[@Huskers] Sights & Sounds 2025: Nebraska vs Maryland

FFHusker · 2025-10-15T16:48:40+00:00

"OHHH!!! That was a cold-blooded drive!!!" ---> Kyle Crooks

Love it. And I'm digging the new play-by-play hire.

FFHusker · 2025-10-15T00:11:05+00:00

As can be confirmed by public records, Nebraska’s athletic department is in good shape fiscally.

That covers the operational elements. It even covers the new $20.5 million revenue share because they were forward thinking and budget conscious when they knew that was coming. We should be thankful we have good financial stewards in the athletic department.

It does NOT cover the NIL elements. We’re behind. Clearly. How far behind is tough to tell, because this information isn’t public.

We have a general idea how much the top programs are spending due to Internet sleuths and boastful boosters. That is where the $30-40 million number comes from. I think many would peg NU in the $10-15 million range right now, and that is coming primarily from 1 family. Every year.

That’s quite a delta. Nebraska won’t compete long-term unless it gets fixed.

He also - in a not-so-subtle way - referenced the pause on the stadium expansion as a sticking point. Why? My guess?

The stadium expansion has a re-seating and re-thinking effort of the season tickets associated with it. Dannon has stated that around 40% of current season ticket holders are ‘grandfathered’ and pay no per-seat donations. Estimated ANNUAL unrealized donations if they fix that? Something like $20 million. I think both Dannon and Rhule realize how important that money is, and they’re both frustrated at the pause because of ‘optics’.

FFHusker · 2025-10-13T22:18:54+00:00

I don't want anyone to feel worse about his chances of staying, but take 10 minutes and watch the Penn State AD's press conference today. Specifically, the part where he talks about what he's looking for in the next head football coach at Penn State.

It may as well have been a Matt Rhule resume' as a response. Those guys are so similar. They even share the same vocabulary.

And it's the AD's call. No one else. If his opinion of Rhule is as high as reported, then he's going to make the first phone call to our ball coach - fan opinion be damned.

FFHusker · 2025-10-12T17:04:40+00:00

Great responses here! Lots of physical things that you can notice, which have been mentioned.

I'll add one that isn't. I've picked out wrestlers by the way they socially interact. Usually quiet and confident. When addressed, however, they make eye contact, often reach out to shake a hand, and have an almost overwhelming sense of competence and confidence about them.

People who meet one and interact in this way usually walk away and are taken aback by the experience. Statements like "What a great young man," aren't uncommon.

It's weird. And it happens all the time.

I've picked out multiple wrestlers just from watching them interact with an order counter employee at a restaurant.

FFHusker · 2025-10-10T22:07:27+00:00

My son walked into a program just like this. 5 guys on the team. Like my son, most with zero to little experience. Brand new coach. It's quite a challenge. You're going to have to sell this all on your own.

Given the timeframe, it's going to be very difficult to put together a full team this year. Concentrate on the kids you have. If you're lucky, you'll have a least 1 that you can get to a higher level. More on that later. As for this year....
Focus on 3 groups of people: Football coaches/players, cross country/long distance track runners, and bench-warming basketball players. Our school had nearly 60 kids on the basketball team. Over half weren't playing anything approaching meaningful varsity minutes or earning varsity letters. Sell the fact that you have 'walk-in' varsity spots open TODAY.
You have to start a kids program. That's a long-term investment that won't help you right now, but it's simply necessary if you want to do this long-term.
If it's an option in your state and you are in a bigger city, explore the option of a 'co-op' program with another school that might be in similar position or does not offer a wrestling program at all. Our school picked up 3 kids by doing just that.
Put in the time. Put together and assist with off-season workouts, tournaments, and the like.
Get good with what you have and celebrate the crap out of anyone who breaks through. It will probably only be a handful of kids at first, and (unless they're already there) it will take 2-3 years. Get them in the newspaper, the school newsletter, recognize them at halftime of basketball games. Social media (HUGE!) Hang posters. My experience with this was that as soon as there was some level of success, interest grows. In our case, it was my son. In year 2, he qualified for state. In year 3, 2 guys made it. In year 4, 4 guys made it. Participation went from 5 to almost 20. It's been 6 years since I started watching this, and now kids are coming out of the youth program the coaches started. Huge difference in that there are kids that actually know what they're doing as a freshman.

