounding philosophy, and we’re going to get after it.”

Hoiberg has emphasized a change in philosophy to go along with how he’s constructed the roster. It’s a long, aggressive lineup with an emphasis on defense and rebounding – two things that have lacked on previous Hoiberg teams.

But who will score?

A slimmed-down C.J. Wilcher is a proven shooter, and freshmen Ramel Lloyd Jr. and Jamarques Lawrence likely will both be in contention for playing time.

Lloyd is another long and versatile guard who is no stranger to high pressure hoops, having played at California prep powerhouse Sierra Canyon. Lawrence is a sharpshooter from New Jersey whose jumpshot has already received lots of praise from his head coach.

Young guards Denim Dawson (6-6) and Quaran McPherson (6-3) fit the new mold, and with real size down low, who knows what might open up for Keisei Tominaga.

Hoiberg made critical staff changes.

He parted ways with two of his closest coaching confidants in Matt Abdelmassih and Doc Sadler, who both contributed to his success all the way back to Iowa State.

New assistant Adam Howard has a defensive-minded background and has been working with post players since arriving in Lincoln. Nate Loenser, who was with Hoiberg at Iowa State and the Chicago Bulls, came aboard in April of 2021. And now there is Zeigler, the former Mississippi State assistant who replaces Armon Gates. Zeigler has been with bigtime programs as an assistant with Ben Howland, following him from Pittsburgh to UCLA in the early 2000s and then reuniting with him at Mississippi State where he’s been the past seven years. He also was head coach at Central Michigan from 2006 to 2012.

To bring this back to my comparison to the first day of school, I’ll finish with a first-day-of-school icebreaker: Two truths and a lie for Nebraska basketball.

Option 1: Fred Hoiberg likes his roster.

Option 2: Fred Hoiberg is willing to adjust his philosophy.

Option 3: We all know exactly what to expect from this team.

It shouldn’t be hard to ace that test.

REGGIE RYDER/HUSKERS ILLUSTRATED

Versatile Wilhelm Breidenbach, a 6-foot-10 sophomore forward who missed most of his freshman season with a knee injury, should fit in well with Nebraska's bigger, more defensive-minded rotation.

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TURN BACK THE CLOCK

A Complete Effort Huskers Remain Undefeated in Kickoff Classic NEBRASKA N U

CORNHUSKERS

TURN BACK THE CLOCK Story by Shane G. Gilster

S

Nebraska running back Lawrence Phillips was a handful for West Virginia in the 1994 Kickoff Classic, rushing for 126 yards on 24 carries.

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ome thought West Virginia and Nebraska should have played in the Orange Bowl for the national championship. Both were undefeated at 11-0, but a one-loss Florida State trumped the Mountaineers and went on to beat the Cornhuskers for the 1993 national championship.

A West Virginia/Nebraska matchup had to wait until the 1994 Kickoff Classic at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Mountaineers were ranked Nos. 23/24, while the Cornhuskers were again highly ranked, at Nos. 3/4.

Before 58,233 fans and in temperatures close to 100 degrees by kickoff, Nebraska turned the game into a rout, leading 24-0 at halftime. Husker quarterback Tommie Frazier ran and passed for more than 100 yards and totaled four touchdowns in the 31-0 win.

The Nebraska defense, which had lost five of its 1993 starters to the NFL, pitched its first shutout in 20 games. It was preserved in the closing minutes by a Sedric Collins interception in the end zone.

“You’re always concerned when you lose people like we did on our side of the ball,” NU defensive coordinator Charlie McBride said. “We had a few breakdowns, but we didn’t have any defensive lapses where we just let people take the ball and

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Rush end Dwayne Harris was part of a formidable Husker starting defensive line that included Christian Peter, Terry Connealy and Donta Jones.

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ram it down our throats. That’s the thing that pleased me most.”

The Husker defense gave its offense numerous opportunities to put points on the board. The Cornhuskers had the ball for 18 of the game’s first 30 minutes and ran 48 plays.

Frazier, the game’s ABC Chevrolet MVP and the William J. Flynn MVP, had scoring runs of 25, 27 and 42 yards along with a 12-yard touchdown pass.

“They had a great defense,” Frazier said. “I guess they got fatigued or tired.

Once their defense got tired, there was no way they were going to keep up with our offense. We mixed it up, we ran, we stayed with our game plan. Offensively, I can’t say how much better we are (than last year). We’ll have to wait four or five games down the road.”

NU coach Tom Osborne knew his quarterback could be the difference in the game.

“The big difference today was the quarterbacks. I’m proud of Tommie’s performance. He made some great plays and some not-so-great plays, but for the most part he played well,” Osborne said.

