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LINCOLN, Neb. -- Five years ago, Nebraska coaches finalized a recruiting class that featured the likes of quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr., who seems to be setting career records weekly, and prolific receiver Jordan Westerkamp.As a footnote to the 2012 class, the Cornhuskers announced the addition of 18 walk-ons, a group that grew in the offseason to include 10 players who earned scholarships. Defensive end Ross Dzuris, tight end Trey Foster, quarterback Ryker Fyfe, running back Graham Nabity, receiver Brandon Reilly, linebacker Brad Simpson and center Dylan Utter remain as fifth-year seniors, contributing to a team with a chance to win 11 games for the first time at Nebraska in 15 years.Gone from the collection of former walk-ons are Andy Janovich, a rookie fullback with the Denver Broncos, receiver Lane Hovey and All-Big Ten punter Sam Foltz, who died July 23 in an auto accident after attending a kicking camp in Wisconsin.The image of Foltz shines brightly in the minds of his former teammates this week.Together, they extended a meaningful legacy as perhaps the most accomplished class of walk-ons at a school rich in walk-on tradition.When the No. 18 Huskers host Maryland on Saturday at Memorial Stadium, the seven seniors and Foltz will be honored before the home crowd as their stories -- touched by triumph and tragedy -- near a close in Lincoln.Heres a look at the highs and lows of the journey, as told by those who experienced it:An unreal feelingArmstrong, Westerkamp, Foster and linebacker Josh Banderas visited Chicago on the fourth weekend of July this year to attend the wedding of Westerkamps cousin. After the ceremony, all but Foster were set to stay in the city for Big Ten media days. But after Banderas took an early call from coach Mike Riley on July 24, they all came home to mourn Foltz. Word of the accident quickly spread that morning through other calls and by text messages to stunned teammates.Brandon Reilly: I got the text from Zack Darlington and didnt believe it was real. I turned my phone off, then turned it back on. I just thought there was no way it could be true.Dylan Utter: Brandon Reilly called me. It was an unreal feeling.Brad Simpson: I got a call from Dylan Utter. He said Foltz was in a car accident and it sounded pretty bad. There was a pause. We were both like, Is this real?Graham Nabity: I got a text from a teammate, Ty Bekta, who said something about praying for the family and for Sam -- that he had passed away. To me, it wasnt actually Sam. I had to read it a couple times, but I didnt have any emotion. I didnt know what to think. I had no idea how to respond. I was in shock.Andy Janovich: I was in disbelief.Trey Foster: I didnt know what to do, but we all knew we had to get back to Lincoln.Early signs of successFrom the impromptu prayer vigil outside Memorial Stadium hours after Foltzs death, rewind 49 months to June 2012, the unofficial moment of launch for this walk-on class. All but Hovey, from Iowa, played at Nebraska high schools. They converged for two weeks of practice before the Shrine Bowl, an annual prep all-star game in Lincoln. Immediately, the future Huskers noticed Janovich, rock solid at 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds. Turns out, they were on to something. He skipped a redshirt season. Two months ago, Janovich ran for a 28-yard touchdown on his first NFL rushing attempt.Brad Simpson: We all wanted to be Janovich. He basically motivated our whole class to play.Trey Foster: I showed up for the initial meeting, saw Janovich and remember thinking, Wait, this guy couldnt get a scholarship? I have no chance at Nebraska.Andy Janovich: I dont think its right to say I was a big motivating factor. I wouldnt say I set the bar by any means. The other guys knew what they wanted to accomplish. Whether I got a scholarship or not, that wasnt going to determine anything for those guys.Ross Dzuris: We realized about the third practice that a lot of guys in this group were pretty special.Brandon Reilly: The day after the Shrine Bowl, most of us enrolled in class. And I think early on in summer workouts, we all knew that our walk-on class might be different.Graham Nabity: We knew we could compete with anybody. Through the trenches of training in the offseason, in my opinion, it was really the walk-ons who pushed everyone through. We were willing to lead this team even if nobody knew our names.Ryker Fyfe: Me and Foltz (a former Grand Island High School teammate) figured we could hang with these guys. We went out right away on the scout team and played with something to prove. I was a quarterback, and he played receiver. And he was