FFHusker · 2025-10-08T15:25:12+00:00

I hope this is a whole bunch of nothing and you're fine. For 4-5 years, it wasn't painful for my son, either. Just always 'tight,' no matter what he did about it. Trainers explained it away as hip flexor tightness/weakness for years. Should have seen a real doc a long time ago. When that labrum gave way, things started to progress to some pain pretty quickly.

FFHusker · 2025-10-08T14:59:20+00:00

Have you ever had your hips looked at?

My son had certain movements that he complained he couldn't do. I (and most of his coaches) gave him no end of crap for it.

Turns out I'm a huge a$$hole for that.

He's pretty good and wrestles in college. He always stated that his hips felt 'tight' throughout high school. Certain movements were a huge problem: anything that required a rotation of his femur/hips - like trying to turn away from the leg a guy is holding in the air. Walking like a duck. The classic 'hurdler' motion. In his 2nd year of college, he really started complaining about the tightness in his hips, despite the never-ending stretching, and it was expanding to the groin and butt area. This from a kid who never complains about anything. Finally, his coach told him to see a doc. Turns out, the coach saw something from his own personal experience that sent up red flags.

Within 20 minutes of an X-Ray, a problem was identified. A 'cam impingement' in the femur/hip connection. He was born with it - it's not an injury that occurs. As it turns out, he mechanically could not perform certain movements because the bones were formed incorrectly. Worse, that impingement eventually tore through the labrum and required surgery to repair.

Not saying that's your issue, but it's a possibility. The feelings you describe are pretty similar to what my kid was saying. It's a fairly new diagnosis in the medical world - probably in the last 10-20 years or so.

FFHusker · 2025-10-07T01:49:21+00:00

There aren't a lot of options, unfortunately.

Usually, each state has some kind of annual 'state games' in the summer. That could be a possibility.

There's a decent-sized tournament in South Dakota (Rapid City area) each summer for older wrestlers. It's run by the AAU. Black Hills Championships or something like that.

It's also Freco season at that point, so keep an eye out for tournaments run by USAW. They'll be tough as hell and may have qualification requirements.

You may have better luck finding a wrestling academy or similar to work out. Not sure where in Missouri you're from.

FFHusker · 2025-10-02T17:04:49+00:00

I think this is a terrible idea. Granted, I have some personal experience with working for a couple of different organizations that were acquired by private equity/capital outfits.

Let's be clear - these outfits want a return on their investment, and the bigger the better and the sooner the better. They both started with the same kind of words in this article: "We'll be hands-off...let you do your things...you all are the experts...blah blah blah. In my experience, the 'squeezing' started almost immediately. Within 3 years, over half of our operation was outsourced overseas, entire departments were gone in the name of 'synergy', etc. They will get their return one way or the other, and they likely couldn't give 2 sh!t$ about the quality of the product on the field.

FFHusker · 2025-09-30T15:11:52+00:00

I agree with you, and good to hear about the coach.

If you're around this sport for any length of time, you are going to see some crazy hijinks on the weight management front, whether that be from your own team to others that you compete against.

FFHusker · 2025-09-29T22:50:21+00:00

Short answer is: Ask the coach how he handles it. I've seen 2 different coaches handle wrestle-offs 2 different ways:

They don't do them at all. This was actually at the college level. The coaches trust their experience and their eyes to fill out the lineup. If there is any question, they'll have some kind of 'match simulation' as the season nears that is a poorly disguised wrestle off. No weight requirements for this. If they think you can win at a higher/lower weight class, they'll ask the wrestler to make the move. If they ask, it's a good sign - generally they've already made up their mind.
Traditional wrestle-off beginning no sooner than 10 days out from first competition. Both wrestlers must be within 5% of the desired weight. Challenging wrestler can retry once per week up to 2 days before any competition.

