"I was frustrated and emotional. There was no malicious intent toward anyone or any referee.”

Bill Callahan, on the "throat slash."

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

"I get distressed when people are shooting off guns and throwing fruit at our players.”

Bill Callahan, after Nebraska's 30-0 loss to Oklahoma in 2004

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

1. The Day-After-Thanksgiving Massacre: The 62-36 loss to Colorado in 2001, the fitting of the noose, as it turned out, on the Frank Solich era. Of all the ugly losses during the Callahan era, it was the bomb in Boulder that let all the spirits in.

2. One pathetic half: After 30 minutes, Nebraska trailed Oklahoma State 38-0 in 2007, and fans streamed out of Memorial Stadium in protest. This, on a day when the Huskers welcomed back the 1997 national championship team. NU never showed less effort and less passion than that afternoon.

3. Lunacy: Bill Callahan sends his defense up the river in Lubbock, by inserting true freshman Beau Davis at QB while the Huskers trailed 35-10. Four interceptions and one fumble later, NU lost 70-10.

4. Party pooped: Nebraska gets all gussied up in 2007 for No. 1 USC to visit town. The Trojans dither around for a quarter, then smash the ball down the Huskers’ throat on simple counter plays. The 49-31 can’t mask a beatdown.

5. Black October: On national TV, Nebraska humiliates itself vs. Missouri, losing 41-6 in a game that wasn’t even that close. Defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove stays in a conservative three-man rush for the entire game; Mizzou quarterback Chase Daniel calls it a “high school defense.”

6. Cosgrove cries: After Nebraska’s 76-39 loss to Kansas, Cosgrove is captured in anguish by the Omaha World-Herald. The coach had endured a great deal in 2007 from fans, including death threats.

7. Kick the Field Goal!: Solich ruins a chance at sending an exciting Nebraska-Texas game in Lincoln to overtime when, instead of letting Josh Brown kick a game-tying field goal, he allows Jammal Lord to take one shot at the end zone. Lord badly under throws Mark LeFlore, and UT’s Nate Vasher makes the pick.

8. The Lost Quarter: Oklahoma smashes Nebraska in the first seven minutes of the 2008 contest with a myriad of big plays and turnovers. Bo Pelini spends the night cursing up a storm, all of it captured by ESPN’s cameras. Final score: 62-28, OU.

9. Quick Fix: Pelini dials up a funky gameplan to rattle Missouri’s Chase Daniel into mistakes. It fails miserably as the Huskers lose 52-17.

10. Snyder Smackdowns: In consecutive years, 2002 and 2003, Kansas State humiliates NU, 49-13 and 38-9. These two games serve as significant nails in Solich’s coffin. Nebraska is out coached, outplayed and out-talented in both game to an incredible extent.

See also: NU's All-Decade Team, 10 Best Moments, 10 Worst Moments and A Decade of Upheaval - And Healing

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

This decade of Nebraska football came closer than you think to traveling full circle.

It began with a Fiesta Bowl win over Tennessee that seemed to validate the Frank Solich era, and position the Cornhuskers as a prime national title contender in 2000.

It ended with Nebraska coming within one second of earning another trip to Arizona and setting up a run at the national title in 2010.

In between those bookends, the seams of the program came apart not once – but twice.

You know the story. It's plenty juicy, painful and unforgettable.

When mediocrity, struggle and frustration finally knocked on NU's door – as it has with every college football program in the last 30 years – it rocked most fans, who'd grown to love the bucolic, never-changing nature of the Cornhuskers - nine wins, option football, red balloons, stoic head coaches – without understanding the brilliance, timing, effort and sheer good fortune that went into that incredible run from Bob Devaney's hiring, really until the end of 2001, when Colorado smashed the Huskers in the Day-After-Thanksgiving Massacre, triggering whispers that only continued in a blowout Rose Bowl loss, and a subsequently disappointing 2002 campaign.

We learned what most major programs already knew: Money, influence and image overshadows the mission of educating and coaching 18-to-22-year-old men. We learned that TV dollars and coverage matter more than it should. We learned that winning is put at such a premium that most programs are willing to lard up their non-conference schedules with fattened lambs so as to ensure that bowl game that's apparently so precious to student-athletes.

We learned that a great running backs coach doesn't necessarily translate into an inspiring head coach. That the best-laid plans of the Ozfather when awry, to some extent, because he handed over leadership to Frank Solich, but not complete ownership. We'll never know how Solich might have fared if he'd courted a staff solely of his choosing. If Tom Osborne hadn't offered the seemingly wise, but ultimately imperfect advice of retaining the entire staff. Solich might have soared higher. Or he might have flamed out sooner.

But Solich never got his man at quarterback – and no, I don't think Joe Dailey was that guy, either – and the program slowly lost momentum. In 2002, it was a team still flush with athletes, but not much levity. Solich looked beleaguered for much of that season – a confused on-field visage was one of Solich's unintended, but real nonetheless, weaknesses – the offense hinging, primarily, on whether Jammal Lord could whittle and plow his way through the defense. The innovation, inspiration and pluck were on empty.

Leaks on the just-then-burgeoning Internet message boards abounded. Practice scuffles. Coach squabbles. Pointless debates over Solich and his recruiting coordinator, Dave Gillespie. Boosters took these boards like street walkers to crack, and, to some extent, the man was a casualty of that technology. Recruiting discussions, fueled by the emerging market of exclusive (and intrusive) recruiting coverage, became the belle du jour. Solich was a casualty of the media in general. The Husker nightly radio program, far from the weak, perfunctory broth it is today, did, as well. The papers tread gently at first, but started asking harder questions, in louder word choices, after the Day-After-Thanksgiving Massacre.

By the end of 2002, after a loss to thoroughly average Mississippi in the thoroughly average Independence Bowl, Nebraska was, let's face it, a fading light.

And then Solich hired Bo Pelini.

There was no way to measure Bo's impact before he marshaled Nebraska's defense into a lethal force. If then-Athletic Director Steve Pederson made a mistake of hubris, it wasn't necessarily firing Solich – we could debate that all day - but believing Solich was incapable of making a top-shelf decision.

Except Frank did: He got Bo. And that was damn smart for Nebraska.

And inconvenient for Pederson.

