Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska visited The Times on Tuesday afternoon for an interview with Paul Myerberg, who is preparing for another year of the Quad Countdown. Suh was making the rounds in New York as part of his work representing Subway as a “Famous Fan.”
Q. Top two pick in the N.F.L. draft?
A. That’s what I’m hearing.
Q. What else are you hearing?
A. Absolutely nothing.
Q. So right now it looks like no one really knows. St. Louis goes Bradford No. 1, and you’re sitting there for the taking at No. 2. What teams have you spoken to?
A. I’ve spoken with the top three teams: St. Louis, Detroit and Tampa Bay. All are very interested, but at this point and time, obviously, St. Louis holds the cards. (Laughs.)
Q. So Washington (picking No. 4) is just like, “We know he’s not going to be there at four, why even waste our time, why waste his time?”
A. Yeah, I guess, I don’t know. They didn’t ask me to come in, so I guess I’m not supposed to fall that far.
Q. There’s no way you’re falling. Let’s see, the draft starts at 8 p.m., so you’ll be off the board by 8:32. Be at dinner by 9:15.
A. Hopefully, yeah. Hopefully eating dessert or something with my family.
Q. Your sister’s here, who else is in town?
A. My mom; my dad will be here tomorrow. My mom’s best friend. One of my best friends is here already. Another one comes in tomorrow. Another comes in on Thursday. Then I got my marketing agents and all those guys.
Q. You spent five years at Nebraska, did a redshirt season as a freshman. Came in under Bill Callahan, who by the way is doing an amazing job with the Jets. Two years ago you had a bit of a change, with Bo Pelini coming in. First of all, before I keep going, let me ask you: After Callahan left, how close were you to transferring?
A. I was very close. Very, very close. It really came down to who the coach was going to be. Pretty much had my stuff packed, ready to go back home, go to Oregon State, be welcomed there with open arms. Coach Mike Riley (of Oregon State), to this day still very close with him. Really, I was ready to go back. But I said that I didn’t come out here to be a so-called “quitter” and call it quits right off the bat. So I said we’d meet with Coach Bo and obviously get to know him a little bit, go through spring ball at the very least, and see how I like it.
Q. What was your first impression of Bo Pelini?
A. Fiery guy. Even though he was quiet and somber and he wasn’t, you know, I think he’s a good speaker but at the time I think he was a little nervous, coming in with a new job, new guys and whatever. But I knew he was a good coach. Looking at his proven track record, I saw it as a great opportunity. I mean, he just got done coaching Glenn Dorsey (L.S.U. defensive tackle), so imagine what I could do after him and learn from the things he taught another great player.
Q. After your sophomore year, you almost transferred. After your junior year, how close were you to going pro?
A. Very close. Got to a point to where Coach Bo came out and saw me and my family when I home after the bowl game. I was thinking about it, but I obviously made the right decision in the decision to come back. One of two reasons I came back was for school, which I graduated in December. I thought I was ready to come to the next level, but I felt I could learn a ton more if I stayed at Nebraska. I wanted to have another good year and leave a stamp on that program.
Q. You left a footprint. I’ll give you three moments I’m going to remember of you from Nebraska this past season. I’m thinking the seven or so batted balls against Virginia Tech. Oklahoma, that poor guy you pushed back into the quarterback. And then you have throwing around Colt McCoy of Texas in the Big 12 championship game. What’s the one moment you’ll remember from this season?
A. I like all three, you nailed it. I would probably say getting to push the offensive guard back into the quarterback of Oklahoma.
Q. Poor guy. He got posterized. You went up and just dunked on him.
A. Exactly. I was kind of angry that play. (Laughs.)
Q. You didn’t get to score a touchdown this year after scoring twice in 2008.
A. I didn’t!
Q. Were you in Pelini’s ear? “Give me the ball!”
A. No, no, I wanted to stay away from offense. I didn’t want them to feel like they needed me.
Q. But you lined up at fullback a few times.
A. I did, for the last two games of the season, the Big 12 championship and the Holiday Bowl. Almost got a pass thrown to me, but the quarterback didn’t see me in the end zone.
Q. So, the season’s over. Walk me through what you’ve been doing since January.
A. It’s been really crazy. It’s been on an airplane every two days, three days. Traveling. Working out. I was in McKinnie, Tex., for about six weeks before the combine. Working out with Michael Johnson Performance. That was good. Learned a lot down there, got strong and fast. Really enjoyed that process of preparing for the combine. Went up there and showcased talent. Had a pretty good showing, wasn’t happy with my 40, I think I’ll ultimately go faster than that, a lot faster than that, should be in the 4.8s and what not. That’s a different story. But I enjoyed it, it’s been a trip going from McKinnie to Indianapolis (site of the N.F.L. combine) back to Lincoln, pro day, going home for a couple days, coming back out to Lincoln. Traveling, going to different teams, going to Detroit, going to Tampa, going to St. Louis. Going to San Francisco for an engineering conference. Then coming out here to New York. It’s been a whirlwind.
Q. You had a huge senior year. You were The Associated Press Player of the Year, first defensive player to do that, had every single award. Was there an award you were up for that you didn’t win? Not including Heisman, but the defensive trophies.
A. The Lott Award. Jerry Hughes (of T.C.U.).
Q. So you enter the N.F.L. draft, you have all this acclaim. Let’s talk about your play on the field. What’s the one thing you bring to the table that will help you immediately?
