For a guy who was never a star in high school, Stewart Bradley has certainly made a name for himself at one of college football's most storied programs.
The Salt Lake native is a 6-foot-4, 250-pound senior linebacker for Nebraska, where he has been a three-year starter. He leads the team in tackles this year with 67, in fumble recoveries with three and is a big reason why the Cornhuskers are 9-3 and the Big 12 North champions.
This week he'll play in the Big 12 Championship game against Oklahoma in Kansas City and after that a New Year's Day bowl should cap off his career.
"I've been loving it — it's been a lot of fun," said Bradley, who grew up in the Sugar House area and attended Highland High. "But we still have a lot of goals ahead of us."
If you're a follower of local prep football and have never heard of Bradley, don't feel bad. Bradley was never all-state or all-region and was hardly given a look by the local colleges.
As a junior, Bradley was mostly a backup safety for the Rams and as a senior he played quarterback and safety before getting injured and missing the majority of the season.
So how in the world did he end up at Nebraska, one of the top college football programs of all time?
"I worked out at a camp before my senior year, and I guess I turned some heads," Bradley said.
Bradley was a classmate of Haloti Ngata, who went to Oregon and now plays for the Baltimore Ravens. They attended a camp together at Nebraska between their junior and senior seasons. Like everyone else in the country, the Nebraska coaches wanted Ngata but also liked what they saw in Bradley and were encouraging enough to him that he decided to walk on the following year.
"A lot of it is potential, not necessarily performance," Bradley explained about what college recruiters are looking for.
The Nebraska coaches obviously saw something that local schools such as Utah and BYU missed.
"They shrugged me off," Bradley said of Utah and BYU, adding, "It's their loss, I guess."
After his final year at Highland, where he also played rugby and tennis, Bradley headed back to Lincoln in the summer of 2002 and walked on the team.
He redshirted his first season and in 2003 as a freshman, after being granted a scholarship, he played in all 13 games as a backup defensive end and on the special teams.
As a sophomore, he earned the starting strongside linebacker spot and finished the year second on the team with 67 tackles
Last year he got off to a great start with 26 tackles in the first five games and a touchdown against Wake Forest on a 43-yard interception return. However, he suffered a season-ending ACL knee injury against Texas Tech.
However, this year he came back stronger and has had his best season.
"It was a blessing in disguise," he said. "I did a lot of re-habbing, and it's stronger than ever. I'm also a more mature player now."
Bradley has a hard time singling out individual accomplishments, although he does recall his touchdown last year as well as a key fourth-down stop in an overtime win over Kansas. He said playing in Saturday's Big 12 Championship and winning a bowl game would be big highlights for him.
Stewart's parents, John and Ann, have attended most of their son's games and are looking forward to his last two.
"It's been a wonderful experience for him," John said. "He has talent, but it's been a lot of hard work."
After football, Bradley, who has twice been on the Big 12 Academic Honor Roll, would like to earn his MBA or perhaps attend law school. Before that, however, he'd like to give the NFL a try.
"I definitely want to keep playing football and see that through," he said.
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