1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Nick Sehnert Opines on The 5 Most Popular Current Huskers: June 30th, 11:25

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

Nick Sehnert Opines on The 5 Most Popular Current HuskersAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome back. We've gone through and through the text. We'll read some of these because Joe Sixth, this kickers have not been reliable in 10 years. This need to end yesterday. Sir, you are not incorrect in any of that. We asked the question, and Tommy V. Timmy V says the five most important players,

Dylan E.J., Jacori, Barney, Fierre Wright, and Van Popple. Big Bird says the keyword, Pat, baseball has lost its luster except for banana ball. Yeah, I mean, I, all in truth. Neil says if you're talking about the best, you have to talk about trawling. You have to talk about trail it. If we're talking, Skaper says the best, his best five, Harper, Dylan, Emmett, Jordy, and Dane Key. And again, my question about including Dane Key is that, you know, the simpleism is

in play is what we know versus what we think we know. And I'm asking us to speak on what we know. Nick Sainert has joined us in the conversation. And, sir, I think so much of this, right, is a matter of trying to get to the right question about, about Husker Athletics. Sure. I asked Bach this question before the break. I'm going to ask you this question as well.

but I'll start with Bach because I really want Bach. Trust is the word. Fan trust. What Husker programs do you trust the most as a fan? Sir, your answers, please. Give me as many answers as you can. Well, I think you think volleyball. I mean, if you're talking about over Nebraska football,

that's one. Volleyball, wrestling, bowling, three, gymnastics, four, probably track and field. Five. Women's basketball, probably. Six. Yeah, tennis. Starting to trust tennis.

Right, right. They made the tournament. They made the tournament. Absolutely. You literally have to say. They made the tournament. Softball, certainly. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. You threw eight out there in a hurry. And you didn't even specify men's and women's gymnastics. That's right. Because the men's program also is in the top five. So let's say nine and that at 10 is probably Nebraska football. Is that?

Do you trust football more than men's basketball? That's what I was thinking. I think it's about on the same field right now. 10A, 10B. Right. And we landed on, Bach and I landed, Nick, we landed on the fact that, of course, the flagship program in the state of Nebraska is Nebraska football.

It is the straw that stirs the drink, right? All of that in place. Grant it and statement in full. But what it leads me to ask is where does it put you as a fan that if the most important program does not have the trust of the fan base? Nick? We have to be so careful here. Because here's the thing, we have to be so careful because, like, think about it. You had to preface it. And this is what I always say. You had to preface it of like, none of us are sitting here saying that football is less important than other. We always have to preface things with saying we are well aware that football is the main driver. And it's always going to be the main driver.

Yep. People get all, you know, on their high horse because it's we, people start to bring up the revenue piece of it. And in this day and age of, of, of, of, college athletics and the revenue sharing model. I'm fascinated to see where Nebraska goes. Like I think we're still waiting on on real, not transparency because Troy Dan's given to us some of that, but also just the idea of like what sports, frankly, get left out and and or added or added because we do know that there's going to be a women's sport added at some point and what sport is that?

That was that was my 1230. Okay. Then I won't. We don't need to. Right. It was my 12.30 conversation. Well, because as you peel back the onion, and there's just more and more.

That's why we started with the outer skin. Yeah. Because you have to determine what's most important. And if you say to me that if you're trying to describe one in the recruiting game of the transfer portal to tell other people what, give me the ideal Husker athlete, give me the best of what it is. Listen, nobody's coming here to be midline. Everybody's coming here to be their best version of what a Husker can be.

And if you're pointing that out, that the best, the Huskers who are currently here, who have come here and excelled, developed, excelled, and produced at the highest level, Nick, who are those five individual Husker athletes who have come here and set the standard for, one, what a Husker is, two, what Husker success looks like. Three, the icon for what you want future Huskers to shoot for. aspire to and want to be like. Nick, who are those five? So I think you start volleyball because I, I agree with Bach.

You start volleyball, you look at at players this year. It's going to be Harper Murray and Andy Jackson. I think, I think like going back a couple of years, Lexi Rodriguez is on that list. Like Lexi would be would be number one. Right. I think, yeah. Then you look at wrestling. I think you look at.

