Book excerpts -- good stuff!

[JHudson]

If you don't frequent the front page, you might have missed the kickoff of Paul Koch's interview series on the 1990s Huskers.

The first interview is with David Seizys. He was the holder on Byron Bennett's wide-left kick that would've beaten FSU in the 1994 Orange Bowl. He was also on the kick coverage team and the Unity Council. A surprising number of insights beyond that one high-profile play.

Here's part one of the interview, and here's the archive. Matt Turman is up next.

 

[huskermike]

Thanks for the heads up Joe.

I really got a kick out of this (from the 2nd installment with David Seizys);

Q: Any peculiar practice stories from the 90’s?

DS: When we were getting ready for the ‘94 Orange Bowl they were piping in the tomahawk chop song like Florida State would do, and I’m standing next to Coach Osborne and I say, ‘I bet you have this on CD playing in your house?’ And he said, “Man, I hate this song!” It was such dry humor.

And then one time in practice he pours Gatorade all over Kevin Raemakers. Just those dry moments where you go, ‘This is Coach Osborne doing this?’ It was a full jug of Gatorade. A couple of guys held Raemakers down and Coach Osborne got him, just unloaded on him. You just say to yourself, ‘Did I just see Coach Osborne doing this?’

 

[JHudson]

Also this:

They opened up spring practice one time during the Callahan era, and me and Riley Washington and Abdul Muhammad came back and we’re just yucking it up on the sidelines because those receivers out there, they had no clue on how to block.

It was kind of funny, because we were heckling them a little bit. A lot of those guys were just having a hard time getting off of jams and were trying to block. It was something that just wasn’t instilled during the previous four years, but they were working hard.

 

[JHudson]

The Turmanator! Nebraska turned to third-string walk-on QB Matt Turman as the starter in a key game at Kansas State in '94. https://www.huskermax.com/anatomy-of-an-era-matt-turman-part-1/

 

[Bigger Ed]

What a great story. Turman sounds like a good egg.

 

[RockyMtnHusker]

Both of the interviews were interesting and provided some insight. Matt's comment about the 1 thing he would do over was "tell Brook not to get in that plane" kind of hit me right in the gut.

 

[huskerndenver]

The Turmanator! Nebraska turned to third-string walk-on QB Matt Turman as the starter in a key game at Kansas State in '94. https://www.huskermax.com/anatomy-of-an-era-matt-turman-part-1/
Wow. Great stuff

 

[huskermike]

Both of the interviews were interesting and provided some insight. Matt's comment about the 1 thing he would do over was "tell Brook not to get in that plane" kind of hit me right in the gut.

Me too.

 

[Ronznotes]

Both of the interviews were interesting and provided some insight. Matt's comment about the 1 thing he would do over was "tell Brook not to get in that plane" kind of hit me right in the gut.

Yep, cried when i read that.

I miss the Osborne era. And that includes the era before the championship years. I think Frost can make me feel that way again. I realized a few years ago I was really an Osborne fan as much or more than a nebraska fan. He did it right -- not the easy way, not the egomaniac way, the hard working midwestern way.

 

[FeelLikeAStranger]

Yep, cried when i read that.

I miss the Osborne era. And that includes the era before the championship years. I think Frost can make me feel that way again. I realized a few years ago I was really an Osborne fan as much or more than a nebraska fan. He did it right -- not the easy way, not the egomaniac way, the hard working midwestern way.

Miss that era from the Gill years on, no matter what. The consistency of physicality, execution, effort, and excellence for 25 years was something incredible. Even during the "he can't win the big one" times...NU was always still feared and rarely, rarely lost a game they shouldn't. Osborne was a great servant leader and example for all.

Scott Frost is as close as we could get in the post-Gill window...and is already a better coach than Turner was.

 

[Husker In Oklahoma]

I thoroughly enjoyed both. Good stuff. Thanks for putting it all together.

 

[JHudson]

Wednesday's installment has some good nuggets about how Osborne's system gave more players more reps in practice. (A hint of things to come under Scott Frost?) Turman said it paid off on the field and in the locker room.

So many kids were getting prepared. When you do that you feel like you’re engaged. You don’t have third team kids saying, “This sucks, I’m not even getting to practice.” You feel involved! And it keeps morale up.

 

[Redringo]

Good stuff, thanks for the heads up. I have to start checking the front page more often.

 

[Deleted member 5200]

Latest from Linda Ybarra, who worked in the AD for Boyd:

Like most Husker fans, I shudder somewhat when the name Steve Pederson is mentioned, so we’ll just skim over that unpleasantry and its Cliff Notes-sized lesson in trash-canning almost forty years of excellence in pursuit of God-knows-what. (For the record, I twice requested an interview with Steve Pederson but received no reply.)

 

[AzHusker]

Miss that era from the Gill years on, no matter what. The consistency of physicality, execution, effort, and excellence for 25 years was something incredible. Even during the "he can't win the big one" times...NU was always still feared and rarely, rarely lost a game they shouldn't. Osborne was a great servant leader and example for all.

Scott Frost is as close as we could get in the post-Gill window...and is already a better coach than Turner was.

Definitely - for me - a life lesson on taking something for granted. For those 25 years, the sun came up, the sun went down, and if you played football against Nebraska, you'd better have your mouthpiece in and your cletes laced tight, because here they came...It's just the way things were.

And now we MAY get a second chance while I'm still young enough to appreciate it. And if we do, I will not be taking a single second of it for granted, because now I realize how special those years were.

I know this may only relate tangentially, but I think it's an asset that we have another program on campus kicking butt and taking names, setting the tone of preparation to be in the championship hunt, year in, year out. I hope Coach John Cook hangs in for a few more years until the football team is all the way up to speed. How cool would it be to have two major sports in the top ten in the nation every year? I think it's gonna happen...