Walk-on program has changed, but is still an important part of the team
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By BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
The home fans yelled at Brett Byford’s fiancee. They called his parents names. “Husker fan” wasn’t one of them.
Grandparents of other Nebraska football players heard words you won’t find in a dictionary. Words that even “South Park” might bleep out.
Thomas Rice shakes his head as he recalls that October scene after Nebraska’s 41-6 loss at Missouri.
“That really … that really hurt me,” Rice said.
A Husker senior, Rice had had enough. So when the team had an air-it-out meeting the next day, Rice stood and spoke.
Yes, the same Rice who, in five years at Nebraska, has never played a single down. Not even on special teams.
Yes, the same Rice who hadn’t even suited up for the Missouri game. He drove himself to Columbia and sat in the stands.
Yes, the same Rice who’s an unheralded walk-on.
“I got up and said, ‘I don’t know if you guys realize this, but there are a million-and-a-half people who care about this program. And they want to see you do well, ” Rice said, describing his heartfelt speech to teammates.
“A lot of people within this state live and die with this program. They’d give so much to be a part of it, and they want so much for us to do well.”
Funny thing. Guys were attentive as the scout team walk-on from Lincoln East spoke. They listened.
“Eye-to-eye contact,” Rice said.
It’s likely the most notable contribution Rice will ever make to Nebraska football. He’s fine with that. Yeah, he could’ve taken that scholarship from South Dakota State. But at least he won’t be 45 and ask himself “What if?” every other day.
“Growing up in Nebraska, it’s a lot of kids’ dreams to come here,” Rice said. “An opportunity to walk on here? I couldn’t turn it down.”
How many times, over the years, have Nebraska fans heard that very thing?
Some even coined the phrase “crawl-on” program, because that’s what some born-and-bred Nebraska high school players would do to become a Husker.
Just ask Andy Sand.
“I’ve always wanted to come here and play football,” said Sand, who walked on from Lincoln Southeast. “I’m from Lincoln. Been around this environment my whole life.”
Rice and Sand will be among those seniors introduced before today’s final game of the season at Memorial Stadium.
They also represent the final link to the “old” walk-on era, when walk-ons dominated the roster. When making the team meant having a strong high school resume and work ethic, a burning desire to wear red, and a zip code that began with “68” or “69.” When rosters grew to more than 170 players and fans beamed with pride.
In 2003, Frank Solich’s final season as coach, some 30 freshmen joined the team as walk-ons. Nine remain today.
“We had a lot of guys who had the dream of playing here, then when this coaching staff came in … we were all scared,” Rice said. “We didn’t know what was going on. We figured we had been here for four or five months, we’re just going to get cut, we’re not going to get a chance.
“That first winter, we were given a chance. Our class really stuck it out. A lot of us wanted to prove people wrong, saying we deserved to be here.”
Still, the reduction of walk-ons when Bill Callahan arrived in 2004 rankled Nebraskans. He’d taken away Nebraska’s identity, its soul. Some said he’d eventually eliminate the program entirely.
The 2003 Alamo Bowl team had 173 players. Callahan began this season with 134 players. There are currently 12 true freshman walk-ons.
“People who say the walk-on program is just dead, I think that’s a misconception,” senior Ben Eisenhart said.
Eisenhart is from Culbertson, a small town in southwest Nebraska, some 250 miles from Lincoln. Today, he’ll play in his 38th straight game. He’ll be a three-year letterwinner.
He’s also one of four seniors who’ve earned scholarships after walking on. In four years, Callahan has rewarded 21 walk-ons with scholarships.
“When you come here, you’re kind of last in line on everything,” Eisenhart said. “But you have a good work ethic, most people are from small towns, and they know how to work, and they love football, and they love Nebraska.”
But are there enough of those players on the team? Were there ever too many?
It’s been an ongoing point of discussion during the Callahan era. It picked up steam when Tom Osborne, the former coach who helped build the walk-on program to storied levels, became interim athletic director on Oct. 16. He spoke then of the importance of the walk-on program, and with Callahan’s future much in doubt, there’s been talk of a new coaching staff returning the walk-on program to previous levels.
“Having walk-ons, having kids with something to prove, who’ve always been told you’re too small, you’re not fast enough, you’re not good enough …,” said Rice, noting he’d like to see more walk-ons. “I think you need a lot of those guys around, because it helps push our team.”
But Rice also understands there can be too many. In 2003, Rice remembers being one of 12 defensive ends … on the scout team.
“You didn’t get any reps in practice,” he said. “You weren’t getting any better.”
And accounting for more than 170 players became an arduous task.
Rice points to the “POWER OF RED” sign that hangs behind the goal post in the north end zone at Memorial Stadium. There used to be a gate there, he said, a gate that was usually open.
“During practice, when receivers would be running routes, a lot of times, balls would go through that gate,” Rice said. “Well, guys would just go in after the ball, then go right to the locker room (where walk-ons then lockered) and not come back.
“I don’t know if coaches didn’t notice it, or just didn’t say anything about it.”
Said Eisenhart, who shared similar stories about disappearing players: “No one knew. It’d be like, ‘I’m out, see ya.’”
Tim Cassidy joined Callahan’s staff in 2004 as director of football operations. A Nebraska native, he understands the storied tradition of the walk-on program.
“This has been the philosophy for many, many years, and it has continued with Coach Callahan, that the real heart and soul of your football team needs to come from Nebraska kids,” Cassidy said. “They’re the ones who live and die for the program.”
That doesn’t mean coaches will take just any Nebraska kid. There’s a difference, Cassidy said, between being on the team and contributing to the team.
“That’s the No. 1 thing for us,” Cassidy said. “We want to make sure that we feel they’re the caliber of players that we think can potentially be Division I scholarships. We’re not looking for guys just to be on the team.”
Soon, the terms “preferred walk-on” and “recruited walk-on” became more prevalent. Walking on at Nebraska, in a sense, meant more.
“Before, if you were in pretty good shape and could take a beating,” Eisenhart said, “it was, ‘Yeah, come on the team.’ But now, you have to be a pretty good player.”
It also meant that some recruited walk-ons were good enough to have scholarship offers from other programs. Players who at one time may have walked-on to Nebraska will look at South Dakota State, which moved to Division I-AA in 2004, or Ohio, a mid-major school with Nebraska coaching connections.
Cassidy, whose son, Austin, is a freshman walk-on, understands the dilemmas when families are faced with the decision of paying for tuition or accepting a paid education.
For some Husker dreamers, the decision is still pretty simple.
The question, though, remains: What’s the future hold for Nebraska walk-ons? What should happen?
“Back in the day, if you would’ve asked me that question, I would’ve said I love the way they take a ton of guys,” Sand said. “It gives people an opportunity. But now that I’ve seen the change, and how it got cut down a little bit, I like that. Everybody’s a lot closer and you know people a lot better. It’s more of an honor to come here.
“It’s kind of contradictory for me to say that, because I was one of those guys back in the day when there were lots of people coming in.”
Sand, though, made the most of his opportunity — one main reason he’s still around. Rice, too, understands the walk-on drill: Work hard. Bust your butt. Don’t ask for anything in return.
And if you never play, find other ways to contribute. Say, by giving a speech.
“If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” Rice said of his decision to walk on. “I fulfilled a dream. I had to chase that dream.
“I love football. I absolutely love football, and I love Nebraska football. And I’ll do anything to help this team.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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