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Nebraska players from the state face heavy responsibilities


COZAD — Take a glance at Jared Crick’s football résumé.

The Nebraska Football Hall of Famer has plenty to be proud of. Two-time second-team All-American. Two-time first-team All-Big 12. Cletus Fischer Native Son Award winner. A school-record five sacks and seven tackles for loss in a single game. Crick finished his career in the top 10 in program history for sacks — and that’s despite missing half of his senior season. The Houston Texans drafted him in the fourth round, and he latched on there as a two-year starter.

His résumé off the field matched that success. He was one of 11 nationally named to the Allstate Good Works Team for his community outreach work as a senior. A two-time Brook Berringer Citizenship Team honoree. The first-ever Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.

And yet, he still carries deep feelings about it all.

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“Did I do enough volunteer work? Probably not,” Crick said, crediting Nebraska executive associate athletic director for life skills Keith Zimmer for helping him and other student-athletes get out into the community. “But it’s like, I could have gone out and did my own thing, especially when I made a name for myself.

“… But the fact I didn’t take the time to actually do more than what I could have or more than what was mandated, I think about it a lot. I’m pretty proud of my career, but at the same time, it could have been so much better. So there’s a little regret. Probably more regret than pride anymore.”

Sports columnist Amie Just previews The Cornhusker State, an upcoming project on Lincoln Journal Star and HuskerExtra. Read about Just’s inspiration for the series here



As Crick shared his thoughts, he stared down at the table — the frustration with his younger self apparent with every word.

It’s been over a decade. Thirteen years, in fact, since his senior season. So, why is it still eating at him?

“Just being from the state,” Crick said. “If I was from Texas or whatever and came up and played football, I don’t think anybody would have said too much about it. But being from Nebraska, I think people probably expect Nebraska kids — it’s their house. They should probably put in more than everyone else to take care of it.”

It’s a privilege to wear the N.

At Nebraska, student-athletes are role models. They’re culture bearers. They’re in the constant spotlight, expected to be near-perfect while they balance the demands of their sport, their academics and their community.

With that comes a great level of pride, but an overwhelming sense of responsibility that’s tough for teenagers and twenty-somethings to grasp.

It’s a heavy burden to carry.

“These are the Nebraska Cornhuskers. They’re kids. They’re 18, 19, 20-year-old kids with the weight of the world on their shoulders,” said Todd Brown, who suited up at split end for Nebraska from 1979-82. “That’s not always fun. But there’s a sense of duty with that.”

It’s not hyperbole to say that nearly every kid who grew up within the state’s confines was raised as a Nebraska fan. That fandom has been ever so carefully passed down through the generations like a treasured family heirloom. It’s almost innate.

For Norfolk’s Ethan Piper, no memory tells it best like the lead-in to the Akron game that never was in 2018.

But before the inclement weather canceled the game, Piper — who was on an unofficial visit as a Nebraska commit — saw a side to his father that he’d never seen. Tears fell down his dad’s cheeks as “Sirius” began to play for the tunnel walk.

“I’ve never seen my dad cry like that. I’ve seen him cry, but I thought to myself, ‘It’s go time,’” Piper said. “I could take my dad to five years of football games at Nebraska, getting them incorporated into Nebraska football and make a name for ‘Piper’ at the same time? That is enough motivation to wake up every single day and bust skulls.’”

The tunnel walk. It doesn’t just make fans emotional, it hits the heartstrings for the players, too.

For Crick’s first tunnel walk, he about passed out from his heart racing so fast.

For Kearney’s Brett Maher, he felt the tunnel walk magic “every time,” “from the first game to the last one” during his Nebraska career.

For Benkelman’s Phalen Sanford, the tunnel walk was when it set in that he was, actually, truly, a Nebraska football player.

Because when you’re invested in something from a young age, it means more. You care just a little bit more.







Nebraska’s Brett Maher (96) watches his field goal sail through the area during a game in 2012 against Iowa at Memorial Stadium.




That’s why the word “special” was uttered 17 different times by eight different players and coaches about this place during these project interviews.

“I’ve always felt that that was what made that stadium down there in Lincoln so special is because of the hearts of Nebraska people,” said Funk’s Kyle Larson. “It goes back to who Nebraskans are: their hearts, and how much they care and their genuineness.”

Caring. Lots and lots of caring.

That’s why this program matters so much to this state. That’s why the emotional stakes are so high.

People care. Deeply. They have for generations.

This place, it’s not just special. It’s entrenched into the fabric of Nebraskans’ identities — almost at a molecular level. Nebraska football is not just a pastime, but rather it’s who they are.

“It means everything,” Sanford said. “When I was talking to somebody in Vegas and I mentioned I played at Nebraska, they were like, ‘Oh I’m sorry. That was a rough four years. Did you ever think about leaving or going somewhere to win?’

“And I told them absolutely not. I wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world. I would never want to put another college uniform on. Having the ‘N’ on the helmet, it was surreal every time I put it on before a game. … There’s nowhere else in the world I could play that would give me that feeling.”

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