Husker seniors learn from leadership seminars
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By STEVEN M. SIPPLE / Lincoln Journal Star
Most every day after practice this spring, Nebraska linebacker Bo Ruud pounds a blocking sled for 10 to 15 minutes.
Wham! He slams the padded “dummy” on the sled in an almost violent manner. He takes a couple steps back and prepares to unleash his next powerful surge. Bam! He has a few more bursts left to go.
Meanwhile, Ruud’s teammates filter toward the locker room, a few glancing toward the sweaty senior.
Ruud’s extra work after practices isn’t an attempt to impress teammates; he does it to improve his pass rush. Make no mistake, however, such examples of hard work and dedication — especially by veteran players — go a long way toward establishing which players are most likely to lead a team.
In fact, a player leading by example often makes a bigger impact than any rah-rah speech he could give, said Tim McFadden, an administrative assistant on the Nebraska football staff, who this past winter conducted the Husker Senior Leader Seminar Series. The six-session program was designed to help players develop as leaders and understand the dynamics of good leadership.
Nebraska coach Bill Callahan considers the series to be a valuable life skill that players can use not only for football, but also in their lives after football. With 31 seniors on the current roster — by far the most in Callahan’s four years at NU — veteran leadership could be crucial for the Huskers in 2007.
McFadden, a former combat flight navigator and instructor in the Air Force who has a master’s degree in education leadership from Marquette, also guided Nebraska’s 19-member senior class of 2006 through the seminar. The one-hour sessions weren’t mandatory but were well attended, McFadden said.
“What we’ve tried to do is encourage players to start speaking the language of leadership,” he said. “What constitutes leadership? What gives you the authority to lead? We want players to analyze the kind of leader they are now, how they see themselves as a leader, how their peers see them as a leader, and really make a decision and say, ‘OK, this is the kind of leader I feel I should be.’”
McFadden showed players video clips of leaders such as Sir William Wallace, a legendary knight and Scottish patriot whom actor Mel Gibson brought to life in the 1995 movie “Braveheart.”
“The players look at William Wallace and say, ‘OK, now that’s a leader,’” McFadden said. “He was the best fighter and made great speeches. But when you get into the psychology of it, our guys said the leadership authority they recognized most was (by) example.”
McFadden pointed to Nebraska’s national championship teams as examples of strong leadership.
“The seniors as a group led the team, not necessarily the individuals within the group,” he said. “As a group this year, we have a great advantage with these seniors, who just by sheer numbers create a leadership core within the team.”
Nebraska’s 31-member senior class in 2007 represents 25 percent of the roster compared with 18 percent last season. The Huskers’ current senior class is the team’s largest since having 33 seniors in 2003.
“We consistently say it: If you guys (seniors) communicate with each other and you stay together as a group, you’ll be able to mold this team however you want, just by numbers, just by the bully factor,” McFadden said.
“What we’re trying to do as a staff is really empower these guys to make the team their own. Because that’s where the highest performance will come from, is if these kids feel invested and feel it’s their team.”
Nebraska senior tight end J.B. Phillips said the seminars “really unified our senior group. To get all (31) people on the same page, it’s huge. If you can get all of the seniors as one voice, moving together, that’s big.”
Peer feedback was a significant part of McFadden’s seminar. He randomly assigned certain players to provide feedback to certain other players about specific qualities that give them the authority to lead. Leadership authority might come from such areas as a player’s expertise, his moral standards and/or by virtue of his position (for example, quarterback is a natural leadership position).
Such feedback is important because many players undersell themselves as leaders, McFadden said.
The media and public typically identify high-profile players as team leaders — players such as Ruud and fellow senior linebacker Corey McKeon, perhaps the team’s most vocal player.
However, valuable leadership can come from lesser-known players such as Andy Poulosky, a walk-on from Ponca who is in the mix for playing time at defensive end.
“It doesn’t matter how deep you are on the depth chart or how much you can play, you can be a leader,” Poulosky said. “We lost four guys up front from last year, and somebody had to take the reins, so I’m really trying to do that.”
Nebraska senior free safety Tierre Green considers himself a leader. However, he said he learned in the seminar that it’s OK to be a follower.
“Some guys are going to need to be led,” Green said. “Some guys are born to lead. Some guys develop that skill to lead. That’s the way you develop good team chemistry — everybody has to understand their role. You can’t have 100 leaders and no followers.”
Husker junior place-kicker Jake Wesch said some of the best leaders “are the non-verbal kind.”
“They’re guys who just go out and work as hard as they possibly can every day,” Wesch said. “Guys definitely take note of that. They’re like, ‘I want to work hard like that guy.’
“I think Bo Ruud is one of those guys,” said Wesch, unsolicited. “He’s really pushed himself hard this off-season in the weight room. He’s not super vocal. He’ll get after people if he needs to. But he really is one that relies on his performance (to lead) more than anyone else.”
McFadden’s leadership program might well have a lasting impact on the program, because strong leadership tends to beget strong leadership.
“Leadership isn’t just you being a leader,” he said. “It’s identifying and empowering other leaders, which has become almost a byproduct of this program. This senior group has identified the younger guys that really show some leadership skill and potential, whether they know it or not.”
An example is sophomore Ndamukong Suh, a 6-4, 305-pound defensive tackle.
“No one’s going to tell Ndamukong Suh what to do,” McFadden said. “I mean, there’s nobody who can physically bully him. But what they can do is enlist him and empower him. Now, he’s a leader among his peers. You foster that leadership down through the ranks of the team.”
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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