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Manning opens up about working through tough challenges to be on Husker stage
ByBRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON 27 minutes agoOmar Manning kept telling himself even on the bad days, "There's better to come. There's better to come."
It's not so much that the Nebraska wide receiver doubted even during the stops along a twisting road that he would one day be making a sprawling touchdown catch against a team like Oklahoma, but admittedly on certain days such a thing could seem like just a dot in the distance.
In the spring and summer, those days felt long and making plays as a Husker felt even longer away. Keep the faith. Wake up. Workout. Stretch. Eat right. Eventually it's going to pay off.
Right? Right.
"I got a little impatient at times, like, 'Man when this is going to happen? When is this going to happen?'" Manning said. "But I stayed true to the process. Like we preach here, 'Day by day.' That's how I had to take it. Just day by day, day by day."
The 6-4, 225-pound junior receiver out of Lancaster, Texas, had signed with TCU out of high school, his potential to the clouds and obvious to all. The take off didn't happen there, though. Manning moved on to Kilgore College in Texas. The first year there was tough too, before he began to find his stride more in all areas, finishing with 35 catches for 727 yards and six touchdowns his second season at Kilgore.
"He was going to class, he was getting help, he was doing extra work — a positive guy in terms of leadership. He would get after guys. Extremely high competitor," one of his coaches at Kilgore, Keith Browning, once told Husker247 of Manning's work that second season.
Nebraska secured a commitment from Manning and he immediately became a focal point of the fan base as a possible immediate playmaker. Except it didn't happen last year. Manning ended up playing in one game with no catches. Everyone wanted to know what was up, but some things aren't easily talked about publicly.
On Monday, Manning opened up about some of the challenges of his first year in Lincoln, which also might make it clearer to some people why not everything was for public consumption.
"Mainly, just to be straight up, mental health issues," Manning said. "Especially when COVID hit, I was dealing with a lot of personal things. It wasn't anything behavioral or anything like that. I always had a clean slate. It was just mental health. I was at a very low point and just had to dig myself out of that hole mentally."
Manning credits Dr. Brett Haskell, Nebraska's director of sports psychology, and Husker head coach Scott Frost for helping him get out of that hole.
"His patience with me and the type of man he was for me, I definitely needed that. And all my teammates too, it was just positive," he said. "Not giving up on me. Never once did he waver in my abilities. When I caught that (touchdown) catch, I automatically thought about him, Coach Frost, because he's a great coach. For him to believe in me and keep pushing me, keep pushing me, that was great for me."
Manning said you never know if someone is going to give up on you, but he didn't ever think this staff would do that to him.
"It's hard being patient with him as a coach, but it's been necessary being patient with him," Frost said. "It's going to be a good story if he keeps on this track that he's on. I like to see guys fight through things and come out on the other side, and he's on a good path to do that."
The coach added that you have to always make sure you're doing the right things for your student-athletes on and off the field. "Sometimes you got to walk a fine line between coddling someone too much, and knowing when someone has a real issue. But when there's a real issue we want to make sure to get them the help that they need."
For Manning, getting the chance to go in-depth with Haskell about his situation was his first time he really got to talk to someone about the mental health side of things.
He was definitely nervous when the talks began. "Because I never knew what it was exactly ... But it was a great experience for me and I just want to tell my story and help others who deal with it, because it's way more than me. Especially in athletics, student-athletes, a lot of people deal with it."
Manning learned through the talks to be patient with himself and just seek help when it was needed. "Just being all the way open with it. Fully open."
He said he's dealt with those mental health barriers all his life, but he long assumed that's the way it is for everyone.
"I got here and I was like, 'It might be something else.'" It was a major breakthrough for him.
He had suffered an injury at TCU in which those mental challenges were at play as he was sidelined. In junior college, he felt he got "it partially under control," but there were definitely difficulties still plaguing him.
Manning's mother, Tracey, remained an inspiration to him along the way. She's fully deaf and partially blind, but when her son looks at how far she has come in her life, he said it reminds him he has no choice but to be great.
"Especially where we grew up, not the best neighborhood," Manning said. "But she made it work."
Manning and her older sister learned how to communicate with her through sign language. Omar came out of the womb knowing that life, so learning sign language was like learning the ABC's. "I actually learned sign language before I knew, like, how to talk. Tell I was like probably four or five, I never talked too. They thought I was deaf too for a moment."
There were challenges, but her mom always pushed ahead. When they communicate via phone now, he talks through an interpreter, who signs what he's saying.
He called her after the game against Oklahoma, of course. She was proud. But she's just as proud of what he's doing going to school in Lincoln. "The football stuff is just a plus, an add-on to that," Manning said. "But she was extremely happy, I can tell."
Having already traveled through adversity, Manning wants to be a leader on this Husker football team. He talks to the young guys who aren't playing yet about his story, and looks to build them up.
As for his own game, he thinks Saturday was only a start.
"Just repetition, repetition, repetition. When it comes to the game, it's just second nature. Try to catch and secure the catch. Eat as much as I can."
While the first touchdown catch was a load off his shoulder, he knew he'd make plays and expects to when he's on the field.
"(I'm) extremely hungry. Anytime you get an opportunity to make a big play, you have to make it. For me, no stage is too big. We're going in there playing in the No. 3 team. That's a perfect moment right there to seize the opportunity and come in there for my team.
"I'm extremely proud of myself and how far I've came."
