Sunken Sub : Nebraska’s Berringer Became a Star as a Fill-In Last Season, but Strong Family Ties Help Him Deal With Recent Obscurity

As a bone-chilling wind blew across the prairie like a cold, wet slap in the face, Brook Berringer was smiling.

Despite the weather, the Nebraska quarterback was going hunting. And when it is this cold, quail retreat into the thick cover of cornfields, making the hunt more challenging.

“Any time I can get out, I’m out there,” Berringer said, dismissing the freeze with a wave of his bony hand.

With Brittany spaniels Juke and Bodie accompanying him, Berringer goes into the country to get away from it all. He finds solitude in the harsh winter landscape and a place where he can reflect on a season in which he has been forgotten.

After starting seven games and leading Nebraska to the national championship last season, Berringer spent his senior year in anonymity watching Tommie Frazier’s Heisman-like performances week after disheartening week. His career will probably end on the sidelines Tuesday when the top-ranked Cornhuskers play No. 2 Florida in the Fiesta Bowl at Tempe, Ariz.

It’s really not fair, but there it is. Berringer is the consummate backup. A Steve Young in waiting.

“It’s very comforting to us,” Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne said. “We know that if Frazier goes down we’ve got a guy who has proven that he can win tough games. So, you don’t hesitate to use Frazier to the full extent.”

Thus, Berringer prepared for each game as if he were playing full time. Even when it was obvious Frazier had fully recuperated from the blood clots that sidelined him last year, Berringer stayed positive.

“It has been real hard on all of us,” said Jan Berringer, Brook’s mother. “I admire his ability to stay ready for the games instead of turning his back.”

Berringer knows better than to pout. His father would not have approved.

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Warren Berringer died of cancer when Brook was in fourth grade. The funeral was on Good Friday. Brook and his sisters Nicoel and Drue returned to school in Goodland, Kan., on Monday.

“We’ll never forget, but it’s not going to ruin us,” Jan told them.

Berringer took the loss hard. He had a special relationship with his father because both had an affinity for the outdoors. His mother tried to fill the void by taking him pheasant hunting. It wasn’t the same.

“He missed his dad so much,” she said. “He was angry.”

When Brook was born, his father left the hospital to buy the boy a fishing license. The clerk at the local store thought Warren was crazy, but Berringer kept the license in his room until he left Goodland for Lincoln.

“I used to pack the lunch bag and diaper bag and he and his dad would be out hunting all day,” Jan said.

Berringer caught his first fish at age 2 on a freezing Midwestern day. He insisted that the small fish be cleaned, cooked and cut so everyone in the family could taste it.

Jan, a fourth-grade teacher, encouraged Berringer’s active lifestyle after her husband’s death. But she knew it was difficult when his playmates had fathers to encourage and guide them in sports.

Warren’s twin, William, a commercial pilot, acted as a surrogate parent. But he lived in Park City, Utah, and could not be around all the time.

So Jan asked a family friend to help when she noticed her son’s frustration. The man, Leo Hayden, had lost two sons in a car accident, one who reminded him of Brook.

Hayden became an important figure in young Berringer’s life and played the part of proud father when the athlete was named an all-state quarterback and all-conference basketball player.

But no matter how much Berringer appreciated the two men’s support, he did not forget his father.

“He had something at every game that would represent his dad, some little symbol,” Jan said.

Perhaps the best way he paid homage was through hunting. He has remembered all the lessons his father taught him, especially courtesy.

One day last year near Lincoln, Berringer and a buddy were hunting in a cornfield when the farmer who owned the land told them they could cross into the next field. Don’t worry, the farmer said, he would let the neighbors know.

No sooner had the hunters reached the new field, several pickup trucks drove up. It looked like an ugly scene with irate farmers would ensue. Berringer and his friend walked toward the pickups ready to apologize. But as they got close, everyone piled out of the trucks and approached the quarterback with souvenirs to be autographed.

“He probably has more hunting permission than any human in the United States,” Jan said.

Although a private person, Berringer understands his status. He said football players at Nebraska and other big-time programs need to realize they are going to be noticed.

“You’re not a normal person any more,” he said. “When you’re in the limelight and, especially in this city, when you play football, it is hard to go out in the public and be a regular person.”

The Cornhuskers have been on the defensive this season after the national attention from Lawrence Phillips’ assault of a former girlfriend and three other incidents involving players.

“I think it is naive to say [we] don’t deserve to be singled out,” he said. “It’s not like you can’t go out and stay out of trouble. As an athlete you have to pay the price for a lot of different things, and maybe [staying away from the bar scene] is one of them. A lot of the problems in athletics stem from alcohol use.”

In five years in Lincoln, few have questioned Berringer’s behavior. His misfortune was coming to Nebraska at the same time as Frazier, this year’s Heisman runner-up, who fit perfectly into the Cornhusker offense.

Berringer now hopes the strength of last season will be enough to pique professional interest. When he finally got his chance in 1994, Berringer completed 94 of 151 passes for 1,295 yards and 10 touchdowns.

But with Frazier back this season, Berringer was used in 56 plays in the first five games, rushing for 55 yards and passing for 210. In the fifth game against Washington State, he suffered a knee injury and sat out the next two. He also suffered a bruised back against Oklahoma in the final regular-season game but now is ready if needed Tuesday.

At 6 feet 4 and 220 pounds, Berringer is big enough to play in the pros. Osborne said he also has the arm strength.

If he doesn’t make it, though, Berringer might become a commercial pilot. He got his pilot’s license when he was 18.

For now, however, flying can wait.

“Watching the guys across the nation and watching the guys in the NFL play, I feel like I can play,” said Berringer, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business this month.

Although his chances might have been better at another school, Berringer said he does not regret coming to Nebraska at the same time as Frazier.

“The experiences I’ve had here winning the national championship and five straight Big Eight championships, that’s hard to replace whether playing or not,” he said. “Even if you’re starting somewhere, it’s not much fun getting pounded.”

That’s one experience Berringer has not faced. Graduating with a high school class of 60, Berringer was used to success before Nebraska. A daredevil sort, he is an accomplished water skier, snow skier and reigning champion of riding the three-wheeler around the icy Goodland High track with sisters gleefully in tow.

Jan does not hesitate when recalling the moment she knew her son was athletically inclined. It was the day she brought Drue home for the first time.

While Jan was on the phone talking about the newborn, Brook, 20 months, was marching through the house holding a football and humming. The next time he came through he had a doll tucked underneath his arm. The third time he was holding Drue like a ball.

Later in the day when relatives stopped by to see the baby, Berringer sneaked into the kitchen and put a baby stool on top of a chair. He climbed up the makeshift tower so he could reach the top cabinets where chocolate candy was stored.

Jan and Warren could only sigh.

“We could never stop him from doing things like that,” she said.