good, a 4.4 guy. Mainly, he just ran past people.Trey Foster: Youve got to realize, Foltz didnt come here to punt. He was a guy who was going to play safety or wide receiver and, without a doubt, he was one of the most athletic guys on the team. In the spring after our first year, Coach [Bo Pelini] talked to Sam and asked him to punt a couple balls.Ross Dzuris: Thats when you realized he was going to start the next year, and there really wasnt any question about it. I was like, Wow, thats an NFL punter on our team.Trey Foster: And like that, he was done playing wide receiver.Sharing the joyJanovich, as expected, got his scholarship first -- in camp before the 2013 season. Reilly and Foltz came next in the summer of 2014, followed by Fyfe in August of that year. New coach Mike Riley delivered the news to Foster, Hovey, Dzuris and Utter in August 2015. Nabity received a scholarship last spring, and Simpson got his three months ago in addition to Logan Rath, another 2012 Shrine Bowl vet who transferred to Nebraska after one season at South Dakota State. Each time, the whole group shared in the joy.Brad Simpson: I had been waiting for those words since I got here. As soon as I told my parents, my mom started crying.Brandon Reilly: We always wondered which one of our guys was next. And so down the line, as they started coming, it was a great experience.Ross Dzuris: Some teams will make a big deal out of it, but here at Nebraska, were a lot more subtle. Its somewhat expected.Trey Foster: Every single time one of us got put on scholarship, a month would pass and wed all start joking around, telling that guy that hed changed and forgotten where he came from. But Foltz was the main guy to make sure you knew he remembered what it was like to not have school paid for -- to have to figure out student loans and finances with your parents.Walk-on visionEarly in the careers of the 2012 walk-ons, Foltz initiated a ritual. It might happen at practice or in the weight room or in a game. At any moment that required, he would make rings with his fingers and press them over his eyes.Brandon Reilly: We joked about how we always had to keep the walk-on vision. We joked about it, but it was true. Youve got to have that chip on your shoulder. We all had the mindset that we werent good enough coming out of high school, so we had to continue to prove ourselves.Mike Riley: What I have found [in walk-ons], most all of them really, really work hard to achieve their dream. These guys who got scholarships and are playing are great examples to the rest of them of what might occur. They were rewarded for a reason.Graham Nabity: Foltz was the natural guy who took things to the next level. If he ever saw a guy who was slacking off, he would call him out. He didnt care. Sam Foltz was a punter. Since when do punters have that type of leadership role, especially in the weights and the running? They just kick balls. Well, that was definitely not the case with him.Brad Simpson: In our summer workouts, he would lift with the early group, then stay after with the late group and encourage those guys. There was one time where the linebackers had to run stairs because some guys had missed a workout. Foltz ran them with us. It was awesome. Thats just the kind of guy he was.Foltzs senior legacySaturday marks a ceremonial conclusion for this group. Theyll play again next week at Iowa, then at least once more. But for the former walk-ons, every relationship began in the state of Nebraska. Foltzs parents, Gerald and Jill Foltz, have attended each game this fall, traveling on the team plane and eating meals on the road with Sams teammates this month. Nebraska figures to involve its late punter in the Senior Day ceremony. To his walk-on classmates, the presence of Foltz has remained strong, fueling their path to eight wins in 10 games.Brad Simpson: Hes always going to be in my heart. Hes just that special kid. He wasnt like anyone else, just so positive all the time. If anyone needed to talk, he was there, the most down-to-earth guy. He connected with everyone.Trey Foster: It still hurts, but I think it would hurt more if we looked back and didnt feel like we honored him every single week.Ryker Fyfe: Its hard not to feel like hes with us. When Im by myself, its something I think about all the time. Im still trying to get through and hope things get better. I know its never going to be easy. Itll always be there, and Ive definitely felt like hes watching over me. But this is the last game. I should be walking out with Sam.Brandon Reilly: Different guys have different rituals. The specialists carry his jersey. Other guys write No. 27 on their tape. Even the guys who dont, I know its still on their minds. You