Editorial: "The Disappearing Act of Husker Football Tradition"

[Red Five]

Wasn't there an early statement from the coaches that the reason they wanted a long snapper was that "the ball wasn't getting to where it needs to be fast enough" I dont believe we had any blocked punts (other than the one Foltz buried in his own team mates rear end) but I'm surethe ccoaches ran a clock on delivery speed..

Could it be a factor in Brown missing 1/3 of his field goals?

Didn't think of that, but very possible. Kicking field goals takes precise timing.

Turns out Faulkenberry only handled field goal and PAT snaps for about half the season, then Paul Kelly took over.

This needs to be pointed out again. We took a 5th year grad transfer after the season had started and made him our punt snapper. This wouldn't have happened if the previous staff did not have questions about Faulkenberry being able to do the job.

 

[Red Five]

Coach lays out the options and gives the kid a chance to think about what he wants instead of string him along through fall camp. damned if you do damned if you don't.

Bingo.

I would be shocked if Read told Faulkenberry to turn in his equipment. I'm 99% sure that he told him that Ober would be the starter and that if he wanted to play or get a scholarship, he would need to move on.

 

[Hayseed]

I think you guys are ignoring the facts by under-valuing the walk on tradition here. It isn't all people hold onto anymore, but it is important and even vital to the Husker tradition. Not just in the blue collar work mentality they bring or the overall appreciaton and respect they have for the opportunity to wear the N, which can be contagious. But these guys have played quite a bit over time and some have become starters or major contributors at their spot. Not just in history, but many of you are saying there's been little effect from the walk-on program recently, but that's simply not the case.

Sam Foltz- starting punter and a damn good one at that

Ryker Fyfe-backup QB for the Huskers just last season

Andy Janovich-starting FB, though limited in duties in the offense, still....starting FB

Brandon Reilly - contributes regularly at WR, expected to have a very solid season

Dylan Utter- contributes on the offensive line and may play this year?

Sam Burtch - if not for being injured last year, would've played often and I expect him to contribute a lot this year

Jack Gangwish- starting DE

That's 7 guys right there who are or were walk-ons coming into this program. Pretty impressive really. When you consider the limited number of guys that actually play or start for a football team, I'd say 7 players being walk ons is a respectable number.

I wouldn't call it undervaluing the walk-ons, just being realistic.........and realizing that a walk-on not making the team is not a huge conspiracy to end all Husker tradition. Sorry, maybe Kearney or Omaha could use a good player like him?

Trev Alberts canceled UNO Football, and wrestling for that matter (ramble, ramble, ramble).

That figures....probably because people like me never paid any attention to it. I'd like to switch my Omaha suggestion to Kansas.

 

[HuskerExpat]

I read the original post and admittedly have just skimmed the rest. I'm supposed to believe that because we gave a scholarship to a long snapper that Riley doesn't care about walk-on players? Does this reasoning apply to giving scholarships to QBs and other positions as well or just long snappers? The walk-on tradition is about an unheralded Nebraska player rising up and beating out scholarship players at any position, be it tackle, linebacker or even long snapper.

 

[BigRedBuster]

OK...here's my take on this subject.

First of all, The walk-on tradition is nowhere close to being the only thing people are hanging on to. That statement is just plain ridiculous.

Second, any thought that the walk-on program is over blown is just as ridiculous. This is an extension of recruiting (like others have said). This brings more players into the program to try to be developed and contribute. They add needed depth at a few positions every year. Some of those walk-ons end up being some of our best players on the field. And...NO....that doesn't mean they are starting because everyone else sucks. Sometimes that unheralded walk-on is just that good and we wouldn't have had him without the walk-on program.

Now, as for walk-ons that don't see the field. I'm not one who sits back and feels sorry for them. They obviously were the stud in their HS and they obviously have already had a very fun and great athletic career that many dream of. It was their choice to try to walk-on at Nebraska and make it on the biggest stage. If it works...great..If not....you have the memories of what you have already done. For every walk-on, there was 20-30 players back in his hometown that dreamed of having that chance and didn't have the talent to get there.