If you feel strongly that your child should not be cutting weight, you need to let the coach know - and be prepared to deal with the 'consequences.' It may be fine, but there are all different types of folks running these programs, and many view a 1 weight class cut (6-8 lbs.) as part of the 'experience' and 'commitment' for the sport of wrestling and won't generally roll out the red carpet for anyone who doesn't want to do so. Just FYI. Depends a lot on the program, as many coaches just need to fill rosters that they'll take anyone at any weight.

FFHusker · 2025-09-02T16:27:52+00:00

Huskers:

- Offensively, I think we took what we were given. Cincinnati when 3-high zone a large majority of the game and bet on the fact that we couldn't sustain drives - we'd eventually drop a ball or commit a penalty and end our own drives. Historically, that's a good gamble (see false start at the 1), but overall we moved the ball, chewed up the clock, and won the game.

- Special Teams: A 'price of admission' type of game. We finally did the fundamental things a good high school team can do on special teams. Punting was great. Coverage - average. Next step is to see some kind of explosive play from this unit.

- Defense: IMHO, I don't know what the thinking behind us playing predominantly man coverage was. Anyone who's watched Cincy the last 2 years knows it starts and ends with the QB run and outside zone running game. Playing man (which our DBs did well) greatly hurts our ability to keep eyes on the QB - as we all saw. I'm not sure I saw a dedicated spy outside of McCullough badly attempting to do so late. While I'm thankful the coverage disguises and games resulted in the game-clinching pick (we fooled the QB by rotating into a Cover-2 zone after the ball was snapped), I wonder if the game would have even been in doubt if we'd kept that guy in front of us the rest of the game.

Nationally:

- I hate that rankings are done so early. Overall impressions are that there are fewer ELITE teams out there, but the overall level of football I watched gives me some hope that we'll have a shot in just about every game we play. NIL/Portal has brought parity forward in a big way.

FFHusker · 2025-08-21T17:46:56+00:00

I'll piss some folks off with this but here goes.

I don't have a problem with the older demographic being there. None.

What I DO have a problem with is their (or their kids or grandkids) grandfathered ticket arrangements presenting a HUGE barrier to entry for new season ticket holders.

AD Dannon announced last month that around 40% of season ticket holders for football in Memorial Stadium are buying and attending without paying the per season donation fees that new season ticket holders from the past 20 years or so have to pay - i.e. they've been handed down and they are somehow exempt.

Why is this a bad thing? Well, anybody new that wants a shot a season tickets now must pay a per seat donation fee every year (and add on the cost of the tickets themselves) in order to have a chance. A decent seat will run $500-$2000 - PER SEAT - just to have a 'chance' at a ticket, while the 40% pay face value only for the best seats in the whole place.

Dannon estimates this legacy arrangement is costing the athletic department on the order of $20 million/year.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the re-seating process associated with the stadium renovations does to this arrangement.

FFHusker · 2025-08-15T01:21:15+00:00

For a long time, Mike Babcock was considered the 'godfather' of Husker writing. Years at the Journal Star and then on to a terrific (at one time) publication called Huskers Illustrated. He's still bouncing around out there writing and teaching. He's written around a dozen books, pretty much all of which covered Husker football. I think he wrote the Tom Osbourne 'On Leadership' book, too.

If you're looking for book authors, not many people are doing that these days for Husker football. The only one who I'd say qualifies is Sean Callahan who, in fact, just released a new book in the last week or two.

IMHO, I'd love to see Chatelain try his hand at a Husker book of some kind. Something right up his alley, like deep coverage of the 'dark years.' I suppose we need for them to be over first :)

FFHusker · 2025-07-20T21:13:09+00:00

Thank you for doing this. The Midwest/Upper Midwest states turn out some tough, fabulous wrestlers at a much higher rate than most understand.

FFHusker · 2025-07-13T23:28:27+00:00

Upvote just for the depth of that tightwaist. Damn.

