He had a free education and a strong chance at soon being his school’s starting quarterback.

But there was also the dream, tough to ignore.

Eventually the dream won out.

It wasn’t an easy decision, Steve Heiman says, but he’s leaving Nebraska-Omaha and a football scholarship to come to Lincoln in the fall.

He’ll be a walk-on quarterback for the Huskers. The experience won’t be free and it’ll surely be hard, but it was a challenge Heiman couldn’t pass.

He’s not the first Nebraska native to recently forgo a scholarship from another school to walk on to the Husker football program.

Quarterback Jim Ebke (Lincoln East) left South Dakota State and receiver Matt Donahue (Fremont) left Ohio University to see what might happen at NU under new coach Bo Pelini.

A graduate of Papillion-La Vista, the 6-foot-3, 215-pound Heiman was among the top prospects in UNO’s 2007 recruiting class.

He redshirted this season, but figured to be a leading contender for UNO’s starting QB position after all-conference signal-caller Zach Miller graduated following the 2008 season.

A standout at Omaha Gross before transferring to Papillion-La Vista, Heiman passed for more than 5,300 yards during high school and rushed for more than 1,000.

Because of the transfer, he’ll be required to sit out the 2008 season.

“A lot went into it. It was a very tough decision, very hard to leave UNO,” Heiman said. “But then it came down to a personal thing. It’s always been a dream of mine to play for Nebraska. I didn’t want to be sitting here 10 years down the road going, ‘What if? What if?’”