The farming community of Brainard, Neb., is about 40 miles northwest of the University of Nebraska, an easy though not exactly direct drive, mostly along state highways. For Jeff Makovicka, however, the distance must have seemed like light years in the late summer of 1991.

Makovicka made the drive to report for preseason practice with the Nebraska football team. There was little activity on campus when he arrived. Classes had not yet started.

He parked his car near the Smith Hall dormitory and went to check in along with the other newcomers, his soon-to-be teammates. He opened the door and was confronted by Christian Peter, an imposing, 6-foot-2, 265-pound defensive lineman from Middletown, N.J.

His first reaction was to turn, find the nearest telephone and call home. “I was very close to going, ‘What am I doing here? I’m out of my league,’ ” Makovicka said recently.

Why he didn’t make that call, he isn’t sure. But for whatever reason he forged ahead, checking in along with Peter and a well-publicized group of scholarship recruits.

Makovicka was a walk-on, having played eight-man football his final two seasons at East Butler High School. If he hadn’t been persistent, he wouldn’t even have been there. He hadn’t been notified that he could walk on until late in the spring, about the time of his high school graduation.

Nebraska had been forced to drop its freshman-junior varsity program because of NCAA-mandated staff reductions, and was screening walk-on candidates more carefully. Makovicka had sent a videotape for the coaches to evaluate and then had sent another copy, just to be sure they saw it.

He “begged” his way into the program. “I really had to lobby,” he said. Being there was a “gift,” and “from the first time I stepped on the field, I tried to practice like I was lucky to be here.”

He could have gone to a smaller school. That was an option. But he was determined to walk on at Nebraska. Beyond that, however, the would-be running back had modest goals.

At the beginning, he just wanted to make the team, to avoid being cut. He would have been satisfied, he said, to run onto the field at Memorial Stadium “with an ‘N’ on my helmet.” He thought the best he could hope was to play on the scout team and help prepare those who would play.

“If it was going to be on the scout team, I was going to go hard every day,” he said.

There were signs early on, however, that his opportunity could be more than that, like the first time Coach Tom Osborne met with the freshmen. Makovicka was concerned that no one would know his name, that he would get lost in the shuffle of prep All-Americans and prize recruits.

Osborne introduced all of the freshmen during that first meeting. He said that Makovicka was a running back from an eight-man program at East Butler High School. “He knew who I was,” said Makovicka. “That was big to me. I thought that was really neat.”

Osborne was impressive to a boy growing up in the state. “I thought he was the president of Nebraska,” said Makovicka. “Since he is so big and adored, is he even going to know who you are? But he did, and I think that breeds loyalty, too. His players played that way for him.”

In any case, Makovicka began to realize that he could be more than a scout-team player, that he wouldn’t have to wear a “W” on his jersey, signifying “walk-on.” Even though he didn’t have a scholarship when he arrived, he realized he could earn one and actually play for the Cornhuskers.

“I knew if I worked hard I would get a shot,” he said.

That he had bled Nebraska red and agonized over rare Cornhusker losses from an early age drove him to succeed. He played on special teams and as a reserve I-back, enough to letter, as a redshirted freshman in 1992, then split time between I-back and fullback as a back-up in 1993.

He focused on fullback in 1994, backing up Cory Schlesinger, and then became the starter in 1995, averaging 5.9 yards per carry for one of the most dominant teams in school history.

On the night before the Cornhuskers played Florida in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl game, for what would be their second consecutive national championship, Osborne met with the seniors. He didn’t talk about the game, however. “He just said, ‘I probably won’t see you a lot after this, but if you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to call me,’ ” said Makovicka. “That’s the type of guy he was.”

By then, Makovicka was confident enough in his ability to try professional football. He earned his way onto the Houston Oilers’ roster as a free agent, playing special teams. But his first time on the field, on the kickoff in the opening game against the New York Jets, he suffered an ankle injury. He was a wedge-buster and the ankle “got rolled up” in a pile of offensive linemen setting the wedge. Because of the severity of the injury, which left him in a cast, he was paid and released.

He signed with the San Francisco 49ers for the next season, with a recommendation from Frank Solich, his position coach at Nebraska. But when the 49ers drafted Mark Edwards from Notre Dame, “I was expendable,” Makovicka said. And he was cut going into training camp.

He returned to Lincoln and worked in banking. When he turned 30, however, he was ready for another challenge, law school. “I decided to take the leap,” he said.

He enrolled at Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, which offers an intensive two-year program, the only one endorsed by the American Bar Association. He and wife Tracy, with children Camryn and Jadyn, packed up, sold their home and moved to Burbank, Calif.

They considered staying in southern California after Jeff finished his degree. But the final eight weeks of the Southwestern program were to be spent working as an intern, and he had an opportunity to serve as a clerk in Omaha for U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge William J. Riley.

Makovicka is now a clerk in the Lincoln offices of Woods and Aitken. He’ll take the Nebraska Bar exam in February, when he and Tracy are expecting a third child.

“I wanted to follow a dream,” Makovicka said in explaining his decision to change career fields. That also describes his determination to walk on at Nebraska, however.

His initial goals were to avoid getting cut and then to earn an “N” for his letter jacket. He finished with four letters and two national championship rings, landing “in a period in Husker history where there were some great players,” he said. “So I was fortunate in that respect, too.

“I feel like I’m indebted to Coach Osborne and those coaches for seeing me and spotting something in this kid from Brainard, Neb. I really do think I lucked out. I came in at the right time. I tripped into something that turned out to be a pretty neat deal for everyone.”

In his case, as the saying goes, luck is the residue of design.