HuskerfaninOkieland
Heisman Trophy Winner
Journal Star
Real good article on this young man
Hometown keeping tabs on Huskers' Dennard
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By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 - 12:32:53 am CDT
So, you say, it’s like a two-gas-station town?
Alfonzo Dennard laughs. “Yeah, that’s right. Just right.”
Yep. Rochelle, Ga., is the type of place where everyone knows everyone and $29.95 is not too steep a price to pay to see a football game on the television when a local kid is involved.
Not when that local kid is Alfonzo Dennard, at least.
“Oh yeah, we’ve become a Nebraska town,” says the town’s high school team’s football coach, Mark Ledford. “We’re the biggest Nebraska supporters in Georgia right now.”
Some pretty good players have come through the rural Georgia town in the past. But none like Alfonzo. None that could play quarterback, running back, wide receiver, defensive back, linebacker, kicker and punter.
Yes, kicker and punter, too.
“He is the best that’s ever been through here,” Ledford says. “There’s not one thing that he could not do.”
And so you bet the coach plopped down $29.95 for the pay-per-view broadcast of Saturday’s Nebraska game once he heard Alfonzo was going to play.
“Everybody’s calling me, like, ‘You did good,’” Dennard says.
He laughs again. “I thought I did all right. But that second kick return, I don’t know what was going through my mind. I tried to cut back across the field, but it’s not like high school, though. It wasn’t like high school. Everybody on the college level is fast.”
Oh, sure, there’s still plenty of learning for Dennard to do. The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder has only been in Lincoln since June 9. He just turned 19 on Tuesday, and the defensive playbook is thick enough that there’s no certainty he’ll see playing time on NU’s defense this year.
“That’s my biggest problem, the plays,” he says. “If I know the plays like everyone else knows, I think I can get a chance to be out there at cornerback.”
But Husker coaches have given him another assignment while he’s picking up the defense. Returning kicks.
Perfect for Dennard, they figure, because as secondary coach Marvin Sanders says: “He only knows one speed.”
On Saturday, Dennard became one of just four Husker true freshmen to have played through the first two games.
Returning kickoffs alongside Niles Paul, Dennard was easy to notice before the game’s first kick, bouncing every which way.
“I’ve never seen that many people in one stadium before,” Dennard says. “That’s as exciting as I’ve ever been.”
Dennard did not break a huge return in the 35-12 win over San Jose State. “Follow your blocks,” he says. “I learned my lessons.”
But he did play a sizeable role in the biggest play of the game.
Before Paul’s 85-yard touchdown return that broke open what was just a 14-12 game in the fourth quarter, Dennard told his teammate: Just follow me because I’m going to get you to the end zone.
“And Niles, he was confident in me,” Dennard says. “He just followed me.”
As Paul crossed midfield, Dennard was by his side, picking off the kicker and then one other would-be tackler, tumbling out of bounds in the process.
They were keeping track back in Rochelle, the town of little more than 1,000 people that sits about 150 miles south of Atlanta.
Dennard text messages Ledford about every other day. Teachers around school are always asking the coach for the latest updates.
“He’s happy as can be to be a Cornhusker. He told me that the other night,” Ledford says.
The coach couldn’t be more pleased, especially knowing the stressful recruiting situation Dennard faced. He originally committed to North Carolina, but then officials there expressed some concerns about whether he would be academically eligible at their school.
Dennard started researching on the Internet. Nebraska. He saw all the red, that the fans had sold out a giant stadium since 1962.
“And I knew Coach Pelini was coming here, so I was like, ‘I’m going to take that chance and go to Nebraska. I think that’s a very good place.’ And I was right. It’s a very good place and I love the coaching staff.”
Though he’s of average height, Dennard has been able to dunk a basketball since the 10th grade.
Ledford says he’s seen him do some crazy things around a rim. Basketball, in fact, was Dennard’s favorite sport growing up. So it might be expected for someone with a 40-inch vertical.
Given his leaping ability, Husker teammates asked Dennard if he’d play part in what has become a Big Red tradition of sorts.
With Cortney Grixby no longer around, Nebraska needed someone to jump atop the on-field huddle before the game and point the No. 1 finger in the air.
Says Dennard: “I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it. I’ll try it out.’”
His first try before the Western Michigan game didn’t go so hot. Someone was in his way. He never made it.
“But I got it my second time,” Dennard says.
Yeah, he’s learning as he goes. But it’s a little easier knowing he has the support of a town about 1,200 miles away.
And even if his role is limited to returning kicks this year, he’s cool with it.
