LINCOLN — Austin Cassidy tirelessly shadowed former Nebraska teammate Matt O’Hanlon last year to prepare himself for what was ahead. From the football field to the training table and sometimes everywhere in between.
“I sat right next to Matt in all the meetings," Cassidy said. “I had every dinner with him. Everywhere he went, I went with Matt, because I was trying to figure out what he’s doing.
“I kind of saw him as a guy who came similar to my situation. So I just thought, ‘Hey, if this guy’s going to do it, then I’ve got to get on the right path with what he’s doing.’”
O’Hanlon, a former walk-on who became a two-year starter at safety, played his final game in the Holiday Bowl and is preparing for a potential NFL chance. Cassidy, a junior out of Lincoln Southwest, is among those vying for either O’Hanlon’s old safety job or some other role in a defense that again will regularly play five or six defensive backs.
“He’s been working at safety. He’s been working at nickel," NU coach Bo Pelini said. “He’s very versatile. He’s kind of like a hybrid guy. I like what he brings to the table in a number of different ways. We think he’s a good football player."
O’Hanlon hopes he helped Cassidy, because it’s not hard to see similarities in their journeys.
O’Hanlon was a high school quarterback out of Bellevue East blessed with speed and athletic ability. Not highly recruited, he first went to South Dakota, made the NU roster through a walk-on tryout and spent two years contributing on special teams before starting at safety.
Cassidy, son of former Husker administrator Tim Cassidy, was a high school quarterback out of Lincoln, running for 1,507 yards as a senior at Southwest. He also stood out in track, winning a state championship in the pole vault.
As a Husker walk-on, he broke through as a special-teams contributor last season as a sophomore.
“He’s definitely a really smart player, but sometimes when people say that they’re also not seeing how good of an athlete he is and he’s definitely one of the better athletes on the team," O’Hanlon said. “Real physical. He was a beast on special teams. I don’t know if a lot of people were able to see that."
Husker coaches aim to use both the athlete and the beast in Cassidy as they experiment during spring practice.
At a solid 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, Cassidy is a bigger and more durable defensive back who can come up close to the line and play the run like a linebacker and still run well enough to cover. That could suit him for the nickel spot, where 6-2, 210-pound Eric Hagg has thrived the past two seasons.
“It’s great learning from Eric, because he has so much experience playing that position," Cassidy said. “He’s just a freak athletically, so it’s fun to watch him and learn from him and talk to him about it."
Cassidy said it’s all about matching personnel. If the offense is going with two backs and a tight end or one back with two tight ends, he might be in there. If it’s one back and no tight ends, somebody such as DeJon Gomes might slide from a safety spot up close to the line.
“We’re looking to do more stuff out of the nickel package, and basically they’re just trying to get the best guys on the field," Cassidy said. “If that means I’ve got to play nose tackle, then I’ll play at nose tackle. I just want to work wherever."
Cassidy and others saw possible opportunities coming with O’Hanlon and Larry Asante being seniors last season. That’s why he attached himself to O’Hanlon and started absorbing whatever he could. O’Hanlon didn’t mind he said the benefits were mutual.
“Those guys move on," Cassidy said, “but they want to see their buddies do well."
When Pelini put O’Hanlon on scholarship, Cassidy said, the walk-ons joked that O’Hanlon had sold out on them. But it could be another O’Hanlon path that Cassidy follows, considering that he might be one of the two or three most important walk-ons on the team.
“I try really not to worry about it," he said. “If I just do the right things on the field and in the weight room and in the film room, all that stuff will take care of itself. So that’s not something I’m really concerned about."
Contact the writer:
444-1042, rich.kaipust@owh.com
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