Nebraska holds walk-on tryouts

[Husker_Power]

Students run after their NU dream at walk-on tryout

Lincoln Journal Star

 

It would seem not a great many things could make college kids rise when it's dark and run sprints at 6 a.m. with odds so slanted against them.

 

But here were a collection of hopefuls willing to forgo a few hours of shut-eye at the chance, even if it was a slim one, to make the football team many of them had long called their favorite.

 

So goes it when the Nebraska football program offers a walk-on tryout for any interested full-time students.

 

Count the rugby player among the interested — showing up on eight hours' notice, no less. He scooted across the FieldTurf as Husker staffers with stopwatches urged him to run "all the way through."

 

You can be certain Kane Znamenacek did as advised.

 

He had heard from a friend at 10 p.m. Wednesday that there was a Husker football tryout early the next morning. And by early, his friend meant 6 a.m.

 

To heck with odds and long-term planning. Znamenacek was going to be there.

 

"It's every kid's dream to play for the Huskers," said Znamenacek, a native of Wilber and a member of the university's rugby club. "It's like, 'Why not try?' When you're 40 years old, you can say you at least tried."

 

Never mind that he has just one year of eligibility left. He'd have a story to tell, if nothing else.

 

There were about 40 others who thought likewise, showing up at the Hawks Championship Center on Thursday morning.

 

Many came because they had seen an ad in the student newspaper placed Jeff Jamrog, Nebraska's assistant athletic director for football. Some had heard about it from friends. A few were about half the size of Ndamukong Suh.

 

So.

 

"It's just the dream," said freshman Blake Baumert, a Tekamah native who played high school ball at Logan View. "It's all you know when you grow up, the tradition of the football program. You just want to be a part of it."

 

They showed up not knowing what to expect, bringing their cleats and their nerves.

 

"I didn't get any sleep last night," admitted freshman Bryce Ebel, who played eight-man football at Falls City Sacred Heart.

 

Ebel had sent highlight footage to Husker coaches after making the Class D-2 all-state team his senior year. He didn't get accepted as a walk-on then but that didn't drain his hopes. When he heard about the tryout, he knew he had to give it another shot.

 

Then there was 20-year-old Michael Wesson. From La Vista, he said he's scheduled to go to Afghanistan in a year-and-a-half as a member of the Army National Guard.

 

But before that, the 5-foot-10, 300-pound Wesson wanted to see if he might be good enough to play one more year of football.

 

"I always wanted to play Husker football since I was a little kid," he said.

 

But what you want and what your body will allow you to do are sometimes two very different things — something that became apparent to many of those participating.

 

One guy didn't make it through the stretching drills, planting awkwardly, hurting his knee.

 

Others would soon join him as spectators.

 

After each player had two chances at the 40-yard dash, Husker football strength coach James Dobson kept them running, giving a taste of what conditioning is like. Who was ready to stand up to it?

 

Those willing began to thin. Dobson had them sprint 55 yards one direction. Then back. Then 55 yards and back again. Then a 10-yard sprint. Touch the line. And back. And again.

 

Hands were placed on knees. Sweat started stinging eyes. In short order, 40-some participants dwindled to 11.

 

Dobson had the remaining do it again — sprinting half the field and back. More began to drop out. From 11 to six. A few more sprints. From six to three.

 

One of them still standing was Kurtis Charling, a sophomore who played quarterback and defensive end at Oakland-Craig. This was his third time participating at one of these tryouts, dating to Bill Callahan's last season as head coach in 2007.

 

In a tryout last fall, he had done well enough to catch the notice of Jamrog.

 

But an impressive tryout doesn't mean a spot on the team. Space on the practice squad is limited, many spots taken by walk-ons invited straight out of high school.

 

Charling was encouraged to come back and try out again. He worked hard on his own, even gaining about 15 pounds of muscle mass over Christmas break in anticipation of this day.

 

His work showed.

 

As he battled though his last sprints Thursday morning, some of the tired onlookers began to clap and shout encouragement — many of them Nebraska kids rooting on another Nebraska kid.

 

When the workout was done, Jamrog gathered the students in a circle and thanked them for their efforts. Most of their dreams of playing for the Huskers would disappear as they walked out the door. But Charling was among two or three who had done enough to still maintain those aspirations. They could be called on again if coaches saw that any one of them might fill a position need.

 

"There's always a diamond in the rough and that's who you try to find when you open it up to people on your campus that played high school football," Jamrog said.

 

Jamrog reminded the students of Matt O'Hanlon, a Bellevue East grad who made the team at a tryout just like this one. Last year, as a junior, O'Hanlon started eight games at safety.

 

It's a story Charling was glad to hear.

 

"It kind of gives you hope," he said, "thinking that you got a chance actually."

[Street Novelist]

I love stories like this one.

[RedDenver]

"As he battled though his last sprints Thursday morning, some of the tired onlookers began to clap and shout encouragement — many of them Nebraska kids rooting on another Nebraska kid."

 

Things like this make me proud to be a Husker fan and Nebraska native.

[jayhawk]

Good to see a nice tradition return from the depths that were the Bill Callahan era. At least, I assume he cancelled this type of thing...

[Touchdown Tommie]

Very cool....what an opportunity to have and then be able to share this with family and friends....I suppose it would be easier to tell if you actually made the team, but either way it is nice to see things like this going on.

[Ohio Pete]

Good to see a nice tradition return from the depths that were the Bill Callahan era. At least, I assume he cancelled this type of thing...

Nah, the one guy said he had done it the past 3 years which of course overlaps with Callahan. (And a lot of those walk-ons that played this year were brought in by him.)

[jayhawk]

Good to see a nice tradition return from the depths that were the Bill Callahan era. At least, I assume he cancelled this type of thing...

Nah, the one guy said he had done it the past 3 years which of course overlaps with Callahan. (And a lot of those walk-ons that played this year were brought in by him.)

 

I thought BC got rid of the walk on program. If he did not, i would blame him for it anyway, as I despise BC, but that is a different issue.

[zoogs]

^ HAHAHA...man, why do you hate BC? IMO, a lot of Husker fans have an irrational hate for BC which stems out of frustration over last season. They associate him with everything bad that ever happens, and consequently the current staff with everything good...but you're a KU fan, what gives?

 

If BU had "killed" the walk-on program, we wouldn't have guys like Matt O'Hanlon or Colton Koehler or Thomas Grove or Dan Erickson (first 4 names off the top of my head, you get the idea) contributing this year or the past years.

[AR Husker Fan]

If memory serves, jayhawk bemoaned the loss of the option as hearlded by Callahan. My recollection is that he thought it made the Huskers unique and iconic.

[jayhawk]

If memory serves, jayhawk bemoaned the loss of the option as hearlded by Callahan. My recollection is that he thought it made the Huskers unique and iconic.

 

Indeed. I will not rehash, but I stew to this day. The option was not dead, just needed tweaks (and got them, but by better coaches than BC, and for other schools)