Football 202-Part 1

PICTURES COURTESY OF THE OMAHA WORLD-HERALD

This writer found out how little he knew about the new age of football last Friday when he attended Football 202, a new program headed by Bo Pelini, the Nebraska football coach. Jeff Jamrog, the head of football operations, organized the day that allowed Husker fans to see up close a small sampling of what goes on inside of "Nebraska football." 132 attended the event. My guess is that next year there will be double that amount.

My daughters, Sarah, Jessica and Kim, paid and registered me for Football 202 as a birthday/Father's Day present and it was one of the best presents a dad could get. It was also fun to see Kim during the day as she works in the football office.


In addition, this writer sat in front of Tom Shatel from the Omaha World-Herald. See his article about Football 202 :

Tom Shatel

Jeff Jamrog started the day reviewing information regarding Nebraska football. Their budget is close to $34 million. The football programs helps pay for most of the budgets for the rest of Nebraska athletics.

Some of the items budgeted are interesting and mind boggling. Here are a few of the budgeted items:

Guarantees to non-conference teams to play at Nebraska......$2,700,000...
Recruiting expense ......$560,000...
Postage.....$50,000....
Supplements......$112,000....
Autographed footballs....$12,000....
Team travel.....$437,185...
Contest or game expense....$1,350,000.. Out of this officials are $170,000..
Scholarships......$2,000,000....

Nebraska is #1 in the conference in paying out for guarantees for teams to play at Nebraska. The average guarantee is $710,000. Jamrog said this is not a position NU wants to be in.

Recruiting is a top priority for Nebraska. Their priorities in the area of recruiting are:
1. Nebraska (500 mile radius)
2. California
3. Texas (In the 2009 class, six of the nine recruits are from Texas)
4. Florida
5. National Junior Colleges
6. National Position Recruiting

The Huskers grade each player they are looking at. One of the items that is very important is that social skills must be good. If a player doesn't act like a team player or doesn't seem to blend in with the present players on a visit, they are eliminated right away.

Jamrog discussed official visits vs unofficial visits. He noted that on an official visit that "we have 48 hours to impress the recruit".

Jamrog is down to earth and a very funny guy. He was enjoyable.

James Dobson was the next part of the program. He is the new strength coach for Husker football. He says when a recruit is looking to a college team one of the first things they should check out is the strength coach, his assistants, and the weight room facilities. He said a football player will spend more time working out and lifting than he will with everybody else during his college stay.

The new emphasis to the NU football team by the new strength coach is developing burst and speed. They do their workouts based on 40 yard dashes with very short rests and then repeating the short bursts again. They also workout almost year around which they hope will give NU an advantage. Dobson doesn't believe in taking time off because you lose what we have gained in a short period of time.

James Dobson is very likable and as energetic as any person you will ever see. The tour guide mentioned that the players are drenched in sweat now when they leave a workout. Asked if they were not this way the last few years, the tour guide diplomatically said "Next question!"

Part 2 of Football 202 will be completed in the next couple of days.