This week we feature the Nebraska walk-on. Back in the day, under Coach Tom Osborne (1973-1997), Nebraska took a ton of walk-ons and put them on the Freshman team. Their Freshman teams consisted of 70-80 members through the early 1980s. This was one of the reasons for the success Osborne had at Nebraska. We feature two folks who played or coached walk-ons. Kelly Saalfeld and John Noonan are our guests this week. Both were drafted into the NFL and had to work their way up the depth chart without a scholarship at Nebraska. John coached the Freshman team when he was a graduate assistant at Nebraska and Kelly worked his way through the system. This is a unique situation and one that you will want to listen to. Kelly and John ended up starting for the Cornhuskers, and both played Penn State (1979 and 1980). Once again, here are examples of two players who ended up with success after football.
![Nebraska Walk-On Cover](/sites/default/files/styles/feat/public/2024-06/791474EC-B8EF-4956-8011-E54187966395.jpeg?itok=aGkgO8Lt)
Talking College Football History: The Nebraska Walk-On
![Kelly Saafeld 2](/sites/default/files/2021-08/Kelly-Saalfeld-image-2-300x300.jpg)
![John Noonan 2](/sites/default/files/2021-08/John-Noonan-image-2-200x300.jpg)