Posted: Saturday, April 22, 2006 7:00 pm
SEWARD — Sam Koch is the calm one of the two.
His wife, Nikki, is the opinionated one.
“I just think John Torp’s overrated,” she says of the Colorado punter. “I mean, he kicks in Colorado. Make him kick in Nebraska, in all that wind.”
The subject is the All-Big 12 football teams released a few months ago. Sam Koch, despite a superlative senior season as the Huskers’ punter, failed to achieve first-team honors. Of course, it’s essentially irrelevant now. Sam and Nikki’s attention has swung toward next weekend’s NFL Draft.
At this point, it should be noted that Nikki is not only opinionated — at least when it comes to her husband — but also fortunate.
She’s fortunate because her doctor lives just down the block. What’s more, Memorial Hospital is a 90-second drive from their driveway. The proximity might come in handy Saturday and next Sunday during the draft, as Nikki anxiously waits to see if Sam is selected.
Really, he could go at any time. And so could she.
Nikki is nearly due to give birth to their third child. It could happen as soon as next weekend. Draft weekend. She tells her doctor she’s trying to remain calm.
“But I get so stressed out,” Nikki says in reference to the draft, not her pregnancy. “I worry more for Sam than he does. It could be an interesting weekend.”
The 6-foot-1, 225-pound Koch sits on a couch in the living room of the couple’s tidy home in this town of 6,700. A mammoth piece of fried chicken awaits him in the kitchen. He folds his imposing forearms. The couch is covered with a blanket made to resemble the American flag.
Next weekend, Koch’s living room will be filled with family and friends, not to mention Koch’s Atlanta-based agent. Everybody will be glued to the TV, watching draft coverage and praying to see Sam’s name appear on the screen. Similar scenes will occur in college players’ living rooms across the country. It’s wonderful Americana.
The sporting world has come to treasure the two-day NFL Draft.
Koch says it seems like only yesterday he was booming punts in the Alamo Bowl. His life is moving so quickly, the way it tends to do when you’re a young parent. His son Braxtyn recently turned 2; Ryan is 7.
Koch worked out for several NFL teams in recent weeks, so many that it’s difficult to remember all of them. Seattle, Philadelphia, Minnesota, Miami, Baltimore. Each flew to nearby Lincoln for the sole purpose of watching Koch punt and bang out a few kickoffs. Green Bay has been in close contact.
“The past two coaches I’ve met with told me I’m the best punter out there,” Koch says.
But he hears a lot of buzz about Ryan Plackemeier of Wake Forest and Steve Weatherford of Illinois, among others. Some NFL coaches tell Koch that his overall athleticism may give him an edge.
“You have a strong leg,” Nikki assures him. “And you’re very athletic.”
However, few punters get drafted. That’s a cold fact. According to NFL.com, a total of 19 punters have been selected during the past 10 years. Only one punter was drafted in three of those years, and no punters were selected in 1998.
No matter, the Koch family remains upbeat. Sam and Ryan have just returned from Ryan’s soccer game. Sam’s the coach. He also works a construction job. And lifts weights. And auditions for all of those NFL teams. Lucky for him, he requires little sleep. When everyone else in the house fades to sleep, he often stays up and plays video games in the basement into the early morning.
That’s when he sometimes thinks about the NFL, he says.
“I’m not going to believe it until it happens,” Nikki says. “I met Sam when he wasn’t even starting for Nebraska. To think now that he has this huge chance to go somewhere. … It’s just amazing.”
Nikki is 27, Sam 23. They met in Seward and have lived nowhere else. Nikki’s dad and Sam’s mom have worked for several years at a manufacturing facility in town.
Townsfolk adore the young Koch clan, says Scott Downing, the former Nebraska special-teams coach who lived in Seward before taking over in January as head coach at Northern Colorado.
“You know, Sam could come back to Seward at any time and be the mayor,” Downing says.
Sam’s not interested in politics. Especially not now. He hungers to boom punts in the NFL. If he isn’t drafted, he’ll probably be invited to a camp as a free agent. No question, Downing says, Koch possesses the talent to play in the NFL.
“It’s my job to go out and prove myself, which I know I can,” Koch says.
You see, he’s never been the nervous type.
“In his first game starting for Nebraska, I was more nervous for him than he was,” Nikki says. “That’s his personality. That’s who he is.”
Nikki currently is unemployed because of her pregnancy. Sam works construction off and on because of his NFL workouts. He has to stay fit. He has to be available for coaches who come to Lincoln.
Koch shingled a roof Friday in Seward after a morning workout in Lincoln.
“It’s tedious, long and boring work,” he says of shingling duty.
If he’s not shingling, he might be laying grout or pouring concrete.
Koch’s college life was markedly different than that of most players.
“Sam was driving back to Seward to lay concrete when most of our other players were going back to their apartments to sleep,” Downing says.
Construction work is OK, but NFL work probably pays a little better.
“We’re just ready to find out where we’re going,” Koch says. “The anticipation is tough right now.”
Actually, waiting is difficult for a couple of reasons. For sure, it could be an eventful weekend at the Koch house.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.