Linebacker Compton thriving in starting role

Will Compton laughs when reporters ask him to recall "The Tattoo Visit."

It's been a while since he'd thought about that night, but then again, the Nebraska linebacker's first meeting with Mike Ekeler wasn't an easy one to forget.

Compton committed to becoming a Cornhusker in July 2007, but NU's tumultuous final season under Bill Callahan – and the coaching staff shake-up that followed – forced him to reconsider his options.

"I was thinking I probably wasn't going to end up coming here," Compton said. "I was really unsure about Nebraska, and I was going to see what else was out there."

Compton took visits to Missouri and Illinois and admits Nebraska was out of the running for a brief period. New NU athletic director Tom Osborne visited his high school and promised Compton a good coach was on the way, but refused to say who.

When Bo Pelini was hired in December, one of the first things the new coach did was contact Compton, and he sicced Ekeler, NU's energetic new linebackers coach, on the prized prospect.

"In our first phone conversation, he was already saying things like, ‘You have to come here, we need someone like you. If you don't, I don't know if my kids will still have a father anymore,'" Compton said.

Ekeler and fellow defensive coaches Carl Pelini, Marvin Sanders and John Papuchis went to Compton's home in Bonne Terre, Mo., in late January 2008 to convince him to stick with Nebraska.

During the in-home visit, Ekeler made it clear how devoted he was to landing the four-star recruit by lifting his right sleeve and showing off his arm.

"He had a tattoo of a skull and crossbones logo with my name in old English under it and ‘Blackshirts' over it," Compton said with a laugh.

Compton claims the infamous temporary tattoo wasn't the only thing that sealed the deal, but by the end of the night, he'd made up his mind.

"After I spent that night with the coaches, I knew where I needed to go," he said. "When they walked out, I told my family and friends this was where I needed to be."

Compton redshirted as a freshman, but there were several times when he nearly saw the field.

During NU's game against Virginia Tech, Ekeler came running down the sideline looking for Compton.

"Get ready to rock and roll! You're going in!" Ekeler told him.

Head coach Bo Pelini also told Compton to get ready, but he soon changed his mind and said it would be a poor decision to burn the redshirt. In hindsight, Compton admits sitting out was the right choice.