From a Scrub's Standpoint
It has been a hectic last few weeks but just like Wile E. Coyote I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The pages for the 2024 Huskerland Prep Report high school football preview magazine - truly one of a kind if I do say so myself - are off the printer, and we are on schedule for an August 8 delivery to my pad right out the back door of the world’s largest Hy-Vee, just outside of Gretna. Processing on my end takes a bit but they will be mailed the week of August 11, in plenty of time to soak it all in before the games begin at the end of the month.
* Plenty of time to still order your copy of our 2024 football magazine, just please text me at 308-940-2136 (no calls, please), email me at jensenpub@hamilton.net, or send your check for $25.00 (which includes shipping) to Jensen Publishing, 19109 Hampton Drive, Omaha NE 68136.
For quite a stretch there I was basically tied to my desk, writing, sizing photos, writing headlines and cutlines, trying to make sure the whole thing looked the way we all want. But over the past couple of weeks I have been able to get out and make some campus visits, with more to follow once the magazine is in hand.
If you follow what I do you probably know I do travel quite a bit around the state but one of my favorite places - the southwest corner of the state - I had not visited since before COVID. (I am trying really hard not to ever use that term again, but here we are, for frame of reference.) Took care of that with stops at Axtell (west central, but still), Arapahoe and Cambridge after having stopped at Hastings High and Sandy Creek to start the day.
The following day, after an overnight in North Platte, I stopped at dear old Arnold High before making campus visits at Dunning (Sandhills/Thedford), Broken Bow, Ansley (Ansley/Litchfield) and Central Valley, the school being located in Greeley. Almost all of those stops were at schools which are ranked in our top ten or barely missed the cut and like usual each stop had its own personality, per the players on hand. At almost all of those stops the coaches and players had a pretty good grip on who I am and what I do, and it is always fun to listen to them tell a little bit about themselves during photos and our award winning (my daughter, Huskerland Jessie, gives the award but I’ll take it) video sessions.
Some immediate impressions: 1. I love what’s happened at Sandy, where they have awoken the echoes; 2. Hastings High is gonna be good; 3. All those Axtell kids have a real good idea about the football career of all-time AHS great Justin Swedburg, and he was getting married the weekend of my visit, congrats!; 4. Man, I wished I could have stayed for those massive ribeyes; 5. Driving by the field at Cambridge brought back to many great memories of the early days of Huskerland, and having my high school buddy Dan Keyser win all those state titles.
6. Kyle Cox got big over the offseason; 7. Cal Wells looks like he could have bench pressed my pickup truck; 8. Tom Bailey was a great slow pitch softball first baseman; 9. Oh, how I wish I could have taken Grady Kelly’s photo on Fremont Street.
* Frankly, I spent a week populating the website with stories I had spent the past five months researching and writing before just yesterday getting in a trip though southeast Nebraska. The trip started with a thud but finished up on some real high notes.
See, I didn’t need to leave my house until a little before 9 a.m., in order to make my 9:30 appointment at Ashland where I checked in with the A-G Bluejays. With plenty of time (we get up early at our place) I got Huskerland Penni’s flowers watered and took care of some other business before getting ready. It took a while because my right knee was killing me. (I will save you asking, it’s arthritis.) Regardless, I had a schedule so I wrapped things up at the house and (barely) got into my pickup.
Got about halfway to Ashland when I realized something of note. My plan that day, as it is every time I make these campus visits, was to bring my note pad and pen for interviews and a box or two of magazines to share with the players upon arrival. And that was my plan on Monday...but I forgot all that stuff on the island in the kitchen. (If you remember a couple of years back I left my duffel bag with all my overnight stuff and clothes in it on that same island for a trip that started in Hastings. Ugh.)
Anyhoo, so I stop at a store in Ashland to grab a note pad and pen and make for A-G High, arriving a couple of minutes early. Which is good, because I was at the wrong building (the new high school), limping my way to the front door only to find the door locked. I call Coach Ryan Thompson, ask him what’s up, and he says ‘oh by the way’ we are in the old high school. So I limp back to the truck, scoot on around and finally get the ball rolling with the campus visit stuff. In the meantime I lost valuable time when I was already scheduled pretty tight, but even so I stayed on task while interviewing A-G all-staters Landon Sobota and Thomas Spears (spoiler alert). BTW, turns out they are besties with Westside’s Christian Jones, another all-stater and Huskerland guy. How about that.
Long story short I later stopped at Syracuse, Tecumseh (home of Johnson County Central), Auburn and Lourdes Central Catholic, in Nebraska City. Great visits, all of them, though it was particularly nice of JCC head coach Ryan Haughton to give me a tour of the school’s trophy case which included a shrine to Nebraska High School Hall of Famers Tough Tony Davis and Matt Davison, both of them Tecumseh High grads. When I think of Matt I think ‘I need to send that guy a check’ and when I think of Tough Tony (though, of course, not as tough as Tough Tony Davis of The Doug and Daddy Show radio fame) I think of him punching the chain link fence in the Memorial Stadium end zone after scoring against UCLA (pretty sure it was UCLA).
Some knee jerk reaction to what I saw and who I met with on Monday: 1. Listening to Landon and Thomas talk you can see they are great friends, and I am smiling when I say they reminded me very much of Looney Tunes’ Chester (the big dog) and Spike (the excitable little dog); 2. Syracuse is gonna have the kind of team the great Matt Clark can be proud of; 3. JCC is for real, and when you need holiday shrimp Tecumseh is the place to shop, just ask for Nolan; 4. Tony Janssen’s four-month old son is better behaved that most of his players, and I say that as a compliment to the kid; 5. Apparently Bob Honeysuckle is going to be the Larry Csonka of eight-man football this fall. All of it made for an enjoyable enough trip where I hardly noticed the throbbing in my little ol’ knee...
Opening Night is a month from today and trips like that make me all the more anxious to get to the games (and have the temperature drop 15-20 degrees, minimum).