Had Solich stuck with Craig Bohl, or hired 90 percent of the perfectly-functional defensive coordinators in the football world, NU finishes 5-7 in 2003 and Pederson gets his pick of the coaching litter. We never know Bill Callahan. Pederson probably never considers Houston Nutt, for that matter.

But Pelini was a wild card. The game-changer. A tactician and motivator. His defensive success, as we've seen, wasn't lightning in a bottle. It wasn't apocryphal. It was the real thing. And his players loved him for it. In the eyes of many fans, he even saved Solich's job.

I wonder if fans appreciated that when they clamored for Solich to get one more year, who they were really applauding was - Pelini. The offense in 2003 was sluggish and one-dimensional. Even more than 2002. Almost as bad as 2009. And there was no real guarantee it was getting any better. Aside from making one brilliant hire, Solich's attachment to the defense was negligible. And yet Pelini produced the bulk of a 10-3 season, and made an incredible splash, the kind that earned him, frankly, a shot at the head coaching job.

Much like Ndamukong Suh earned the Heisman - but fell short because of sheer, ingrained politics and shoddy thinking – Pederson, a modern-businessman-acting-as-AD, rejected Pelini for a lack of flash, and experience. While Pelini flourished elsewhere, Pederson embarked on what turned out to be an intensely personal odyssey over the next four years – an era that turned out to be as much about him as it was Bill Callahan.

The events, controversies, triumphs and tumbles of that time you already know well. I think Pederson's imprint – especially in the way Husker fans view recruiting – is deeper than some think. Pederson's strange methodology was criticized; his brazen greed for winning, for putting his stamp of restraint on the school (which he has with that blockish, monolithic font that's used for everything Husker) is not unlike most in the business world. Indeed, Pederson, and the boosters that supported him, introduced Husker fans to the uncomfortable “efficiency model” of college athletics. It's groupthink, multiplied. A place where individualism was reserved, primarily, for the coaches – not the department employees.

I won't lie – the corporate business model does little for me. Never has. It's put college sports, and America, in a reasonably phony place that eyes the “popular” and “marketable” more than it does the “sustainable.” I recall reading Callahan's comments before his first season, about how “geeked up” he was to coach NU. Huh? This, the son of a Chicago cop.

Pederson, who I think liked being hip. So many of visual, stylistic choices around campus – especially the donor wall recalling (somewhat inappropriately) the Vietnam Memorial - suggested the spare, modern look of suburban office buildings, which architects fancy as commercial art in a landscape of interstate and topiary mazes. He never could appreciate the decided uncool of a guy like Pelini, who pairs a sweatshirt with khakis, tucking a play card into his pants. The man is subtle like an Italian hoagie.

Tom Osborne could, though, and when he returned to NU – after his stint in Congress, defeat in the gubernatorial race and a bewildering, self-imposed semi-exile from the Huskers – he immediately filled all that spare wall space Pederson adored with trophies, plaques, pictures and various memorabilia. He commissioned a giant, gaudy (and, it must be said, striking in a colorful, pretty way) mural to be placed in the front hall of the North Stadium building named after him. And he hired Pelini, who, in turn, thanked Frank Solich in the opening statement after his hiring.

Some of the old critics have walked back through the door. It stands to reason they would. But to peer inside Nebraska 2009 is not to see NU 2002, or even NU 2003. Although Shawn Watson weathers some significant shots across his bow, and the offensive staff is, to some extent, in the middle of locating an identity, there is a sense of purpose, fused with high energy, that permeates North Stadium. Pelini, whatever his faults, combines an old-school will with new-school schemes, a dynamic coupling that will eventually reshape the offense, for better or worse, into a similar mold.

See also: NU's All-Decade Team, 10 Best Moments, 10 Worst Moments and A Decade of Upheaval - And Healing

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

Is Bill Callahan the worst hire in college football over the last decade? That’s what Sports Illustrated proclaimed in its decade of sports. Here’s SI’s take on the matter:

In 2003, then-AD Steve Pedersen fired sixth-year coach Frank Solich (despite his .750 winning percentage) and replaced him with the ex-Oakland Raiders coach. The school's first outside hire in 42 years, Callahan scrapped Nebraska's long-synonymous option offense in favor of an NFL-style passing attack, alienated fans and former players, oversaw the program's first losing season since 1961 and won one division title in four seasons. His last team (in 2007) went 5-7 and allowed a school-record 455 points.

We don’t dispute these facts. And, as folks around Husker Locker know, we’re no great defender of the Callahan Era. We’ll review it more in full when we publish our decade in review next week.

But the worst hire of the decade? No. Absolutely not. If only because he left enough material behind to help Bo Pelini produce a winner. Poach and moan all you wish about Billy C - he coaxed Ndamukong Suh, arguably the best player in NU history, to campus.

Yes, he was only 27-22. Yes, he never overcame a halftime deficit. Yes, he failed to fire buddy Kevin Cosgrove as the defensive coordinator, even though the writing was on the wall in Cosgrove’s first year that he wasn’t the right guy.

But Callahan didn’t finish 11-37 in four years. That was Washington’s Ty Willingham.

He didn’t get fired before he coached a game because he lied about his playing career (George O’Leary) or got caught with the wrong, chatty exotic dancers (Alabama’s Mike Price).

He didn’t trigger a massive NCAA investigation in his second year, like Michigan’s RichRod.

He didn’t make his assistant coaches run stairs, recruit two-thirds of his team from the junior college ranks, and bilk the school with a secret, back-door cash deal, like Kansas State’s Ron Prince.

He didn’t post a 33-55-2 record at Dartmouth, get fired from Tulane and then finish with a 10-23 mark at Stanford, like Buddy Teevens.

Now, the search for Callahan was, yes, a mess. Steve Pederson handled that with all the grace of a rhino on skates. Callahan was, in the rearview mirror, so much at odds with the culture of Nebraska that, to this day, Pederson’s choice smacked of desperation, a need to save considerable face.

His pick wasn’t good by any measure. But he wasn’t the worst, either. And Husker fans shouldn’t revel in anyone suggesting otherwise.

Talk about this topic in our forums!

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

Almost to his chagrin, Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini tasted a Gatorade bath Saturday night after NU's 17-3 win over Kansas State to clinch the Big 12 North title.

