ColoradoHusk

That UCLA game was the coming out party for LP. Jones was injured, and Benning struggled with a fumble or two. Phillips came on in the 2nd half and carried the NU offense, which was struggling on the road. I also remember the K-State game in '94. NU is down to starting Matt Turman at QB, and LP was playing with a broken thumb on his right hand. He has a sizable cast on his hand to protect his thumb. LP takes the ball repeatedly, going up against 9 and 10 man fronts. Yeah, that K-State game I could only listen to on the radio. And I had to drive 15 miles to the top of ridge to catch the signal of the Big Red Network out of somewhere like Fresno. Apparently everyone in the stadium knew the ball would be handed to Lawrence Phillips and there wasn't anything they could do about it. The K-State game was one of the most satisfying Husker wins of my lifetime. The whole stadium knew NU was going to hand off to LP. It was such a great effort by the o-line, fullbacks, and LP. The defense also played great, as NU was able to win pretty convincingly 17-6.

He played great against FSU in that Orange Bowl. He had a great 2nd half when Jones was pretty uneffective in the first half.

That UCLA game was the coming out party for LP. Jones was injured, and Benning struggled with a fumble or two. Phillips came on in the 2nd half and carried the NU offense, which was struggling on the road. I also remember the K-State game in '94. NU is down to starting Matt Turman at QB, and LP was playing with a broken thumb on his right hand. He has a sizable cast on his hand to protect his thumb. LP takes the ball repeatedly, going up against 9 and 10 man fronts.

Everyone I knew thought LP had the Heisman sewn up after the first 2 games in the '95 season. He torched Oklahoma State and Michigan State (coached by Nick Saban). It was the night of the Michigan State game that he made the first of his really big mistakes in life. Man, his life and career is such a "what if".

For those who never had the pleasure of seeing LP in a Husker uniform.

I don't condone any of his actions off the football field, but he was a very troubled person that had a very crappy childhood. He will always be my favorite NU RB with what he did ON THE FIELD. Depression and mental illness can be very hard to overcome. RIP LP.

I was just about to post this topic. So sad. Such a troubled man.

Sounds like the rationale of every lottery winner that ended up bankrupt I'd take the annuity in a heartbeat. Leaves my family set for life no matter what, would still have more money than I'd ever know what to do with but in the form of essentially a yearly salary, and I honestly just couldn't care about the difference between two close amounts in the hundreds of millions. I also could live very well with the annuity payments. I have a finance background, so I would actually like having the ability to try to make the money work for me. If I took a few million $ and blew it on the stupidest stuff ever to get it out of my system, I am sure I would have a hard time spending $5-10M per year. It sure would be fun trying though.

Learn how to say no. If your friends start asking you for money before you offer it to them, they aren't your friends.

Cash payout would be $930 Million. Roughly 40% federal taxes would take out $372M. Let's assume another 5% state income tax (varies depending on state), so that's another $47M. So, that is a total of $511M of take home cash. Even if you took $11M and blew it on the stupidest stuff you can think of, you would be left with $500M. Let's say you took $200M of that an invested in fixed income securities, paying 4-8%. That is $8-16M of INCOME just on that $200M. That $200M would also be pretty safe and not lose much value, if any. You could take the other $300M and invest it in other stuff that you will never touch and can leave alone and then figure out what you want to do with it later in life.

Yep, plus if you die right away guess who gets to keep your money. I think the annuity payments can be passed on to heirs, now, but the cash payout is way better. The annuity payment is basically an annuity with 3.7% annual interest.

Always take the cash payout. Unless you think you will blow through all that cash, but the cash payout is the better deal. The annuity payout is such a bad rate of return.

I did not know that. That's not considered an impermissible benefit? No, the NCAA allows the schools to have an amount of funds that can be used to pay for insurance policy on the kids. I'm not sure on the amount that can be used, and the maximum insurance policy that can be purchased. I also think the player has to be projected within the top 1-2 rounds to be eligible to get this benefit from the school. EDIT: Here is a link with the program description from the NCAA. http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/insurance/student-athlete-insurance-programs

This is what people don't want to comprehend with Valentine. VV was never going to jump into the first round with a great 2016. There are just too many question marks about his injury history and other factors. VV is not Suh. VV has the ceiling of a serviceable DT in a 3-4 scheme. He can keep linemen off LB's and make the occasional tackle for loss. Because of this, VV's draft stock wasn't going to improve that much by coming back to NU. That's why it was probably the best choice for him to leave NU this year. EDIT -- Another point I saw on another thread, is that maybe VV thinks his body on has so many games left in it. If so, why waste 13 of those games in college when he already has his degree?

