Husker Walk-on Q-n-A: Chase Urbach

Chase Urbach is a senior walk-on from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, who grew up in New Jersey until he was 16. One of the rare out-of-state walk-ons in the Nebraska program, Urbach honed his skills in high school as a long snapper, and he has started every game on the Huskers' punt unit since the third game of last season, at Michigan. Urbach is currently on watch lists for the Mannelly Award (nation's top long snapper) and the Burlsworth Trophy (nation's most outstanding walk-on). A member of the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honor Roll, Urbach has already earned his undergraduate degree, in advertising and public relations. He visited with Brian Rosenthal of Huskers.com for this Husker walk-on Q-n-A.
 
BR: Most walk-ons here are from Nebraska. What was your route here as an out-of-state player?
Chase: "So when I was going through the whole entire recruitment process, I knew I was a snapper, and scholarships aren't things you get easily coming out of high school. So a preferred walk-on is something I maybe was trying to get, and that's what Coach Read, at the time, gave me. I saw it, and I just came here. I knew that when I saw I had to come in with one other guy who was actually on scholarship, I knew I had to fight and earn everything. That wasn't intimidating to me, because I knew if I was coming here, I would have to fight for everything. So I just thought it was part of the experience at that point."
 
BR: What other opportunities did you have?
Chase: "I had a bunch of smaller, like D-II schools, offer me. Michigan gave me the preferred walk-on, also, kind of the same as here, but I didn't really want to stay in the state up there. I kind of wanted to go out and do my own thing. Hawaii was one, and Indiana State was another that contacted me."
 
BR: What's it mean to you to be up for the Burlsworth Trophy?
Chase: "It's a huge honor, obviously, because guys before me who won it, like Baker Mayfield and Hunter Renfrow and all those guys, so it's huge company to be like up for the same award that those guys have won. Honestly, I don't feel like I'm the most worthy person to be nominated for it on this team, though, because there are so many other guys who work their ass off, like Reid Karel, Eli Sullivan. They grind every single day and do such a great job out there. I feel like they should've gotten it over me."
 
BR: What is it about your accomplishments that make you believe you're the right nominee?
Chase: "I work my ass off, and I come to play every single day and do my thing. But I don't know. I was just shocked when I found out I was up for it."
 
BR: How did you become so focused on long snapping?
Chase: "Whenever we started to kick in football as kids, like in seventh or eighth grade, we had everyone try out for the long snapping spot, and I was the best one on my team at the time. I kept on doing it, and then I went to these camps, and the way I got involved in these camps is my uncle was at a cocktail party somewhere in Los Angeles and was talking to someone and she was saying that her son got a scholarship for long snapping to North Carolina State, I think it was. He was like, 'Oh, my nephew actually is a long snapper.' My dad and my uncle talked, and we were going to be out there on vacation and it just so happened to be that one of these long snapping camps was going to be the same time I was going to be out there. I just went to one, and those camps got me better and got me into the recruiting process."
 
BR: What do you see from the newer walk-ons who've joined the program?
Chase: "I can see that this staff has really put an emphasis on having walk-ons added to the team. There's been a great number of them. There have been a bunch of guys who go out there and grind every single day and do a great job, and a bunch more who play on special teams every single game and do a great job. It's just a very talented bunch that we have right now."
 
BR: Did you play other sports?
Chase: "Lacrosse is actually my favorite sport, from when I was a kid. I lived in New Jersey at the time, and it's very popular back East. My lacrosse coaches there liked me a lot, and I feel like if I would've stayed out there, I would've for sure had opportunities to play. But when I moved, my focus got shifted more toward football."
 
BR: What's been the highlight of your career here?
Chase: "There's been a lot of them, honestly. The first game I played in, being back home, was kind of cool. Then the win against Michigan State my freshman year was pretty memorable. Those two are the first two that come to mind, honestly, for me, for being fun and being enjoyable."
 
BR: Before you became involved with Nebraska, what did you know about the walk-on tradition?
Chase: "I watched some as a kid and like knew about them and followed them, kind of. My great, great-grandparents are actually from here, and my family farmed here and graduated from here and everything. When I was getting recruited, my dad was telling me all of that and I thought it was kind of cool."
 
BR: What are your career plans?
Chase: "Honestly, I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm going to grad school in Ad-PR, which is what I got my undergraduate in. I'm going to try to finish that and then weigh my options and try to get some job interviews done."
 
BR: What's the best piece of advice you've taken from Coach Frost?
Chase: "Just attack in what you do. Don't be scared. Just go out and do it."
 
BR: What's the biggest change in the program you've seen since you've been here?
Chase: "The first thing that comes to mind is the attitude of everyone has changed. Everyone wants to get this right and get this all figured out and get it right for everyone else."

Reach Brian at brosenthal@huskers.com or follow him on Twitter @GBRosenthal.