Trev Alberts' parents weren't sure how interested Nebraska was. Cornhusker assistant John Melton had visited. But Tom Osborne had never come to Cedar Falls, Iowa. If Nebraska had such high regard for his son, Ken Alberts said to Melton, then why hadn't Osborne visited, too?

Soon after, Osborne flew to Cedar Falls to meet Trev and his family.

Before they went out to eat, at the nicest restaurant in town (with a table covered by a special red tablecloth), Trev's mom, Linda, took pictures to preserve the moment.

When the photos came back, they showed that Osborne was bigger than Trev. Osborne looked like the one who was going to be playing football, his parents said. They had a good laugh.

The visit had been no laughing matter, however. Osborne was a good guest but businesslike. He didn't have a sales pitch, really. His approach was up-front and honest.

"He just said, 'The great news is, we have a great university. You'll get a degree, and you'll get the opportunity to compete for playing time.' That was it," Alberts recalled years later.

"That was what was promised to me. He told my mother and father they would take good care of me (at Nebraska). We wouldn't practice on Sunday. If my spiritual life was important, I'd be given an opportunity to go to church. He wouldn't demand anything of me then."

Osborne also promised that Nebraska would do everything it could for him educationally and that he would have fun playing football because the team would win some games along the way.

"That was the promise I was made," said Alberts.

Nowadays, "kids want to be promised playing time immediately and be promised that they will get to the NFL," Alberts said. "With him (Osborne), the opposite was true."

Osborne also emphasized that there were no shortcuts and that character counted.

"I believe what we did at Nebraska was not the easy way," said Alberts. "The easy way was to go out and just take anybody with some talent. Well, I think Coach Osborne was pretty consistent about how important it was (that) our team reflect the personality of the state.

"He understood we weren't like Miami or Florida State."

And that understanding influenced Osborne's recruiting approach. Nebraska paid little or no attention to recruiting analysts and blue-chip lists. Instead, it identified needs and players who would fit those needs. Those on the "A" list, five or six rank-ordered at a particular position, were the best.

Failing to get "A" list players, the Cornhuskers would then go to a "B" list. "Of course, that all goes back on our judgment. If we don't see things accurately, then that doesn't mean much," Osborne said at the time. "But assuming we know what we're doing, that's a very good percentage of top people."

Nebraska didn't have to go to its "B" list in assembling Alberts' recruiting class. All those who signed letters of intent in 1989 were on the "A" list, more than half atop their positions.

The Cornhuskers apparently saw things accurately in matching players with needs in 1989. All but five of 22 players announced on signing day earned at least one letter, with half earning at least three. And one of the 22 never enrolled because of Proposition 48 eligibility requirements. Daryl Green, a running back-defensive back from West Covina, Calif., went to Hawaii instead.

The class was unusual in that it included only three in-state players: Mike Anderson from Grand Island, David Noonan from Lincoln and Lance Lundberg from Wausa.

Lundberg, a lineman, played eight-man football.

All but one of the 22 were high school players, and a third of those were from Texas, including three from Dallas-area Lakeview Centennial: Byron Bennett, Chad Hunter and Mike Jefferson.

Derek Brown, a Prop 48 like Green, was the most prominent member of the class from the standpoint of recruiting analysts. The running back from Servite High in Anaheim, Calif., was the SuperPrep "Player of the Year" in the Far West and was a USA Today and Parade All-American.

He rushed for 2,301 yards and scored 30 touchdowns as a senior.

Lance Larson, a lineman from Moorhead, Minn., also was a Parade All-American as well as the Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota. Recruiting analyst Max Emfinger rated Larson, the Minnesota Lineman of the Year, as the No. 26 high school offensive tackle in the country.

Will Shields, Nebraska's second recruit from Oklahoma in as many years, also was his state's high school lineman of the year, according to the Daily Oklahoman.

The three in-state players were the fewest ever in a Cornhusker recruiting class and none were from Omaha. Nebraska hadn't been shut out in recruiting in the state's largest city in 20 years. The biggest loss was Creighton Prep lineman Junior Bryant, who opted for Notre Dame.

Omaha Central's Abe Hoskins made an oral commitment to the Cornhuskers but changed his mind just before letter-of-intent signing day and picked Purdue, instead.

Nebraska's recruiting class earned national respect, being ranked from fifth to eighth. "It would be a good guess to say Nebraska has done its work more efficiently than the other 104 schools in Division I in the country," SuperPrep's Allen Wallace told Huskers Illustrated.

Tom Lemming, then of Prep Report, offered a similar assessment.

"When you peg the players you want and then you get them as early as Nebraska did, you know that's from hard work, good planning and a solid effort," he told the magazine.

The Cornhuskers had done such a good job of recruiting that they could have taken 35 of the nation's top players if not limited by the NCAA scholarship maximum of 25.

As usual, Osborne held back some scholarships for walk-ons. Several players who walked on in 1989 would earn multiple letters, among them Gerald Armstrong, Ken Mehlin and Bruce Moore.

In addition to contributing to the team, the in-state walk-ons in particular helped motivate the scholarship recruits, according to Alberts. "I see these kids, walk-on kids, some of whom never saw the field . . . but they were so happy to just get to run out on the field in practice," he said.

"Then he (Osborne) would sort of sprinkle in these few difference-makers."

Emfinger rated Alberts the No. 33 inside linebacker recruit in the country, lower than Darren Williams (No. 27) and Troy Branch (No. 12). But he proved to be a difference-maker. In fact, his pass-rushing ability was a significant factor in Nebraska's decision to change its base defensive alignment from a "50" front to the 4-3 that was instrumental in winning three national championships.

Alberts was credited with 21 tackles for losses totaling 99 yards as a senior and earned consensus All-America recognition as well as being the Cornhuskers' first Butkus Award winner. He also was the Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year and an Academic All-American.

Shields won the Outland Trophy and was a consensus All-American at offensive guard in 1992, after becoming just the second true Cornhusker freshman offensive lineman to earn a letter since the NCAA reinstated freshman eligibility in 1972. John Reece also lettered as a true freshman.

Brown, who sat out the 1989 season because of Prop 48 restrictions, would earn first-team all-conference recognition twice before leaving for the NFL. He rushed for more than 1,000 yards twice, joining Calvin Jones as the "We backs" in 1992, and still ranks No. 10 in career rushing.

Brown played five seasons in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints, and Shields, a third-round draft pick, is still playing for the Kansas City Chiefs on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Alberts, a first-round draft pick, spent only three seasons with the Indianapolis Colts because of injury.

He was well-prepared for life after football, however, as Osborne told him he needed to be. "I remember thinking (early on), you know what I do these four years in school is really going to determine how I live the rest of my life," Alberts would say after his NFL career ended prematurely.