Frazier’s leadership makes him
FRAZIER from page 1
Two of his three career losses came
as Frazier became the only Comhusker
quarterback to start as a true freshman.
Considered by many to be the top
option quarterback out of high school
in 1992, not even then-Nebraska coach
Tom Osborne could foresee the suc
cess that Frazier would eventually
experience.
“Yeah, I was mildly surprised at
how good he really was,” Osborne said.
“We thought he would have a great
future. I would say he met and probably
exceeded every expectation.”
Attitude may have been the key to
success for Frazier, who was named the
Nebraska Male Athlete of the Century
by the Daily Nebraskan.
“I strived to be the best player that I
could,” Frazier said. “That’s all I think
any coach can ask of a player. I think by
me doing that, it wore off on other play
ers. That led to two national champi
onships and three undefeated regular
seasons. There wasn’t an ingredient
that we all followed.”
But if there was an ingredient that
spelled winning, Frazier seemed to
possess it.
His first undefeated regular season
came in 1993 when Frazier, then a
sophomore, helped NU to five come
from-behind victories.
The one loss came in the Orange
Bowl to Florida State. Frazier matched
Heisman Trophy Award winner
Charlie Ward yarcf-for-yard - both
totaling 283 yards of total offense - as
the Huskers lost the national champi
onship 18-16.
It was at that moment, Frazier said,
that something struck the minds of
nearly every returning NU player.
“Knowing that we had the game
won but didn’t finish it off, that’s when
it all started,” Frazier said. “Right then,
we knew that, hey, there isn’t any team
out here that we can’t play with. That
just carried on for two years.
“We knew that we were going to
win. By how many points, we didn’t
know, but we knew going into every
game that we were going to win no
matter what. We didn’t care who was
out there - the Dallas Cowboys, the
Chicago Bears or Colorado or Kansas
State. We were going to win.”
***
He’s now looking and running
straight at another defender, who is
waiting patiently three yards away. But
all it takes is a quick stutter step, a head
nod and a flip ofthe wrist - all directed
toward the halfback trailing five yards
behind - to throw the defender off bal
ance and open up a hole.
* Not a big hole, but enough to give
him a short gain. So he cradles the ball
at his right side as he straightens his
left arm into the chest of a lineman just
past the line of scrimmage (the 25
yard-line). The lineman hugs the quar
terback from the side, but the signal
caller has too much momentum. The
second would-be tackier falls to the
ground as his right hand slips away
from the jersey - just below the num
bers.
***
When asked the first thing that
came to his mind when thinking about
his four-year career at Nebraska,
Frazier replied, “My teammates.”
And its his teammates, he said, that
deserve most of the credit for the back
to-back championships in 1994 and
1995.
“I don’t think it had much to do
with me,” Frazier said. “That’s one
thing Coach Osborne did, was sur
round me with other players that could
fit along with me to get to the next
level. I didn’t do it alone.”
But he led them both vocally and
by example - in practice and on the
field.
He knew the game, Gill said, and
his strong work ethic rubbed off.
“Just practicing the way he prac
ticed raised the level of the players
around him,” Gill said. “When he
stepped in a ball game, the level of play
increased. Those things, you can’t
coach. He had something special about
him. Just the way he addressed him
self.”
And it was like that from day one.
Of course, sometimes Frazier’s
burning desire to win became a little
too hot. But in the end, it always
worked out - well, all but three times.
“He was very competitive and he
really wouldn’t tolerate people who
didn’t have the same competitive
instincts,” Osborne said. “So, some
times he would come off a little abrupt.
But that served him well, because as a
freshman, he would get in the huddle
and tell seniors to sluqpe up or ship out
“He wasn’t abrasive, but he was a
guy that would let you know what he
wanted to do. I think as a quarterback,
that was a good quality.”
After falling one last-second field
goal short of a national championship
at the end of the 1993 season, Frazier
didn’t lose another game in his career.
NU went 25-0 during his final two sea
sons.
But it wasn’t entirely Frazier thdt
led the Huskers to a national champi
onship in 1994. Sidelined with a blood
clot in his leg after NU’s fourth contest,
Frazier watched as Brook Berringer
finished out the last eight games of the
season.
Planting his right foot in the grass,
he cuts left at the 33'/2-yard-line - into
the waiting arms of a Gator defensive
back He’s caught. The defensive back
wraps up and soon, another lineman is
right there with him - both bodies
pressing to bring the quarterback
down.
The duo wrestle him toward the
sideline as four more Gators join in the
effort. But the quarterback refuses to
go down. He s still on his feet as the
group continues to make its way
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toward the sideline.
He experienced soreness in his leg
against Pacific and played just the first
two series. The blood clot was discov
ered Sept 25,1994.
“I.wanted to leave school, move
back to Florida, and be with my fami
ly,” Frazier said. “That’s the hardest
part of anybody’s career is the injury *
that’s going to keep you away from ,
something you truly love.”
What made things even worse was
the fact that doctors couldn’t tell
Frazier if or when he would be able to
return to football.
He took anti-coagulant drugs, and
returned to drills after missing die next
game, but the blood clot had reformed.
“If someone tears their ACL, they
know exacdy how long they’ll be out,”
Frazier said. “With me, I had no idea.”
Prior to the season finale at
Oklahoma, Frazier learned that he
would be cleared to play in the bowl
game. Weeks later, he earned the start
ing nod over Berringer against Miami
in the Orange Bowl for the national
championship.
For the first time since his fresh
man year, Frazier said he felt the pres
sure.
“Everybody has doubts after an
injury, wondering if they’re going to be
the same player they were before the
injury,” Frazier said. “That’s common.”
With the help of a successful two
point conversion pass tnat tied tne
game at 17 in the fourth quarter,
Frazier earned most valuable player
honors as Nebraska downed the
Hurricanes 24-17 for the national title.
The win gave Osborne his first
career national championship and gave
the Huskers their first title since 1971.
“I don’t think it was winning the
game so much as it was proving to
myself not to doubt myself,” Frazier
said. “I think I was doubting myself
more than anything. I didn’t know how
my leg was going to react.
“The only pressure I ever felt was
the pressure I put on myself. As far as
me going out and playing football for
Nebraska, that wasn’t pressure. I put
pressure on myself to be the best that I
could be. I didn’t let any other pressure
get on me.”
From there, the momentum kept
rolling.
His legs pumping the quarterback
is pulled by the only Gator between
him and the sideline. The defender falls
down, attempting to bring the quarter
back with him, but the strong tegs of the
signal caller resist. From behind, the
initial defensive back, who started the
tackle cluster, still has a firm two-hand
grip on the quarterback.
But in similar fashion to the previ
ous would-be tacklers, his grip slips
and he falls to the ground. Still another
Gator, who has had time to get up from
a receivers block, which had sent him
to the ground, joins the effort hitting the
quarterbackfiom the right side. But he,
too, hits the ground at the 47-yard line
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