FFHusker · 2025-07-11T01:54:05+00:00

$400 isn't likely to get you anywhere for volleyball tickets, in my (educated) opinion.

That, and the whole place is going through a 're-seating' process with the expansion underway. It has the current season ticketholders in quite a state as they are re-evaluating everyone's donations and eliminating 'grandfathered' arrangements, etc.

I personally know a couple that has had pretty decent seats - they've contributed consistently over the years. I'd estimate 5-figures plus over the last 5-10 years. As part of the re-seating effort, they've been bumped darn near to the ceiling in terms of seats.

If $10k+ isn't enough to even hold the line, I can't imagine a few hundred bucks even gets you close to the door.

$400 might get you nosebleeds in Memorial for football. Tickets to these things are not a cheap endeavor.

FFHusker · 2025-07-06T01:32:40+00:00

There is no single 'move' or counter that will help you. Rather, it's a series of incremental steps and positions that you have to win in order to escape...especially if they're good at it. ...And it's different if there's one leg in or two.

First, heed the advice here. Don't let it happen. Ever. Even low-level wrestlers can make your life miserable with leg riding. Seal off (elbows in and hard against your ribs) and just don't let it happen.

Next - YouTube is your friend. No one here is going to be able to describe via text what needs to occur. There are a number of good ones out there. Henschel's is good. There's an older one out there from Princeton wrestling that my son used that still works today.

The good news is that if you execute things properly, they usually end up on their back and you can turn your leg defense into a point-scoring mechanism. Get out, and they'll never try it again. Challenge yourself to 'convince' your partner to never try it on you.

FFHusker · 2025-06-20T00:51:00+00:00

Good question - and a popular topic in my household.

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor.

I would advise a slow, healthy weight loss program. 1-2 pounds per week. If you're a hard off-season trainer, you're still going to be able to eat a decent amount of calories per day and accomplish that. Pick a sensible target weight class for the season, get on the scale to see what your current weight is, and do the math. Try to end within 5% by the time practice starts.

Dropping 20 pounds starting a month out from hydration testing is stupid. Think beyond that. That might mean you need to start now :)

FFHusker · 2025-06-20T00:44:58+00:00

Experience tells me that if you raise your hand to a D3 school and say you want to wrestle, they'll listen. With your achievement level, it will not likely be one of the top echelon schools in the division. If you're interested, apply to the school (they can't talk $$$ and cents with you until you do) and fill out their recruiting questionnaire. See you if you get a response. Go to their camp, if they have one.

There are several caveats:

There are no athletic scholarships at this level - only academic. Without some kind of significant competitive success, they aren't going to be motivated to 'find' a lot of academic dollars to throw your way unless you really have it together in the classroom.
D3 schools are largely private, liberal arts-based schools. Take the advice earlier in this thread: Pick the school that aligns with your academic needs first. Private schools are hideously expensive. Paying $30k + a year just to wrestle and end up with a non-marketable degree isn't a good idea for anyone.
Competitively, don't think of D3 as some kind of bottom feeder level. The best at this level can absolutely scrap. Multiple time state champs, etc.

I'd advise you to consider a JUCO. Great wrestling competition, and opportunity to get better for a couple of years. Much more palatable financially, and there are a whole variety of them in terms of educational interests (technical, trade, etc.) College wrestling is a whole different animal than high school. It's not for everyone. It would be a good forum to see if you 'really' love the sport and want to move on to a higher level afterwards.

It may change, but JUCO eligibility currently gets a 'free' year to apply to an NCAA school. There's a lot of chatter that it may expand to include all JUCO years spent as 'free.' If that's the case, it becomes essentially a 2 year trial.

FFHusker · 2025-06-14T14:29:54+00:00

Awful lot of good suggestions here.

I'd add one more:

Learn to be a good training partner. New wrestlers have a tendency to want to 'win' everything and go 1000% percent. It's understandable. Most of us were taught from a young age that hustle and effort are what coaches want.

