How good could Eric Crouch have been?

[skersfan]

I fault him for not being the leader he should or could have been on a team that was totally headlined by him. Solich did not have the ball in his hands when it could have been pitiched, handed off or passed. Eric did. He wanted it on every single play, and Solich allowed it to happen. That is how things changed. Solich lost control, or endoresed the actions. Who knows. No question Eric was the best player on the field, but others could have helped and I think made it a better team overall. Team unity is on both sides of the ball, married to each other. Because he was treated so differently than others he carries the load on that for me.

[husker07]

In terms of ability Crouch>Frazier. Tommie was a great player and leader, with the knack for making something happen when we needed it. Crouch had insane running ability, think Reggie Bush at quarterback. Maybe some people need to go on youtube and watch some of his old highlights. With all that said, if I'm building a championship team, I'm taking Tommie.

[Rocketsocks]

Tommie Frazier was one of the greatest quarterbacks to play college football. I don't think Crouch had more ability than Frazier.

[B.B. Hemingway]

Crouch wasn't a rah-rah guy, but he led by example his senior year, and carried that team on his back. Without Crouch that team would have been one of the worst teams we would had in a long time. Aside from Crouch, that time really was disappointing....

 

As far as the Frost vs. Crouch debate, I don't even see how its close, Eric easily. Frost was great, but Crouch would have been even more effective on that 97 championship squad.

[B.B. Hemingway]

Tommie Frazier was one of the greatest quarterbacks to play college football. I don't think Crouch had more ability than Frazier.

 

Crouch was a better runner.... neither could throw to save their lives.... Frazier was the better player, because he had that "Tebow" factor; or Tebow has the "Frazier" factor....

[Nexus]

Piggybacking off of what Hercules said in post #26 about the Oregon sports radio jocks touting Tommie Frazier, a well respected college football journalist, Bruce Feldman also called Frazier the greatest option QB he'd ever seen. He made that remark via Twitter when Frazier missed out earning College Football Hall of Fame honors 6 months ago. Lots of other national sports journalists echoed Feldman's remark too.

 

No matter where you stand on the Frost/Crouch debate, perception is subjective. I'm just glad they played for Nebraska and had success.

[Hercules]

In terms of ability Crouch>Frazier. Tommie was a great player and leader, with the knack for making something happen when we needed it. Crouch had insane running ability, think Reggie Bush at quarterback. Maybe some people need to go on youtube and watch some of his old highlights. With all that said, if I'm building a championship team, I'm taking Tommie.

 

The only edge in ability Crouch would have held over Tommie would be in straight-ahead speed. But if you didn't think Frazier had "insane" running ability, you need to go watch every one of the 199 rushing yards he put up in the national championship game. Even though Frazier wasn't quite as fast, he was just as elusive, he was harder to bring down, he was better at running the option, he was a better passer, he was a better decision-maker, he was a better leader, and he was more clutch.

[Nexus]

In terms of ability Crouch>Frazier. Tommie was a great player and leader, with the knack for making something happen when we needed it. Crouch had insane running ability, think Reggie Bush at quarterback. Maybe some people need to go on youtube and watch some of his old highlights. With all that said, if I'm building a championship team, I'm taking Tommie.

 

The only edge in ability Crouch would have held over Tommie would be in straight-ahead speed. But if you didn't think Frazier had "insane" running ability, you need to go watch every one of the 199 rushing yards he put up in the national championship game. Even though Frazier wasn't quite as fast, he was just as elusive, he was harder to bring down, he was better at running the option, he was a better passer, he was a better decision-maker, he was a better leader, and he was more clutch.

 

Let me help you. 13 minute Frazier tribute video was posted on youtube 3 weeks ago.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYuIpKrxQnU

[bshirt]

Piggybacking off of what Hercules said in post #26 about the Oregon sports radio jocks touting Tommie Frazier, a well respected college football journalist, Bruce Feldman also called Frazier the greatest option QB he'd ever seen. He made that remark via Twitter when Frazier missed out earning College Football Hall of Fame honors 6 months ago. Lots of other national sports journalists echoed Feldman's remark too.

