Best Ever, Part II: And the Winner Is…

2 comments so far June 9, 2006 by Steve Hanway

Hey, these guys are all winners. Once again the nominees:

• Bob Brown ’63 Guard
• Jerry Tagge ’71 Quarterback
• Rich Glover ’72 Middle Guard (defense)
• Johnny Rodgers ’72 Wingback
• Dave Rimington ’82 Center
• Mike Rozier ’83 I-Back
• Turner Gill ’83 Quarterback
• Broderick Thomas ’88 Outside Linebacker
• Will Shields ’92 Guard
• Trev Alberts ’93 Outside Linebacker
• Tommie Frazier ’95 Quarterback
• Ahman Green ’97 I-Back
• Grant Wistrom ’97 Rush End
• Eric Crouch ’01 Quarterback

Now, how do we narrow down a list of such impressive players? Start with the low hanging fruit.

I added Bob Brown and Will Shields as nominees in part because of their impressive careers as pros. While that tells us that they are perhaps the greatest pro prospects ever produced, their careers simply don’t rise to the level of Dave Rimington while at Nebraska. While Rich Glover was nearly as highly regarded as Rimington, there is no national award named after Rich Glover but there is a Rimington award because he is regarded by many as the best center of all time. That’s good enough to make him the best interior lineman in Nebraska history. He survives the first round of cuts.

Trev Alberts is Nebraska’s only Butkus award winner and was the dominant player on a championship-caliber defense. However, both Broderick Thomas and Grant Wistrom (who played essentially the same position) were two-time All-Americans to Alberts one, so I give them the edge for two huge years to his one.

Broderick Thomas was the leader of a championship level defense. You’ll notice that no member of the 1987 or 1988 offense made this list. The “sandman” was the dominant player on some terrific defenses that suffered through some woeful offensive performances in big games such as two 7-point outings vs. #19 Colorado and #9 Oklahoma his senior year. Thanks in large part to Thomas both were Husker wins and the embarrassing 3 point effort versus Miami was cushioned by the fact that the Huskers held the ‘Canes to 23 points. Thomas was the runner-up for the Butkus to Derrick Thomas as a senior.

Despite all this love for Thomas, I give the edge to Wistrom. He is Nebraska’s all-time leader in tackles for losses, and he won the Lombardi award as a senior as the nation’s best lineman. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Nebraska went 49-2 in his four seasons at Nebraska. Wistrom survives the first round of cuts.

Johnny Rodgers is the only receiver on this list, in part because he separated himself from the pack so easily. Famous for making big plays in big games, Rodgers is too good to cut right off the bat. He survives round 1.

Mike Rozier versus Ahman Green, talk about a tough battle. Green would surely own Rozier’s career rushing record had he stayed at Nebraska. But he didn’t.

Green was part of two national championship teams while Rozier was part of 3 teams that came heartbreakingly close. Green played big in big games, but Rozier wasn’t bad either.

Rozier got the Huskers on the board for the first time in the national championship game against Clemson by throwing a 25-yard TD pass. In the controversial loss to Penn State in 1982, Rozier had 86 yards and a touchdown. Rozier had a touchdown in the Orange Bowl win over LSU and helped Nebraska eat up the final 5 minutes to secure the win. In his two and a half quarters versus Miami in his final game (before injuries forced his exit) Rozier accumulated 147 yards.

Despite my great respect for the ability of Green, I give the edge to the two-time All-American and Heisman winner. Rozier survives round 1.

While it is tempting to pass all of the quarterbacks to round two, that would be a cop out. Tagge owns the distinction of leading Nebraska to two national titles and being the most accurate passer.

Frazier won two titles, but had a lot of help from Brook Berringer.

Turner Gill lacks the hardware of these two but lead the Huskers to the brink of a national title three straight times, was the most efficient Husker quarterback, and helped Nebraska set an NCAA record for scoring.

Eric Crouch is the only Husker QB to win the Heisman and he owns Nebraska’s career records for total offense (both cumulatively and per game). Crouch didn’t play with nearly the supporting cast of the other quarterbacks, but he also had the lowest passer rating by a fair margin.

Gill drops out because while having only a slightly better passer rating than Frazier, his rushing numbers don’t measure up.

Despite Crouch’s productivity, Frazier was a better rusher on a per carry basis and had a much higher passer rating. Throw in the wins and the edge goes to Frazier. Frazier was also part of a squad that topped the 1983 team’s pace of points per game. That’s where he gets the edge over Tagge.

Tagge was a winner but did not lead offenses nearly as powerful as the ones Frazier lead. Tagge had weapons like All-Americans Jeff Kinney and Johnny Rodgers and he played behind an All-American offensive lineman like Bob Newton, but those teams didn’t score like the 1995 Huskers. So Frazier moves on.

That leaves us with Frazier, Rozier, Rodgers, Wistrom and Rimington. Now we raise the bar. Taking a peek at the Walter Camp All-Century Team we see two names are absent: Rozier and Wistrom. While they were all-timers at Nebraska, they didn’t stand out as all-timers nationally. I think the impact nationally has some relevance so Wistrom and Rozier are out.

So that leaves Frazier, Rodgers, and Rimington. As much as I hate to place too much emphasis on championships in a sport where no one man can win one without a lot of help, Frazier and Rodgers titles give them an edge on Rimington. Also, they probably had a greater impact on the field despite Rimington’s status as the best center of all time.

Now it’s down to Frazier and Rodgers.

Rodgers three year record of 32-2-2 is dead on with Frazier’s 33-3. Frazier went out a champion as a senior while Rodgers had to settle for blowing up against Notre Dame.

Ultimately the difference is the quality of the teams. Frazier lead what many consider the greatest team of all time, 1995 Nebraska. 1971 NU was also considered one of the best teams ever, but without Jerry Tagge and Jeff Kinney, the Huskers were no longer a championship team in Rodgers senior year and Rodgers could not lead his team quite as far as Frazier.

So as much fun as it would be to write “down goes Frazier!” I have to say Tommie Frazier ranks as the best Husker ever. Maybe he doesn’t win in a hands down, no question about it manner, but in a late fourth quarter touchdown to eke out a win manner – like versus Miami.

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