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Eleven Historical Recruits that Got Away


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Eleven Historical Recruits that Got Away

By Dirk Chatelain / World-Herald Staff Writer POSTED: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016 12:31 PM LINK

 

You know that Gale Sayers spurned NU for Kansas. You know Larry Station went to Iowa. You know about Blaine Gabbert and Josh Freeman.

But I have 11 more standouts who — before they became household names in the NFL — almost became Huskers. I reveal the answers at the bottom of the Bites, but don’t cheat. And don’t get cocky — the quiz gets harder as you go along.

 

Player 1 might be the biggest Husker recruiting miss of all time. Out of Pensacola, Fla., he finished his prep career No. 3 on the all-time national rushing chart with almost 9,000 yards. He told his friends the final two contenders were Nebraska and Auburn. The color he wore to school on signing day, he proclaimed, was the team he would choose. When he showed up wearing red and white, it appeared the Huskers had a new I-back. But it was all a hoax. He shocked everybody by choosing the home-state Gators. He went on to win three Super Bowls and break the NFL’s all-time rushing record.

 

 

1: Emmitt Smith, Florida

 

 

 

Player 2 You thought Player 1 was good? Player 2 may have been even better in college and in the NFL. In 1991, he had his own big decision to make. He wanted to play running back in college, but most schools wanted him in the secondary, including Nebraska. He loved his recruiting visit to Lincoln so much that he considered the change. “As good as Nebraska is, and the way they treated me, there’s not a doubt in my mind: I would consider changing, ” he told The World-Herald that winter. “That’s how fun it was.” But, in the end, he couldn’t give up offense. He picked a WAC school and rushed for 386 yards in his second college game. In the NFL, he won a Super Bowl and an MVP. Twenty years after saying no to Nebraska, he was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame.

 

 

2: Marshall Faulk, San Diego State

 

 

 

Player 3 Nebraska recruited another Louisiana native in the winter of ’91. Player 3 was a versatile quarterback prospect. He was 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, but was better known for his speed. His senior year of high school, he rushed for 23 touchdowns and threw for 17. He considered Oklahoma and Arkansas, among others, but eventually settled on NU’s fiercest rival, where he went 0-3 against the Huskers. In the NFL, he played receiver and quarterback.

 

 

3: Kordell Stewart, Colorado

 

 

Player 4 strongly considered Nebraska in 1984. He came from Dallas, where his speed prompted scholarship offers from all over the country. It came down to NU and Notre Dame. He chose the Irish and turned into the nation’s most outstanding player. Then he became one of the NFL’s most prolific receivers of all time.

 

 

4: Tim Brown, Notre Dame

 

 

Player 5 In 1997, Player 5’s college decision came down to Nebraska and an SEC school. As one of the nation’s best prep running backs, he wanted to play for Tom Osborne, but “Nebraska was just too far away from his family” in Atlanta, his mother told the World-Herald. Six years later, he rushed for 2,000 yards in one NFL season.

 

 

5: Jamal Lewis, Tennessee

 

 

Player 6 As a high school senior in 1989, Player 6 owned the second-best 100-meter dash in the country — 10.42 seconds. He originally signed as a receiver with Southern Cal, but didn’t qualify. That summer, he chose Nebraska, which allowed Prop 48 athletes. He intended to sit out a year and join the Huskers in 1990. Instead, he backed out, went to junior college for a year and re-signed with USC. He became a first-team All-America wideout in ’92, then played 12 years in the NFL.

 

 

6: Curtis Conway, USC

 

 

Player 7 Tom Osborne recruited a pair of quarterbacks, Player 7 and Player 8, in the same year, 1994. Osborne already had Tommie Frazier, but these two recruits wanted to follow in Frazier’s footsteps. Player 7 came out of Chicago. Player 8 was from Atlanta. Each had Nebraska in his final two choices. Player 7 opted for the Big East, where he played football and basketball.

 

 

7: Donovan McNabb, Syracuse

 

 

Player 8, the other quarterback recruited in 1994, went to the SEC, where he played quarterback and wide receiver.

 

 

8: Hines Ward, Georgia

 

 

Player 9 was ranked among the top 15 prospects in the country in 2002. Ron Brown earned his verbal commitment two months before signing day. But the 300-pound defensive tackle backed out and played closer to his Salt Lake City home. Too bad, because now he’s one of the NFL’s best defenders.

 

 

 

9: Haloti Ngata, Oregon

 

 

Player 10 Before Player 10 became a star pass rusher in the pros, he was one of the top defensive prospects in the Midwest. In 1998, he chose his home-state Hawkeyes over NU.

 

 

10: Aaron Kampman, Iowa

 

 

Player 11 almost joined junior-college teammate Brandon Kinnie at Nebraska in 2009. If he had, imagine what NU’s defensive line would have looked like.

 

 

11: Jason Pierre-Paul, South Florida

 

 

Bonus: Name the only player on this list who didn’t make a Pro Bowl.

 

 

Bonus: Curtis Conway

 

 

Pretty interesting list. Lot of Pro Bowlers in there. I only guessed about half of them. :dunno:

 

This is from Monday's Mad Chatter blog. The whole blog article is pretty good. It's about recruiting. LINK

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