Former Nebraska football tight end Travis Vokolek has hung up his cleats after three years in the NFL.
Vokolek began his career with the Baltimore Ravens, where he spent time on the practice squad, before joining the Arizona Cardinals for three seasons. In July, he announced he was medically retiring as a result of a neck injury he suffered last October.
“It’s unfortunate the way it ended, but I’m very, very thankful it wasn’t worse,” Vokolek told Hail Varsity.
It was the first time Vokolek ever suffered a neck injury in his career. The 6-foot-6 tight end got hurt on a kickoff return in the Cardinals’ game against the Indianapolis Colts in week five of the 2025-26 season. A Colts linebacker made a routine tackle, but it left Vokolek writhing in pain. He said it was scary.
“I’m laying down on the turf, and I’m trying to get up, and I can’t get up,” Vokolek reflected. “I’m just kind of looking at the top of Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. The roof was open, so I’m looking up there, and I’m kind of just lying there like, ‘What do I do?’”
Vokolek’s next step was to go see doctors, never imagining his football career was over. He was with his wife when he received the news.
“The doctor’s sitting there like, ‘Yeah, we’re not going to be able to let you play anymore,’” Vokolek said. “It kind of shocked us. We both were like, ‘Whoa.’ We didn’t really expect that.”
The injury left Vokolek wondering why it happened to him. The tight end was poised to play a bigger role on special teams, making the injury more devastating. The shock eventually began to wear off however, giving him a new perspective on the game and life.
“As time goes on, you kind of start to realize I’m extremely thankful I’m able to walk,” Vokolek said. “I’m able to get up, and I can move my hands, I can move my feet. It could be a lot worse. I could be in a wheelchair and be paralyzed. So, I looked at it for a little bit as in a ‘Why me?” deal, and then realized there’s more to life than football.”
Football’s all the tight end has known. however. He began playing in second grade and eventually fulfilled his dream of playing professionally.
Since the injury, Vokolek has begun to heal, but still experiences tingling in his neck, which leads to his hands and legs. Doctors are unsure when he’ll be fully healed, however. He said he’s been leaning on his wife and family for support through these difficult times.
Nebraska Cornhusker tight end Travis Vokolek runs after the catch against Illinois on Oct. 29, 2022, at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska. Photo by Eric Francis.
“Being around family has been so much fun, and it’s such a blessing to have people who have supported me through my highs and lows and have been there through the good, the bad, the ugly,” Vokolek said. “So it’s meant everything to me, and I’m just so lucky to have such a good family that cares for me.”
That family support has carried Vokolek throughout his football career. He began his collegiate career at Rutgers, where he spent two seasons before transferring to Nebraska in 2019. He said he grew up a Husker fan, and had family living in Lincoln, making Nebraska the right place for him.
“As a young kid, I was like, ‘I want to play there one day and would love to do that,’” Vokolek said. “So when the opportunity came, it was super easy for me to decide to go there.”
Making his Husker career more special was that he got to play for his father, D.J. Vokolek, as a senior. D.J. coached Travis in high school then served as a senior defensive quality control coach at Nebraska in 2022.
“He was kind of helping out more with the defense, so it would get competitive during practice,” Vokolek said. “We would talk a little smack and go back and forth, so that was a lot of fun. The most important thing in my life is family, and I’ve always stuck on that, so having him up there was a lot of fun, and not a lot of people get to do that.”
As a senior, Vokolek set career highs with 20 receptions for 240 yards and two touchdowns. The childhood Husker fan said it meant a lot to represent Nebraska while developing new relationships.
“I truly felt I gave it my all while at Nebraska, and had a lot of fun doing it,” Vokolek said. “During my time there we didn’t have a lot of great success on the field, but you form relationships with guys on the team, with coaches, that last a life time, and that’s something that I had a lot of pride in as well …
“So I wore it with a lot of pride, and I still wear it with a lot of pride walking around. I’m a proud Cornhusker.”
Although Vokolek’s football career is over, he said football has taught him a lot of life lessons that he’ll carry with him. This includes the importance of controlling your attitude while putting in effort in everything you do.
“There are different things that you can’t control, and those things will play out, but if you can control what you can control, good things are going to happen,” Vokolek said. “That’s something that I’ve kind of learned and lived by the past couple of years while playing.”
Vokolek doesn’t know what’s next for him, but he will forever be grateful for the opportunity to live out his childhood dream. He wants younger football players to know that every moment playing the game is a gift.
“All I’ve wanted to do is play professionally and play at Nebraska,” Vokolek said. “Looking back on my career, I can say that I’ve done all those things. I’m at peace with it, but there are times where guys will show up and take it for granted, and then you get hurt or something happens and it’s taken away from you. So just understand that you just never know when your last snap is going to be.”
