LINCOLN - The tradition began in an empty high school parking lot two years back. The two teenagers, already weary from an after-school workout, jumped in Dad's F-150, moved it into position, then slipped it into neutral.
The drill: One guy pushes the truck to the end of the lot; the other sits behind the wheel, pushing the brake to prevent a crushed bumper or broken fence. Then they switch. Back and forth under the Florida sun.
Steve Octavien and his buddy caked that Naples, Fla., asphalt with sweat.
"There were times we'd finish and just lay there like we were dead," said Keith Eloi, Octavien's nephew and workout partner.
Octavien's parking-lot laps helped construct a 6-foot, 235-pound package that bench presses two Cory Rosses and motors 100 meters at gold-medal winning rates. A package that lands the junior college transfer in Lincoln this spring battling Bo Ruud for the top spot at weakside linebacker.
History at that position shows that Octavien has a chance. Former Husker Terrell Farley followed a junior college route to stardom. So did Demorrio Williams.
Octavien, the son of Haitian immigrants, has 11 siblings. His closest relative, though, has always been Eloi, who went to school with Octavien every year but one since preschool. The two used to slip into the high school weight room through an unlocked door on weekends, moving quietly to avoid alarming the janitor. It was Eloi who accompanied Octavien on that 30-hour bus ride to check out an Illinois junior college.
Octavien committed to Illinois after his junior year of high school, but didn't qualify until the Fighting Illini had handed out their scholarships. He heard about William Rainey Harper College that spring. He and Eloi bought bus passes.
It was the first time they'd left Florida without their parents.
They rolled through the Florida swamps and Georgia pines, the Tennessee hills and Indiana plains. Toward the end, Eloi's eyes closed. His head dropped. Octavien woke him up to point out the beauty of open cornfields.
"I just looked at him and went right back to sleep," Eloi said.
The pair starred at Harper their freshman year, both earning All-America honors. Octavien had 124 tackles, eight sacks and three interceptions. In track, he threw the discus and ran a leg on the 400-meter relay team that won a national championship in 2004.
"He moves from Point A to Point B very quickly," said Harper Football Coach John Eliasik. "You notice it on the practice field. You notice it on film. I guess you'd call it closing speed. Once he knows where he's going, he gets there in a hurry."
But Octavien's work ethic stands out more than his athleticism, the coach said. Octavien missed half of last season's games because of a knee injury suffered in practice.
Harper was practicing its field-goal block, and only one flank of the defensive line was designed to rush. Octavien broke through the other side anyway and took a helmet to the knee.
He and Eloi heard about the parking lot workout after Willis McGahee tore an anterior cruciate ligament in the 2003 Fiesta Bowl. The running back had pushed cars during rehabilitation. Eliasik remembers Octavien and Eloi doing the same at Harper. The football players initially thought they were nuts. A few weeks later, they were pushing, too.
Eloi, a two-time juco All-America wide receiver, will be in Lincoln for the spring game. He wants to transfer to Southeast Community College in Lincoln and land at Nebraska next year.
Octavien calls Eloi every couple of days with a new story about Nebraska. One day it's the Hewit Center buffet, the next it's a weight room workout. Octavien's bench press has increased from about 350 to almost 450 since he started working with Strength Coach Dave Kennedy.
That extra push didn't help Octavien during Wednesday's opening spring practice.
During a noncontact drill, Ross caught a pass in the flats. Octavien pursued. The back made a little juke. The linebacker fell down. Teammates hooted and hollered. Call it initiation.
"That was the first time in my life I've ever fallen down or anything like that, so it was pretty funny," Octavien said. "(Ross)'s quick, but he's on my hit list now. I've got to get him."
