University of Nebraska Football Team Adds Hearing Impaired Wide Receiver
— -- A hearing-impaired high school football player has gotten the attention of the University of Nebraska.
Todd Honas has about 80 percent hearing loss and depends on hearing aids to function in everyday life, but that hasn't stopped his prowess on the football field.
The wide receiver from Aurora, Nebraska will walk-on with The Nebraska Cornhuskers for the 2016 season.
"Todd is very astute at looking at body language or hand signals," Aurora High School coach Kyle Peterson told ABC News affiliate KLKN-TV in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Just how competitive is Honas? KLKN reports that he earned Class B All-State honors for his final two seasons with his high school team, and he currently holds the Class B record for career receiving yards - 2,353 - and single-season receiving yards - 1,180.
Honas, who inherited the hearing impairment, along with his brother, from their mother, is used to playing the games without hearing the noise, or even when his name is announced, he told KLKN.
Though the walk-on status isn't a guarantee that Honas will be a starting player at the University of Nebraska, the competition for any slot is fierce. The university's athletic department did not return ABC News' calls in time for comment.
The National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA), an organization that prepares high school athletes for college recruitment explains the prospects on their site: "A walk-on is a rostered player who does not receive an athletic scholarship freshman year. They may or may not receive one later."
But, football isn't the only thing he does well. His father says he is proudest about Honas' character off the field.
"What probably makes me the proudest is that the tries to help other people," Jeff Honas told KLKN. "The hearing loss aside, it's just him being as good a person as he could be."
