Sipple says "SUH moves to exalted status"

[Dave M.]

Makes for interesting debate.......... I would put SUH in the top 5 right now. I will wait until after the Big12 championship and Bowl game to cement his spot in my top 5 of all time. How about the rest of you?

 

 

Sipple's Article.........................

 

Making a list and checking it twice.

 

Before this season began, Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini said Ndamukong Suh already was a special player. In order to ascend to an even higher level, Pelini said, Suh needed to play with tenacity and abandon on every single play.

 

Check.

 

Suh not even thinking about his chances to win the HeismanIn order to be considered among Nebraska’s best defenders of all time, Suh needed to follow his 2008 breakout season with a similarly spectacular 2009. After all, the greatest players typically sustain high levels for multiple years.

 

Check.

 

“From what I see, he’s as good as there’s ever been at Nebraska,” says Charlie McBride, providing substantial credence to what many of us have come to believe.

 

McBride, Nebraska’s defensive coordinator/defensive line coach from 1982-99, helped mold Grant Wistrom and Jason Peter, among other All-America defenders. McBride obviously recognizes rare talent when he sees it.

 

He sees it in Suh.

 

“Suh’s drawn double teams, he’s drawn triple teams and he’s still made plays,” McBride says. “He’s been consistent. He hasn’t been one of those guys who’s taken a nap. A lot of times, you get guys who don’t play every play. As time’s gone on, he’s matured and learned that every play has to count. He’s special.”

 

In fact, Suh’s arguably special enough to be considered one of Nebraska’s top three defenders of all time.

 

In August, I ranked the 40 best Husker defensive players over the last 40 years, with rush end Wistrom (1994-97) topping the list, followed by middle guard Rich Glover (1970-72) and safety Mike Brown (1996-99). If nothing else, it was an interesting mental exercise.

 

Really, who’s to say who’s the best? It’s an extremely subjective analysis, just one man’s opinion.

 

That said, after discussing the topic at length with McBride, I have little trouble saying Suh belongs among the all-time top three, probably behind Wistrom and Glover and ahead of Brown. That’s as far as I’d go with Big Suh until someone convinces me otherwise.

 

Suh and Wistrom are comparable statistically over their junior and senior seasons.

 

Glover’s amazing tackle totals in 1971 and 1972 top both Suh and Wistrom. But stats are only part of the story.

 

In addition to Wistrom and Peter, McBride coached standout linemen such as Trev Alberts, Broderick Thomas, Danny Noonan, Neil Smith, Jim Skow and Jared Tomich — each of whom made the top 15 of my top 40 — “and Suh may be the best of all of them,” McBride says. “And I mean, those guys are great players. They had unbelievable motors.”

 

However, “Those guys, a lot of them, didn’t have the athletic ability that Suh has,” McBride says. “If you tested out Wistrom, he didn’t always do very good. But his motor made up the difference.”

 

Some might be skeptical of seeing Suh mentioned in such exalted company. Skeptics will say the latest star often gets the nod when discussing the greatest in any category. That’s why I sought out McBride. He coached many of the greatest, and still watches NU closely.

 

Regarding Suh’s standing among elite Husker defenders, McBride’s awfully convincing.

[skersfan]

50 years watching, and the only one that comes close is Glover, motor beyond imagination.,

 

But Suh brings more to the table. He destroys game plans, changes game plans, and requires the offense to set their sites on him from the beginning. He is not surrounded by the players the others were.

 

I have said it all year. To me he is the best that has ever played for Nebraska. I had always felt Glover was, but Suh has surpassed what I saw and remember. And I do not think we have seen the limit of Suh, he is only going to get better, plus he has the size that Glover missed.

 

He will be playing on Sundays and he will make this program proud for the first day.

 

Plus he seems to be a great person. Very intelligent. He is here to play football, but getting an education is not second on the list. They go a hand in hand for him.

[Blackshirtsguru]

50 years watching, and the only one that comes close is Glover, motor beyond imagination.,

 

But Suh brings more to the table. He destroys game plans, changes game plans, and requires the offense to set their sites on him from the beginning. He is not surrounded by the players the others were.

 

I have said it all year. To me he is the best that has ever played for Nebraska. I had always felt Glover was, but Suh has surpassed what I saw and remember. And I do not think we have seen the limit of Suh, he is only going to get better, plus he has the size that Glover missed.

 

He will be playing on Sundays and he will make this program proud for the first day.

 

Plus he seems to be a great person. Very intelligent. He is here to play football, but getting an education is not second on the list. They go a hand in hand for him.

 

You are spot on! When was the last time a team had to game plan around a Nebraska DT? Suh is an amazing player and is still learning how to play his position. That my friends, is down right scary! He will make some NFL team very happy on Sunday's.

[mmmtodd]

Mike Brown will always be my favorite husker, but more and more suh is becoming, in my eyes, if not the best, worthy of being in every coffee cup argument across the state. when i was at the kstate game, i didnt watch anything else. it was the defensive line. THE ENTIRE TIME. When someone is that captivating, well, that says a lot.

[Glendower]

50 years watching, and the only one that comes close is Glover, motor beyond imagination.,

 

But Suh brings more to the table. He destroys game plans, changes game plans, and requires the offense to set their sites on him from the beginning. He is not surrounded by the players the others were.

 

I have said it all year. To me he is the best that has ever played for Nebraska. I had always felt Glover was, but Suh has surpassed what I saw and remember. And I do not think we have seen the limit of Suh, he is only going to get better, plus he has the size that Glover missed.

 

He will be playing on Sundays and he will make this program proud for the first day.

 

Plus he seems to be a great person. Very intelligent. He is here to play football, but getting an education is not second on the list. They go a hand in hand for him.

 

You are spot on! When was the last time a team had to game plan around a Nebraska DT? Suh is an amazing player and is still learning how to play his position. That my friends, is down right scary! He will make some NFL team very happy on Sunday's.

 

I think that our past DTs have the same "problem" that Tommie has-- they were surrounded by so much other talent that you couldn't conceivably plan your offense around one defensive player-- the weaknesses would get you creamed in other ways. This is NOT to say that Suh isn't just... epic... but when Jason Peter was playing, for example, there was just so much awesome around him. Just as when Tommie was playing, there were 3 terrifying running threats on the field at any given time (and terrifying threats behind those three!). To think about the great stats that any one player had and to think that those stats had to be spread around to different positions and different depths... well... that's insane.

 

Suh is, essentially, a one-man show. There are some other really fantastic players on D this year, but he HAS to carry it. If you swapped Suh with Peter or swapped suh with someone merely good and put winstrom on this team, they would look about as good as Suh. you'd see teams plotting around them, etc, and they would have a bigger impact.

 

But Suh is still awesome and might be the best evar... though I don't think he's better than the rest of the best by a lot.