He earned it, you know, dragging this team off the canvas from a bewildering 9-7 loss to Iowa State, keeping it together through a string of injuries and a mess at quarterback, milking every last drop of turnover-making power of his secondary, about as useful at toe lint two years ago, now sparkling with playmaking ability, if not always the best concentration.

“Our kids have an attitude about keeping people out of the end zone,” Pelini said.

Expect him to be a foul mood Monday as he searches for a way to turn lame Buffalo into a challenge of the Huskers' manhood. We suspect he'll succeed – even in a short week. Nebraska by two touchdowns, while you pour gravy over leftover stuffing. (Kidding, of course – there's never leftover stuffing.)

Beyond that lies sure-to-be-undefeated Texas, in the world's glitziest football stadium, smack dab in the Huskers' DFW recruiting playground. Let that sink in for a minute. The Big 12 Conference sure is. Probably toasting a few Red Stripes as I write and you read. The league may not have the marquee game on Dec. 5 – that belongs to Alabama v. Florida – but it has one helluva dessert for football fans to devour: Tradition vs. Tradition. Bo vs. Mack. Suh vs. Colt. Big Red vs. Burnt Orange.

“The kids are hungry,” Pelini said. “On to the next challenge.”

Well then - grab a fork, drizzle an off-white plate with caramel, and dig in.

And while you're at it – leave a light on for Bill Callahan.

I doubt he was watching the game on one those double-screened computers he likes so much – surely, he was too busy toiling away at some throwaway detail as the New York Jets' offensive line coach. But he deserves an assist for Saturday night. Sure, I'm in a gracious mood. But not without a purpose.

Nebraska's scheme didn't outfox Kansas State. On the contrary; Bill Snyder's bunch was ready and then some. Aside from one gutsy call from offensive coordinator Shawn Watson – the 47-yard, game-changing bomb – NU's playcalling wasn't the difference.

It was the athletes on defense. To borrow an oft-mocked phrase of Callahan's, it was the “talent oozing all over the field.” Guys who were out of position, to be honest, but made plays through a combination of their innate skills and some solid, fundamental coaching from the current defensive staff.

NU clinched a North title because it had the better personnel. Much better. Ndamukong Suh. Barry Turner. Phillip Dillard. Larry Asante. Eric Hagg. Prince Amukamara. You and I may choke on the written words – but they're Callahan guys. From, let's see, Oregon, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Virginia, and Arizona, squared. Guys who'd probably never seen Nebraska before their 17th birthday. Guys who were probably coaxed to Nebraska for the wrong reasons – and coached into the right ones. But Callahan coaxed them here nonetheless.

KSU's Snyder showed Saturday night he's still got it as a coach. His offensive plan spread NU out and left the Huskers, often, with a six-man box against the run. Snyder managed to free one of KSU's two weapons – Brandon Banks – on a number of quick slants. He was creative with trick plays. His plan had the Brothers Pelini and the Blackshirts on skates for most of the second half.

Snyder probably outcoached Bo.

But Callahan, even in his short reign, badly outfoxed Snyder's successor/predecessor, Ron Prince, who showed, for maybe the final time Saturday night, what a grease fire his tenure really was.

The Wildcats were working with an empty cupboard Saturday. They have two offensive players of any repute, and one of them, running back Daniel Thomas, is some guy Snyder dug up out of a Mississippi junior college and spent all summer trying to get eligible. The other is Banks, one of the the nation's smallest receivers. Quarterback Grant Gregory is a sixth-year transfer who didn't start a collegiate game until two months ago. He missed at least five receivers with plain rotten throws. The defense is small, scrappy and reliant on funky fronts and run blitzes. KSU's kicker missed two field goals. The punter's so bright he hurt himself flopping after Justin Blatchford nudged his shoe.

KSU's coaching staff is all that kept the Wildcats within two touchdowns, much less four. And it didn't have a single bye week during the season. Not one chance to breathe, get healthy and retool.

And still – it took some excellent individual efforts for NU to clinch the North title.

Asante's strip of KSU running back Keithen Valentine was magnificent. His interception was another nice play. Hagg, responsible for trailing Banks for much of the second half, broke up a sure touchdown on one of Gregory's few good passes with a diving leap that left the junior injured. Suh battled clever blocking schemes and a moving pocket all night, but he still managed to get nine tackles, 1.5 sacks, deflect two passes and draw a holding penalty.

No question – the success of these individual players is in part to Pelini's coaching staff. We'd like to see similar development on the offensive side – we're still, ahem, waiting – but Asante especially is Exhibit A of the Pelini Way. That's a play he doesn't make – he doesn't even think of making – under Callahan/Cosgrove.

Suh is another exhibit. Then again – he was around for the Pelinis to develop, wasn't he? Callahan getting Suh is a little like – OK, a lot – like NU landing 2010 recruit Owa Odigizuhwa, one of the nation's best prep defensive ends, who also happens to be from Suh's hometown. He took his official visit to Nebraska this weekend.

Division titles are not usually reflective of short-term growth alone – although in Snyder's case, it would have been. Titles take a good system, equal parts talent and development.

You already know Callahan's weakness. Heck, it might be Watson's weakness, too, considering Zac Lee made two or three inexplicable decisions Saturday night, the kind that earn most quarterbacks the hook.

But let's not kid ourselves here: Pelini, who can develop players, inherited a great raw product. While Snyder got chopped liver, Bo walked into a chophouse of T-bones and aged ribeyes.

He's got one more year – Callahan's 2007 recruiting class – to enjoy it. And he will. Nebraska can play double-digit wins next year. Maybe 12 wins. Maybe more.

After that, we'll truly see how well Bo's done at the grocery store.

For now, we can enjoy his cooking, and the resulting meal – a Big 12 North title.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

When Florida Atlantic agreed to play Nebraska a few years ago, FAU coach Howard Schnellenberger did it almost on a hunch.

He’d built the program from dust in 2001 to a team, by 2005, ready to make the full-time leap to Division I-A. When it did, Schnellenberger peppered the non-conference schedule with road trip after road trip to major conference programs. FAU had little chance at victory, and, indeed, the coach called them “advanced training” games. In 2006, the Owls lost four straight to Clemson, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and South Carolina by a combined score of 192-21.

