If not for his mom’s insistence on doing the right thing, Tommie Frazier wouldn’t have made an official visit to Nebraska in December of 1991.

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And if he hadn’t visited, he wouldn’t have become a Husker.

Such is the uncertain nature of recruiting.

Frazier, a three-year starter at Manatee High School in Bradenton, Fla., was the focus of Nebraska’s 1992 recruiting class, not necessarily from the coaches’ standpoint (for them, one recruit is just as important as another) but certainly as far as reporters were concerned.

“I had the feeling he was the only guy we recruited this year,” coach Tom Osborne said during a news conference on letter-of-intent-signing day.

Frazier was “the guy you’ve all been writing about,” Osborne said.

That’s often the case with quarterbacks, although the Huskers’ class of 22 included another who didn’t draw quite as much attention – Ben Rutz, from Oklahoma City, Okla.

Frazier was special. He was named to the Parade magazine and USA Today All-America teams and attracted recruiting attention from schools across the country.

“He probably had 20 or 30 schools he could have gone to,” said Osborne.

ENOUGH OF RECRUITING

After visiting four of those schools, Frazier was weary of the travel, tired of the process, so he decided he wouldn’t take a trip to Nebraska, despite having scheduled one.

Frazier called Kevin Steele, the Husker assistant who was recruiting him, to say he was canceling, that he was sick of recruiting and didn’t need to see another school. Steele immediately called Frazier’s mom, Priscilla, who said her son would be calling him back in 10 minutes.

Frazier called back “after 10 minutes of her saying, ‘You have no choice; you’re going to go. You gave them your word, and I always brought you up (that) if you tell somebody you’re going to do something, you do it,’ ” Frazier recalled during an interview in 2004.

She told him he didn’t have to pick Nebraska but he did have to visit there.

Had he not visited, Frazier would have gone to Clemson or Notre Dame.

He also visited Syracuse and Colorado, committing to the Buffaloes on his trip to Boulder, in fact.

When Koy Detmer, a quarterback from Mission, Texas, also committed to the Buffaloes, however, coach Bill McCartney changed course and told Frazier his future there would be at defensive back.

Yes, Frazier had given his word, but under false pretenses. So he scratched Colorado.

He also scratched Syracuse after being told he would redshirt as a freshman, leaving Clemson and Notre Dame. Both schools told him he’d be given a chance to play right away.

Notre Dame said he could compete for a job as a back-up to senior Rick Mirer. Clemson said whether or not he played would depend on how quickly he learned its offensive system.

NO GUARANTEE

Nebraska said much the same as Clemson. Osborne “never once promised me anything,” Frazier recalled. “He said, ‘You’re going to have an opportunity. You’re going to have reps. You might not get the reps you think you deserve or need, but you’ll get some reps, and what you do with those reps is going to determine if you move up on the depth chart, if you play as a freshman or if you redshirt.’

That’s what I respected him for because he never once guaranteed me anything.”

Frazier would face plenty of competition in replacing Keithen McCant, the coaches’ Big Eight Offensive Player of the Year, as the Huskers’ starter.

The returning scholarship quarterbacks included redshirted freshmen Tony Veland and Brook Berringer as well as senior Mike Grant, who also had redshirted in 1991. Grant had been Frazier’s recruiting host.

Veland emerged from spring practice atop the depth chart, after a broken collarbone sidelined Grant. Less than two weeks before the 1992 season-opener, however, Veland also suffered a broken collarbone during a controlled scrimmage, and Grant became the starter.

Grant started the first five games before giving way to Frazier.

CONFIDENCE AND DETERMINATION

If Frazier hadn’t come to Nebraska, the course of Husker football would have been dramatically altered. Husker fans know the particulars, so what follows might not be necessary.

He was the first true freshman quarterback ever to start for the Huskers. He helped lead them to back-to-back national championships. He was 33-3 as a starter. And he was a consensus All-American as a senior, finishing second to Ohio State’s Eddie George in voting for the Heisman Trophy.

He accomplished those things not only with exceptional athletic ability but also self-confidence and an extraordinary will to win. Had he gone somewhere other than Nebraska, “I don’t necessarily think it would have been different, just with the way of my mentality and the way I played the game,” Frazier said during the 2004 interview. “I felt that I was the best at what I did, and I could have gone anywhere and helped them win the (national) championship.”

Steele wrote a list of goals Frazier intended to accomplish and gave him the list before he ever stepped on the field at Memorial Stadium. At the top of the list was “national championship.”

“People might say that I was cocky. People might say I was arrogant. So be it,” said Frazier. “I had goals. And I was going to accomplish my goals the best I could.”

Earlier this week, candidates were announced for the College Football Hall of Fame. Frazier was among 76 FBS players, along with other former Huskers Trev Alberts and Eric Crouch.

If not for his mom, Frazier probably would have been on the ballot representing another school. He had the confidence and will to win, as well as the ability