OUR VIEW: NU Football Needs A Boost From High School Football

If you're like most readers in the Cornhusker State, you are hoping to see the University of Nebraska football program quickly restored to its former glory -- specifically to the level of dominance NU demonstrated from 1964-2000.

For the past two decades, Nebraska football has been only a shadow of its former self. There are several factors for the downward spiral, but a key ingredient has been the statewide decline in high school football participation.

Based on information from the Nebraska School Activities Association, Nebraska high school football has seen more than an 18% decline in player participation over the last 20 years. Over the past 30 years, it's likely closer to a 30% dip.

Here's the breakdown:

• In the autumn of 2002, there were 14,544 boys out for football at Nebraska high schools across all classes (including 11-man, eight-man, and six-man).
  
  
• Over the next five years, participation held steady with 14,452 out the fall of 2007. But by autumn 2012, participation dropped to 13,243.
  
  
• By 2017, the number fell to 11,995. 
  
  
• By 2022, it was 11,919.
  
  
• While the NSAA doesn't publish participation numbers from the years prior to 2002, we've been told the participation rates of the late 1980s and early 1990s were closer to 18,000. Of course, during those years, the University of Nebraska's football roster featured more players from Nebraska, including in its starting lineup. That's not a coincidence.

The University of Nebraska's football program is not only facing a talent deficit, it's also facing a culture problem. 

Football is still a game Nebraskans love to watch, but they want to watch others' kids take a hit on the gridiron, not their own. Never mind the teamwork and leadership lessons learned on the field, or the toughness the game instills in young men.

Fewer high school football players means less competition for starting positions. It means a decline in the quality of play between opposing teams. 

And fewer participants equals a smaller talent pool from which NU can recruit. (Passion for Big Red football spirals significantly once outside the state's borders, especially after 20 years of mediocre football.)

While other states have also seen a decline in high school football participation, Nebraska is a small population state -- the 11th least populated state in the nation. We simply can't maintain our tradition of college football excellence if it's not sufficiently rejuvenated by in-state talent.

Athletic Director Trev Alberts and other NU football leaders need to spend as much time connecting with the state's boys and their parents as they do with the mega-wealthy donors who will finance the makeover of Memorial Stadium over the next few years. 

Ironically, when Memorial Stadium's makeover is complete, its capacity will be reduced by 12% to 15% fans, from around 86,000 today to the low 70,000s, according to reports.

All the signs tell Nebraska football fans: You're going the wrong way.