But last year, Schnellenberger stopped referring to those road games as any kind of training. The next step in his plan was start winning them.

“He thought we could actually hang with those teams,” quarterback Rusty Smith said.

And so it was with NU. FAU only took a $650,000 payout to play in Lincoln. Small, in terms of the general going rate. Maybe that was shrewd negotiating on the part of then-athletic director Steve Pederson.

Or maybe it was something else.

“My hope was that when we scheduled the game there was a little niche in the Nebraska situation,” Schnellenberger. “I hoped maybe to slip in there. Obviously, that niche has been closed and they’re upgrading to their highest level once again.”

That could be Howard being Howard. In fact, we’re sure of it. But never underestimate the cunning of a guy who rescued two programs – Miami and Louisville – already and, at 75-years old, is trying to build this one entirely in his image. He saw the chance to upset a Bill Callahan Husker team. But Ball State pulled down the wizard’s curtain first.

So the coach who wrecked Nebraska’s national championship dreams in 1983 has spent the better part of a week suggesting Bo Pelini’s 2009 team could be as good as the “Scoring Explosion” bunch. He calls even heading to NU and Memorial Stadium a “monumental struggle” that leaves the Owls merely “holding out hope” they can compete with the Huskers.

“But our players are looking forward to that struggle,” Schnellenberger said.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

Please enable Javascript, or download the podcast here.

Join Husker Locker today - it's free!

Join the recruiting discussion here!

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

Every so often, you glance at the great history of college football, and you probably wonder, as I do: How did a flyover state full of sandy hills, prairie grass and homesteads ever fight its way into the royalty of the game? And, more than that, how did it do so a full decade after World War II?

We don’t ask that question, I find, because we don’t know. In fact, we know the answer by heart. And, sometimes, it’s simply too long and rich to tell at a dinner party, right? We ask ourselves just as a reminder how extraordinary an achievement it really is. And how that achievement defined this state, spoke to its work ethic and pride and faith. It is not a small thing, what’s been done at NU. That’s why it’s so important. And that’s why, rhetorically, we ask.

Unquestionably, a part of that answer is the walk-on program. As depicted in the newest NET documentary “Walk On: Huskers Edge,” you get a terrific sense of how and why those young, sacrificial men - often from dusty farm towns that hug our state’s two-lane highways - volunteered to serve the Cornhuskers with little reward and no guarantees. They took that famous admonition from President Kennedy and made it their own: Ask not what Nebraska can do for you, but what you can do for Nebraska.

And as scholarship limits got tighter, the need for the walk-ons went up. You know the scores of guys who came through here, on their own dime, and won games, awards, jobs in the NFL. We won’t list them again.

Now, in this era of 85 scholarships, and an era when technology allows high school players to reach out and touch their dream of college football, every team – not just Nebraska – has to use its walk-on program wisely.

It’s an excellent place to develop kickers, punters, long snappers, coverage gunners and holders. It’s helpful for overall depth when injuries strike. Occasionally the walk-on pool will produce a dynamic athlete like Matthew May, an Imperial kid who played for a great football program out near Panhandle, and didn’t get the attention he deserved.

Some would argue walk-ons provide a character boost, that “Rudy” quality that wills the more talented scholarship players to excel. That can be true, and has been true, often, at Nebraska. And that can be false. After all, walk-ons are 18-22-year-old kids, just like the rest of the players.

The best possible scenario is that the walk-on pool is a combination of all those things. A launching pad for late bloomers. A training ground for future coaches. An inspiration to the fans. A way to keep NU connected to the high school programs, and the state in general. You get excellent stories, like that of Derek Meyer, who left Kansas State, and turned down transfer offers to Western Michigan and San Diego State, for a shot at one year with the Big Red.

But the walk-on industry, like anything else, has changed. The economy has changed, recruiting has changed, the world has changed. The romance is largely gone.

Let’s be clear: Head coach Bo Pelini, undoubtedly with the guidance of athletic director Tom Osborne, has improved the perception of walk-ons at NU. Pelini produces a list of committed walk-ons on Signing Day. Then, he refuses to talk about any one player – scholarship or walk-on - individually. He integrates preferred walk-ons into summer conditioning. There’s a Walk-On Club designed to support the funding of walk-on program. To his credit, Pelini neither patronizes walk-ons nor pretends to merely tolerate them. They’re just part of the group. As it should be.

But it’s getting harder to draw walk-ons to Nebraska – or anywhere, for that matter. Division I FCS and Division II programs are getting more sophisticated, more savvy, with their recruiting tools. Especially schools in the Dakotas. South Dakota State can offer a talented Nebraska kid a chance to play Division I competition on scholarship, rather than the kid footing the bill at NU. (This is one of the reasons Nebraska shouldn’t play SDSU). And UNO, with new AD Trev Alberts, will make some waves with its future recruiting classes. Just watch.

Why? With the rising cost of college, kids, and their parents, are going to listen. They have to listen. Their 401k has been raided by the stock market. Half of their investments have vanished. And God didn’t make every kid to be a classroom whiz who can cobble together a bunch of academic scholarships.

Walk-ons have always been about sacrifice. But, for some of them, the off-the-field price may be too high.

Another issue: I’m not sure, with the present state of high school football in Nebraska, that NU actually can draw as many players as it would like. Pelini and Co. wants speed. Track guys. Shawn Watson’s offense requires gifted tight ends and receivers, and that’s still not something the state provides in great supply. Nebraska’s gone to recruiting absolutely giant offensive linemen – almost all of them taller than 6-5 – and the state’s just not going to provide many of those. NU’s lone in-state recruit, 6-6 tackle, Andrew Rodriguez, is originally from New York City.

Finally, there’s this: High school programs are no longer tied at the hip to NU. They’ll send their kids where they can play. Pelini can’t just waltz into Omaha and have his pick or scholarship or walk-on players. Iowa has a relationship at a few schools, including Millard North. Kansas has connections within the city, and at the most consistent program in Western Nebraska, McCook. Now Oregon, after offering a scholarship to Daryle Hawkins, has an in at Omaha Central.

So we’ll see. Nebraska’s done well, so far, with its rhetoric about reviving the program. Bill Callahan didn’t exactly kill it, mind you – after all, Matt O’Hanlon and Colton Koehler, both potential starters on the 2009 NU defense, began as Callahan-era walk-ons – but he…well, you know the story.

