LINCOLN — Luke Lindenmeyer threw on a black T-shirt with Nebraska Football across the chest and grinned.
He had a few minutes to talk, even as an afternoon entrepreneurship class approached like a blitzing linebacker.
While offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen held court recently in a crowded Hawks Center media room discussing an evolving Husker attack, one of its rising cogs stood a few yards away in the lobby, reflecting on the last months. When Lindenmeyer went from later option at a crowded tight end position to No. 1 on the depth chart — if NU was keeping one this spring.
“All the hard work, I’m finally here,” Lindenmeyer said. “So I’m just going to make the most of it.”
The fourth-year former walk-on from Papillion-La Vista isn’t the buzziest tight end on the roster — that title goes to Heinrich Haarberg, the explosive athlete making the transition from quarterback. He’s not the most touted — that is Mac Markway, the former four-star LSU transfer recovering from a torn ACL last fall. Or Carter Nelson, the national prospect from Ainsworth also out healing from injury after playing at receiver in 2024.
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Yet the 6-foot-3, 250-pounder continues to push ahead, like one of his edge blocks.
Behind the likes of Thomas Fidone and Nate Boerkircher — the former preparing for the NFL draft, the latter transferred to Texas A&M — the in-state product has made seven career starts and appeared in every game the past two seasons.
His ascension to offensive weapon coincided with the arrival of Holgorsen last November. Four of his five career catches came in the four NU contests with the new coordinator calling plays. As did more than half of his offensive snaps (128 of 244) a season ago.
The Pinstripe Bowl confirmed to Lindenmeyer and everyone that he had a role. Amid a career-high 50 snaps, he moved defenders and had personal bests in receptions (two) and receiving yards (22).
“All it takes is one person to believe in you and then you can do so much with that,” Lindenmeyer said. “I’m grateful for (Holgorsen) believing in me and giving me this opportunity. So I’m making the most of it.”
Lindenmeyer’s fourth-quarter reception on that soggy Saturday in New York City is his favorite evidence of what he thinks is ahead.
Lining up beyond the outer shoulder of the left tackle on third-and-4 from deep in NU’s own territory, the tight end sprinted five steps toward the sideline. He caught the short pass and shed a low tackle from a defensive back. A potential fourth-and-short instead became 8 yards and a first down.
A soaked and muddy Lindenmeyer pumped his fist twice after the conversion. He still feels that jacked in a Holgorsen system based on routine plays that pop. The scheme sets up playmakers to do more.
“It was huge for my confidence,” Lindenmeyer said of the bowl experience. “I proved I could do it — I proved to myself I could do it. That’s the biggest thing.
“Now getting to this season I know what I can do. Now the coaches know what I can do, too. I don’t have to prove anything to anybody. Now I can actually just focus on getting better.”
Lindenmeyer still needed more time to wrap his mind around being a leader. He learned under Nebraska tight ends like Travis Vokolek and Chancellor Brewington, Fidone and Boerkircher. How to run routes and create separation. The best ways to block and establish leverage.
Yeah, he was “stressed out as all can be” about being the new standard-setter. Then he read the Book of Joshua in the Bible, which chronicles the death of Moses and installing of Joshua as the next leader of Israel.
“I went to a church service and felt like they were speaking to me,” Lindenmeyer said. “The older guys are gone. It’s now my time. I thought I wasn’t ready but after a couple weeks I was like, ‘OK, I can do this.’”
The 21-year-old can speak in detail about Nebraska’s younger tight ends, too.
Redshirt freshman Eric Ingwerson — also a Papio grad — is like his “little bro.” One redshirt freshman Danny King is a “great route runner.” Ian Flynt is the character of the group.
Lindenmeyer has worked out with sophomore and Bellevue West product Cayden Echternach since high school.
Practicing with the 6-5, 225-pound Haarberg? “It’s like teaching a bird how to fly,” Lindenmeyer said.
The former QB is learning how to study film differently. How to run with shoulders over knees instead of straight up. How yoga is a must (for flexibility to bend against defensive linemen or defensive backs alike).
“Quarterback, you see the mess,” Lindenmeyer said. “Tight end, you’re in the mess. So you’ve got to be able to feel things.”
Said Holgorsen of Haarberg’s transition: “Running routes when it’s contested? ... It’s still a work in progress but I like where he’s at. Great kid, hard worker.”
Ditto for Lindenmeyer, whose childhood playing basketball helped keep him from playing stiff — he half-jokingly said he would try out for the Husker hoops team next season. He traded body fat for more muscle, too.
He trained for a time in Florida, where his parents moved after he left home.
Lindenmeyer’s path may disappear almost entirely in the coming era of player revenue-sharing and 105-man roster limits, where production will trump potential. He was already one of four 2022 Nebraska walk-ons, the smallest class in modern program history.
Army was perhaps the most interested in the prospect, who grew up living around the country as part of a military family.
The Huskers are plenty interested now. So much so that tight end is a rare position not touched by 16 portal reinforcements.
They have their new leader, starting this spring.
“Who Nate (Boerkircher) was for me,” Lindenmeyer said, “I want to be that for these young guys.”
