When Kwazi Gilmer attended his first press conference as a Nebraska football player, he uttered several memorable quotes. His comment about the weather in the state doing "crazy stuff" was the one that went viral. Still, he had some other comments that illustrated why the Huskers stand out as so different compared to UCLA.
"When I saw (Lincoln), my eyes just opened ..." Gilmer said on Wednesday. "The culture up here is amazing. Everyone sticks together. We’re all brothers, and it’s just all we’ve got is football up here, and you could go do anything else, and that was one of the main reasons why I came here is because I could only be committed to football."
It's not just the culture of the Nebraska football program that caught the talented receiver's eye, either. He was also blown away by the fan dedication. He talked about what he saw when the Bruins visited Lincoln during his freshman season.
Kwazi Gilmer explains why Nebraska football's culture is unlike anything he experienced at UCLA
"It was fun, I’m not going to lie. Being out there, just seeing the crowd. My freshman year we played at LSU, but then coming up here, it was a whole different environment. Crazy fans, I remember being at the hotel at like 6:00 in the morning, just flooded. I ain’t ever seen nothing like that. We don’t get that back up at East LA. It’s dope here."
Gilmer also explained the offense at Nebraska is quite a bit different for receivers. While he's got a lot of respect for Bruin QB Nico Iamaleava, he said that when a play broke down for UCLA, he had to turn into a blocker. With new Husker signal caller Anthony Colandrea, the receivers are instructed to go look for a way to get open.
"At UCLA, it was once the quarterback scrambles, just ‘go run block,'" he said. "When it’s with Anthony, it’s ‘go get open.’ He gives us a whole other drive."
Even the playcalling is different under NU offensive coordinator Dana Holgorsen and former UCLA OC Eric Bieniemy. "I remember one play was 22 words."
Kwazi Gilmer brings the things he's learned and seen at UCLA to Nebraska while offering a still-young but veteran receiver to the Huskers' mix. Last season, he caught 50 passes for 535 yards and 4 touchdowns. He'll look to have an even better 2026 campaign.