Point is – even if Nebraska wants a return to the halcyon days of the walk-on program, it may not be possible. And utopia shouldn’t be the goal, anyway.

Rather, NU should use its walk-on program wisely and efficiently. Now that Callahan is gone, Husker fans don’t have to argue its importance anymore. Pelini, Osborne and director of football operations Jeff Jamrog all appreciate its worth.

It doesn’t matter how small or large the walk-on program at Nebraska is. It doesn’t need to be our version of the Peace Corps. It just needs to be strong. And if it’s that – then it’s the right size.

Sign up for Husker Locker for free!

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

Yet another accolade for Tom Osborne; the Nebraska athletic director and former head coach was picked No. 34 on Sporting News’ recent list of the 50 greatest all-time head coaches in America.

No. 3 Bear Bryant, No 10 Knute Rockne, No. 13 Joe Paterno, No. 23 Eddie Robinson, No. 24 Bobby Bowden, No. 27 Woody Hayes and No. 29 Bud Wilkinson. Three other college coaches – Bo Schembechler (No. 36), Amos Alonzo Stagg (No. 40) and Ara Parseghian (No. 44) were also on the list.

No. 1? UCLA’s John Wooden, who beat the Green Bay Packers’ Vince Lombardi for the honor.

Osborne was also on selection panel. And so was Bill Callahan.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

Who was Bill Callahan's first - and often criticized - punt returner in 2004?

The answer is Santino Panico

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

Enjoy today's podcast for free. Listen to other podcasts via a Locker Pass. Click here for more information.

Please enable Javascript, or download the podcast here.

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

There is, among some Husker fans, this presumption in the post-Bill Callahan era of Nebraska football that rebuilding should take time. That the volcanic ash spewed forth in that one awful 2007 season leveled the entire forest.

With full admission, the media presented it as such, especially when juxtaposing the fallen regime with that of the House of Osborne, Dr. Tom riding home from an unsuccessful crusade in gubernatorial race, as if Richard the Wisehearted, to restore civility with a gentleman’s smile.

There is great truth in that, but understand, in a player’s mind, it’s merely a passage of time. Most of them were not marooned or left gasping for air, like some victim of a recent, massive Ponzi scheme. Most of them just, well, took to the new coaching staff under Bo Pelini, took well to it, and dramatically improved in 2008 after stinking up the joint against Oklahoma and Missouri.

You know already know that. Most fans do. Here’s where the presumption comes in: Nebraska overachieved in 2008, emerging triumphantly from raw clay to grind out magical victories. It is a good story, and it fits with Bo Pelini’s all-heart, all-sweat profile.

But these weren’t a bunch of guys Football Forgot. And they weren’t no-names. Remember that. We’ll get back to it in a minute.

What brings us to the conversation was a chat piece on ESPN recently, in which fine writer Tim Griffin answered a question from a Nebraska fan regarding whether NU would be competing for a BCS or national title game within four years.

The essential summary: “But in order to get into that BCS discussion, he's going to have to significantly improve the Cornhuskers' recruiting. He needs to start attracting a bunch of athletic difference makers that will be needed to enable the Cornhuskers to compete with Texas and Oklahoma for the Big 12 title.”

No arguing that Pelini needs to keep recruiting talent. Bully there. The 2010 recruiting class seems off to a fine start on offense. Verdict still out on defense.

But the difference makers?

They’re already here. Thank the volcano.

Yep, no backsliding on this. We’ll remain vigilant because we think it’s fair to assessing Pelini’s coaching: NU has plenty – read: loads – of talent. The difference-making athletes are over at North Stadium as we speak, conditioning.

Before Pelini’s arrival, the talent was there. It just didn’t correct its mistakes in practice as they happened, but later in a film room. Well, that’s a dumb way to coach college kids. Callahan preferred a practice regimen at warp speed with the precision of those drummers at the Beijing Olympics. He glossed over errors, got shown up on national TV by Southern California, showed up his own players in film study the next day, kicked their collective ass for a week in practice, and lost them by the end of the Ball State game. Or maybe the players lost themselves.

Anyway, the effort was in question. The technique was in question. The learning curve was in question.

But the skill? The athleticism? It was there. It remains there. Thought it then. Think it now.

It goes without saying in Ndamukong Suh’s case, but Zac Lee didn’t fall off a meat wagon, either. He’s the son of a NFL QB, as fast as some running backs and toting a 70-yard arm. That’s one hell of a toolkit. Roy Helu had offers from Oregon and California, both of whom turn out better running backs than USC. Quentin Castille has worked himself into a impressive big back. Prince Amukamara is a laundry list of performance marks. Alex Henery is one of the nation’s best kickers. Keith Williams is an All-Big 12 caliber player. So is Eric Hagg. So is Jacob Hickman. Mike McNeill is the league’s second best tight end. For an inexperienced sophomore suddenly thrust into playing time, Pierre Allen held up surprisingly well last year. And there are five or six players in Pelini’s 2008 class bursting at the seams to heavily contribute in 2009.

How many difference makers does Nebraska need?

Do they stack up to Texas and Oklahoma? Well, UT and OU had better coaching for all those Callahan years, didn’t they? Pelini can personally vouch for the Sooners’ brain trust, and the Longhorns’ staff is underrated.

Do they have more talent? Sure. Some more talent. But enough of this wailing over Travis Lewis, a player who committed to OU instead of NU and is held up, by some, as the poster child of the players Nebraska needs but doesn’t have. Lewis is a good player. He’s not the Rosetta Stone to a national title.

The talent gap is not a gulf that, say, home field advantage couldn’t cover. In 2005 and 2006, home field darn near covered it in close losses to the Sooners and Longhorns, and Nebraska has more developed talent now than it did then. And NU hosts Oklahoma in 2009 and Texas in 2010.

Pelini’s been consistent on this matter, too. He wants to win them all, and hasn’t settled for something short of it. He’s said more than once that, upon his arrival, there was more material to work with than he originally thought there would be. It hadn’t been coached worth a nickel on defense, but the raw playmakers existed. The defensive line, of which most pundits were skeptical, turned in a monster season. And it wasn’t just because they were tough guys.

Thus, the simplest answer to the BCS question is with another question: Why not now?

Settling for some special day when Nebraska evens the talent battle is like wishing on the same star that burned out right after Callahan announced his 2005 class.

It’s not a video game. It’s football.

As for that national title? If 2010 doesn’t look sexy to you yet, Husker fans, well, get on the darkhorse anyway.

It’s OK to have expectations, y’know. It’s how Nebraska football got anywhere in the first place.

Check out 50 Huskers To Know and our Rookie Rundowns with a 60-day free trial of Husker Locker Pass!

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

So we found a pretty cool feature on the Internet that lets folks sub out the iconic photo of Barack Obama in his most famous campaign poster, and sub in a photo of Bo Pelini, Tom Osborne, Bob Devaney...yes, even Bill Callahan.

The one you see above is the one we made of Bo Pelini. But you can certainly make your own. Check out our poster gallery!

Send us your creations and we'll run them on the Web site...as long as they're appropriate, of course.

Happy posterizing and Go Big Red!

See also: A Husker in the land of Cheeseheads

HuskerLocker is now on Twitter. Follow us!

Get free updates on NU football! Sign up for Husker Locker for free today!

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

It was the second straight season that zero Nebraska players were taken on the first day of the NFL Draft and only three were taken overall. It served as a death rattle for the Bill Callahan era.

Will the trend change in future years? We look at the potential Draft prospects of current Huskers:

2010 Draft

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh: If Suh stays healthy and continues to improve his technique – whether or not his statistics are comparable to 2008 – he’s a sure-fire first-round pick, and possibly a top-ten or top-five pick, depending on team need. At 6-foot-4, 300 pounds, Suh probably isn’t a 3-4 nose guard – those guys are usually squatter and, well, fatter – but he fits into a 4-3 scheme as a 1, 2 or 3 technique, depending on how a defense chooses to play him. He already makes the flashy plays behind the line of scrimmage, and has since his sophomore year.

Defensive end Barry Turner: Teams will look over Turner’s broken leg injury, and since we’re not doctors or insurance specialists, we couldn’t say whether that would prevent Turner from getting selected. As an end, Turner has a good first step and can beat slower linemen to the corner. He’s not as adept at swim and rip moves as he should be. On the flip side, Turner’s received average coaching at best from John Blake. He’s got room to grow.

Center Jacob Hickman: He’ll be helped by his versatility to play either guard spot or center. Hickman, 6-4 and 290, is agile when pulling and skilled at getting to the second level. Probably not the nastiest guy on the planet, but he’s smart, and he knows a number of positions. You could see some team taking him with a late-round pick and developing him as a valuable reserve.

Strong safety Larry Asante: Depending on whether some NFL team thought they could put 20-30 pounds on Asante, he could play linebacker at the next level. Asante hits hard, and he’s generally decent in run support. Where’s he’s struggled is in the passing game. As a safety, we’d see him as a free agent; Clemson’s Michael Hamlin, a much better college player, lasted until well into the second day in the 2009 Draft.

Wide receiver Menelik Holt: Longshot here, but one never knows. Holt has the speed, and he’s a good enough blocker. Nobody knows if he can catch balls and get open consistently, however. He’ll get only one year to prove it and he’d better have big-time numbers. Otherwise, he’ll be a free agent, if that.

For now, we don’t consider middle linebackers Phillip Dillard and Colton Koehler, free safeties Rickey Thenarse and Matt O’Hanlon or receiver Chris Brooks as likely selections, although they may sign as free agents.

2011

Left guard Keith Williams: At 6-5, 305, Williams has the size and strength to become a very good NFL guard. He needs to get more consistent, and cut out wasteful penalties. He’s quicker than recent draftee Matt Slauson and he’ll get two more years of coaching under Barney Cotton. Too hard to project a specific round right now, but Williams would be in the Draft.

Safety Eric Hagg: Could be a quality safety for some NFL team; his size and anticipatory skills are a good fit. Nebraska coaches finally seem set on putting Hagg at safety and letting him blossom there. Two years of good development puts him right in the crosshairs of being drafted. Sometimes, though, it seems like Hagg isn’t aware of how good he could be.

Running back Roy Helu: We fully expect Helu to play four years at NU, if he stays healthy. As a pure runner, Helu is instinctive, quick and hard to bring down. He’s a decent pass-catcher and should improve his blocking. If you were projecting way out, you could see Helu getting picked in the 3rd-4th rounds, maybe even the first day.

Tight end Mike McNeill: We could definitely see a guy like McNeill taking that Dallas Clark role with the Indianapolis Colts. McNeill is sure-handed and athletic, and pretty fast for a tight end. His best skill is open-field running. In two years, he’s a 4th-6th-round selection, and better if he improves his blocking.

Defensive end Pierre Allen: Very good sophomore campaign could lead to big things in 2009 and 2010. Allen needs to keep grinding away as a pass rusher so that he can fit into a 4-3 system, which requires good pass-rushing skills out of its ends. He’d need to gain 20-30 pounds to play end in a 3-4.

Kicker/punter Alex Henery: If he continues to kick like he did in 2008, he’ll be one of a handful of kickers selected in the Draft. Henery’s punting skills may also help him make a roster. The kid’s a bit of a kicking savant; many of his field goal tries are perfectly shaped into the middle of the goalposts, looking like a Phil Mickelson wedge shot.

Running back Quentin Castille: Credit where it’s due: Castille has lost enough weight to be a viable player in a one-back, one-cut outside zone NFL system. No the lead guy, necessarily, but a bruiser type. He gets downhill quickly, strides nicely for a big guy, and seems more comfortable in the open field than he does traffic. Blocks and catches pretty well. Hasn’t shown himself to be a great short-yardage back, but he could develop into one. Castille isn’t a fullback, and NFL teams will quickly notice that watching him on film. The right team with the right need could draft him.

Cornerback Prince Amukamara: If this kid picks up the red the courtesy phone and figures out the position, he’s as intriguing a prospect as any on NU’s team. Naturally gifted, huge vertical leap, tall and fast, not afraid to tackle. Amukamara’s stumbling block isn’t physical stuff. But can he play, drive after drive, without mental errors?

Cornerback Anthony West: Steadier than Amukamara, not quite as gifted, and not quite as big. Gambled and lost a couple times in 2008. Needs to close better and be more aggressive to the ball, as his allowed touchdown in the Red/White Spring Game showed.

Wide receiver Niles Paul: Needs to play more often, and more consistently. Paul would be a slot receiver in the NFL, so route-running, savvy and elusiveness would be important to develop.

Guard Ricky Henry: Strictly a project right now, but the clay is there to be molded. We’ll see.

Cornerback Dejon Gomes: See Ricky Henry.

Quarterback Zac Lee: Too early to tell. The skillset and height suggests he’ll fit into the Joe Ganz category.

HuskerLocker is now on Twitter. Follow us!

Get free updates on NU football! Sign up for Husker Locker for free today!

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

If you had any doubt – the slightest bit, doubt the size of a single fish egg – about the utter failure of the Bill Callahan era at Nebraska, this weekend should have washed it away like the tide drags abandoned crab shells out to sea.

In 2009 NFL Draft, only three members Callahan’s vaunted recruiting classes were selected. Three. San Jose State had that many. New Mexico and Abliene Christian had two. And no Huskers higher than midway through the fifth round. You might have to go back to the 1969 NFL Draft to find such a meager NU class, although the 2008 bunch is right in there.

And the first of the 2009 picks – linebacker Cody Glenn – was stuck at fourth-string running back for much of the 2007 season, his career resurrected only by Callahan’s firing and the hiring of head coach Bo Pelini and linebackers coach Mike Ekeler, who gave Glenn a good enough crash course to eeld his skills to one of the more difficult positions on the defense.

Meanwhile, Callahan’s preferred back, Marlon Lucky, didn’t even get to be Mr. Irrelevant.

Maybe If Callahan hadn’t wasted Lucky’s first year on campus. Or burned Zach Potter’s redshirt. Or buried Joe Ganz underneath the depth chart rubble, only to be forced into giving him a shot when he was the only one left standing.

If only.

Does that mean Potter, Lucky, Ganz or others won’t play in the NFL? Of course not. There are some advantages, in fact, to becoming a priority free agent instead of a draft pick, and NFL teams sometimes use late-round draft picks on projects who flame out two weeks into training camp. NU has a number of players good enough for the NFL. They need the right fit and the right attitude, but they’ll get their chance.

What the 2009 class means is that Callahan’s pitch - which revolved around his NFL experience, around his ability to recognize talent, recruit it with fierce diligence and organization and turn it into a professional product – was akin to oceanfront property in Grand Island. His “talent” was more upside than finished product, and he and his staff didn’t take enough pains to finish it. Often, they rushed the talent into service before they were ready and snatched a crucial redshirt year away from guys like Glenn, Niles Paul and Prince Amukamara.

Now - had Callahan landed that gilded, magic quarterback he always pined for, like Kansas State’s Josh Freeman, I don’t doubt he would have produced, consequences be damned, the kind of player Freeman became: A big, sturdy stiff with enough intelligence and arm strength to con some poor NFL franchise, like the reeling Tampa Bay Buccaneers, into drafting him.

Ron Prince ran Kansas State into the ground that way, protecting “his” QB to the point where, when KSU’s offensive line seemingly refused to block for Freeman, or Freeman temporarily lost his faculties, Prince pulled Freeman from the Nebraska game. Freeman sat on the bench, staring into dead space, while Ganz pounded the Wildcats’ defense with the zone read. Freeman walks away from Manhattan with a fat contract. Prince got his old job back at Virginia. KSU fans, meanwhile, must curse their twin presence for the next decade; that’s how quickly they ruined what Bill Snyder had built.

Callahan, forced to work with the chopped ham of Zac Taylor and Ganz, who often performed like the delectable pieces of Spanish jamon, didn’t get the Princely opportunity to sacrifice a whole team for one man.

But he did make sure Lucky got rushed through the system, Potter received dubious coaching from a recruiting mercenary, Andre Jones disappeared into the ether and Matt Slauson, who was selected this year, wasted 2007 at his “Chipotle” weight, far above where he belonged.

You may counter: Isn’t Ndamukong Suh headed for a first-day pick in 2010? Sure. Did Callahan recruit him? Yep. Callahan also left behind guys like Keith Williams, Mike McNeill, Eric Hagg, Roy Helu and Jacob Hickman. I forsee all of them being drafted in the next two years.

But Callahan hardly developed those guys. Indeed, Suh was backsliding in his last year under Kevin Cosgrove. Their draft positions will be small credit to Callahan recruiting them, and large credit to Pelini, offensive coordinator Shawn Watson (who, to be fair, is a Callahan disciple) and position coaches developing them.

Finally, coaches told Nebraska players why they were doing something. Coaches corrected mistakes on the field, instead of in a film session. Finally, players were treated like the kids they still remain, instead of cogs in a wheel. Finally, they developed the down-in, down-out technique that makes good NFL players.

You know, it’s interesting. ESPN’s Tim Griffin reviewed the NFL Draft picks of each Big 12 team since the inception of the league and NU, unbelievably, remains on top in terms of number of players drafted (59 in all), and the relative quality of those players. Although Oklahoma and Texas have dominated the Big 12 over the last seven years, Nebraska is close to both programs when it comes to players selected in the first three rounds of the draft.

It’s now been two years since any Husker was picked in the first four rounds.

Since Callahan took over in 2004, just one of his scholarship recruits, Brandon Jackson, was drafted in the top three rounds. And Jackson left NU after his junior season in 2006, with the legitimate concern that, if he returned, he would have been buried on the depth chart like he had been the beginning of that year, when he was fourth. Behind a guy named Cody Glenn. Who, one year later, was fourth on the depth chart.

You figure it out.

HuskerLocker is now on Twitter. Follow us!

Get free updates on NU football! Sign up for Husker Locker for free today!

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

For most of the Bill Callahan administration at Nebraska, the diminutive gum-chewing coach of unfortunate catchphrases couldn’t get a break with his gilded quarterbacks.

They either cut town (Joe Dailey and Harrison Beck), got sick (Jordan Adams) broke up with NU over voicemail (Josh Freeman), weren’t quite as good as advertised (Sam Keller) or wisely backed out the door when the waiting room looked a little grim (Blaine Gabbert).

Bo Pelini rolled double fives in his first year with a blue-collar, suburban Chicago kid, Joe Ganz. Chips for everybody at the table, ditto the waitress. Maybe he’ll do it again with the similarly built Zac Lee. Or maybe Cody Green, after a year of seasoning, is the franchise quarterback Husker fans hope he is.

But now, a couple more quarterbacks – former Miami signal-caller Robert Marve and former Duke basketball point guard Greg Paulus - have at least knocked on NU’s door, and are inspecting the exterior to see if they want to come in.

The question is: Would or should Pelini invite them to stay?

In case of Marve, it’d be a three-year commitment, with Marve redshirting in 2009 to play two seasons after that. With Paulus, it’s a one-year, one-shot deal, as one of the nation’s best high school quarterbacks in 2004 spent four years as the Blue Devils’ point guard.

A quick scan of the many NU fan message boards reflects trepidation among Big Red Faithful for either player. Husker followers, ever loyal, seem concerned about two issues:

*Impact on team chemistry. Specifically a guy like Green, who’s been tabbed as “the guy” in 2010 or 2011. Quarterbacks are often a competitive-yet-tight-knit bunch, and introducing a new guy is a bit like adding a new critter to a pond. He’d better be ecologically compatible. Michigan’s quarterbacks, reportedly, weren’t too keen on Paulus joining the Wolverines, for example, after national news broke that he was considering a transfer there.

*Eating up needed scholarships. With Paulus, he’d be taking a scholarship likely headed to a deserving walk-on who’s bound to play more than Paulus would. Marve’s scholarship would be a three-year commitment, and may deter some other QB recruit from taking the Husker plunge.

There are additional concerns – Marve’s ugly divorce from Miami, Paulus’ rustiness and lack of raw arm strength – to consider, too.

But Pelini, and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson, are chemistry guys. Players who aren’t fitting in either leave NU or make the slow drip down the depth chart. If Paulus and/or Marve rub Pelini and Watson wrong, they won’t get an RSVP.

The scholarship argument is intriguing. Nebraska has so few scholarships available – three or four under 20, barring something unforeseen - for the 2010 recruiting class because the typical attrition that occurs with coaching regime change has been less pronounced under Pelini. Yes, you’ve got Witt, John Levorsen, Major Culbert and a few others way down the depth chart. But this isn’t the exodus NU initially experienced under Callahan, or Kansas State decidedly didn’t enjoy with Ron Prince. Because Callahan signed what looks a terrific class in 2007 – and Pelini followed it up with 28 signees in 2008 – the 2010 class was destined to be small.

Worrying about whether Marve cheats NU out of some prospect would be blaming a potential transfer for a problem they didn’t create. As for eating up a scholarship intended for a walk-on? There are scholarship guys on NU’s roster now who inhabit the basement of the depth chart without much hope of ever playing. If Pelini and Co. want to honor those scholarships, well, we applaud it, but the consequence of doing so is leaving some walk-ons unrewarded.

You think Paul Velander on Nebraska’s basketball team didn’t look at some of Doc Sadler’s scholarship recruits – stiffs like Alex Chapman and Shang Pint – and occasionally wonder “Why?” Of course. But Velander was a motivated team guy, and Sadler got him to buy in. Velander was the team MVP in 2009.

Not every walk-on success story ends with a scholarship. Ask Derek Meyer.

So the real question becomes: Can they contribute?

In the case of Paulus, there’s no firm answer, and it’s not like Husker coaches can put him through a three-hour exam of field drills and film study to find out.

We know Paulus is a team guy – he gave up his starting point guard position at Duke for his senior season to no real avail come the NCAA Tournament. We also know he’s mentally tough, having withstood the merciless verbal abuse of every opposing student section in the ACC. For three years, Paulus was a lightning rod for criticism, the poster child for What’s Wrong with Duke Basketball. The 2009 NCAA Tournament, in which the Blue Devils were filleted by Villanova in the Sweet Sixteen, proved that theory at least partially false. At any rate, you’re getting a kid who knows how to compete amidst adversity.

But Paulus has talked about wanting to fight for a starting job. Well, he won’t start at NU; built much like Lee, without Lee’s speed and apparent arm strength, there’s virtually no way Paulus wins the job in the fall unless Lee gets hurt. Sure, Paulus could learn at the feet of a very good NFL-style offensive coordinator in Watson, but unless his heart is really into being a backup, what’s the point?

Marve is more appealing.

The redshirt year gives him a chance to learn the offense while he works out the kinks on the scout team. And while his Miami statistics don’t necessarily suggest it – a 55 percent completion rate, 13 interceptions - Marve had his moments last year. He throws a smooth spiral, shows requisite arm strength and is particularly adept at moving around the pocket without taking off downfield.

Plus, the Hurricanes’ offensive line was average at best, and Marve faced five top 25 defenses (Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest). That’s not entirely an excuse for the turnovers, but the kid isn’t, say, Cody Hawkins. He’s an NFL talent with moxie and toughness, and he spent two years in a pro-style attack that may not mirror Nebraska’s version of the West Coast Offense, but at least clues him in to some key principles.

Marve would arrive at NU with some baggage, most of which is well known. That said, a complete separation from his home in Tampa, his high school coach and even his parents might be good for him. Nebraska is a bona fide football factory and it may benefit Marve to dive head first in the deep end of the Big Red pool, immersing himself in Shawn Watson’s thick playbook and daunting work ethic.

Concerns about his competing with Lee, or Green, are fair, but Nebraska should foster and embrace competition instead of worrying about whose feathers get ruffled.

If Marve seems OK with competing, and doesn’t demand some kind of answer or ultimatum, then NU should give the kid a long, strong look.

Check out video on Robert Marve: Texas A&M game and North Carolina game.

HuskerLocker is now on Twitter. Follow us!

Get free updates on NU football! Sign up for Husker Locker for free today!

Permanent Link to this Blog Post

ND's Chuck Weis is mulling over a move to the press box next year because he's anointed himself offensive coordinator and play-caller for next year.

Could see you Bo Pelini doing that? How about Bill Callahan, even? Nah. He needed to be close to the talent oozing all over the field.

How does a coach get a feel for his team in crucial moments if he's in a press box? How?

Check out the rest of today's news so far...

Permanent Link to this Blog Post