Dave Feit’s Greatest Huskers by the Numbers: 92 – Derrie Nelson and Travis Toline

How Nebraska tapped a pipeline of hidden talent via the walk-on program.

Counting down the greatest Nebraska football players by jersey number. | HuskerMax

Dave Feit is counting down the days until the start of the 2025 season by naming the best Husker to wear each uniform number, as well as one of his personal favorites at that number.  For more information about the series, click here.  To see more entries, click here. 


Greatest Husker to wear 92:  Derrie Nelson, Defensive End, 1976 – 1980 

Honorable Mention:  John Parrella 

Also worn by:  Don Bourn, Tyrone Fahie, Brendan Franke, Jerad Higman, Brad Jenkins, Lane Kelly, P.J. Mangieri, Sean Putnam, Justin Smith, Travis Toline, Chase Urbach, Tate Wildeman, Kevin Williams 

Dave’s Fave:  Travis Toline, Rush End, 1994 – 1998 


As we move through the countdown of the greatest Huskers at each number, we’re going to talk a lot about walk-ons.   

The walk-on program – especially under legendary coaches Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne – played an instrumental role in Nebraska’s sustained success, impacting the program in numerous ways. 

Walk ons – broadly defined as a player who joined the team without a scholarship – come in all shapes and sizes.  Some turned down scholarship offers to smaller schools.  Some “greyshirts” were biding their time until a scholarship became available.  Others were simply chasing a dream.   

They all paid their own way to attend the University of Nebraska, often with little to no guarantee of anything, other than the chance to prove themselves. 

In 2009, Randy York of Huskers.com published some eye-popping numbers about Nebraska’s walk-on program.  Between the start of the Bob Devaney era (1962) and 2009, 442 walk-ons became letterwinners and 131 became starters.   

A 2019 article in the Omaha World-Herald listed 25 former walk-ons who were picked in the NFL Draft, including a first-rounder (Jimmy Williams), a Pro Bowl pick (Sam Koch), and two with Super Bowl rings (Koch and Scott Shanle). 

But not all walk-on stories are the same. 

As we move forward, we’ll touch on a few different variations.  Scout team guys, self-made success stories, developmental projects / “late bloomers”, culture builders, and more.  In addition, there are countless players who attempted to walk on, but didn’t make the roster.  For the most part, their names and stories are lost to history*. 

*Although I’ll share the story of one of my favorites when we get to 77…   

There have been Husker walk-ons from all over the country.  I couldn’t find an exact number, but I’d guess NU has had walk-ons come from 10-20 other states.  However, the majority of Nebraska walk-ons have been Nebraska kids, from all corners of the state.  Name a Nebraska city, town, or village and there’s a decent chance they’ve had a native son or two walk on in Lincoln.   

How and why did those kids end up in Lincoln?  Obviously, success breeds success.  Multiple generations of Nebraska boys have grown up dreaming of playing for the Cornhuskers.  In-state tuition is traditionally cheaper than going out of state.   

Don’t underestimate the time and effort Nebraska put in.  Osborne once said that he or a member of his staff made a point to visit every high school in the state on a regular basis.  A rural high school playing eight-man football may not have a blue-chip recruit on their team, but they might have a kid with raw athleticism that could be molded into a starter or valued backup.  In the days before recruiting services and websites to share and showcase high school film, it was hard for some players to be discovered. 

Nebraska's Derrie Nelson pursues Houston quarterback Terry Elston during the 1980 Cotton Bowl. | 1980 Nebraska Football Media Guide

Derrie Nelson is a prime example of this, and of how Nebraska’s walk-on program worked. 

Nelson is from Fairmont, Nebraska, about 60 miles west-southwest of Lincoln.  The village of Fairmont is rather small (about 760 people when Nelson was growing up).  Fairmont High School – like many small Nebraska towns and villages – played eight-man football because it didn’t have enough players for 11-man. 

Nelson was a gifted athlete with strong genetics.  His uncle, Bob Cerv, is a Nebraska baseball legend who played for the New York Yankees.  But it was hard to get a lot of recruiting attention as an eight-man player in Fairmont, Nebraska, in the late 1970s.  Regardless, Nelson had dreamed of playing for Nebraska.  He just needed an opportunity.  The walk-on program gave him a way to get his foot in the door.   

From there, Nelson’s talent and hard work took over. 

After a standout year on the freshman team, Nelson started as a sophomore in 1978.  He provided an immediate impact:  42 tackles, 3 fumble recoveries, one INT and a punt block.  He was named to the All-Big Eight honorable mention team. 

Nebraska's Derrie Nelson makes a tackle during the 1980 Cotton Bowl against Houston. | 1980 Nebraska Football Media Guide

He just kept getting better throughout his career.  Take the 1979 Missouri game for example.  The Huskers were up by three points, but Mizzou had the ball on the 11 with time for one more play.  A field goal would end the game in a tie, a touchdown would win it.  Mizzou chose to try for the win.  Nelson – playing on a severely sprained ankle – sacked the quarterback for an 18-yard loss.  Time ran out and Nebraska held onto win 24-21.   

That ankle kept him out of two other games, which likely impacted his postseason honors.  Even so, Nelson was first team All-Big Eight and an honorable mention All-American in 1979. 

As a senior in 1980, Nelson had one of the finest seasons of any former walk-on.  He was a team captain, the Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year, first team All-American, and a finalist for the Lombardi Award.  The 1980 defense may have been the best of Tom Osborne’s career.  Nelson and crew held opponents to just 9.2 points per game (the lowest of the Osborne era) and recorded three shutouts.   

Derrie Nelson in action against Iowa State. | Nebraska Football Media Guide

Nelson was a fourth-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys and eventually became a special teams standout for San Diego.  In 1998, Derrie Nelson was inducted into the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame. 

Not too shabby for a walk-on from Fairmont. 

*** 

Travis Toline pressures Central Florida quarterback Daunte Culpepper. | 1998 Nebraska Football Media Guide

When I’m watching a football game, my eyes usually follow the ball and watch the play develop.  For the most part, I don’t concentrate on what individual players are doing away from the action.  I think most fans do the same – especially with live action. 

But when Nebraska kicks off, the opposite is true.  I’ll shoot a couple of glances towards the ball, but I’m usually locked in on the “wedge buster”.  He’s the guy who lines up right in the middle of the field, goes sprinting down the field intent on blowing up anything in his path.   

Initially, the high likelihood of big collisions was a draw.  But I came to enjoy watching the wedge busters for the passion and energy needed to play that position well.  It doesn’t matter if the wedge buster gets double-teamed, knocked down, or anything else – he keeps going 100 mph until the whistle blows.  We can all appreciate the heart needed to do that. 

Wedge busters come in all shapes and sizes.  They can be walk-ons or scholarship guys.  Often – but not always – they were players buried on the depth chart whose athleticism, hustle, and heart were too much to ignore. 

While two of my all-time favorite wedge busters (Brandon Rigoni and Eric Martin) will show up later on, I’m glad we get to start with Travis Toline.   

Travis Toline, a scholarship player from Wahoo, was the one who got me started watching the position.   

As a sophomore in 1996, Toline needed a way to get on the field.  A rush end, he was stuck behind guys like Grant Wistrom, Jared Tomich, Chad Kelsay and Mike Rucker.  But on the kickoff team he was an All-American.  A freight train with no brakes.  I don’t remember the exact play where I first noticed him, but he absolutely trucked some unsuspecting player. 

Changes in the how the game is played – notably, in the area of player safety – have limited the role of the wedge buster. 

But the need for a guy like Travis Toline – willing to give his all on special teams – will never go away. 

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