Life has delivered some body blows to Rickey Thenarse.

The Nebraska senior lost two brothers in separate shootings in 2008. He missed time that season with a dislocated collarbone. As a high school freshman, he was even shot in the leg.

A season-ending knee injury suffered in the fourth game of last year was almost the knockout punch.

“I honestly, for the first time in a long time in my life, almost gave up after that,” he said.

Those around the Nebraska football team are glad he didn't.

The 6-foot, 210-pound safety from Los Angeles started and played well in the Huskers' season opener Saturday. Thenarse made four tackles in his first action in more than 11 months.

The torn ACL was his most difficult injury, more painful than being shot, he said.

“It's something you don't want to go through,” he said. “That rehab probably was the worst thing I ever went through in my life. That's the only way I can describe it.”

He wasn't able to fully extend the knee for more than four months after the injury. It was only in the past few weeks that he says he became confident he was back to 100 percent.

It was about that time, Carl Pelini notes, that the light went on for Thenarse.

“He started playing at a speed and with a decisiveness that was amazing to watch,” said NU's defensive coordinator.

There was plenty of offseason talk about what the other safeties could do. Guys who were younger and had logged far less field time than Thenarse were the hot topics.

Therefore, motivation wasn't a problem.

“I was kind of the underdog,” he said. “But I believe in myself as a player. I know I can be a leader out there, and I know I can contribute to the team just as good as anyone else. All the things I went through, I just wanted to prove that I can be that guy and just prove all the doubters wrong.”

He didn't know he'd be starting Saturday until lineups were announced on stadium screens about 30 minutes before kickoff.

Thenarse was around for the pre-Pelini defensive meltdown, so helping get the Blackshirts back on track was important to him.

He said he has worked harder than ever before.

“Rickey had some highs and Rickey had some lows, but what I was looking for the past couple weeks was just staying consistent,” defensive backs coach Marvin Sanders said. “I can understand one low moment. But sometimes Rickey let one low moment evolve into two, three, four. But now, this whole camp, it hasn't been that way. He's been really consistent.”

A guy who built a reputation for his big hits and attitude turned his focus to technique and how he could fit his game into the defense as a whole. Being a spectator last season is probably a major factor, Sanders said.

“It's hard to say somebody benefits from sitting on the sideline. Nobody wants to do that,” Sanders said. “But I think it was a maturation process for him. And I think he knew that this is his senior year. He doesn't have any more opportunities, so he has to step his game up.”

Now just one online class away from a sociology degree, Thenarse has come a long way at Nebraska, and battling through all those difficult times seems well worth the effort.

And now, for the first time in a long time, he can concentrate on what he came to NU to do.

“It feels good to be playing football again,” he said.

Contact the writer:

850-0781, nickrubek@hotmail.com

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