1995 look back: Makovicka's decision to play fullback paid off
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BY KEN HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star
There was a meeting in the Nebraska football conference room in the spring of 1993. “Coach Osborne wanted to know if any of us — Lawrence Phillips, Damon Benning, Clinton Childs, me and a few other guys — would like to play fullback,” Jeff Makovicka said.
“I could see the writing on the wall. We had all these great I-backs and Cory Schlesinger was about it at fullback. So I waved my hand.”
The choice put Makovicka into the starting lineup for the entire 1995 national championship season. It also gave him a key role in backing up Schlesinger and the I-backs in the 1994 national championship season.
Now a commercial litigation attorney with Woods & Aitken, Makovicka was the perfect replacement for Schlesinger.
Schlesinger, who played high school football at Columbus, was from the tiny town of Duncan. He set the standard for Husker fullbacks as a hard-hitting, hard-running fullback.
Makovicka was a walk-on from a farm near Ulysses by way of East Butler High School. He hit as hard and ran as fast and kept the tradition going at the Husker fullback position .
Later, his younger brother, Joel, started at fullback for the Huskers in the 1997 national championship season.
“We probably decided to try and win the 1995 national title on the plane flight back to Lincoln from Miami and the Orange Bowl win,” said Makovicka. “There was a lot of talk among the seniors on that flight that we shouldn’t celebrate the 1994 title too much. We wanted to go out winners as seniors in 1995 and we were going to work even harder than we did in 1994.”
Nebraska marched through the season, and to this day that 1995 team is considered one of the best in college football history.
“It’s been said a lot, but it’s true that we won those games in practice,” Makovicka said. “Practices were exciting. They were incredibly tough, but we finished every day knowing we gave our best and it would make Saturday’s go our way.”
One of the highlights for Makovicka was in the final Big Eight game. Nebraska was pouncing on Oklahoma (37-0) and Makovicka turned his ankle in the second quarter.
“I had to come out and in the fourth quarter, Joel went in, took off on a 39-yard touchdown run,” Jeff Makovicka said. “It was a good sign because we all know Joel was good, but we could all see that he was faster than me and fullback was gong to be in good hands in the future.”
His younger brothers, Justin, and Jordan, played for East Butler this last season.
“I begged to come to Nebraska and had such a great time once I got here,” he said. “I was mixed in with a great offense. We had Tommie Frazier and Brook Berringer to steer the team.
“We had an incredible defense and we had this attitude that anybody would do anything for the coaches,” he said.
“To have the talent and the attitude come together as a team, like that team did, was pretty amazing,” he said.
Jeff Makovicka was signed by Houston out of school. After a short pro career, he worked for Pinnacle Bank. Along the way, he married Tracey, and they had Jaclyn, 4; Camryn, 3; and Ava, 9 months.
Makovicka decided to attend law school in Los Angeles and eventually worked for a federal judge before joining the Woods & Aitken firm.
Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.
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