The Nebraska recruit is preparing to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl with some of the nation's top high school football players.
BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Thursday, January 3, 2008 6:00 pm
He hardly craves attention, but when you’re 290 pounds and live in Nebraska and carry the name Steinkuhler, it just comes.
Strangers blog about him and talk about him. They interrupt his lunch to ask him what he thinks about Bo Pelini.
Yada, yada, yada. Baker Steinkuhler would rather just play football.
“He’s a quiet kid. He really doesn’t prefer the limelight,” says Mark King, who coached Steinkuhler at Lincoln Southwest High School. “A lot of attention drawn to him personally is not the easiest thing for him.
“He’s such a team player, the personal accolades, I don’t want to say they’re not important to him. But it’s not why he plays the game. He plays the game because he loves it.”
He must be loving this week in San Antonio then, spent popping pads with some of the fastest and hardest-hitting teenagers around.
Each practice, he’s been lining up against peers about to spend their fall Saturdays playing at USC, Notre Dame, Florida State — all those schools where football is king.
It’s all buildup to Saturday, when Steinkuhler will become the first Lincoln native to participate in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, an all-star game for those thought to be the best prep talent in the land.
Nationally televised by NBC at noon, it is a game that admittedly might be a bigger deal to Nebraskans were it not for some decommitments.
Quarterback Blaine Gabbert, offensive lineman Bryce Givens, running back Jonas Gray and Elkhorn’s Trevor Robinson are all participants in the game who decommitted from Nebraska in favor of other schools.
But still remaining loyal to the Big Red cause is Steinkuhler, son of a former Husker offensive line great (Dean) and brother of a current Husker nose tackle (Ty).
Many recruits wavered during Nebraska’s long season and coaching shakeup, but Steinkuhler was not one of them.
“I wasn’t worried about anything,” he says. “I was going to go there no matter what happened. I knew we would get a good coach.”
Of course, he’s met Nebraska’s new coach, and likes Pelini. “I like all the new coaches.”
The question with Steinkuhler has never been if he’ll sign with Nebraska. It has been: What side of the ball will he play on at Nebraska? Steinkuhler isn’t sure yet.
Projected as an offensive lineman through most of the recruiting process, he will play on the defensive line Saturday.
Bob Jones, a native of Lexington and head coach of Steinkuhler’s West squad, uses the word “explosive” when talking about him.
“His first step is outstanding,” Jones says. “He can play either side of the ball, no doubt about it.”
Jones coaches at Aldine High School in Texas, and has an offensive lineman named Daniel Campbell playing in Saturday’s game.
Campbell is going to USC. Jones says both Campbell and Steinkuhler are on the same level.
“Wherever I was going, I’d take (Campbell) and Baker with me, not a doubt,” Jones says. “(Baker) didn’t walk in here and look intimated or act intimated, no way. The first day, they just all sized each other up. There are no egos in this group.”
Greg Powers, Midwest recruiting analyst for Scout.com, has watched Steinkuhler practice this week, initially wowed by what he saw out of him at defensive tackle.
“He uses his hands well. He’s a smart player,” Powers says. “You can tell he’s been schooled up in the art of actually knowing the game.”
That people are gushing about Steinkuhler would come as little surprise to King.
He’s seen the domination on plenty of Friday nights. But it’s the determination that has always impressed him most.
“You always know what you’re going to get with Baker,” King says. “He’d literally drop on the football field before he took a play off.”
Briefly
* Dave Kennedy, who left the Nebraska program less than four weeks ago, has been hired to head the Texas A&M strength program.
Kennedy held the same role at Nebraska the past four years for Bill Callahan.
The Omaha native resigned from NU a week after Bo Pelini was hired on Dec. 2.
Kennedy got his start in the field at Nebraska in 1982, serving as a student assistant under Body Epley.
Pelini has said he has someone in mind to replace Kennedy and that the new hire would likely be in place by the time the Husker team has its first meeting this January.
* Justin Jackson, a defensive lineman from Norris High School, will walk on to Nebraska.
Jackson had 84 tackles and 18 tackles for loss this past season in the Class B ranks.
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.