When Blackshirts Were Blackshirts: Grant Wistrom
7 comments so far
July 3, 2008 by
No Husker defensive player had a better collegiate career than Grant Wistrom. He played on three national championship teams and won four straight major bowl games. He played meaningful downs as a true freshman and was a starting player by his sophomore year. His charmed life seemed to continue as he quickly won a Super Bowl for his home state’s St. Louis Rams just two years after graduation.
Wistrom arrived on campus, long, lean and fast in 1994. He had 6.5 tackles for loss and 11 quarterback hurries in his freshman year. The Big 8 coaches named him Defensive Newcomer of the Year. A year later Wistrom started every game and tallied fifteen tackles for losses and thirteen quarterback hurries even topping All-American defensive end Jared Tomich in tackles. Wistrom was named third-team All-American and first-team All-Conference as the Huskers ran away with a second straight national title.
In 1996, the Husker team took a step backward as they won “only” 11 games. But Wistrom was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the year and a first-team All-American. He tallied twenty tackles for losses, blocked two kicks, forced a fumble and picked off a pass.
In 1997, he rose from Big 12 alpha male, to college football’s dominant force. He spent the offseason getting his team to recommit to conditioning for a title run. Then he went out and had not only a All-American season, but a Lombardi trophy season. He might have taken the Outland too, if it hadn’t gone to teammate Aaron Taylor. His signature game that year was the 69-7 demolition of Oklahoma that was also Tom Osborne’s 250th win. Wistrom had 10 tackles (9 of them solo) and 4 of them for a loss (including two sacks). Wistrom forced three fumbles and recovered one against the Sooners. The Huskers converted those fumbles into 17 of their first 27 points that day (and three more came from a fumble forced by Mike Rucker).
There have been many better blackshirts, but none had a better career at Nebraska.
» Enjoy this article?
Send it to your friend or get Husker news by email!
Related Stories: Legends
Post a comment
Ty Hughes Jul 03 08
Keeping this post positive.....the offseason is a great time to go back and watch the Blackshirts of old. They were truly something to watch. Instead of commiserating over the demise of this tradition and sense of responsibility, let's just cross our fingers Bo and staff bring this back to where it should be and are the gatekeepers to keeping this tradition in tact for future years. It has been painful to watch it slip and compare the 94-97 Blackshirts to the 04-07 Blackshirts.
DanaCz Jul 03 08
If I'm not mistaken, Wistrom came to NU with two consecutive undefeated state championships in high school. Add that to three undefeated seasons on college (and three national championships), and a Super Bowl championship in 2000, and you have quite a run for Wistrom!
donfl Jul 03 08
Ty, Well said!! We need to again establish that the defensive side of the field is ours and you AIN'T scoring on us. GBR
Raz Jul 04 08
"There have been many better blackshirts"
Really.....Grant was pretty good. I know there has been better, but that comment was a little much!
Steve Jul 05 08
Raz,
Agreed. That's a braindead typo/grammatical error on my part. I was going for there "may" have been better blackshirts but somehow it came out "many".
James Moore Jul 07 08
I kept just about every single clipping, article, picture, SI cover, you name it, and if it had a Cornhusker on it I cut it down and put it up on my wall in my bedroom growing up. Concerning Grant Wistrom, well I had to look this up from the SI college football preseason preview article concerning him and the prospects for the 1997 Huskers. Man did he have a motor that I never saw QUITE duplicated again in a Husker uniform but I never forgot this, ever. . .
{the quote from article written by
SI's Grant Whal}
"The exorcism of the 1996 season finally took place this May, on one of those sweltering days that almost melt the carpet at Lincoln's Memorial Stadium. Senior All-American defensive end Grant Wistrom had watched the intensity of many of his teammates wilt during the first couple of days of "voluntary" spring workouts, just as it had the previous spring. Instead of slingling out the offenders, he had the entire team charge up the stadium steps, over, and over again, until players began to vomit, leaving the pent-up bile from'96--upset losses to Arizona State and Texas--in puddles on theground"
{additonal quote from same article}
"It's like an out-of-body experience when you lose at Nebraska," says Wistrom, who tasted defeat only twice in his 38-game career. "When I leave here I don't want to be remembered as a loser."
THAT'S where the motor came from!!! THAT'S what's missing more than anything else!!! THAT'S what Coach Pelini and Dr. Tom will bring back. The two words that were missing from the Cornhusker football program over the past few years were: ACCOUTABILITY and INTENSITY. . .
Hope everyone in Husker Nation had a great July 4th and as always,
GO BIG RED!!!
Ryan Jul 08 08
Peak performer during his years as a Husker not only on the field, but off it too with his leadership and rallying effect on the team as a whole. Would be a great coach if it weren't for his desire to spend time with his kids as we have read in the news recently. What I wouldn't give to see him as the defensive line coach under Pelini. Could you imagine those two personalities on the same sideline?