“The only thing I want to do is win,” he says. “Just win.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
Real good article on this young man
Hometown keeping tabs on Huskers' Dennard
No comments posted.
By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 - 12:32:53 am CDT
So, you say, it’s like a two-gas-station town?
Alfonzo Dennard laughs. “Yeah, that’s right. Just right.”
Yep. Rochelle, Ga., is the type of place where everyone knows everyone and $29.95 is not too steep a price to pay to see a football game on the television when a local kid is involved.
Not when that local kid is Alfonzo Dennard, at least.
“Oh yeah, we’ve become a Nebraska town,” says the town’s high school team’s football coach, Mark Ledford. “We’re the biggest Nebraska supporters in Georgia right now.”
Some pretty good players have come through the rural Georgia town in the past. But none like Alfonzo. None that could play quarterback, running back, wide receiver, defensive back, linebacker, kicker and punter.
Yes, kicker and punter, too.
“He is the best that’s ever been through here,” Ledford says. “There’s not one thing that he could not do.”
And so you bet the coach plopped down $29.95 for the pay-per-view broadcast of Saturday’s Nebraska game once he heard Alfonzo was going to play.
“Everybody’s calling me, like, ‘You did good,’” Dennard says.
He laughs again. “I thought I did all right. But that second kick return, I don’t know what was going through my mind. I tried to cut back across the field, but it’s not like high school, though. It wasn’t like high school. Everybody on the college level is fast.”
Oh, sure, there’s still plenty of learning for Dennard to do. The 5-foot-10, 190-pounder has only been in Lincoln since June 9. He just turned 19 on Tuesday, and the defensive playbook is thick enough that there’s no certainty he’ll see playing time on NU’s defense this year.
“That’s my biggest problem, the plays,” he says. “If I know the plays like everyone else knows, I think I can get a chance to be out there at cornerback.”
But Husker coaches have given him another assignment while he’s picking up the defense. Returning kicks.
Perfect for Dennard, they figure, because as secondary coach Marvin Sanders says: “He only knows one speed.”
On Saturday, Dennard became one of just four Husker true freshmen to have played through the first two games.
Returning kickoffs alongside Niles Paul, Dennard was easy to notice before the game’s first kick, bouncing every which way.
“I’ve never seen that many people in one stadium before,” Dennard says. “That’s as exciting as I’ve ever been.”
Dennard did not break a huge return in the 35-12 win over San Jose State. “Follow your blocks,” he says. “I learned my lessons.”
But he did play a sizeable role in the biggest play of the game.
Before Paul’s 85-yard touchdown return that broke open what was just a 14-12 game in the fourth quarter, Dennard told his teammate: Just follow me because I’m going to get you to the end zone.
“And Niles, he was confident in me,” Dennard says. “He just followed me.”
As Paul crossed midfield, Dennard was by his side, picking off the kicker and then one other would-be tackler, tumbling out of bounds in the process.
They were keeping track back in Rochelle, the town of little more than 1,000 people that sits about 150 miles south of Atlanta.
Dennard text messages Ledford about every other day. Teachers around school are always asking the coach for the latest updates.
“He’s happy as can be to be a Cornhusker. He told me that the other night,” Ledford says.
The coach couldn’t be more pleased, especially knowing the stressful recruiting situation Dennard faced. He originally committed to North Carolina, but then officials there expressed some concerns about whether he would be academically eligible at their school.
Dennard started researching on the Internet. Nebraska. He saw all the red, that the fans had sold out a giant stadium since 1962.
“And I knew Coach Pelini was coming here, so I was like, ‘I’m going to take that chance and go to Nebraska. I think that’s a very good place.’ And I was right. It’s a very good place and I love the coaching staff.”
Though he’s of average height, Dennard has been able to dunk a basketball since the 10th grade.
Ledford says he’s seen him do some crazy things around a rim. Basketball, in fact, was Dennard’s favorite sport growing up. So it might be expected for someone with a 40-inch vertical.
Given his leaping ability, Husker teammates asked Dennard if he’d play part in what has become a Big Red tradition of sorts.
With Cortney Grixby no longer around, Nebraska needed someone to jump atop the on-field huddle before the game and point the No. 1 finger in the air.
Says Dennard: “I was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it. I’ll try it out.’”
His first try before the Western Michigan game didn’t go so hot. Someone was in his way. He never made it.
“But I got it my second time,” Dennard says.
Yeah, he’s learning as he goes. But it’s a little easier knowing he has the support of a town about 1,200 miles away.
And even if his role is limited to returning kicks this year, he’s cool with it.
“The only thing I want to do is win,” he says. “Just win.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