Meanwhile, West Virginia’s quarterback play was abysmal. The Mountaineers had to replace their top two quarterbacks from the previous year. The new QBs, Chad Johnston and Eric Boykin, couldn’t handle Nebraska’s attacking defense, which got eight sacks.

“They didn’t have much of a chance,” West Virginia coach Don Nehlen said of his quarterbacks, who were a combined 6-of-19 passing for 81 yards and two interceptions.

Osborne concurred with Nehlen’s assessment. “We felt we showed them lots of pictures. Sometimes we blitzed, sometimes we showed blitz and other times we stayed back. I’m not saying their quarterbacks were bad, they just didn’t have much of a chance.”

The only bright spot for West Virginia was its punter, Todd Sauerbrun. He helped keep the game from becoming even more of a blowout by averaging 60 yards on nine kicks, including a 90-yarder in the first quarter.

“We got a lot of work to do on defense. We got a lot of work to do on offense. We got a lot of work to do everywhere,” Nehlen said.

The Mountaineers’ strength was its running game, with Robert Walker returning from a 1,000-yard season.

But Nebraska’s Blackshirt defense held Walker to 46 yards and gave up only eight net yards rushing overall in the game.

Meanwhile, Nebraska’s Lawrence Phillips made his first career start at I-back and had 126 yards on 24 carries.

He reached the 100-yard mark on the first play of the second half. Phillip’s success was due to the way Frazier ran the offense.

“I guess Tommie could see they weren’t playing the option too well and every time we’d get to the end to turn upfield, there’d be nobody there.

The corners were so wide open, the corners and the safeties were making all the tackles, and Tommie knew that,” Phillips said.

Husker linebacker Doug Colman, a native of Ventnor, New Jersey, had a great game playing in front of 106 friends and family. He made eight tackles and forced and recovered a fumble by Boykin that set up a score in the second quarter.

“We pretty much showed the nation Nebraska’s got a pretty good defense,” Colman said. “We have enough guys up front to blitz and enough guys in the secondary to cover the pass well.

Everyone thinks of Nebraska as only having an option-type offense with big numbers. We not only can throw; we also have a defense.”

Defensive linemen Christian Peter and Grant Wistrom combined for four of Nebraska’s eight sacks. Those two along with Terry Connealy and rush ends Dwayne Harris and Donta Jones, gave the Huskers a formidable front line.

“To have a great football team, you need a great defense. The interior line of our defense should be better than it was last year,” Osborne said. “But it’s only one game, and you don't want to be overly optimistic.”

The Husker defense set four Kickoff Classic records. Fewest total offensive yards by a team (89), fewest first downs by a team (nine), fewest rushing first downs by a team (three) and most punts by a team (nine).

The way the Blackshirt defense played to start the season boded well

The Mountaineer defense was no match for Husker quarterback Tommie Frazier who scored on runs of 25, 27 and 42 yards and also threw a touchdown pass.

for a squad that started slow the previous year.

“I don’t think we started last season real well, but as the season went on, we started smoking,” said NU defensive coordinator McBride. “In the Orange Bowl, we played about as good as we can play. It’s just continuing now.”

“No one is talking big, but we think we have a good team, and we want to get back and play for the title,” said Zach Wiegert, NU’s 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive tackle.

“We just want to be ranked high enough where, if we win all our games, we’ll have the opportunity to play for the title.”

Some of the Mountaineer players had nothing but praise for a Nebraska team that showed the nation that it is national championship caliber.

“They could be the No. 1 team in the country,” Johnston said of Nebraska. “We sure made them look like it today.”

“We lost to a team that’s capable of winning the national championship,” said West Virginia offensive lineman Tom Robsock. “They were a great team. I have to compliment coach Osborne for how well-prepared they were. I think man-for-man we could hang with them, but as far as taking care of the schemes, they were a little bit ahead of us at this point in the season.”

Nebraska, which took home a $500,000 payoff for playing, ran its Kickoff Classic record to 3-0, and is the only team with three appearances and three victories in the game.

The Huskers beat Penn State in 1983 and Texas A&M in 1988. NU piled up a 98-20 scoring advantage in those three games.

The Huskers’ quarterback also won the MVP in each of those three games. In addition to Frazier, Steve Taylor won it in the 1988 game and Turner Gill earned it in 1983.

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HUSKER LEGENDS

When Todd Brown showed up at Nebraska from Holdrege High School he weighed only 160 pounds but it didn't take him long to show his game was a lot bigger than his frame.

The Loyal Nebraskan Former Husker Split End Todd Brown’s Dream Was to Play for NU

By Shane G. Gilster

A

lthough he caught only 65 passes in his career, a number that many top receivers catch in a season these days, former NU split end Todd Brown was one of the best receivers in Nebraska history.

