• NU coach Bo Pelini after Wednesday's practice:



LINCOLN — The kids at Cavett Elementary knew Monday morning only that a University of Nebraska athlete was headed to their school to mentor a fifth-grade student.

They didn't know whom. But when the skinny kicker with dark, curly hair and a scruffy chin walked through the doors, jaws dropped.

“I think people were kind of in shock that it was actually Alex Henery,” said Jeff Brehm, Cavett assistant principal. “It took them a few minutes just to settle down. I mean, it's Alex Henery. Everyone knows him.”

Nebraska's 22-year-old place-kicker and punter is an A-lister around Lincoln, trailing in popularity only to the likes of Bo Pelini and Ndamukong Suh. On the one-year anniversary of his school-record, 57-yard field goal that beat Colorado at Memorial Stadium, Henery's rock-star status continues to escalate.

And it couldn't be happening to a more reluctant hero.

Uncomfortable when faced with the glare of news media and public fascination, he offers short, monotone answers. A walking sound bite, he is not. But the junior from Omaha Burke is polite and willing in an awkward sort of way.

Oh, and the guy's got ice water in his veins.

Henery made 25 straight field goals from inside 50 yards until his somewhat-stunning miss three weeks ago from 43 against Oklahoma. He said he hit the ball perfectly but lined up wrong. Still, he's 16 of 19 this year and 42 of 48 over three seasons — an 87.5-percent rate that ranks No. 1 in Nebraska history.

This fall, the former walk-on added punting to his list of chores. Henery averages 41.4 yards per attempt, with a Big 12-best 22 downed inside the 20-yard line and seven punts inside the 3.

“For my first year doing (both),” Henery said, “I've done, like, OK.”

Big man on campus

Moments like the scene at Cavett Elementary are nothing new for Henery.

People recognize him regularly in public. They point and whisper to friends. At 6-foot-2 and 175 pounds, he blends in better than say, the hulking Suh, but Henery increasingly is finding his anonymity to be fleeting.

He's asked to sign items and pose for pictures. Henery makes reference to one “really weird” experience with a fan at Walmart. He won't get into the details.

“It's a long story,” he said.

Likewise, he inspires wonder among teammates.

“It's like he's using a pitching wedge out there,” quarterback Zac Lee said. “It's really kind of ridiculous.”

Ricky Henry, the Huskers' starting right guard, graduated with Henery from Burke in 2005. Henery didn't kick a football competitively until his freshman year of high school in 2000. Henry watched Henery play soccer at Burke, during which time Henery professes to have honed his skill at manipulating the movement of a kicked ball.

“You could definitely tell he was special,” Henry said. “I remember once on a kickoff, he kicked it through the uprights. It was crazy.”

How'd he do that?

Last week in the second quarter of the Huskers' 17-3 win over Kansas State, Henery boomed a punt 45 yards over the head of star return specialist Brandon Banks. Husker Anthony Blue was positioned to down the ball inside the NU 5.

It bounced near the goal line, evaded Blue and took a sharp right turn out of bounds at the 1.

The stadium erupted.

“It's amazing how well he's played since day one,” said ex-Husker Kris Brown of the Houston Texans, an 11-year NFL place-kicking veteran. “There's probably some things I could learn from him.”

Henery smashed a fourth-quarter punt 61 yards against Kansas State. This one trickled out of bounds at the 3.

His feats with the football look like mere chance, but Henery seems to work some sort of magic every week.

It can't be luck. How does he do it?

“I don't know,” Henery said. “Everyone has their days, I guess.”

When punting, he said he tries to control the ball by adjusting his grip and the spin before the kick.

Henery is largely self-taught as both a place-kicker and punter. Graduate assistant coach Curt Baldus works with the kickers, and John Papuchis coordinates the special teams. But mainly, they chart Henery's kicks and devise a plan to keep his leg fresh.

Brown, who follows the Huskers closely and visited NU practice recently during the Texans' open week, said he was concerned before this season about Henery's durability.

“More with the mental side of it,” Brown said. “It's hard enough to get yourself mentally ready to play, kicking the ball. But to worry about punting it and handling the ball, too, it's something that kickers don't do.

“Most people don't realize it, but when you look at the mechanics of kicking and punting, they're contradictory of each other.”

Henery has been fine. And make no mistake, he's an NFL prospect, though Henery said he won't give it much consideration.

“I still have a year left,” he said, “so it's a long ways away.”

Henery, almost certainly, won't do both at the next level, but the diversity may add to his value as a potential draft pick in 2011.

Brown described him as the prototypical pro place-kicker. As a punter, Henery is unorthodox, following through across his body with his right leg. Most pro scouts want a punter who's “straight up and down,” Brown said.

Henery said he's aware of that and that he plans to work in the upcoming offseason to change his technique as a punter.

If history is any indicator, don't bet against him.

A special player

Henery is a deceptively good athlete. He avoided a blocked punt against Virginia Tech as he scrambled from the rush to launch a running, 76-yarder that may still rank as the most hard-to-believe play of the NU season.

He handled several bad snaps in the rain against Missouri and played it smart on the one that got away, throwing the ball out of the end zone for a safety to keep Nebraska within striking distance in its comeback win.

Henery saved a fourth-quarter touchdown against Baylor with his tackle of Chance Casey after a 62-yard return.

“I don't know how he does it,” freshman long snapper P.J. Mangieri said.

Mangieri said he heard of Henery's accomplishments before he actually met the kicker this year. And when Mangieri saw Henery for the first time, well, let's just say first impressions aren't always on target.

“I was kind of like, ‘Huh, this is the guy who made the 57-yard field goal?'”

Yes, the 57-yard field goal.

Henery's life-altering kick with 1:43 to play one year ago made an instant classic of the Huskers' 40-31 win over CU. It allowed Pelini to complete his first season at NU with nine wins and a New Year's Day bowl appearance.

It also secured Henery that scholarship, awarded officially in August before this season.

“I tried everything I could to lose that football game and he bailed me out,” said Pelini, referring to some questionable coaching decisions that day, “so he earned it right there in my mind. He's done so much. What more could you ask of a guy? If anybody's earned it, he has.

“He's a pretty special football player.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1031, mitch.sherman@owh.com

• This week's Big Red Today show:

• Alex Henery during Tuesday's press conference.