Also, where I do get frustrated is a conversation I had with a former walk-on who ended up playing quite a bit (and actually never got a scholarship). He was telling me (like we already all know) that both Cally and Bo had the theory that they need to spend their scholarships on kids from all over the nation and then everyone from Nebraska will walk-on. No, I don't believe there is a roster full of 4 star talent in every small town in Nebraska. However, there are a few here and there that are just as good as who we give a few scholarships to. Many classes have those kids from somewhere else that are reaches. Either a 2 star or low three star that has offers from Toledo, Southeastern Ohio State and Northern Mississippi. Well, I would prefer that scholarship go to a kid from Nebraska or within a couple hundred miles of Lincoln.

If you have an upper 3 star or 4 star kid from Arizona compared to a local low 3 star kid, you obviously take the Arizona kid. I'm not saying you don't do that.

 

[NUance]

I think you guys are ignoring the facts by under-valuing the walk on tradition here. It isn't all people hold onto anymore, but it is important and even vital to the Husker tradition. Not just in the blue collar work mentality they bring or the overall appreciaton and respect they have for the opportunity to wear the N, which can be contagious. But these guys have played quite a bit over time and some have become starters or major contributors at their spot. Not just in history, but many of you are saying there's been little effect from the walk-on program recently, but that's simply not the case.

Sam Foltz- starting punter and a damn good one at that

Ryker Fyfe-backup QB for the Huskers just last season

Andy Janovich-starting FB, though limited in duties in the offense, still....starting FB

Brandon Reilly - contributes regularly at WR, expected to have a very solid season

Dylan Utter- contributes on the offensive line and may play this year?

Sam Burtch - if not for being injured last year, would've played often and I expect him to contribute a lot this year

Jack Gangwish- starting DE

That's 7 guys right there who are or were walk-ons coming into this program. Pretty impressive really. When you consider the limited number of guys that actually play or start for a football team, I'd say 7 players being walk ons is a respectable number.

Isn't that the problem? That Bo recruited so poorly, he actually had to play 7 guys that weren't even recruited for scholarship at NEB.

No. The Preferred Walk-on Program is an extension of recruiting at Nebraska. Riley said they have something like 150 players during spring practice and expect over 200+ come the fall. Only 85 of those players are on scholarship (well, 88 right now). If 7 of about 120 or so players (about 6%) break into the two deep, that does not speak against the recruiting prowess of the coaches, otherwise, you would have to talk down Tom Osborne's recruiting given the amount of success the Walk-on program had in those days. Rather, it only speaks to the power of the Walk-on program.
If anyone doubts the value of the Walk-on Program, do yourself a favor and watch this 1-hr long documentary from netNebraska. Walk-on: Husker's Edge

Yes, of course EVERYTHING is working when you are winning National championships. If you are winning championships then obviously the guys playing should be playing and you have done things well.

If you are losing 4 games and 7 Walk ons have big roles, you probably did something wrong... Maybe recruiting!?

True to some extent. But look at that list of Husker walk-ons in the NFL. LINK Those guys would play for most any team in FBS football. And our current walk-on starters aren't without talent. Everyone one of them would start on most of the teams in the B1G. Sure, they may not be up to the level of tOSU's starting lineup. But only a handful on our current two-deep are. Right now anyway.

 

[True2tRA]

Is lack of respect for the walk on tradition a generational thing?

I always remember growing up the walk on tradition was a highly respected thing about this program. To me it seems like this generation of kids doesn't quite get it.

To me, I think it has to do with the way recruiting and these ranking services have blown up. The coverage of thee kids is through the roof, many of them are becoming rock stars before they've even played their senior year of high school football. They get these four and five star tags beside their name and it instantly means something. Almost too much really.

