NU coach Bo Pelini, running back Rex Burkhead, defensive lineman Jared Crick and linebacker Lavonte David address the media during the Big Ten Media Days in Chicago on Thursday, July 28, 2011. Related Links Related: More Big Ten Media Days coverage
CHICAGO -- Players paid $5 apiece upfront. No $5, no food.
And we all know football players love to eat.
On this particular day earlier this summer, the Huskers pitched in for about $700 worth of burgers, brats, chicken breasts and chips.
That's 140 players.
One big barbecue, one big team.
Emphasis on team.
"I think right now, as a collective unit, we're closer than any team in the nation," Nebraska senior defensive tackle Jared Crick told reporters at Big Ten Media Days. "I'd like to see another team come up and tell me their team is closer than ours."
Maybe for $5 a head, of course.
Crick says fellow senior tackle Terrence Moore played the biggest role in organizing the summer cookout. Seniors Mike Caputo and Brandon Kinnie helped, too.
The goal: Building team chemistry.
"Last winter, after the bowl game, we kind of took it upon ourselves to say, ‘This is our team now, this is what we want to get done,'" Crick said, referring to Nebraska's humbling 19-7 loss to unranked Washington in the Holiday Bowl.
"And to do those things, we've got to become a closer-knit group. Not knocking on the leaders last year, but we want to become a closer unit than we were in the past."
That started with the seniors, Crick said, and making sure the team is more of a brotherhood than just a football squad.
"It's really paid off for us," Crick said. "Guys are closer than ever before. But I think it's due to what we said after the bowl game, and how we were going to change things."
Gathering the entire team for regular functions isn't always feasible because of the sheer numbers. But position groups frequently have gathered this summer for activities.
Rex Burkhead said the running backs met weekly, sometimes playing laser tag against the tight ends.
There also was the 100-foot slip-and-slide down a hill.
"That was pretty fun," Burkhead said. "Luckily, no one got hurt, or we would've been in big trouble."
The point: Getting to know your teammates and developing a bond going into fall camp. Once the season and school begins, classes and games and studies eat up most of the players' time.
"We had some great leaders the last two years," Burkhead said. "We just felt like we didn't have that team bonding, that feel that everyone kind of got along and knew each other. That was some of the goals of the leaders of the team going into the offseason."
Said linebacker Lavonte David: "Just getting to know the guys you're going into battle with."
But David said he prides himself on already knowing many of his teammates.
"I'm cool with everybody on the team," he said. "I'm a team guy. I just try to do the best I can do for the team."
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 402-473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com. You can follow him on Twitter @HuskerExtraBR.
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