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Click here for complete coverage of 2012 Husker signing day

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LINCOLN — Lucky guy, Barney Cotton.

He's the offensive line coach at Nebraska. That means he's the keeper of the flame. The last several years, the flame has flickered.

The NU offensive line tradition is in rebuild mode. That status was driven home again on Wednesday when a five-star offensive tackle from Arizona chose Stanford over Nebraska. Yes, Stanford is a more desirable place to block than Pipeline U. But the Pipeline is making a comeback.

Cotton is up to his blue collar in the rebuilding project. There's a segment of fans who want Cotton on the hot seat.

On Wednesday, Cotton was on the bleachers.

He sat with the other family and friends of Lincoln Southeast High athletes who signed letters of intent in the Southeast gym. There were photos as each kid declared their destination and signed their autograph. There was applause. A proud moment on a proud day.

And nobody prouder than Papa Cotton.

He beamed as he watched his son Sam complete the process for the cameras. Sam has a scholarship to play football at Nebraska. Next fall, the tight end will join brothers Ben, a senior tight end, and Jake, a sophomore offensive lineman, on the roster.

For those keeping score at home, that's three brothers on the same roster of Big Red. All three sons of a former Nebraska offensive lineman and the current O-line boss.

Is that a record for brothers on the same Nebraska roster?

Is this a record for living the Nebraska Dream?

How many dads in Nebraska — Husker fans, we assume — dream of having their sons grow up to play in Memorial Stadium? Plenty.

Barney Cotton, the guy who wore the uniform, has had three sons who will wear the uniform — all at the same time, no less.

"It's an unbelievable blessing," said Cotton, with a grin that wouldn't quit.

"It never crossed my mind that this would happen. Never in my wildest dreams. They could have all gone to different schools and tore us apart as far as trying to watch them play. Now, I've got about 300 feet to go see them. My wife (Christine) has about seven miles."

What a day. Both of Cotton's worlds, dad and coach, collided. It started with offseason workouts at 6 a.m. Then waiting on some of the letters of intent to come in. There was an offensive meeting with coordinator Tim Beck. Then he piled into his white pickup truck to head to Southeast for Sam's ceremony.

Within two hours of hearing that coveted tackle Andrus Peat had chosen Stanford over NU, Cotton was helping his son celebrate his moment.

The memories came rushing back. It's been some journey for the Cottons. St. Cloud, Minn. Hastings College. New Mexico State. Nebraska. Iowa State. Back to Lincoln.

The boys were all born while Cotton was offensive coordinator at St. Cloud State (1989-94). He didn't force football on them. But when you're a football coach, football is always around the house.

Barney said Ben, Jake and Sam started following him to practice when he was at New Mexico State. He had the same rule for them his father had when he grew up in Omaha over 40 years ago: no football until they could play it in school, which meant eighth or ninth grade.

Ever the coach, Barney knew to stay out of his sons' business. He watched from the bleachers. But it was last summer, when Sam was attending NU's summer camp, that Barney must have known he did something right. What he saw was the result of good parenting.

"It was one of my proudest moments as a parent," Barney said. "Sammy went through both sessions of our camp. And Ben and Jake were showing up around 8 in the morning for a 9 o'clock practice, mentoring him. Working on getting down in his stance, working on his footwork, working on his blocking and technique.

"They didn't have to be there. But they stayed and pulled for him in practice. They talked to him afterward, make sure he was doing OK. It was a hell of a deal watching the two older ones take care of the younger brother."

That bond will continue next fall. It will happen in one of Barney's favorite rituals: team warm-ups. He can't imagine how good it will be with three.

"When we're getting toward the end of warm-ups, Ben will come up to me and we'll hug each other and tell each other we love each other," Barney said. "I tell him to be the hardest-working guy on the field. I tell the same to Jake. Next year, we'll do it with Sammy.

"That's what it's all about, being the hardest-working guy out there. Then we kind of meet up after the game. That's pretty cool, too."

There are legions of parents who just nodded along. Now, imagine doing that at Memorial Stadium. With three kids.

The dream is the same. But the game has changed. As Barney sat watching the cameras flash and the interviews down on the gym floor, I asked him if he remembered his own signing day, back in February 1975.

"It must not have been too big a deal because, to be honest, I don't remember a thing about it," Barney said.

"I remember getting the offer. Coach (Cletus) Fischer and Coach (Tom) Osborne offered me in the middle of my season. I don't remember where or how it happened. I just remember going down for my official visit, Coach Fischer reaching into his pocket and pulling out two crumpled one-dollar bills. He said, 'Ahhh, that's all I got. That should be enough for gas money back to Omaha.'"

(Coaches are still allowed to pay for gas money for recruits to drive home from visits.)

The Cotton passion for Nebraska football is such that they would pay their own gas money. Cotton puts that passion into his job. He didn't want to spend a lot of time talking football on Wednesday. This day wasn't about that. But he did say he's excited about his offensive line group, which includes a touted bunch of recruits from 2011.

Despite losing three linemen, including center Mike Caputo, he feels the line can make a jump next year. He knows all about the expectations.

"I played here," Barney said. "I know what this place is about as far as offensive line play. There were some very good things that happened last year. We still have an awful lot to improve on. I was proud of the way those guys played last year.

"We got some good young guys in the program. If you would plug in the starters who you think they should be, they're all juniors and sophomores. So we'll be young, but we have guys who have experience. And there's some youth behind them. I'm excited about working with them. Winter conditioning is going good."

This just in: Cotton is still the offensive line coach, with help from John Garrison. There were rumors going around that Cotton was going to take an administrative job in the program, sitting behind a desk. Cotton laughed that off on Wednesday. You hear a lot of things, he said.

And now, his three sons will be down there, hearing it, too. That's the flip side of being a coach's kid; you hear the criticism. But they've been coach's kids their whole lives. They probably have skin as thick as a rhino by now.

"I hope that my sons are judged off of their effort and their competitiveness and what they show out there," Barney said. "I've been proud of the way they've gone through the program. The deal is, like I said, before every game, I say be the hardest-working guy out there. If that happens, then I'm the proudest dad in America."

That's the father talking. The coach, too.

Contact the writer:

402-444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

twitter.com/tomshatelOWH

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