If Brandon has permission to post links, that's great, more power to the guy. But, how is this thread any different than the thread that is 2 pages long? So, Brandon was told to create separate threads for his article, even if there is a thread discussing the very same topic?

If Brandon has permission to post links, that's great, more power to the guy. But, how is this thread any different than the thread that is 2 pages long?

I think most are annoyed that there was a separate thread made, specifically for this guy to pimp out his online op ed article, when there was already a 2-page thread discussing VV's status. I think the article is worth noting, but this is a pure advertisement and click bait.

Meh. We already have a discussion going about VV declaring. Why the need for a new thread with a guy pimping his online article?

As a player at Nebraska, or as a coach for a different team? As their coaching career would suggest. Now, I know Frost and Taylor have been following the guidelines set forth by their bosses, and things could totally change when they actually run their own team. But, I see Frost as a spread guy with power running concepts, while I see Taylor as a pro-style/WCO guy. Yes, I know those definitions can mean many things, but if I would watch Frost's offense vs. Taylor's offense, I would prefer Frost's offense.

I don't see how we have taken the first step towards getting back to relevance. What was that first step? Dumping the staff that couldn't get over the hump. If Riley isn't the gut to get us back in the discussion he can be the catalyst. I agree that Bo and the last staff wasn't going to get us over the hump. But, I don't see how Riley is the "catalyst" at getting NU over the hump. The hiring of the coach after Bo was just as important as firing Bo in the first place. If Riley isn't the guy that gets NU to that next step, we are in the same boat as we were with Bo.

I don't see how we have taken the first step towards getting back to relevance. What was that first step?

I have a feeling we are headed towards the same fate as Univ. of Minnesota. Now, we will always pump money into the football program, but will it really mean anything in the long run?

Honestly that has been in question his entire career. Not saying he doesn't have the work ethic, but I remember it being called in to question at times. I am sure his work ethic and motor will be called into question. However, the guy has great size and skill set, and has shown moments of dominance. Yes, it wasn't as regular for NU as we all would have liked. However, the NFL doesn't care about college production, especially in the later rounds of the draft. In the later rounds of the draft, guys are more willing to draft on size, skills, and potential. Michael Sam led the SEC in sacks in his senior year. The guy had a very productive college career. He hasn't been able to stick in the NFL because dominating in college doesn't always translate to being useful in the NFL.

So, you've never left a job for a better opportunity elsewhere? I don't see how VV is being selfish, and what is wrong with leaving to the NFL to make money? People go to college in order to get a degree and make more money in the real world. VV has his degree and he is hoping to earn a lot of money in the NFL. I see nothing wrong with his decision. I'm sure you felt the same way about Petteway and Pitchford leaving early as well I actually didn't care about Petteway and Pitchford leaving. If a guy has his college degree and doesn't see what he can gain from spending another year in college, I don't see any reason for him to come back. Petteway wasn't going to turn himself into an NBA star overnight. Now, he is in the NBADL, playing 3-4 nights a week, and practicing every day with NBA-style coaches. I'm not sure what Pitchford is doing, but he was never going to make it in the NBA. I'm sure he's playing in Europe or Asia and make decent money. I just don't get the idea of staying with your college team, just because you have eligibility left. As it stands right now the ceiling for VV is 3-4th round. With more likely of a possibility of a 5th-6th. There was a call into Sharp and Benning about VV and his work ethic and the attitude. There's a difference between coming out early to be a 1st-2nd round draft pick and a 5th-6th pick But, if VV already has his degree and probably won't ever be able to turn himself into a 1st-2nd round pick, then why stick around? You just said his ceiling was 3rd-4th round. VV should do everything he can to get drafted this year and then try for the best.