He wasn’t the biggest (6-0, 175) but he had speed to burn.

“My inroad was my speed,” Brown said.

His 40 was blazing fast at around 4.36/4.38 handheld. “I was right in there 4 2 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2

with Irving Fryar… we were side by side when running.”

At the NFL Combine, Brown remembered, the only receiver faster was Olympic-level sprinter Willie Gault out of Tennessee.

As a high school track star at Holdrege High School, Brown ran the 100 meters and was a long- and triple-jumper. As a senior in 1978 he was a state champion in all three of those events, running the 100 in 10.8 and

breaking the state record in the triple jump by four feet. His record of 50-2¼ stood until it was broken this year.

“Nebraska offered me a scholarship for track, but my heart was to play football for Nebraska. You can’t play football on a track scholarship,” Brown said. “So, I passed up a track scholarship and walked on the football team. The reason coach (Tom) Osborne didn’t give me a scholarship was because he didn’t know if I was fast enough.

So, I ran the 100 meters in the spring of my senior year.”

After proving he had the speed and necessary athletic ability, Brown earned a scholarship in the second semester of his freshman season.

“I would have played even if they didn’t offer me one,” Brown said. “It was a huge dream for me to play for Nebraska. When you were a young man, the pinnacle of sports in our state was to represent the state. It was almost a patriotic thing, like going to the army or something. There was something that was compelling inside. It was representing my community; it was my representing my family, representing my God, to be a Husker. It was really important.

“I don’t know if young people feel that way anymore, but in my high school when I grew up, if you wore an Oklahoma shirt, you would get razzed all day long. It was like another country; you were flying a different flag. I was so loyal, not just me but our community and everybody I grew up with. If you felt like you had a shot to (play football at Nebraska), try it. That is certainly what I did.”

Brown was lucky as a freshman. Within the first week, he was one of five players on the team to redshirt in the new freshman

redshirt ruling. Dave Rimington, Roger Craig and Jamie Williams were part of that group.

“So, I never played on the freshman team,” Brown said. “It was the best move strategically that could have happened to me. I came up there just wanting to make a name for myself. I was only 160 pounds, but was really fast. It (redshirt year) toughened me up and taught (me) to go full speed. I saw playing on the scout team as an honor, and if I could score touchdowns on the Blackshirts, I could start for Nebraska. If you ask the defensive coaches from back then, I raised a lot of havoc in their secondary as a freshman against the Blackshirts. I scored a lot of touchdowns and gave them a good look.”

For a Nebraska boy from a small town, it was more than just football. That became apparent to teammates who didn’t know what Husker football was all about.

“It was important to me, it was important to my community, and it was important to my family. These people from out of state got a sense of this being a bigger deal than your average college football,” Brown said.

“I think it gave them a sense of pride for the state and a love for the people of this state, and ultimately it elevated everybody’s

game. This isn’t just about me becoming an NFL football player. We didn’t worry about that.”

As a redshirt freshman in 1979, Brown bided his time on the depth chart. He did not have any receiving stats but learned from veteran receivers like Tim Smith. Then, as a sophomore in 1980, Brown won the job at split end and didn’t disappoint, having his best season as a Husker in catches (28), yards (416) and touchdowns (five).

Brown said the most memorable game of his career came in that 1980 season, in a home game against No. 16 Florida State.

At the time the Seminoles were not the marquee program they are today. As Brown put it: “It was just another nonconference we’re-going-to-kill-’em kind of game.”

It didn’t turn out that way. Brown scored Nebraska’s only two touchdowns and played well, but third-ranked Nebraska lost in an upset, 18-14, in a game that gave Florida State national credibility.

NU had a chance to win at the end when they drove to the Seminole 3-yard line with just 12 seconds to play, but as quarterback Jeff Quinn rolled left, he was hit by an FSU linebacker and fumbled.

“If Jeff wouldn’t have gotten hit, I was wide open in the end zone,” Brown said.

Brown started at split end for the Huskers in 1980, 1981 and 1982. Speed was one of his greatest assets, although he relished blocking for players like Mike Rozier and Roger Craig.

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Brown was a sixth-round NFL pick but made his pro career in the Canadian Football League.

“I ran a simple out pattern and I had their defensive back’s number all game, and he took a fake to the inside and I spun him around. So I was standing wide open in the corner of the end zone as Jeff was getting hit and going down.”

At the end of the game Florida State coach Bobby Bowden sought out Brown and told him that he played a really good game.

Brown started again at split end in 1981 and 1982. Even though he didn’t catch as many passes as most receivers would have liked, for Brown, just winning mattered most.

