If everything had gone according to plan the past six months, Luke McCaffrey would have been at The Cornhusker Marriott with his Nebraska teammates at 8:15 p.m. Friday, finalizing preparations and relaxing ahead of the Huskers’ season opener against Purdue.
Under a revised schedule, which survived just six fleeting early August days, he and center Cameron Jurgens might have instead talked through any last-minute questions at some nice but nondescript hotel amid the industrial swamps of northern New Jersey before kicking off a weird year against Noah Vedral-led Rutgers.
Instead, though, here is McCaffrey, the exciting and excitable redshirt freshman quarterback, launching himself into a congratulatory scrum on the west sideline at Seacrest Field, where Lincoln Southwest has just opened a rivalry game against heavy favorite Lincoln Southeast with a long kickoff return.
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It’s 8:16 on the night before what would have been Gameday No. 1. This weekend, however, became the latest mile marker on the path to what could be the first autumn without University of Nebraska football since 1889. For the next couple of hours, McCaffrey and three of his teammates get their football fix in a different way: By helping out as volunteer coaches for city high schools.
McCaffrey and Jurgens man the Southwest sideline, while sophomore defensive lineman Casey Rogers coaches up Southeast linemen across the way. Above the action in a coaching booth, NU freshman defensive back Isaac Gifford is on a headset, lending his years of experience in the Knights’ program and an extra set of eyes.
Down Interstate 80, sophomore defensive lineman Tate Wildeman is on the sideline with Waverly as it puts an end to Omaha Skutt’s 27-game winning streak and stakes an early claim as the best Class B team in the state. Junior quarterback Adrian Martinez is in the stands, watching his friend work.
And you know what?
It helps.
“It’s awesome,†Rogers said. “Last week, Tate was at Gretna and I was at Kearney and we called each other, I was on the way home, and it was just so much fun. I love coaching and it’s something we’ve both been wanting to do our whole lives and it’s kind of cool to get our first little taste of it here.â€
There is no comparison for Memorial Stadium, filled to the gills with 89,000-plus. Rogers, however, has been helping with Southeast for about two weeks now and said the past two Fridays have been a good substitute, given that the Big Ten’s Aug. 11 decision to postpone its fall season indefinitely has left NU players and those across the league with little else in the way of options.
“Obviously, there’s not that many fans here and normally this game sells out,†the Syracuse, New York, native said of the announced crowd of 1,007. “But seeing Cam and Luke over there wearing green and I’m here wearing white and gold and black, it was really cool. …
“Just to be around football again. Like last week, my first practice was their walk-through and just being around guys in pads again, I was really amped up and excited. We got up to Kearney and the music started playing and we walked into the stadium and people started showing up and, obviously it’s not the scale of Memorial Stadium, but it’s something I’ve really missed.â€
Make no mistake about it, though, these guys are working.
McCaffrey finds the quarterbacks after each Southwest possession and looks at the film on an iPad with them, sometimes donning the headset himself to talk with coaches. He is never far from Southwest head coach Andrew Sherman when the offense was on the field.
On the LSE sideline, a television monitor shows video clips of the previous possession. The Knights’ defensive linemen gather around as Rogers and another coach dole out instructions.
Rogers may not be from the area, but the connection to Southeast is a special one nonetheless. From the stands behind the Southeast bench, Nebraska defensive line coach Tony Tuioti watches as Rogers works with his son, sophomore Teitum Tuioti, who is part of a wrecking crew up front that completely stifles Southwest in a 35-5 Knights win.
“It’s a really special moment,†Rogers said. “My mom is here and my girlfriend is, too, and Coach ‘T’ is up in the stands and I’m coaching his kids. Oh, I just couldn’t ask for a better high school to coach with. (Head coach Ryan) Gottula is the man.â€
Casey Rogers coaching the LSE defensive line.
— Parker Gabriel (@HuskerExtraPG)
The coming weeks are going to be tough ones, though, particularly if the ACC, SEC and Big 12 start playing football as scheduled later this month. The Huskers and the rest of the Big Ten will be watching from home.
“It’s going to be frustrating, very frustrating,†Rogers said. “Especially because we’ve been so close. We started camp, got canceled. Started spring ball back in the spring, got canceled. It’s been like endless starting and canceling. … Other organizations that are almost identical (to the Big Ten) are still playing, so you do feel like it’s unfair.â€
Rogers was worried he’d get sent back home to Syracuse last month when the season got postponed, but not because of concerns about COVID-19 or about too much extra time cooped up with his parents.
“Syracuse’s practice field is right behind my house,†said Rogers, whose dad, Lelan, is a lacrosse coach for the Orange. “I would have woken up to the fall camp practices and stuff like that. I would have wanted to just come back to Nebraska and suit up and get out and strike the pad or something.â€
That has to wait for now, outside of the 12 hours per week of organized activities that are allowed. It could be another week, another month or longer.
In the meantime, though, some Huskers are getting their fix — and lending a helping hand, too — under the Friday night lights.