What about Rebecca Allen? Yeah. That was the, that was like, once again, it's you're, you're grasping at straws for the difference. So then maybe there's three. Sure. So maybe there's three then. And I would, I would just from a sheer from experience standpoint, you put Rebecca Alec in over maybe an Andy Jackson, just from an experience standpoint. But once again, like it's the differences is so minuscule that and the margin is so slim that I think you could go with any answer there. And I think you look at wrestling just because the two national

champions like Ridge Love and Antrell. I think those are the two. And Brock. And Hardy has to be. Yes. Yeah. He's a bad, he's a bad breakfast away from being the third national champion. And then, and then not to mention like looking at the future of it. Right. It's, it's hard to see that that's he's enrolled. When we have this. He has enrolled and he's in the building. Yes. When we have this conversation on Tuesday, June 30th of 2026 next year, it's hard to imagine that the five don't come from the same programs.

That AJ Ferrari is in the discussion. He's in the program. he's in the discussion. Think of all the national champions in track and field, all of the Big Ten champions in track and field, and the bowler in the best bowler in the country resides in Lincoln, Nebraska, right? She's, she, the award was there.

As a matter of fact, they had three of the top seven. Yeah. There's no other sport where you can say three of the best seven in the country reside in Lincoln, Nebraska. So you have to, if the standard is national championship, Big Ten championship versus popularity and importance to the bottom line.

We're talking two different, entirely different conversations. Who's your five most important athletes to Nebraska, Nebraska Athletics? Nick? Five most important. I think Harper Murray's in there. I think Dylan Raola is there. man that's that's a that's a different different conversation um as as much as i want to i think jordy ball okay is in there as well no number one a or one b player in the country yeah yeah

yeah no doubt and she was the third one i listed um which that's a knock on me i think then the other two have to come from from football just because from the value that they bring in terms of the bottom line, like you said. Let me ask you a question, D.P. Is it possible? Because you always ask all the time about priority. Is it possible for a program? And maybe this isn't Nebraska,

but a program to go, even though we are middle of the pack, that is still our priority. You better be careful. And that's what I wanted to get to. You better be careful because standards. Yes. Travel.

They travel in the same space because remember they share space. They share meals. They share gyms. They share revenue. They share revenue. Yeah. Right. So if you go into this thing and you say to Bo Bassett, come to Nebraska,

well, okay. I'm trying to be the best. If you're Bob Bassett, you've made a statement from day one. I'm trying to be the best. That's right. So I'm only coming there if you're trying to be the best. And if the best is, you can point to Ridge, Love it, Antrell Taylor, Brock Hardy, now A.J. Ferrari, different conversations.

You can say that in volleyball because, hey, wait, player of the year, repetitive, high level, national fan base, renowned sellout streak, yada, yada, yada. You could say that in bowling because you took the two best high school bowlers in the country who immediately said we're going to wear the last two or three bowlers of the year have been. You can't say that for football. And if you're pushing that, now that's the gold mission. You need for Nebraska football and Nebraska football players to be at that level. If it's just because your football, you get more money,

then success and winning isn't in, it's not in the instruction. Yeah, that's where like there was a comment that you made just a couple of minutes ago and that it kind of raised the question in my mind regarding it are we at a spot to where with the revenue sharing with the college athletics change like you said to where it's programs will sit and go look we know we aren't nationally competitive in that sport but it's the one that makes us the most money so we continuously just put endless amounts of dollars and efforts and how long will the fan base do that and that's my point because then to you to to build off what you said with Beau Bassett or any top level recruit,

it's, okay, the individual program might be ready for me to be the best, but is the overall athletic department in a spot to where they're ready for me to be the best? Or they're ready to house the best athlete in that specific sport. That's in this case, not football. So, Bach, if we said this, that the basic standard for, Big Ten preseason football and the rankings, or at least the prognostication spaces, that Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Oregon are the standard. And this is the point that I really need to land up, that that's the standard.

That Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Oregon are the standard for the Big Ten. And if you're rating Nebraska and you're setting, talking about Nebraska standard, It's independent standing and standard. Does it say that a transfer from Michigan or Michigan State or Maryland would choose Nebraska for any other reason other than money? Yeah. That's when you have to go, I need to scratch my head and figure out if I'm saying the right thing out loud in public. It's crazy and I know we're up against the clock. I wanted to bring this by you.

is the, where is it, the co-founder of the Ohio State Booster Collective, the Foundation is called, made a quote to the Wall Street Journal earlier today that said the Buckeyes roster for college football this year is going to be $35 million. That's a different type of money. That's NFL money.

But that also brings national championships. That's why you're into discussion. And that's what, but I'm just, if we're saying to somebody, I'm only going to date you because you're rich. Not because you're good, not because you're going to be the best me. It's because you're rich.

Bach, your answer would be probably not the best choice. Not ideal. Right? Not ideal. All right, Nick, thank you guys. Bach, we'll throw the break. We'll pick up the conversation here on one-on-one.