People want to talk all the time about "recruiting hits and misses" when it comes to the four or five star guy that didn't pan out. Well, they never seem to recognize the other side of the coin. Look at all the misses on the guys that didn't have those stars by their name. Theres a lot of them out there. Look at the NFL Draft. These are kids that went to FCS schools and blew up and nobody at a big time school even gave them a look.

We expect these kids with five stars to step on the field an play, freshman season. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.

I think the appreciation for coaching teaching and development is lost. I don't think people realize what a great weight program, a good, structured environment and some solid coaching can do for a football player. Nebraska used to have all of these things. We used to develop players, they rarely came in and just started. Many times it was your junior season before you got to truly make an impact. It spoke a lot to the time and work that the coaches had put in to molding their players. It took time.

There was some great recruiting, don't get me wrong, but there was even better training and technical development going on. Guys were being built from the ground up.

Also, don't let it slip your mind, just because a kid walked on to Nebraska doesn't mean that was always his only option. Some of these kids coul have gone elsewhere and maybe they'd have proven to be that one we missed out on. They chose to come here and fight through some stiffer competition. So when they make it, they've earned it.

 

[WNYHuskerFan]

Times have changed

Back in the day, NU was light years ahead of everyone else when it came to weight training, speed development and nutrition. Boyd Eppley was a true pioneer, a lot of programs at the time were laughable when it came to weights, they were rubbing 2 sticks together while Boyd was building rocket ships to the moon. In todays information age, the field has leveled tremendously. The gap we had allowing us to develop players significantly better due to weights and nutrition has closed dramatically

No doubt, The old strategy was brilliant. Take a bunch of farm boys, put them through your proper S&C program while everyone else is bodybuilding or thinks weights make you slow, gain an edge because of it and then run everyone over with what comes out. I don't think it can be argued in that scenario the walk on program was great for extra ammunition to feed into that strategy.

That weight room edge is long gone exactly because it worked so well at Nebraska that it is just standard now. The edge that came from the walk on program is also gone because of that.

Traditions are no good if it locks you in the past and hinders finding new edges in order to actually win today. It is going to get progressively more absurd to be talking to recruits about a winning tradition when you haven't won anything in the kids lifetime.

 

[HuskerSG]

As I read through this topic, one thing I notice missing (or overlooked) is the fact that all of the walk-ons that turned out to be great college football players and/or Pro's were overlooked by pretty much every D1 football program in America. They were underappreciated/evaluated by every single respectable D1 coach during their HS days. They all may have had some potential, but not enough that warranted a scholarship in their eyes. At Nebraska, we have been fortunate enough to have enough talented young men willing to play for free in an effort to earn the opportunity to put on a Husker jersey. To be a walk-on in today's age, you have to be passionate about the school you are trying to play for. The 7+ walk-ons that will see significant playing time this season will have earned that spot as much the 4 and 5 star guy. They had to work that much harder to get noticed and surpass the talents they beat out. Those walk-ons who have earned that scholarship only means that they should have been offered out of HS in the first place.

 

[Enhance]

Those walk-ons who have earned that scholarship only means that they should have been offered out of HS in the first place.

True, but I wouldn't say that's true every time. By no means are talent evaluators perfect, and they certainly miss on guys, but a lot of factors go into it. Sometimes when a player is leaving high school they haven't met the same development stage as other guys... making them perhaps slower, weaker and even smaller. I read a fascinating article one time about age discrepancy in high school athletics - some kids start school perhaps turning 18 the summer before their senior year, and they're playing with classmates who may not turn 18 until the beginning of the next summer, but they're all "seniors." But, one student is almost a full year older than the other.

So, that can be a factor, but so can the system a team uses and the coaches in place.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

Shoot, all of us either knew the kid or we were the kid that was the bad a$$ freshmen, bigger, stronger and faster. Then, by senior year that kid was still like 5'7 and 160 pounds.

Some kids just develop sooner...some take forever.