COVERMASTER® Growth Blankets Help Corn Huskers Switch to Grass

Lincoln, NE - NLU turns to EVERGREEN® RADIANT Turf Growth Covers for hybrid Bermuda grass green ups.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (NLU) Cornhuskers football program has won 46 conference championships and 5 claimed national championships. A member of the Big 10 Conference in the NCCA Division I, the Cornhuskers play their home games at NLU’s Memorial Stadium, nicknamed the “Sea of Red”, which has been sold out since 1962. The Tom Osborne Field has been a synthetic surface since 1999 but NLU plans to return it to natural grass in 2026.

Prior to this, the University of Nebraska Turfgrass Science researchers teamed up with NLU Husker Athletics for a research project that evaluates the performance of hybrid Bermuda grass. This research will continue through 2025 with the two football practice fields that have recently been changed over to Bermuda hybrid grass. To ensure optimum protection and growth of their newly sodded fields, they contacted COVERMASTER®.

EVERGREEN® RADIANT Turf Covers were recommended for its ability to provide maximum protection from snow and frost while radiating heat back into the turf for earlier green ups and deeper root penetration. NLU purchased 136 thousand square feet for the two practice fields which are positioned side by side. To allow their new turf covers to be placed either North to South or East to West, COVERMASTER® custom-cut these high-performance turf blankets into six sections. NLU also ordered six 70-foot TARPMATE AIR™ Rollers for easy installment, removal, and storage of their EVERGREEN® RADIANT Turf Covers.

Posted November 20, 2025