Here's an articlae from Omaha.com:
NU Football: For Fahie, much better late than never
BY RICH KAIPUST
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
Fahie file:
Tyrone Fahie spent the past six years on active duty with the U.S. Navy — including two tours in Iraq in the past three years. The redshirt freshman defensive lineman earned a spot on the team through walk-on tryouts before spring practice.
LINCOLN — The first time Tyrone Fahie talked to Tim Cassidy about coming to Nebraska to play football, he still needed to take care of something before he could become a Husker.
Fahie had 12 months remaining on his six-year enlistment with the U.S. Navy. And not only was he unable to come immediately to Lincoln in the summer of 2005, he was staring at his second tour of duty in Iraq.
Cassidy, NU's associate athletic director for football, encouraged him to call another time.
"Two or three years ago, it was just a dream," said Fahie (pronounced FOY). "But when I talked to him, he left me with a good feeling."
Fahie went and served his six months in Fallujah performing communications support. Stuck in a dangerous time in a dangerous place, Husker football often took his mind on detours.
"When you're overseas, you need something to keep you distracted," Fahie said. "Maybe not totally consumed, but distracted, so you don't feel like you're over there forever."
Fahie came back, Nebraska offered another chance and the defensive end will head into next season as the oldest Husker. The walk-on from Virginia Beach, Va., turns 25 on Sept. 30, making him six months older than offensive lineman Victory Haines, whose junior college career was interrupted by a two-year Mormon mission.
Even at 24, Fahie is listed as only a redshirt freshman on the updated NU roster on Huskers.com.
"He was just looking for the opportunity to do something he loves," NU assistant coach Shawn Watson said Monday. "I'll tell you what, it's really a great story. You just got that sense about him."
Because Fahie couldn't get from San Diego to Lincoln until last Aug. 21, Cassidy said it was best to wait for a walk-on tryout in February. Fahie enrolled for the fall semester, began majoring in electrical engineering and took a part-time job in tech support in the College of Business Administration.
The 6-foot-3, 258-pounder then emerged from an 85-man tryout and joined the Huskers for spring practice. As a backup base end, he made three tackles in the Red-White game on April 15.
"He said that he was going to do it, he's got on board to do it and I don't see anything slowing him down," said Casey Sok, his Lincoln roommate.
Sok maybe helped plant the Husker seed. The native of St. Paul, Neb., met Fahie in Navy boot camp, talked Husker football and later took Fahie to Memorial Stadium during a holiday break.
After Fahie's first meeting with Cassidy, Sok saw him making the commitment to get bigger and stronger.
"When it came time to do this, at least he would know all his cards were on the table and he wouldn't have any regrets," Sok said. "The worst thing that was going to happen is they would say no."
Fahie first had to stay out of harm's way in Iraq, finding out during his stint in Fallujah that he'd been accepted to NU. That was after a six-month deployment to Baghdad in 2004.
Summer conditioning in Lincoln isn't too scary when Fahie already has seen what he's seen.
"Everything over there's dangerous," Fahie said. "There's no safe place in Iraq right now."
Fahie kept a low profile during spring practice. Zach Potter and Pierre Allen are among those ahead of him on the depth chart. Many defensive teammates don't know his whole story.
"I'm sure a lot of people on the team don't know I'm 24 years old," Fahie said.
"At first, I was really anxious or nervous being around such a younger crowd. I didn't think I'd be able to relate to the people around me as well as I have."
Fahie isn't sure how the traditional route might have worked for him. He was 5-8 or 5-9 as a linebacker and safety at Oceanside High in Virginia Beach. He said people hardly recognize him when he comes home now.
The growth spurt came after he enlisted, deciding as a 17-year-old to follow his best friend, Rashann Stroman, into the military.
"He came late to work one day with a Navy T-shirt, Navy key chain, all that stuff," Fahie said. "He said, 'I'm going to boot camp in two weeks, and I don't want to go alone.' I said, 'I don't know why, but I'll go with you.' Everything fell into place, I guess."
Fahie left the Navy as an E5-Petty Officer-2nd Class. He remains an inactive ready reservist, which means he has no current commitments but could include being recalled in a "dire emergency."
Assuming that never happens, Fahie said he's a Husker for as long as they'll have him, and this isn't something done on a whim.
"It's almost surreal," he said. "A guy in my situation shouldn't have this chance — 24 years old, just starting out college, playing for an elite program — so I've got to make the most of it."