go through what we did, the bond we had, thats something youll never forget, especially on game day. No one loved game day more than Sam.Mike Riley: Hes one of those guys that set the bar and was a great example and had that great passion and dedicated his sports life to making it here. And he did. And so were always reminded of that. Its part of the identity, not only of Nebraska, but particularly this group.Graham Nabity: We never stopped fighting. We dont ever give up. More than anything, thats the legacy of Sam Foltz. Jonathan Vilma Jersey . The Cleveland Indians, Tampa Bay Rays, and Texas Rangers all won on Sunday meaning the Rangers will host the Rays in a play-in game on Monday. Eli Apple Jersey . 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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Andre Johnson grabbed the ball going out of bounds on Clevelands second onside kick within two minutes, finally allowing the Tennessee Titans to relax.Its the kind of winning play the Titans simply havent made enough in recent years on their own field.Marcus Mariota threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns, and the Titans held on to beat the Cleveland Browns 28-26 Sunday for their second straight victory -- the first time theyve won consecutive games since the end of the 2013 season.Im not sure in the last couple years that we win that game, Titans coach Mike Mularkey said. This year we found a way to win the game. Obviously, we dont want to make it that close. We did a lot of good things in that game.The Titans (3-3) matched their win total for all of last season when they went 3-13 and wound up with the No. 1 draft pick overall. They also beat a team other than Jacksonville on their own field for the first time since the 2013 season finale and improved to 3-16 in Nashville .Cleveland (0-6) now is mired in its worst start since 1999 when the Browns lost their first seven as an expansion franchise.Not that the Titans care after losing to the Browns each of the past two seasons, especially with the Browns nearly pulling off another thrilling comeback. They made NFL history here in 2014 rallying from 25 points down to win.This time, they trailed 28-13 when Cody Kessler hit Terrelle Pryor Sr. for a 5-yard TD with 2:07 left, but his pass on the 2-point conversion failed. Browns coach defended his decision to go for 2 so early.I knew at some point I was going to have to take a whack at it, Jackson said. Obviously, we didnt make it, then had to kick and try to get the onside. Gave ourselves a chance at that time. That was what we needed to do.The Browns recovered their first onside kick, and Duke Johnson Jr. scored nine plays later.On their second onside kick, Johnson got his hands on the ball as it went out of bounds for Tennessee. Titans wide receiver Kendall Wright said he wasnt too worried.dddddddddddd.They onside kicked it to a Hall of Famer, Titans wide receiver Kendall Wright said of Johnson.OPENING DRIVEThe Titans opened the game with a 75-yard drive capped by an 11-yard TD pass from Mariota to Rishard Matthews . That was their first opening TD drive since the season opener of 2015. A big key was Mariota who showed just how fast he is on the Titans first play from scrimmage as he kept the ball and went 41 yards up the Browns sideline.LONGEST TD PASS OF SEASONTennessees longest touchdown pass of the season was a 30-yarder in Week 2 as the Titans rallied to beat Detroit 16-15. Mariota topped that with a 48-yard pass to Kendall Wright in the second quarter. Wright stretched out and dove for the ball, landing around the 5 and sliding near the 2 before getting up and into the end zone as he was hit. Wright finished with eight catches for 133 yards.KESSLER HEALTHYKessler, knocked out of last weeks game with an injured chest, was sacked six times by Tennessee. He threw for a career-high 336 yards and also had two TD passes, both to Pryor.POYER TO HOSPITALBrowns defensive back Jordan Poyer was taken to a Nashville hospital with a lacerated kidney and possible concussion after a being crushed on a block when chasing down Titans returner Marc Mariani when Antonio Andrews hit him, knocking Poyer to the ground with 6:33 left in the second quarter. Andrews was flagged and penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct on the blindside hit.The hit left Poyer bent over on the grass for a few minutes before he walked to the sideline. He was carted to the locker room and then to a local hospital. Obviously, we all know thats pretty serious, so well see where he is from there, Jackson said---Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/AP-NFLFollow Teresa M. Walker at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker ' ' '