UW Defender Not Afraid Of Seeing Red Husker Swarm Won’t Intimidate Husky Who Has Seen This All Before
Although he can’t recall ever watching Nebraska on TV, Huskies running back Rashaan Shehee has learned enough about Washington’s next opponent to volunteer a scouting report.
“The first thing I see,” Shehee will tell you, “is lots of red.”
Because Washington last faced the Cornhuskers in 1992, when Jim Lambright’s fifth-year seniors still were in high school, we must confront the possibility that America’s second-ranked college football team will be vulnerable to a Red Scare.
But not Nigel Burton. The junior roverback the coaches like to call “Mighty Mouse” went face-to-face with Nebraska two years ago as a freshman at the University of the Pacific.
The undefeated Huskers, you’ll recall, were on the fast track toward a second straight national championship. Burton’s Tigers were on a fast track the other way, toward oblivion.
“We were 50-point underdogs,” Burton recalled Tuesday. “I don’t know how many people expected us to win.”
On a sunny Saturday in the middle of the farm belt, the Huskers threw their anticipated haymaker. Pacific didn’t cross midfield until seven minutes remained in the third quarter. Nebraska accumulated 731 yards of total offense and 36 first downs. It controlled the ball for 40 minutes, and produced a comprehensive 49-7 victory.
Not that we’ve got a morbid fascination about any of this, Nigel, but what was it like to be carved up as a sacrificial lamb in a 75,000-seat house of worship?
“One of the best experiences I ever had,” Burton said. “I was able to show my talent against one of the best teams in college football history. They had the classiest fans I’ve ever seen, next to our own here at Washington. The players were classy guys, as well. They were great athletes, but there wasn’t the hot-dogging you see so much of nowadays.
“It was a great experience.”
To appreciate where Burton is coming from, you must understand were Burton came from: a small school of 4,000 students in Stockton, Calif., which, unbeknownst to anybody on the Tigers squad, was about to dissolve its long-struggling football program. In a futile attempt to pay the bills, Pacific had made a similar trip to Lincoln the previous season. It trailed 49-0 at halftime, and lost, 70-21.
Tom Osborne’s 1995 club was no less intimidating. In the weeks preceding Pacific’s visit, the Huskers had rolled up 64 points against Oklahoma State, 50 against Michigan State and 77 against Arizona State.
To prevent Nebraska from scoring 50 was not a moral victory for Pacific. It was a moral miracle.
“We held ourselves up pretty well, and took them to the limit,” said Burton. “We showed we could play at a big-time level.”
There are those sanctimonious residents of the jury box who’ll point to a scheduled Pacific-Nebraska mismatch as evidence of college football’s evil ways. But Burton - who was stunned to learn of the program’s demise in early 1996, and had no choice but to transfer - put the Cornhuskers’ game on his resume.
He’d received inquiries from coaches in the Western Athletic and Big West conferences, but having taken on Nebraska, and making the best of an impossible assignment, Burton set his aim higher. So he called his high school coach at Sacramento Jesuit, who put him in touch with Huskies assistant Scott Linehan. Burton sent a tape of his work; a week later, Washington offered a scholarship.
Burton’s new teammates soon discovered in practice what Linehan saw on tape: That at 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds, Burton packs a punch.
Wide receiver Jerome Pathon: “His physical attributes may not be up to most players at that position, but he is absolutely amazing. He goes beyond the capability of what players with bigger physical attributes would do.”
Linebacker Jason Chorak: “I figure Nigel as a freshman weighed about 145 pounds, and played like he was 220. He’s a little man who comes up and brings it. He plays right behind me, and I have total confidence in him.”
Conversely, Burton has a confidence in his fellow defenders that wasn’t there the last time he saw red.
“It’s a better feeling, realizing you’ve got people like Jason Chorak, Mac Tuiaea and Lester Towns to keep the pressure off you,” he said. “The last time I played Nebraska, it seemed like three people were hitting me at the same time.
“It’s a good feeling, too, to know your opponent has every bit as much respect for you as you have for them.”
Burton, an honorable-mention member of the All-Pac-10 team as a sophomore, is an Academic All-America candidate who has been selected to serve on the NCAA’s Student-Athlete council. In high school, he was a National Achievement Finalist and a Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete Award winner. He is proud of these achievements.
But he is just as proud of having given his all for a defunct football team that once held Nebraska to 49 points in Lincoln. If that seems odd, well, maybe you had to be there.
xxxx ON DECK Saturday: Nebraska at Washington, 12:30 p.m., Husky Stadium. TV: ABC.