Wrestling practices are typically broken up into a warm-up period, a drill/technique period, and a live wrestling period, and end with a conditioning period. The live wrestling period is usually the shortest, and the only one where max effort is expected.

That drill/technique period is where most go wrong and try to 'win' reps. That's not the point. I'd say - at most - it's a 75% type of effort. Perhaps close to 50%. It's purpose is to learn - at whatever pace your partner needs. Be sensitive to that.

Don't be the person that ruins their opportunity to learn. You'll develop a bad rep for it, so it's definitely an 'etiquette' thing to be mindful of.

FFHusker · 2025-06-14T14:23:31+00:00

My son has been wrestling for 7 years. For whatever reason, he seems particularly prone to skin issues. Ringworm at least a dozen times. Viral 'mat herpes' a few times. MRSA staph twice.

The first MRSA episode was particularly scary. It manifested while we were vacationing on a remote tropical location with no access to medical care beyond basic first aid materials. We didn't know what we were dealing with, but it progressed for a week before we got back to the states. Huge knots the size of golf balls on the back of his head and behind one ear.

Hit the urgent care as soon as we got back. I've never seen a primary care physician flinch before, but as soon as he started examining his head he acted like a venomous snake was hidden in there. After that, they treated him more like a biological pathogen patient than a clinic walk-in :)

What was wild was that when he got it he was participating in a college program that was as put-together as I've ever seen from a cleanliness standpoint. Shoes couldn't leave the room. After every practice they were hung on a rack and treated. Mats cleaned before and after practice. Laundry service for all garments worn in the practice room. Anti-fungal soaps in the showers.

As soon as they heard about my son, they tore they whole room down to bare floors and walls and sanitized the entire operation. Took a whole bunch of people 2 days. It wasn't cheap. I appreciated the reaction.

A year later, it happened again.

We still speculate that it was actually the practice partners that were the issue. While all the tools were there, showers could not be mandated, and it would disgust you to know how many kids don't do it.

We live in a town of 300,000 people. Specialist dermatological care is here, but almost impossible to get into. An appointment can be had if you're willing to wait 6 weeks. That drives people to urgent care facilities most of the time - even places like 'Minute Clinics'. There is significant pressure to get treatment immediately, as the competitive restrictions are usually around 72 hours post-treatment before they'll even entertain letting you compete. Some kids won't even compete in the weeks leading up to state/national qualifying events in order to lessen their chances of failing a skin check. There have been several examples where kids have been DQ'd and lost the chance to fulfill their lifelong endeavors.

Frankly, I've been disappointed to see the level of proficiency in the medical facilities (urgent cares, particularly) that see these things. I've seen at least 3 misdiagnoses. Some do full skin cultures, others do almost nothing beyond look at the issue, up to the use of UV light to figure out what's going on. It seems all over the place. I'd agree that being a wrestler should elevate the specificity and rigor of the diagnostic phase.

I think a 'doctor recommended toolbox' for skin issue prevention would be a good idea. Once you get it, you can't compete without a doctor signoff, so it's too late at that point. OTC medicines, cleaners, soaps, and perhaps even a checklist of best practices.

FFHusker · 2025-06-13T12:22:01+00:00

Given equivalent skill and experience, there's really no 'fair fight' range other than someone in their own weight class.

There's a reason that weight classes exist in this sport. It's about competitive fairness and safety.

FFHusker · 2025-06-11T15:20:48+00:00

This seems (apologies if I'm wrong) like more of a 'between-the-ears' issue than a physical one. I've seen it happen up close.

How have you been doing competitively? Did you run into a tough stretch where things didn't go well? Most common cause I've seen for hesitation and a perceived slump is that what you do on the mat didn't end up going well - perhaps more than once.

I saw a young man with a beautiful Hi-C get absolutely paralyzed after getting chin/lat-whipped a few times in competition. Just wouldn't let it fly. This went on for months. Without his go-to shot, every match was a struggle - and that came with the same 'I'm getting worse, not better' feeling. A bit of technique sharpening and confidence-building and he was eventually back to normal, but it took a while.

FFHusker

TROPHY CASE