Husker fans turn out for Pelini's Football 101
No blinking applause sign was needed. These people did not need extra encouragement to clap, to laugh, to think that better days were around the corner.
And in the process they’d learn a play or two, about the Cover 2 defense, that linebacker LaTravis Washington enjoys a bubble bath the day after a game, that Carl Pelini is full of energy but also parenting guidance: “If he spills his milk and cries, he’s a quarterback. If he spills his milk and throws the bones, he’s a Blackshirt.”
The people laughed. Of course they laughed.
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini’s first Football 101 class was in session on Tuesday, and about 1,000 Big Red fans turned out to the Husker football facilities to see what the new professor had to say.
Along with the football talk was support of a good cause, the $80 fee from each attending person going to cancer research. In total, more than $40,000 was raised.
Bill Callahan first started these Football 101 events in 2004. Available to women, they came on an annual basis and were quite popular, some good money in the fight against cancer raised along the way.
And so Bo Pelini continued the tradition, the slight modification being that men might also attend this year.
The crowd, mostly women, gave standing ovations to every speaker, the loudest cheers expectedly going to athletic director Tom Osborne and Bo Pelini.
Bo Pelini had no guaranteed wins to offer the crowd, but he did have this: “I can guarantee one thing. When we have our football team take the field, you’re going to have a team that plays with tremendous effort and tremendous passion. … I just hope they’re as passionate as you people are.”
There were Husker trivia contests, a lunch in Memorial Stadium, on-field interaction with coaches, a tunnel walk, a question-answer session with some of the players.
Who do the players consider the team’s biggest rival?
Colorado, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma. All got mentioned.
Linebacker Blake Lawrence told the crowd he has switched from No. 12 because people kept confusing him with quarterback Joe Ganz.
Holder Jake Wesch told the crowd he’d maybe like to switch to No. 12 so people would confuse him with Joe Ganz.
“He’s probably the toughest holder in the Big 12, if not the country,” Ganz said of Wesch. “He’s one guy you don’t want to mess with.”
There were plenty of jokes. There was also a video paying tribute to the Blackshirts’ tradition. Defensive coaches watched with interest from the back of the room, highlights of great Husker defenses of the past rolling across the screen.
Trev Alberts narrated the video, which featured interviews with guys like Grant Wistrom and Christian Peter about what being a Blackshirt meant to them.
The crowd roared with delight at the footage of each hit, and afterward Carl Pelini told them that “you can’t be a Blackshirt by default.”
He said even starters wouldn’t automatically be given Blackshirts. They’d have to put in the maximum effort to earn the black practice jerseys so well-known around these parts.
Carl Pelini recalled to fans a story of a recent day when walk-on recruits were visiting the campus. The recruits were shown a video of Husker highlights, many Blackshirt successes playing on the screen. The coach viewed it from the back of the room.
“As I watched it, I got chills,” he said. “And as I watched it, I could just feel the weight on my shoulders.”
The defensive coordinator said when coaches review film, they look at it the second time examining only effort. When coaches see great effort on film, he said they make sure to make a point of it to the kids, telling them, “Here it is. This is how we have to play to win a championship.”
Words in June won’t help the win-loss column, but they’re the kind of words a fan base coming off a 5-7 season full of ugly defensive statistics delights in hearing.
Smartly, Bo Pelini did remind fans that this is a work in progress.
“We’ve made a lot of progress, but let’s face it, we’re nowhere near where we need to be,” he said.
“It’s not about who we’re playing and what our schedule’s going to be. That will all take care of itself. What we’re trying to get our young men to focus on is the process that is going to get us to September.”
The first-year head coach said Osborne reminds him often there will be bumps in the road.
“You have to stay grounded. You have to stay pretty even-keeled in this profession,” Bo Pelini said.
When introducing Osborne, Bo Pelini said the athletic director is what the University of Nebraska is all about.
“I’ve said this before. I thought I was in the best assistant coach’s job in the United States the last couple years,” Bo Pelini said. “I had a great situation. I thought I was in a position where I could wait for the best job available, the best job where my family could grow up and we could move some place and be some place hopefully for a long time.
“You evaluate facilities, you evaluate places, but ultimately when you’ve been in it as long as I have … you find out it’s all about people.
“When Coach Osborne came back to be the athletic director at the University of Nebraska, that made this the best job in the United States.”
The fans thundered their approval. There is not much that didn’t bring applause.
