Nate Cech has the right recipe for success in the classroom and on the field of play.

It just took a little longer for him to perfect the formula when it came to football.

“When I was a freshman and sophomore, I was a lineman and didn’t get to play very much,” said Cech, who was listed at 5-foot-11 and 177 pounds in the Lincoln Southeast program last fall. “I skipped football my junior year, but when I came back, I worked out at wide receiver and got a lot more playing time that way.”

In fact, Cech rarely left the field, according to coach John Larson.

“Nate was a very pleasant surprise this year. He didn’t play as a junior and he was kind of late coming out,” Larson said. “Once we got him out here, he quickly won spots to play. He played wide receiver, in the secondary and he was our main kickoff guy.

“He didn’t say ‘boo’ in practice. He just absorbs what he’s supposed to learn and then he goes and applies it.”

He certainly did that in the classroom. Cech has a 4.3 grade point average that is weighted because of advanced placement classes. He is ranked 19th in his senior class of 399 and earned a Regents Scholarship to Nebraska.

“I’ll probably study something with math and computers. I’m on the computer a lot,” he said.

Getting good grades was a matter of refining his methods.

“My freshman year, it was tough getting used to it. But after doing it year after year, you develop habits for getting your homework done and preparing for tests,” he said. “I try to get my homework done before practice or right after. This semester, I have time before practice to get it done so I don’t have to do it later.

“My parents make sure we get our homework done. It’s just natural for me. But my parents wouldn’t let me slack off.”

His class load this semester includes advanced placement differentiated calculus, college accounting, Spanish, economics and Holocaust literature.

“I wouldn’t say I like math, but it is the easiest for me,” he said. “The one I like is Holocaust literature. We study the Holocaust and current issues like Darfur and Rwanda that are similar. It’s interesting.”

Cech is the leadoff batter for the Knights’ baseball team and plays center field and he also started for the basketball team.

He said baseball is probably his best sport, although he admits that he’ll probably miss basketball the most.

“I played for the Rebels (baseball program) since I was 11. Last year, I focused on basketball, but baseball is still probably my best,” he said. “I’ve been in sports my whole life. I hadn’t really done much in football, so I thought I’d give it a try when I got to high school. I had fun doing it.”

“I’ll probably miss sports a lot in college. But I’ll play in intramurals.”