Where Are They Now?
Jack Gangwish: True Grit
Imagine being told by one of the greatest coaches of all time you weren’t strong or fast enough to play at the D1 level. Would you fold and quit, and begin seeking a different route? Would you get defensive and tell him how wrong he was? Or would you continue to follow your dream even with all the odds stacked against you? Well, Jack Gangwish chose the latter and in doing such gave us a story that would win over the hearts and minds of Nebraska fans forever.
Jack Gangwish grew up in the small town of Shelton, Nebraska. From an early age, he loved to play sports, from basketball to wrestling, Jack was always playing some sort of sport. However, one sport stood higher on the pedestal: football. Jack loved to watch the Cornhuskers play growing up, primarily due to his dad, Paul, a former walk-on at UNL. When Jack was set to start high school, he enrolled at Wood River High School so that he could play 11-man football. Sometime during his junior year, he would send a package containing full game-length film that he burnt on a DVD. Jack never really expected to hear anything back, but one day, he received a phone call from UNL. Gangwish would be invited to the Spring Game by then-interim AD Tom Osborne. After the Spring Game ended, Jack and his father were invited to Osborne’s office to talk. During this conversation, Jack’s father would ask Osborne what he thought Jack could contribute to the football program. Osborne would tell them both something to the effect of, that Jack wasn’t tall enough, fast enough, or strong enough. These words stung, especially coming from Osborne, but Tom wasn’t done. Tom would add that the effort and drive he saw in Jack is what made him notable, and if he continued to give that effort and keep that drive, Gangwish had a legitimate shot at playing for the Cornhuskers. So, in 2011, he enrolled at Nebraska and started his football career as a walk-on.
When Jack got to Nebraska, he was roughly 6’2” and 190 pounds. He was told he was too small to play on the D-line, so he would be moved to linebacker and help out on the scout team. During the first practice, Gangwish quickly realized he was going to have to focus on learning the X’s and O’s and dial things in when it came to the weight room. For the rest of his redshirt and redshirt freshman year, Jack focused religiously on gaining size. His effort would pay off, and after reaching 260 pounds, he would be back on the D-line. In 2013, during his sophomore year, Jack would add depth at defensive end but would not see the field. Finally, in 2014, Gangwish saw action. He played in 12 games, including 3 starts, and recorded 19 tackles, four tackles for a loss, half a sack, and a forced fumble. One thing that the stats won’t show was his performance against Brandon Sheriff, who would later become the fifth overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. Gangwish would hold his own against Sheriff all night, helping Nebraska beat Iowa 37-34 in overtime.
Entering his senior year, Jack would be one of six players voted to be a team captain, a role the former walk-on would take very seriously. During the very first game of the year against BYU, Jack would suffer an elbow injury on the final play of the game. This injury would slow him down for the first half of the season. Gangwish would still play in ten games, starting in nine of those games. Jack would finish the year with 15 tackles, 3 TFL’s, and 1.5 sacks. After beating UCLA in the Foster Farms Bowl, Jack would switch his focus to his Pro-Day, in hopes of being drafted to the NFL.
After putting up good numbers at his Pro-Day, all Jack could do is wait until April and see if his name was called. Unfortunately, Jack would go undrafted but multiple teams still had interest in him. The Cincinnati Bengals would bring Jack in and sign him to their training camp roster in late July of 2016. After a month of practicing with the Bengals, Gangwish would be waived in late August. With this, his dreams of playing in the NFL would end, but he would follow another dream of his after receiving a phone call from Team Penske.
In October of 2016, Jack would begin his career as a member of the Team Penske pit crew. Gangwish would stay with Team Penske for a few years, loving every second of it, until he received a phone call from his dad asking him to come back home and help out with the family farm. So, after a few years in North Carolina, Jack returned to Nebraska.
Today, Jack still remains in Nebraska, helping to run the family farm. While Gangwish isn’t quite sure what the future holds, he does have a few ideas. Jack is thinking about going back to school to earn his master’s degree and possibly changing career paths. Regardless of whatever he chooses, you can expect him to go in headfirst and out work those around him, just like his days as a Cornhusker. From the quiet fields of Shelton, Nebraska, to the roaring stadiums of college football, Jack Gangwish’s journey is one of grit, perseverance, and a relentless pursuit of his dreams. Growing up idolizing the Cornhuskers, inspired by his father’s legacy as a walk-on at UNL, Jack’s path to wearing the scarlet and cream was anything but ordinary. Overcoming doubts, setbacks, and the odds stacked against him, Gangwish proved that determination and hard work can carry you farther than natural talent alone. Forever being a symbol of Husker pride and a beacon of resilience for anyone chasing an impossible dream.
