04/95 - EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) - Rob Zatechka isn't the average New York Giants' draft choice.
In fact, average doesn't come close to describing the 6-foot-4, 307-pound offensive lineman from the University of Nebraska who was taken in the fourth round of the NFL draft.
While most draft choices and free agents come to the Giants hoping to find a job, Zatechka really doesn't need it. His future is somewhat set after posting a 4.0 grade-point average.
He's got a spot at Nebraska's medical school waiting, just in case. "I guess I have a-pretty decent safety seat there," Zatechka said Friday at Giants Stadium at a minicamp for rookies and free agents. "It's one of those things where the NFL is my first choice. That's what I really want to make work. I'd rather go to work in the morning in sweats and shoulder pads rather than a suit and tie."
Zatechka (it's pronounced ZAD-ess-kuh) actually has a good chance to fit in on an offensive line that needs more youth. Only center Brian Williams, 29, is under 30 years old, while guards William Roberts and Lance Smith are both entering their 11th seasons.
While Zatechka played tackle three years for the national champion Cornhuskers, the Giants arc projecting him at guard, where he played his junior year.
"I'll take anything I can get," he said. "It's a little bit different, but I wouldn't say one is better than the other. The pass blocking is a bit easier as guard. You just square in. You're not out on an island like you are when you are at tackle. There's also less maneuvering for you to do and less maneuvering for the defensive lineman to do."
Giants offensive line coach Pete Mangurian was high on Zatechka after the team used their first fourth-round pick (No. 128 overall) to take him. (Tom Canavan AP Sports Writer)
When Brenden Stai looks in the mirror, he sees Rob Zatechka. How much alike are these two Nebraska offensive linemen? Consider their workouts at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis.
Stai did 37 bench-press repetitions at 225 pounds, one more than Zatechka. Stai ran a 5.12 40-yard dash, Zatechka 5.18. And Stai reached 291/2 inches in the vertical jump, a half-inch higher than Zatechka.
That will happen when you work out side-by-side in the same weight room for five years.
More than anything, Stai and Zatechka are products of a system. No school east of Southern Cal has a traiition of offensive-line greatness to natch Nebraska's.
They come from near and far to )lay for the Huskers. Stai is from Vorba Linda, Calif. Three of Nebraska's other starting offensive linemen last season were homegrown. Zatechka was raised in Lincoln, in the shadows of Memorial Stadium.
In his 21 years as Nebraska's offensive-line coach, Milt Tenopir has coached 16 all-Americans, 42 all-Big Eight players, four Outland Trophy winners and two Lombardi Award winners ... but no Pro Bowlers.
For that matter, only a handful of Nebraska offensive linemen have been starters in the NFL. As we speak, there are two former NU offensive linemen in the league - Kansas City guard Will Shields and guard-center Bill Lewis, who recently signed with the Broncos after not playing in 1994. Then there's Joe Sims, a defensive lineman at Nebraska who's now an offensive tackle with Philadelphia.
What gives?
There's no denying that, when it comes to attracting interest from the NFL, Nebraska offensive linemen have an image problem. How big an image problem? Consider this: From 1988-92, not a single Nebraska offensive lineman was drafted.
Said one NFL personnel official: "They're not what they're supposed to be. It's such a machine, you're not sure what you're getting. They can play forever in a running game, but they've got to learn pass-blocking quickly in the pros."
Stai already could be feeling the stigma of ex-Nebraska linemen. To Nit: In February, he was projected as the 55th pick by draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. Last week, Kiper projected him as the 76th pick. -
All Stai did in between was the 37 reps at the Combine, more than any other player. And, to hear him tell it, he actually did 40, one fewer than ~ Dan "Big Daddy" Wilkinson's Combine record, set in 1994.
Then, in late March, Stai clocked a 4.84 40 - at 308 pounds - during a workout in Lincoln. Soon after, he clocked the fastest shuttle run ever recorded by the Houston Oilers during a drill designed for offensive linemen. For his efforts, Stai could drop into the third round, one round later than most originally had projected him.
"It doesn't make any sense," Stai said. "A lot of that is due to the fact that, for some reason, everybody doesn't really like Nebraska players. Kiper underestimates Nebraska players, all in all, and other people, like (Joel) Buchsbaum, tail what he says."
Said Tenopir: "It doesn't really bother me, but sometimes our kids have gotten a bum rap because we don't throw the ball a lot. There hasn't been a whole lot of them who've left here and gone on to the pros. Primarily, what we get out of them isn't what they're looking for."