A. I think my versatility, being able to easily adapt to whatever that team or defensive coordinator wants me to do. I did it at Nebraska, been able to adapt from two different types of schemes, which I think will benefit me in the long run. And like I said, I love being versatile, can play inside or outside, three-technique, one-technique, five-technique, nine-technique. I mean, I just like doing it all, being able to do it all.
Q. Detroit and Tampa Bay both feature a 4-3 defense, so you’re not going to play as a 3-4 end or anything. Does either place excite you more? Does the opportunity to play next to Kyle Vanden Bosch, a former Cornhusker, in Detroit excite you more than going to Tampa? Or does the idea of going to Tampa and helping the Buccaneers get back to where they were excite you?
A. They both excite me. If I were to end up in Detroit, trust me, I’d be ecstatic to play next to Kyle Vanden Bosch. And I know he loves me, that I found out. (Laughs.) And he’s vying for me, which I do appreciate. And he’s another Nebraska great. I remember watching him since he’s been in the league. I remember that I was in the player’s lounge, looked up and guys were like “Kyle Vanden Bosch!” and I was like “who is that guy?” Guys were like, he’s a defensive end, and when we moved up to the new facility I saw his picture, watched him ever since. Great player.
Q. Great motor. Well, he would love you more. You saw what he did when he was lined up next to Albert Haynesworth in Tennessee; he had like 14 sacks. So I’m sure he thinking, licking his chops, “Man, if I can get single-teamed every play coming off the edge…”
A. Yeah. Exactly.
Q. Speaking of being defensive linemen from Nebraska, though it’s more defensive ends than defensive tackles, talk about what it means.
A. Oh man, it’s the Pipeline. That’s what they call it. Offensive linemen and defensive linemen. They are born and bred in Nebraska. That tradition, being able to be a Blackshirt (a starter on defense), you’re in that elite class with those great players. Grant Wistrom, Jason Peter, the Peter brothers, so many different guys. Vanden Bosch. There’s so many of us that have just gone through the ropes and played with greatness and want to continue with that. You got young guys behind me, as I followed behind Vanden Bosch and Wistrom and all them. Jared Crick, Pierre Allen, those guys are coming up and ready to take over when I’m done.
Q. What’s a successful rookie season for you?
A. A successful rookie year for me is my team making the playoffs. Going quite deeply in, being a big part of that. Numbers wise, I don’t really have a guess or estimate of numbers. Obviously, I want to produce. And you don’t always have to produce with numbers. Produce by helping; obviously you like to have the guys on the end make plays, feed them plays, be disruptive.
Q. So you’re not intimidated by the idea of starting from scratch as a team? You know, typically when you get picked high in the draft you’re not going to a good team. Do you embrace that challenge?
A. The great thing about this draft and the way the N.F.L. is set up is that you can trade and make moves, get good players in the draft. I look at the Jets, they were picking sixth last year, Mark Sanchez, and look where they ended up this past season. (The Jets traded up from the 17th spot to No. 5 to select Sanchez)
Q. I think the Jets would like to have you this year. I bet Rex Ryan would salivate at the idea of having you in the middle.
A. Yeah.
Q. Over the past weekend, you announced you gave $2.6 million to the University of Nebraska. You gave $2 million to the strength and conditioning department and $600,000 to the College of Engineering. It’s not that rare for a guy to give back to his school in a number of different ways, but it’s much rarer for a former player to give that amount. And it’s unheard of for someone to make such a donation before he’s even drafted, right after he leaves school. What does it mean? Why now?
A. It’s just something I definitely wanted to do, always thought about it. I feel like I’m going to be drafted on Thursday – hopefully that comes true (laughs) – and, I mean, it’s a great program. And they gave me so much. So it’s easy for me to want to give back to them. The way I was brought up and the way I understood how my life has unfolded, I had helping hands on my way. That kind of really falls into the scholarship. It’s an endowed scholarship, so the interest that that $600,000 creates can exceed that $2 million by many more millions. That’s scholarships going to different kids.
Q. And those scholarships will go to your neighborhood, Grant High (in Portland, Ore.), is that right?
A. Yeah, Grant High School. And if a kid doesn’t qualify, it opens up to the rest of the state of Oregon and then obviously back over to the state of Nebraska.
LINK
Suh would be 'ecstatic' to play next to Kyle Vanden Bosch
- Thread starter Nexus
- Start date
JTrain
All-Conference
ESPY
Starter
Loved reading all the answers from Suh in this interview. Kinda fun to see things from his vantage point. And honestly I'd be far more excited if he landed next to Vanden Bosch in Detroit. Obviously the Lions have a ways to go before they win their division & get to the playoffs, but they're already moving in the right direction with the new D coordinator & getting Vanden Bosch. Getting Suh is huge for them in that nasty NFC Central.
Last edited by a moderator:
jsneb83
All-American
ESPY
Starter
It's more about the fact that Vanden Bosch was part of the Nebraska pipeline. Knowing that, it's obvious to see the connection made with Suh, more so than his connection to Ruud.
Last edited by a moderator:
jsneb83
All-American
Yeah but one of the jobs as DT is to keep the lineman from getting to the LBs. So Ruud would benefit more from Suh than KVB would.
JTrain
All-Conference
Yeah but the interviewer asks if the possibility of playing with an ex-Husker great at Detroit excites him. Doesn't even mention that the Bucs have one of their own.
Also, maybe I'm mistaken but I thought "The Pipeline" of the glory days referred to the offensive line.
Also, maybe I'm mistaken but I thought "The Pipeline" of the glory days referred to the offensive line.
Last edited by a moderator:
