The walk-on program lives on

One of the pleasant surprises since Bill Callahan became coach is that the walk-on program is alive and well. When Callahan first came to Lincoln he made statements that led people to believe the walk-on program, nurtured so carefully under Tom Osborne, was going to be killed or at least severely cut back. Callahan said he didn't want large rosters of players and he even went so far as to move the existing walk-ons into a separate locker room to segregate them away from the scholarship players. (Thankfully, that "segregation" practice has since been discontinued.) To Nebraska football traditionalists, like myself, that was pure heresy and caused quite a bit of grumbling.

Quietly since that rocky start, Callahan has learned that Tom Osborne might have known what he was doing with the walk-on program after all. Callahan found out that not every top recruit in the nation wants to come to Lincoln, Nebraska. He has pursued the best athletes nationwide and he's had some good recruiting classes but a lot of talented kids also turned Nebraska down. Nebraska just isn't like USC or Texas where all the California and Texas kids stand in a long waiting line to get coveted scholarships to those schools. Nebraska has a limited population base and the football team cannot "feast" on local players like USC or Texas. Hence, it makes sense to promote a strong walk-on program where players who aren't so highly recruited can come to Lincoln and prove themselves. A lot of those walk-ons will never see the playing field but there will be just enough gems each year to make a difference. That's been Nebraska's strategy for decades and it is continuing.

Walk-ons now are being recruited to the Nebraska football team under Callahan but there isn't a lot of publicity about the effort. For one, the recruiting boards and recruitniks who pay attention to Nebraska football are much more focused on player star ratings and which other schools are recruiting a kid. They pay relatively little attention to unknown walk-ons. Second, the football staff doesn't want too much publicity about walk-ons before they join the team. Since walk-ons don't sign letters of intent, they are fair game for any competing school to sign away until they actually enroll on campus. In the past, Nebraska has lost walk-ons when a rival school learned about the kid through newspaper and web articles and then offered them a scholarship.

As one example of a recent recruited walk-on, consider Justin Makovicka from Brainard, Nebraska. Now the name should immediately ring a bell with any Husker fan because Justin is the younger brother of famed Husker fullbacks Jeff and Joel Makovicka. Justin had scholarship offers from Iowa State, Ohio and Air Force but turned them down to walk on at Nebraska. His brothers, of course, were famous walk-on success stories at Nebraska in years past.

There are several other walk-ons who will join the team this Fall but in keeping with the quiet approach regarding walk on publicity, it's probably better not to mention more names. Meanwhile, keep an eye on Ben Eisenhart this Fall - a walk-on already on the team. Ben, a 2003 graduate from Culbertson High School in Nebraska, had a great Spring Game playing second team strong safety. He led the white team with nine tackles, of which four were unassisted stops. The safety position is thin in talent right now and a perfect spot for a walk-on to make a big difference.

So, I'm happy to say the walk-on program at Nebraska is alive and well. There's nothing more gratifying than to see a walk on beat the odds and become a star. Who will ever forget such great players from Nebraska's past like walk-on I. M. Hipp.

Go Big Red,

RedCap