There are several theories about why Nebraska offensive linemen haven't been more successful in the NFL. One is that people have a natural tendency to overrate them simply because of the aura of Nebraska football.
The perception is that, if a Waver weighs 300 pounds and starts at Nebraska, he must be a great prospect.
The reality is sometimes a different matter altogether.
"I'll be really honest with you," Tenopir said. "I have three kids this year (Stai, Zatechka and Zach Wiegert) who legitimately have a chance to play in the NFL. I don't know if" we've always had that." Said Stai, "There's such a tradition here. A lot of guys come to Nebraska just to play the offensive line. We've had a lot of great players, but we've had some players who were AllAmericans who, in my honest opinion, didn't deserve it."
Another theory: Nebraska linemen are one-dimensional. As in, they're dominant run-blockers, but they lack the experience and technique necessary to be quality pass-blockers in the NFL.
Then there's perhaps the most prevalent theory of all: Nebraska linemen are "maxed-out" in college. Once leaving the football-factory atmosphere, they don't get any stronger or any better.
The Denver Broncos know all about that theory. They selected Nebraska tackle Kelvin Clark in the first round of the 1979 draft. His nickname was "Big Neck," a reference to his many hours spent in the weight room in Lincoln.
Early in his first NFL training camp, Broncos veterans began calling him "Big Check." He stayed on the roster for a while, mainly because of his status as a No. 1 draft choice, but was gone by 1981.
Stai has heard them all, but he doesn't buy into the "maxed-out" theory. He's the strongest player to ever wear a Nebraska uniform - he bench-presses 525 pounds, power cleans 385 and squats 654 - and he plans on getting bigger and better in the NFL.
"That's a crock," he said. "You get a guy who's already built a foundation for himself in college, and he's only going to get better. If anything, being at Nebraska should help. Players come out of here with a winning attitude.
"So many times I've heard guys say, `Well, I'm here (in the NFL) now, I'm not going to do anything.' You won't hear somebody from Nebraska say that. We work."
Stai is generally considered the second-best guard prospect in the draft behind Northwestern's Matt O'Dwyer, who projects as a late firstrounder. But that's just what others say.
"You hear people say maybe first round, maybe second- round," he said. "I'm behind guys I know I'm better than. I'm not only going to play in the NFL, I'm going to get some longevity out of it."
The date was Oct. 30, 1994, a great day to be alive and wearing red.
"It was a great day for football around here," Brenden Stai said.
That was the day Nebraska rolled over Colorado 24-7 in Lincoln, thanks to a thoroughly dominating performance by the Cornhuskers' offensive line.
Shannon Clavelle and Darius Holland, two CU defensive linemen who figure as second- or third-round picks in next week's NFL draft, were no match for Stai and his brothers in beef on the Nebraska line.
To hear Stai tell it, the CU players gave the Huskers' linemen all the motivation they needed when they flashed pipe-cutters as they stepped off their chartered plane.
Earlier in the year, Stai had nicknamed the Nebraska offensive line "The Pipeline." They even had a poster shot at a construction site, with Stai and his fellow linemen standing amid giant culvert pipes.
Said Stai, "They got off the plane with pipe-cutters. When I heard that, I knew it was going to be a battle."
| Since 1980, Nebraska has had 12 All-America offensive linemen. Here's what happened to each after their collegiate careers: | |||
| Year | Player | Pos. | Round drafted/comment |
| 1980 | Randy Schleusener | G | No. 9 pick (Cleveland), but opted for grad school |
| 1981-82 | Dave Rimington | C | No. 1 pick (Cincinnati), seven seasons in NFL |
| 1983 | Dean Steinkuhler | G | No. 1 pick (Houston), eight seasons in NFL |
| 1984 | Harry Grimminger | G | Wasn't drafted, never played in NFL |
| 1984 | Mark Traynowicz | C | No. 2 pick (Buffalo), five seasons in NFL |
| 1985 | Bill Lewis | C | No. 7 pick (Raiders), recently signed by Broncos |
| 1987 | John McCormick | G | Wasn't drafted, never played in NFL |
| 1988-89 | Jake Young | C | Wasn't drafted, never played in NFL |
| 1989 | Doug Glaser | T | Wasn't drafted, never played in NFL |
| 1992 | Will Shields | G | No. 3 pick (Kansas City), starter for Chiefs |
| 1994 | Brenden Stai | G | Projected No. 2 or No. 3 pick in '95 draft |
| 1994 | Zach Wiegert | T | Projected late No. 1 or early No. 2 pick |