When it was Osborne’s turn, he brought his humor with him, at one point smiling and telling the gathered: “I hope you’re all as enthusiastic in December as you are now.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
And in the process they’d learn a play or two, about the Cover 2 defense, that linebacker LaTravis Washington enjoys a bubble bath the day after a game, that Carl Pelini is full of energy but also parenting guidance: “If he spills his milk and cries, he’s a quarterback. If he spills his milk and throws the bones, he’s a Blackshirt.”
The people laughed. Of course they laughed.
Nebraska coach Bo Pelini’s first Football 101 class was in session on Tuesday, and about 1,000 Big Red fans turned out to the Husker football facilities to see what the new professor had to say.
Along with the football talk was support of a good cause, the $80 fee from each attending person going to cancer research. In total, more than $40,000 was raised.
Bill Callahan first started these Football 101 events in 2004. Available to women, they came on an annual basis and were quite popular, some good money in the fight against cancer raised along the way.
And so Bo Pelini continued the tradition, the slight modification being that men might also attend this year.
The crowd, mostly women, gave standing ovations to every speaker, the loudest cheers expectedly going to athletic director Tom Osborne and Bo Pelini.
Bo Pelini had no guaranteed wins to offer the crowd, but he did have this: “I can guarantee one thing. When we have our football team take the field, you’re going to have a team that plays with tremendous effort and tremendous passion. … I just hope they’re as passionate as you people are.”
There were Husker trivia contests, a lunch in Memorial Stadium, on-field interaction with coaches, a tunnel walk, a question-answer session with some of the players.
Who do the players consider the team’s biggest rival?
Colorado, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma. All got mentioned.
Linebacker Blake Lawrence told the crowd he has switched from No. 12 because people kept confusing him with quarterback Joe Ganz.
Holder Jake Wesch told the crowd he’d maybe like to switch to No. 12 so people would confuse him with Joe Ganz.
“He’s probably the toughest holder in the Big 12, if not the country,” Ganz said of Wesch. “He’s one guy you don’t want to mess with.”
There were plenty of jokes. There was also a video paying tribute to the Blackshirts’ tradition. Defensive coaches watched with interest from the back of the room, highlights of great Husker defenses of the past rolling across the screen.
Trev Alberts narrated the video, which featured interviews with guys like Grant Wistrom and Christian Peter about what being a Blackshirt meant to them.
The crowd roared with delight at the footage of each hit, and afterward Carl Pelini told them that “you can’t be a Blackshirt by default.”
He said even starters wouldn’t automatically be given Blackshirts. They’d have to put in the maximum effort to earn the black practice jerseys so well-known around these parts.
Carl Pelini recalled to fans a story of a recent day when walk-on recruits were visiting the campus. The recruits were shown a video of Husker highlights, many Blackshirt successes playing on the screen. The coach viewed it from the back of the room.
“As I watched it, I got chills,” he said. “And as I watched it, I could just feel the weight on my shoulders.”
The defensive coordinator said when coaches review film, they look at it the second time examining only effort. When coaches see great effort on film, he said they make sure to make a point of it to the kids, telling them, “Here it is. This is how we have to play to win a championship.”
Words in June won’t help the win-loss column, but they’re the kind of words a fan base coming off a 5-7 season full of ugly defensive statistics delights in hearing.
Smartly, Bo Pelini did remind fans that this is a work in progress.
“We’ve made a lot of progress, but let’s face it, we’re nowhere near where we need to be,” he said.
“It’s not about who we’re playing and what our schedule’s going to be. That will all take care of itself. What we’re trying to get our young men to focus on is the process that is going to get us to September.”
The first-year head coach said Osborne reminds him often there will be bumps in the road.
“You have to stay grounded. You have to stay pretty even-keeled in this profession,” Bo Pelini said.
When introducing Osborne, Bo Pelini said the athletic director is what the University of Nebraska is all about.
“I’ve said this before. I thought I was in the best assistant coach’s job in the United States the last couple years,” Bo Pelini said. “I had a great situation. I thought I was in a position where I could wait for the best job available, the best job where my family could grow up and we could move some place and be some place hopefully for a long time.
“You evaluate facilities, you evaluate places, but ultimately when you’ve been in it as long as I have … you find out it’s all about people.
“When Coach Osborne came back to be the athletic director at the University of Nebraska, that made this the best job in the United States.”
The fans thundered their approval. There is not much that didn’t bring applause.
When it was Osborne’s turn, he brought his humor with him, at one point smiling and telling the gathered: “I hope you’re all as enthusiastic in December as you are now.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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