“For me, I wasn’t there to catch balls, I was there to win football games. I was there to represent my state and to do whatever it takes to help the Huskers win,” Brown said.

When Brown caught the ball, it was a big play. He knew he was going to get only three or four balls a game, but that they were going to be big plays. He had several games in which he caught two touchdowns, despite catching a total of only three passes.

“It was a different way of thinking about a receiver. It was just as much fun to block and spring Mike Rozier or Roger Craig on a big run than it was for me to catch a pass.

I was there for the team, not for myself,” Brown said.

Brown and the 1982 team suffered probably one of the most gut-wrenching losses in Nebraska history. It came in State College, Pennsylvania, against the eighthranked Penn State Nittany Lions. Nebraska came in ranked No. 2, featuring probably the most talented offense of any Husker 4 4 | H U S K E R S I L L U S T R AT E D | A U G U S T 2 0 2 2

Today, Brown is the CEO of Brown Church Development Group headquartered in Kearney.

team ever. The offensive line had Outland and Lombardi Trophy winners Rimington and Dean Steinkuhler, tight end Williams, I-backs Rozier and Craig, quarterback Turner Gill and receivers Fryar and Brown.

“When we lost to Penn State out there because of those two bad calls, coach Osborne handled it like a man,” Brown said. “What he said at the end of the game was just a character builder. He said, ‘Guys, you want to win a national championship, you gotta play so much better than the other team that no one can take it away from you. So, no one say anything about the officiating, those guys don’t try and make bad calls, just don’t talk about it.’

“It was good for us to hear, because our hearts were broken. I felt we were as good a team Nebraska has ever put on the field.”

Not winning a national title didn’t define Brown’s playing career or his college experience.

“A national title would have been nice, but I got so much out of the game, the memories, the teaching, and the life experiences. Just playing for coach Osborne was enough.”

After Nebraska, Brown was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the sixth round but ended up playing Canadian football for six years before retiring.

The teaching, life experiences and lessons learned carried Brown into a rewarding profession.

“I was involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and became a Christian before I came to the University of Nebraska.

That has been a driving force in my life,”

Brown said. “I found a way to take my profession, or architecture and construction, and point it towards promoting the Gospel by designing and building churches across the United States.”

He is now the CEO of the company: Brown Church Development Group.

The company has projects coast to coast from California to Florida. They are one of the top companies in the country that builds churches and work mainly with Protestant, Baptist and independent Bible churches.

With his office in Kearney, the 62-yearold Brown enjoys life with his wife, Michele, on an acreage by Overton, an easy drive from his boyhood home of Holdrege.

The couple has four children and eight grandchildren.

Two of his kids are twins. Micah played football at Kansas and experienced an Orange Bowl with the Jayhawks. Ashley was a Big 12 champion in the 100-meter hurdles at KU in the late 2000s. Another daughter, Justine, also graduated from KU. Son Isaac played football for Gill at Liberty University.

Brown was and always will be a perfect example of a Nebraska kid living out his dream. And he has nothing but high praise for how the NU football program enabled him to realize that dream.

“You knew that the Nebraska program developed you into a player that was competent and able to compete. It was more about the testimony of the Nebraska program than about something great about that individual. They turned willing kids into football players.”

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HUSKER TRIVIA

3.

Name the year when NU had two losses but still played for the National Championship.

4.

What year did the Nebraska defense set the school record for most sacks in a season?

5.

Name the only Husker who returned two punts for touchdowns in a single game.

6.

What year was Memorial Stadium built?

7.

What was Nebraska’s highest preseason ranking since the beginning of 2000?

8.

Name the offensive lineman who ran the fumblerooski for a touchdown in the 1979 game against Oklahoma.

9.

Name the highest-ranked football recruit from the state of Nebraska who signed with the Huskers in the 2000s.

10.

What is the highest number of junior college recruits the Huskers ever signed in a recruiting class?

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Who am I?

I played quarterback for the Huskers and am now an official in the NFL.

ANSWERS 1. Dominic Raiola (1997) 2. No. 3 overall (Tom Lemming’s Top 101) 3. 1981 (’82 Orange Bowl vs. Clemson) 4. 1999 (53 sacks) 5. DeJuan Groce (2002 vs. Troy State) 6. 1923 7. No. 1 (2000) 8. Randy Schleusener 9. Baker Steinkuhler (No. 34 overall in 2008) 10. Twelve (2005)

2.

Where was Tommie Frazier ranked nationally as a recruit in 1992?

WHO AM I? Clete Blakeman (1984-87)

1.

Who was Nebraska’s first-ever football recruit from the state of Hawaii?

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