Wedgebusters: weak, fearful need not apply

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalm 27.

Just before kickoff, Nebraska's Aaron Terpening recites the Bible verse in his head over and over again.

It grants Terpening strength and calms his nerves of the impending havoc that is kickoff coverage.

He can't be afraid. He must be fearless. At least that's what he keeps telling himself before each kickoff.

After all, he's a special teams bullet head - a position predicated on vicious, bone-crackling crashes.

"If you have any fear, you're not going to get the job done," Terpening said.

The Cornhuskers' kickoff coverage team requires bullet heads to take on the wedge, a cluster of opposing blockers trying to plow a hole for the kick returner.

"You're talking about running 40 to 50 yards at full speed and making contact," said Jeff Jamrog, who oversees NU's coverage units. "It's the most violent head-on collision there is in football.

"You're going to have to sacrifice your body for the betterment of the team."

For Terpening, a backup rover, and the other bullet heads such as freshman linebacker Barrett Ruud, the name of the game is hitting.

Like Ruud put it, "it's a lot more fun than being the guy getting hit."

The bullet heads race downfield full throttle in anticipation of a jarring collision. Their roles are to slobberknock the lead blockers so teammates can be have free reign at the kick returner.

"You gotta blow people up," Ruud so eloquently said.

As the 50-yard sprint nears an end for Terpening, the junior loses all sense of consciousness.

The half-second before the collision is a place of serenity amongst the violent nature of being a wedgebuster.

"Everything just kind of goes black for a second," said Terpening, in his third year as a bullet head. "Then it comes back. You gather yourself. Figure out where you are and try to make the tackle. Hopefully you're not on the ground."

That hasn't been much of a problem for Terpening. He has been a stalwart on the Nebraska special teams' unit, lining up near the outside of the formation.

He has embraced the role of wedgebuster, making a career out something other players shy away from or even fear. Maybe it helps that, in Jamrog's eyes, Terpening has been one of NU's best bullet heads in his three-plus years as a Husker.

As good as Terpening has been, he hasn't escaped the collisions without a few bumps and bruises.

During the Huskers' 45-0 victory over California in 1999, the junior hit his wedge man awkwardly. The impact was so severe, it separated Terpening's shoulder and knocked the wind out of him.

"Everything was blurred, but I could see the ball carrier coming toward me," said Terpening, who in addition to the separated shoulder, sustained a couple of stingers. "All I could do was stick an arm out there. I was so weak...I was hurting."

Needless to say, the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Terpening didn't make the tackle.

Still, Terpening, kickoff after kickoff pries himself from the turf time and time again.

Whom shall he fear; whom shall he be afraid?