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How Nebraska prepares players for life after football








Nebraska director of football player development Gus Felder speaks during a news conference Thursday at Hawks Championship Center.




No one plays football forever.

A former college football standout and undrafted free agent who briefly made an NFL roster, Gus Felder understands that lesson well.

Now it’s his job to impart that wisdom to the Nebraska football team.

Nebraska football’s director of player development works to help shape players’ futures. Those efforts are centered around everything that matters off the field, with a focus on areas such as financial literacy and professional development.

Felder said the easiest topic to educate players on is the financial side of things because “everybody wants to have money.”

On the other hand, developing goals for the future and building a long-term plan to get there is hardly on player’s minds.

“We have to get on guys to sit down and focus on professional development and sometimes their personal development, because right now they’re focused on one thing  that’s football  and they’re not looking at life after football’s over with,” Felder said.

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Getting players to connect with the Lincoln community is another key project that Felder oversees. All players are required to perform a basic amount of community service  but the programs are so successful that if Felder brings an event to the team, he’ll have more interested players than he has volunteer spots that need filling.

“The people that we go help, a lot of the time they don’t know we’re coming, so to watch people light up in the community and have access to the guys, have fun with them and be relatable to them, it’s a great feeling,” Felder said.

Rather than focusing on veteran players who’ve already mastered the core principles of development, much of Felder’s efforts take place with the program’s youngest members. Incoming freshmen, particularly those who may not be used to the rigor of a major college football program, take time to learn the ropes.

Upon arriving on campus those players go through academic meetings, strength and conditioning meetings, player development meetings and community-oriented activities which introduce them to different areas of development. Nebraska’s summer transition program, Summer Bridge, also helps players hit the ground running in the fall.

“It’s just the way our staff operates from the top down; everything’s organized, planned and intentional that we do for our guys,” Felder said.





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