“Christian and I were talking and I told him I can’t remember the last time I’ve been this excited about Nebraska football,” Ramaekers said. “You’re almost giddy like a school kid. I've just got a silly grin on my face.I’m fired up. You cannot ask for a harder worker, a guy with more character. He’s good to the soul, man.”
Said Connealy: “John has, in my mind, never failed at anything he’s set his mind to do. Even if I wasn’t a personal friend of his, he’s a great hire. Any team he’s associated with is lucky to have him.”
Husker Nation doesn’t understand the upside, Ramaekers said. Parrella will be the perfect representative to the public, especially in-state. A guy who can walk into his alma mater, Grand Island Central Catholic, and immediately relate to a 17-year-old prospect.
“I’m a big fan of Riley and the team he’s put together,” Connealy said, “but John, he’s invested in this program. He got his degree from Nebraska. He was a Blackshirt and a captain. You talk about the level of caring, and it’s off the charts for what this program means to John. Not very many people, no matter where they coach, have that level of investment.”
“A couple guys at work asked me what I thought and I said I can guarantee two things: Those kids will work very hard and they will be tough because that’s how John is. He may not be bully tough, but he’s resilient. He will gut it out, broken arm or not.”
Said Connealy: “There was nobody that I ever witnessed that was a harder worker than John. As far as a tough guy, oh my God, you would’ve had to kill him to stop him.”
“He’s just going to take these kids and get them to believe they can walk through a wall,” Ramaekers said. “John will give them the guidance and the skill and the tutoring to get it done. He was just a physical, nasty son-of-a-(gun) on the field. I think he’s gonna put that in our players.”
