Mike Riley was out of town traveling when he got the phone call. The overwhelming emotions that soon followed will be something the Nebraska head football coach will never forget.

The news was delivered that senior punter Sam Foltz, one of the Huskers’ most decorated players on the field and most beloved off of it, had been killed in a car crash in Wisconsin late Saturday night.

Riley arranged to return to Lincoln as quickly as he could, and when he arrived Sunday evening he immediately held a team meeting. Afterwards Riley addressed media about one of the most difficult events of his coaching career.

“We’re in one of those moments that you just never ever want to think about having to go through,” Riley said. “I know the whole state of the Nebraska, the university, and of course the student-athletes and our team and our staff - everybody feels this right to the bone. You talk about broken hearted and feeling for a family and feeling for your kids, it’s all there, all the parts.

"This day will be stuck in time forever.”

Riley said he made it a point to get his team together right away, and that for him personally, just seeing and talking with his players face to face was as important as anything.

“I told them, it’s impossible for me to say anything to make you feel better,” Riley said. “That is not the purpose of this. It’s just to be together. I just wanted to see them and just let them know everybody understands their grief and they’ll grieve in different ways.”

After Riley spoke, senior quarterback Tommy Armstrong addressed his teammates as well. Armstrong hosted a team gathering at his home following the meeting.

Also in attendance were University of Nebraska president Hank Bounds, UNL chancellor Ronnie Green, and athletic director Shawn Eichorst. Riley said the team would be provided with any counseling and additional support they would need going forward.

Riley called Foltz a universally respected player in Nebraska’s locker room who was “passionately proud of everything that he did.” Riley added that Foltz was the kind of player who embodied all of the reasons he loved to coach.

Not only was Foltz a great talent, Riley said, he was also one of the most positive, enthusiastic, and driven players he’d ever coached.

Because Riley has only been at NU for a little more than a year, he said he would lean on the leadership of his seniors to help the Huskers get through one of the most heartbreaking tragedies in program history.

“They’ll be probably in some ways the most sad,” Riley said, “but they’ll provide the most strength.”