Shoring up special teams this off-season we know is a big priority for Nebraska, particularly adding more length strength.
NU brought in a number of different specialists in June, including Morningside kicker and former Gretna product Brendan Franke. This week, Franke officially joined the Husker football team as a walk-on and began workouts on Thursday with the team. Iowa Western All-American starting kicker Josh Jasek also joined the roster this week as the Huskers get some final pieces set for this 2021 season.
"I've been working hard to get here, and I'm glad to finally be here," Franke said. "Hopefully now I can do something good for the team."
Long-term, Franke will battle for the placekicker job, but he's been brought in this month to battle with guys like Ord's Kelen Meyer for the starting kickoff specialist job.
“My kickoff ability was the thing they were most interested in,” the 6-foot-3, 235-pound Franke said after his June workout. “My first one was a warm-up and then my second one went through the back of the end zone with great hang time.
“After that, Scott Frost came up to me said, ‘can you do that every time?’ I said ‘yes.’”
Later in the workout, they were also doing step-back field goals from distances of 46, 50 and 60 yards. They asked Franke if he was ok with going from 60, and he put it back to 63 and the kick went right down the middle.
This past season for Morningside, he put 65 percent of his kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks and handled all field goals from 35 yards or deeper.
“Anytime there was no wind or a little bit of wind behind me, I put the ball through the uprights a lot of times,” Franke said.
Before Franke got the call to work out for Nebraska, he actually was going to play soccer for Bellevue University.
Former Husker All-American offensive lineman Aaron Graham used to coach Franke at Gretna and helped get him the opportunity to work out for Frost and the Big Red.
"He showed Nebraska my film and said 'they want to have you out for a tryout.' I jumped right on that opportunity," Franke said. "My tryout was June 11, so it took a little while to get the paperwork completed.
"This was super out of the blue, but super welcomed."
For Franke, now he's just ready to compete, and that began on Thursday.
"Every kicker here is talented and they got what it takes," Franke said. "I think I can bring a stronger leg and a confident and positive mindset to the team and to the special teams unit that maybe hasn't been there the last couple of years. Especially with the statistic of how many returns they have allowed.
"I am hoping I can change that statistic of being one of the mediocre special teams units, to being one of the best in the nation, not just the conference."
