Huskers.com is reporting that Tom Osborne informed the Nebraska coaching staff last week that the "Compton" tattoo that assistant coach Mike Ekeler received last year may have violated NCAA rules. The implications are that Ekeler might be banned from recruiting off-campus for the next year, and that linebacker Will Compton might be ineligible this fall.
That's a devastating blow to Husker football until...
...you realize that this meeting occurred on April 1st. And it's another in a long line of practical jokes that Tom Osborne and Bo Pelini like to pull... (Remember the Mark Manning/Brandon Rigoni tassle on the turf?)
To top it off, the coaches and Osborne pulled one on the team, announcing that the coaching staff had been terminated for participating in NCAA basketball pools, and that Osborne was taking over immediately. Jeff Jamrog and Marc Boehm played their parts in the prank, but Osborne finally cracked, revealing the April Fools joke.
Pranks like this not only are a lot of fun, but they really loosen up the atmosphere and add to the positive feeling around the football program and brings the team closer together. Osborne is a great straight man in these pranks, as his dry, calm spoken tone allows him to pull of these gags with remarkable convincability.
And in that light, the "suspension" of Ekeler and "ineligibility" of Will Compton serves the Husker program very well, as it pulls everybody together for a good laugh.