Kreikemeier makes it official with Huskers

WEST POINT -- Micah Kreikemeier is ready.

The 6-foot-3, 210 pound linebacker out of West Point Central Catholic signed a NCAA National Letter of Intent to play football for the University of Nebraska at Lincoln Wednesday morning.

Kreikemeier said he is anxious to hit the weight room and learn the defense under new coach Bo Pelini, but more importantly he wants Nebraska football to return to its roots.

“Some kids in the past maybe have come here probably thinking because that they are a four- or five-star recruit that they are just coming here to play football,” Kreikemeier said. “When (Nebraska natives) come in we’re playing for Nebraska not at Nebraska.”

Kreikemeier said he was ready to be the next in a line of great rural Nebraska players. Scott and Andrew Shanle of St. Edward; Chad and Chris Kelsay of Auburn; Chris Dishman of Cozad; Matt Turman of Wahoo; Bret Clark of Nebraska City and Russ Hochstein of Hartington all came out of small-town Nebraska to have successful careers for the Cornhuskers.

“It’s what the program has been known for so long,” said Kreikemeier. “Walk-ons have a chance to earn a scholarship by their sophomore or junior year ... those are the true Nebraska football players.”

The walk-on program was re-established by Pelini after he was named head coach in December. The program was a mainstay for the Husker program until Bill Callahan significantly reduced it when he took over the program four years ago.

Micah Kreikemeier’s father Keith, played for the Huskers as a walk-on from 1981-83. WPCC football coach Dave Ridder also walked on at Nebraska before earning a scholarship and lettering as a defensive end from 1981-83.

Ridder said it will be a tough road for his star player, but knows the young Kreikemeier can handle it.

“He’s got a long way to go both mentally and physically,” said Ridder. “He’s very green right now ... there are a lot of techniques that you can’t teach at the high school level because of time and/or resources that they can in college.

“I have all the confidence in the world that he will take on that challenge and develop into a very good player.”

Kreikemeier totaled 125 tackles, three sacks, an interception and a pair of fumble recoveries on defense for the Class C-2 Bluejays.

The 4.0 student was very close to accepting offers from either Iowa State or Kansas simply because Nebraska football wasn’t fun to watch anymore.

“It was kind of difficult to watch,” said Kreikemeier. “As each year went by it became less and less an option of going there.

“It was kind of hard to root for a team that you really had no chance of even playing for.”

But ultimately Kreikemeier, who will study civil engineering, picked Nebraska in part because of Pelini.

“Coach Pelini is just a down to earth guy and isn’t going to hide anything from you or anything like that,” he said. “It’s definitely going to be fun; his defenses have been doing great and hopefully we can be another top 15, Top 10 defense again starting next year already. This first class under coach Pelini is a great class.

“We’ll be known,” he added with classic Husker confidence.