[Husker] Walk-ons

[Mike Jaixen]

Yesterday's Omaha World-Herald included their annual season preview section, with several features on walk-ons, include the Makovicka family.  We all remember Jeff and Joel (who went on to play five years in the NFL), but younger brothers Justin (sophomore) and Jordan (incoming freshman) are continuing the family tradition of walking on at Nebraska.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=3918&u_sid=10414385

Some might dismiss this as the exception to the rule, and certainly all programs have walk-ons to some extent.  What made Nebraska's walk-on program different was the size of it.  In recent years, walk-ons were capped to limit the roster size at around 120.  Many reasons for that:  costs and managing the roster size.  But that came at a price:  there were only so many players available and so you did things different.  For example, many players used a year of eligibility on special teams.  Lance Brandenburgh would be a senior linebacker this season if he hadn't spent the 2004 season on kickoff coverage.

But the big deal with the walk-ons is that the size of the roster allowed the team to have multiple practice stations running simultaneously.  So, in effect, you had at times two parallel practices going on.  In order to do that, you've got to have the numbers to do that.  And you've got have a coaching staff that's willing to break up and operate in that manner.  The advantage is that twice the practicing is going on...more reps means more work for each player.  It helps younger players develop since you aren't taking away reps from the starters.

It's one of the things that was lost, and it's been noted how Nebraska hasn't been as physical over the last few years as they had been previously.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=3918&u_sid=10415283

Mike Jaixen
Blog: http://huskermike.blogspot.com & http://www.cornnation.com