Pippens Embraces Chance to Face Penn State

By Erin Smith
Lincoln -- Jerrell Pippens had no idea what lied ahead of him when he lined up for the 400-meter hurdles on April 25, 1998, at the Penn Relays as a high school senior.

Pippens clocked a time of 53.34 and finished fourth, but most importantly he caught the eye of Nebraska sprint coach Billy Maxwell. The rest, as they say, is history.

The senior free safety began his NU football career via the Husker track program. Maxwell signed Pippens to a National Letter of Intent, but Pippens wasn't totally set about only running track.

"I didn't really want to come to school on a track scholarship," Pippens said. "Football was my first love. But Billy Maxwell stuck with me through thick and thin, and told me that he would give me a chance to come up and walk on to the football team (while also running track)."

After arriving on campus in 1999, Pippens made a beeline to the football office with a tape in hand. The coaches saw enough to ask him to join the team for spring practice. Pippens let his play do the talking, and received an invitation to join the team.

The Philadelphia, Pa., native split time between the oval and the turf from 2000 through 2002, before deciding to turn in his spikes and focus on his cleats.

"I left track alone last year because I wanted to get more serious about football," Pippens said. "I look in the mirror every day and see the potential I have. Giving up track was a hard decision, but I asked myself, ?Do you want to be great at something or do you want to be average at two things?'"

Two things are certain with Pippens: his journey has been anything but ordinary and he is ready to make sure Penn State knows it let one of its own run right out of the backyard.

"I didn't grow up thinking I was going to Nebraska," Pippens said. "I thought I would be at Penn State or Notre Dame."

Pippens had the biggest game of his career against the Nittany Lions in 2002, in front of all of his family and friends. He posted a career-high eight tackles, and glows when he talks about that game, until the conversation turns to the result.

"Personally my best game was against Penn State, even though as a team we didn't do too well," Pippens said. "It was right in front of my family and friends and 110,000 people. Having my family there was icing on the cake, but the loss left a bad taste in my mouth."

In 2003, Pippens got off to a great start with four tackles, including a sack and forced fumble against Oklahoma State and owns seven tackles on the season.

During a quick trip home between summer conditioning and reporting for fall practice, Pippens was bombarded by questions concerning his game against the state school.

"When I went home after conditioning, people were asking ?What are you going to do this year against Penn State?'," Pippens said. "We have to perform because that is something that is going to last me the rest of my life. My Jerrell Pippens' legacy will be ?What did you do against Penn State?' Hopefully we can wipe out my junior year memory. This year they have to come into our house, and I am looking forward to it."

While Pippens has had the date and time of the game written in red on his calendar since well before the season began, he understands that it is just one of many games this season.

"Every game this season is marked, especially after last year," Pippens said. "My grandma asked me who our rival is and I told her that every team is our rival this year. We have a lot on our backs. Every game is a big game."

Pippens knows something about big competitions after playing in the 2001 Rose Bowl and being a part of five Big 12 Track and Field Championships. And he has learned about handling pressure from his mother and grandmother.

"My grandma made sacrifices for my mom and my mother made huge sacrifices for me, (holding down) a single-parent home," Pippens said. "She was always a strong, tough woman, never giving into anything."

The influence Pippens' mother has had on him has paid off. Pippens graduated on Aug. 16, 2003, with a degree in communications after four years of college, all while balancing a full academic schedule and competing for the football and track teams throughout his career.

"Being a two-sport athlete taught me that I have the potential to be a great athlete," Pippens said. "When I look back at my time at Nebraska and then look ahead to the rest of my life, I know I can accomplish anything because of what I accomplished here."

Pippens is unsure of where the road might lead following this season, but that is not a new situation for him. He would never have guessed that he would end up in Lincoln, Neb., when he toed the line for that race in 1998.

"Whatever I do, I am going to do something really big and really exciting," Pippens said.