36 Husker Student-Athletes Lead December Grads

Lincoln - A total of 36 current and former Husker student-athletes across all sports will receive their degrees during University of Nebraska-Lincoln December Commencement ceremonies at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday and Saturday.

Graduate commencement is set for Friday, Dec. 20 at 3 p.m., before undergraduate commencement occurs on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 9 a.m. Doors at PBA open 90 minutes prior to the event on each day.

A group of 14 current and former Husker football players make up more than one-third of the class of student-athlete graduates, led by honorable-mention All-Big Ten center Ben Scott, who earned his master’s degree in business administration. Scott headlines a group of eight Huskers preparing to lead Nebraska to the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, Dec. 28. Scott is joined by fellow offensive lineman Henry Lutovsky, tight end Thomas Fidone II, wide receivers Isaiah Neyor and Elliott Brown, linebacker MJ Sherman and defensive backs Marques Buford and Blake Closman in bowl preparations after earning their degrees.

Other contributors to the Husker football team’s success in 2024 include graduates Jimari Butler, Mikai Gbayor, Tommi Hill, AJ Rollins and Stefon Thompson.

Nebraska Football Hall of Famer Tyrone Legette also completed his bachelor’s degree in communication studies. A first-team All-Big Eight cornerback in 1991, Legette spent seven years in the NFL with New Orleans, Tampa Bay and San Francisco after being chosen by the Saints in the third round of the 1992 NFL Draft. 

Two-time first-team shot put All-American Maxwell Otterdahl highlights a group of nine graduates for the Nebraska men’s and women’s track and field program. Otterdahl, who redshirted last season, placed fourth both indoors and outdoors at the 2023 NCAA Championships in the shot put. In 2022, the psychology major from Rosemount, Minnesota, was named the Big Ten Men’s Field Athlete of the Outdoor Championships by sweeping both the shot put and discus conference titles.

Fellow first-team All-American thrower Henry Zimmerman adds to the quality of the Husker graduates. Zimmerman, who owns the school record in the weight throw, finished seventh at the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships, after earning bronze at the Big Ten meet in both 2022 and 2024. The communication studies major was also the silver medalist in the hammer throw at the 2024 Big Ten Outdoor Championships.

Tyler Brown, Clayton Keys, Joshua Marcy and Omar Rodgers join women’s student-athletes Ramonia Clarke, Nyabuay Diew and Seven Hicks in completing the group of Husker track and field graduates in December.

Nebraska women’s basketball guard Allison Weidner will celebrate her graduation by competing for the No. 23 Huskers in a top-25 showdown at unbeaten No. 17 Georgia Tech on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. (CT) in Atlanta. Weidner, a redshirt junior from Humphrey, Nebraska, earned her bachelor’s degree in child, youth and family studies in just three-and-a-half years. She has played in 10 games for the 10-1 Huskers after overcoming back-to-back season-ending knee injuries the past two years.

Nebraska men’s basketball forward Rienk Mast adds a master’s degree in applied science. The 6-10 senior from the Netherlands is redshirting with an injury this season after helping the Huskers to the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

Two-time NCAA qualifier Bubba Wilson represents the Nebraska wrestling team at graduation as a construction management major, while Husker baseball players Ben Columbus and Kyle Froehlich will also earn their degrees as management majors.

A trio of Nebraska soccer student-athletes, including Sami Hauk, Nicola Hauk and Audra Clark, will earn their undergraduate degrees, while Rudi Christiansen (men’s tennis), Lucy Loy (women’s tennis), Reagan Hinze (swimming and diving), Harry Crockett (men’s golf) and Payton Fry (rifle) round out the collection of Nebraska December graduates.

Overall, the 36 Husker grads in December came to Nebraska from 16 states and five foreign countries.

Nebraska continues to feature one of the highest graduation rates in the nation, while leading the country in the number of College Sports Communicators NCAA Division I Academic All-Americans (362) and NCAA Today’s Top Ten Award winners (18) across all sports. More than 100 Nebraska student-athletes all time have earned prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships.

December 2024 Nebraska Student-Athlete Graduates (36)
Elliott Brown (Football) - Omaha, Nebraska [Management]
Tyler Brown (Track & Field) - Lincoln, Nebraska [Nutrition & Health Sciences]
Marques Buford (Football) - Chicago, Illinois [Child, Youth & Family Studies]
Jimari Butler (Football) - Mobile, Alabama [Criminology & Criminal Justice]
Rudi Christiansen (Men’s Tennis) - Hielbronn, Germany [Business Administration]
Audra Clark (Soccer) - San Antonio, Texas [Civil Engineering]
Ramonia Clarke (Track & Field) - Craighead, Jamaica [Criminology & Criminal Justice]
Blake Closman (Football) - Elkhorn, Nebraska [Nutrition & Health Sciences]
Ben Columbus (Baseball) - North Vancouver, B.C., Canada [Management]
Harry Crockett (Men’s Golf) - Oxted, England [Communication Studies]
Nyabuay Diew (Track & Field) - South Sioux City, Nebraska [Criminology & Criminal Justice]
Thomas Fidone II (Football) - Council Bluffs, Iowa [Management]
Kyle Froehlich (Baseball) - Nipawin, Saskatchewan, Canada [Management]
Payton Fry (Rifle) - Arvada, Colorado [Animal Science]
Mikai Gbayor (Football) - Irvington, New Jersey [Criminology & Criminal Justice]
Nicola Hauk (Soccer) - Heidelberg, Germany [Sports Media & Communication]
Sami Hauk (Soccer) - Argyle, Texas [Sports Media & Communication]
Seven Hicks (Track & Field) - Peoria, Illinois [Child, Youth & Family Studies]
Tommi Hill (Football) - Orlando, Florida [Child, Youth & Family Studies]
Reagan Hinze (Swimming & Diving) - Conroe, Texas [Music]
Clayton Keys (Track & Field) - Katy, Texas [Criminology & Criminal Justice]
Tyrone Legette (Football) - Columbia, South Carolina [Communication Studies]
Lucy Loy (Women’s Tennis) - Fishers, Indiana [Accounting]
Henry Lutovsky (Football) - Crawfordsville, Iowa [Criminology & Criminal Justice]
Joshua Marcy (Track & Field) - Loomis, Nebraska [Construction Management]
Rienk Mast (Men’s Basketball) - Groningen, Netherlands [Applied Science - Master’s]
Isaiah Neyor (Football) - Fort Worth, Texas [Child, Youth & Family Studies]
Maxwell Otterdahl (Track & Field) - Rosemount, Minnesota [Psychology]
Omar Rodgers (Track & Field) - Brooklyn, New York [Applied Science - Master’s]
AJ Rollins (Football) - Omaha, Nebraska [Psychology]
Ben Scott (Football) - Honolulu, Hawaii [Business - Master’s]
MJ Sherman (Football) - Baltimore, Maryland [Child, Youth & Family Studies]
Stefon Thompson (Football) - Long Island, New York [Child, Youth & Family Studies]
Allison Weidner (Women’s Basketball) - Humphrey, Nebraska [Child, Youth & Family Studies]
Bubba Wilson (Wrestling) - Manhattan, Kansas [Construction Management]
Henry Zimmerman (Track & Field) - New Albany, Ohio [Communication Studies]