The Joe Broekemeier Saga

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knapplc

International Man of Mystery
It's been a long, injury-riddled road for BroekemeierBy Brian Rosenthal

Herniated disk. Broken hand. Flared-up elbow. Pulled hamstring.

And you wonder why you'd never heard Nebraska wide receiver Joe Broekemeier's name called before the Colorado game?

"There was never a point I gave in or anything like that, because that's just not the type of person I am," said Broekemeier, a senior walk-on from Aurora.

"Like I've told everyone, I have zero regrets. If I would've never got in the game Friday, I would still stand here and say I have no regrets."

But he probably wouldn't be talking about playing in Nebraska's biggest game of the season -- Saturday's Big 12 championship game against old rival Oklahoma.

"Like I told people the other day, if I get to play again on Saturday, yeah, it'd be great to have a couple of catches," the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Broekemeier said, "but as long as we win the game ... I'd rather not have a ball thrown to me and we win, than me have five to 10 catches or one catch or anything."

Broekemeier had three catches in Nebraska's 45-17 victory against Colorado. They were the first of his career. In fact, it was the first career appearance for Broekemeier, who hadn't played in a football game, at any level, since 2002, and had never played a game at receiver, period.

Talk about something to file in the "never say never" department ...

"I never knew if it was going to happen," Broekemeier said. "But it was definitely a dream of mine ... to be able to come in and contribute at some point and help the team out wherever I can."
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Click the headline for the full article, explaining how Joe got his break.

 
This...

Broekemeier had three catches in Nebraska's 45-17 victory against Colorado. They were the first of his career. In fact, it was the first career appearance for Broekemeier, who hadn't played in a football game, at any level, since 2002, and had never played a game at receiver, period.
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I've been off for 14 years, maybe there's still a chance...


 
Blake Lawrence wrote on Twitter that Joe has had the best hands on the team for two years.

Too bad our coaching staff didn't notice, we could have used a guy with hands against say... Texas.

 
Isn't it Gilmore's job to spot things like this? Would've been nice to have had a solid receiver for the last two years.

 
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Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
The Dude said:
Blake Lawrence wrote on Twitter that Joe has had the best hands on the team for two years.

Too bad our coaching staff didn't notice, we could have used a guy with hands against say... Texas.
Click to expand...


Did you not read the article? At all?
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Yes. But when it comes to injuries, this staff isn't exactly known to be 100% honest. It also stated he was healthy but didn't have a chance until Niles was hurt. In my opinion Niles should have been benched weeks ago if we had a kid with good hands behind him. So my point still stands.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
The Dude said:
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
The Dude said:
Blake Lawrence wrote on Twitter that Joe has had the best hands on the team for two years.

Too bad our coaching staff didn't notice, we could have used a guy with hands against say... Texas.
Click to expand...


Did you not read the article? At all?
Click to expand...
Yes. But when it comes to injuries, this staff isn't exactly known to be 100% honest. It also stated he was healthy but didn't have a chance until Niles was hurt. In my opinion Niles should have been benched weeks ago if we had a kid with good hands behind him. So my point still stands.
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Not disclosing injuries is one thing, Watson coming out and dishonestly saying "oh he had this and this and this wrong with him" is entirely another. One of my best friends is from Aurora and graduated in the same class with Joe, they're pretty decent friends, and he backs up these injury claims that are somehow not being taken at face value.

 
If he continues this success for the rest of the year, it will actually be a credit to coaches for finding a reliable target to get out there when there's a long list of guys who got playing time before him and would seem like more logical choices, such as every WR most of us have ever heard of. Khiry, SJB, Will Henry, KC Hyland, Enunwa...

 
Great read!

Watson and co. should learn from this. Target players who know how to catch the damn football. I know Bo and Carl go after athletes and teach them how to play, but you guys don't know how to teach (I'm taking to you, Gilmore!)

 
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