Nebraska's Superman: How Tommie Frazier Changed Husker Football

It’s the summer of Superman. I’ve heard mixed reviews about the new movie, but haven’t seen it yet. No matter. I’ve already seen the real thing.

Tommie Frazier was exactly what the doctor ordered for Nebraska football in the early 1990s. The Huskers needed a catalyst; a quarterback whose toughness embodied the physical style that Tom Osborne demanded of his teams. A singular presence who wouldn’t just execute the option, but make everyone believe they could run through brick walls.

To get over the hump, they needed Superman.

We are wrapping up our series about Tom Osborne on the Common Fan Podcast, with the two most recent episodes focused on his national championship teams of the 1990s. In one of those episodes, Frazier’s teammate Abdul Muhammad had plenty to say about Nebraska’s Man of Steel.

Muhammad told us, “You could see that he was different. Not just athletically but mentally.”

He went on. Speaking about Frazier taking a big hit from an All-American linebacker during one of Nebraska’s bowl games, he said, “Tommie got up and looked him dead in the eye and told him, he’s gonna have to do it all game. We ain’t had nothing like that. Tommie…he was right in the mix of it. And I loved every bit of it.”

Frazier arrived in Lincoln in 1992, a true freshman from Bradenton, Florida, with the right physical attributes to run Osborne’s option offense. But more importantly, he brought a fiery competitiveness that allowed him to take on a leadership role from early on.

After a humbling collapse to end the 1990 season—a meltdown loss to Colorado, a blowout by an unranked Oklahoma team, followed by another blowout against Georgia Tech in the bowl game—Osborne had committed to overhauling the program. Many of the things that came to define the championship era were established after that 1990 season. The one missing piece was under center.

By the end of the 1992 season, Tommie was that piece. He earned his first start that year and by 1993, was leading Nebraska to an undefeated regular season and an opportunity to win a national title. Although the Big Red would lose in heartbreaking fashion to Florida State in the Orange Bowl, Nebraska established itself as an equal to the athletic and powerful Florida schools. And Tommie led the way. As longtime sportswriter Mitch Sherman told us about that Orange Bowl game, “For all intents and purposes, he out-dueled Charlie Ward, the Heisman trophy winner.”

What made Frazier unique wasn’t just the plays he made, but how he carried himself. Abdul remembered his toughness in practice, when Osborne insisted that even his quarterbacks take live hits. No green jerseys in TO’s option offense.

His impact rubbed off on his fellow Huskers. Mitch said, “Frazier brought a different level of confidence among the entire team.”

Then came 1994—and Tommie’s greatest test.

Four games in, Frazier was sidelined by a blood clot in his leg. I remember being devastated by the news as a kid in Lincoln. It seemed like nothing could stop Nebraska’s Superman. The blood clots were his kryptonite.

Brook Berringer admirably went 7-0 as a starter despite battling his own injuries. Even with Tommie sidelined, the “unfinished business” squad of 1994 mirrored his toughness and will to win. They grinded out wins, all the way to their second undefeated regular season in as many years.

When Frazier was cleared to return just before the bowl game against Miami, Nebraska faced a quarterback controversy. Osborne declared that the starter would be determined by who practiced better. Frazier won.

But of course it wouldn’t be that simple. Nebraska fell behind 10-0. Osborne sent in Berringer, who trimmed the deficit to 10-7. But Miami answered, stretching it back to 17-7.

And then Superman returned.

Two fourth-quarter touchdown drives, led fearlessly with nerves of steel. All these years later, the mental image of Tommie staring down Warren Sapp and Ray Lewis, unafraid, still lingers.

Nebraska, of course, would repeat in 1995, as Frazier led arguably the greatest team in college football history to a second consecutive national championship.

His legacy is cemented not just in titles but in the mindset he brought to the Huskers. He made them believe, and backed it up with his play.

Mitch summed it up well. “There's nothing that anybody on the outside can give an 18-year-old (to) make them go out and inspire 22- and 23-year-olds to play their butts off. Like you either have it or you don't. And he (Frazier) absolutely had it.”

The difference between Nebraska of the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, and their dominant teams in the mid-'90s?

The difference was Tommie.

Let us know what you think, Common Fans. Send us an email at commonfangbr@gmail.com, or message us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.

As always, GBR for LIFE.

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