Thomas Rice, a walk-on defender from East, was the only NU senior introduced before Saturday's game who had never played a down.
Posted: Friday, November 9, 2007 6:00 pm
I’m not sure the kids who were seeking Thomas Rice’s autograph outside the Nebraska locker room after Saturday’s game knew the whole story.
I’m sure they didn’t care.
Rice certainly didn’t.
“You can measure 40(-yard dash) times,” Donnlyn Rice said as she watched the scene, “but you can’t measure heart.”
Donnlyn is Thomas’ mother. His father, Pat, was teary-eyed as he shook hands of well-wishers.
These feel-good moments have been few and far between during this trying season of Nebraska football.
Rice, a walk-on defensive end from Lincoln East, was the only Nebraska senior introduced before Saturday’s game against K-State who had never played a down. Ever. Not even on special teams.
He’d hoped, on Senior Day, that coaches would find a way to get him in the game. Maybe in the fourth quarter. Maybe in a blowout. Mop-up duty. Anything.
How about the first quarter of a 14-10 game?
“I didn’t really expect it,” Rice said. “They always tell you, ‘Be ready to go, be ready to go.’ The last five years, I’ve always tried to been ready to go.
“When you don’t get in, it’s kind of disheartening.”
So you can understand the elation, then, when Rice, on a second-and-10 play from the K-State 26-yard line, tackled tight end Jeron Mastrud for a 1-yard gain.
“It reminded me a lot of ‘Rudy’ or something like that,” teammate Zach Potter said. “But it happened a lot earlier in the game.
“Seeing a guy like that come out there and play like that, it means a ton to me.”
It meant 10 tons to Rice.
“I had a lot of guys who came up to me and say, ‘Hey, you really sparked us, you really got us going,’” Rice said. “That meant a lot to me, that I was able to spark a few guys to do a little more.
“It’s kind of a blur. After I got that tackle, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was just kind of jumping around, having a good time. It was a great feeling to be able to get out there and contribute on a Saturday.”
Rice told his walk-on story in a story in Saturday’s Journal Star. What didn’t get mentioned in that story is how Rice, badly wanting to contribute to Nebraska in some way, offered to fill in last season on the wrestling team, when the Huskers were hit by injury.
Rice, four days after the Cotton Bowl, was in the heavyweight lineup. He finished the season 2-7.
Until Saturday, his biggest contribution to the football team was a heartfelt speech he delivered in a long team meeting the day after a 41-6 loss to Missouri. That was the beginning of Nebraska’s five-game losing streak.
Fitting, then, that Rice was a factor in the game that ended it.
Going deep
* Former Kansas State coach Bill Snyder was roaming the press box at halftime. Perhaps looking for a headset?
* This is the same Kansas State team that won at Texas? What happened?
* I know basketball season is here, but can we save these basketball-type scores for the Devaney Sports Center, please?
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.