 

No matter where you stand on the Frost/Crouch debate, perception is subjective. I'm just glad they played for Nebraska and had success.

 

 

Very, very well said sir.

[Cob Mob 95]

Crouch wasn't a rah-rah guy, but he led by example his senior year, and carried that team on his back. Without Crouch that team would have been one of the worst teams we would had in a long time. Aside from Crouch, that time really was disappointing....

 

As far as the Frost vs. Crouch debate, I don't even see how its close, Eric easily. Frost was great, but Crouch would have been even more effective on that 97 championship squad.

 

Eh, what? What would Green and Mackovica have said about their combined 37 yards on the season if Crouch were their QB? I'm not a big Frost fan, but the guy RAN THE OPTION a heckova lot better than Crouch. Still, I don't really blame Crouch as much as most. His head coach warped our unstoppable offense into a 1 man show that, the next year, became easier to shut down than most High School offenses.

[T_O_Bull]

Didn't E.C. win the Heisman?

T_O_B

G>B>R

[gobiggergoredder]

Crouch wasn't a rah-rah guy, but he led by example his senior year, and carried that team on his back. Without Crouch that team would have been one of the worst teams we would had in a long time. Aside from Crouch, that time really was disappointing....

 

As far as the Frost vs. Crouch debate, I don't even see how its close, Eric easily. Frost was great, but Crouch would have been even more effective on that 97 championship squad.

 

Eh, what? What would Green and Mackovica have said about their combined 37 yards on the season if Crouch were their QB? I'm not a big Frost fan, but the guy RAN THE OPTION a heckova lot better than Crouch. Still, I don't really blame Crouch as much as most. His head coach warped our unstoppable offense into a 1 man show that, the next year, became easier to shut down than most High School offenses.

 

 

Exactly, not sure what you call the option without a pitch. Very rarely was an IB the 'option'.

[southernoregonhusker]

Crouch wasn't a rah-rah guy, but he led by example his senior year, and carried that team on his back. Without Crouch that team would have been one of the worst teams we would had in a long time. Aside from Crouch, that time really was disappointing....

 

As far as the Frost vs. Crouch debate, I don't even see how its close, Eric easily. Frost was great, but Crouch would have been even more effective on that 97 championship squad.

 

Eh, what? What would Green and Mackovica have said about their combined 37 yards on the season if Crouch were their QB? I'm not a big Frost fan, but the guy RAN THE OPTION a heckova lot better than Crouch. Still, I don't really blame Crouch as much as most. His head coach warped our unstoppable offense into a 1 man show that, the next year, became easier to shut down than most High School offenses.

 

I could not have said it better myself.

[southernoregonhusker]

With the the teams 1993-1997 he would have been a almost mythical type player.

 

I was just thinking about that too...

Crouch's 1999-2001 teams weren't that lacking in offensive talent. In 2000-2001 he didn't have a great RB or great defensive play, but that was it - there were still plenty of weapons around him, and some very good offensive linemen (those were the last offensive lines that even remotely resembled the lines of the 90's).

 

You put Crouch on one of those mid 90's teams and he'd have been a great player, but his numbers would have been worse than in 2001, not better. He would have had less playing time (just like all the starters did in the mid 90's, because they were up by 40 points heading into the third or fourth quarter almost every game), and he would have had less touches (because we had better RBs, and because Osborne didn't run the QB nearly as much as Solich did).

 

would that philosophy been altered though, due to the capabilities of Crouch?

 

No. Osborne would have used Crouch differently than Frost, but I don't think he would have gotten more touches than Frost got - not with Ahman Green in the backfield, and Sheldon Jackson, Matt Davison, Bobby Newcombe, Brendan Holbein and Shevin Wiggins running all over the field. That team had a lot of great playmakers, and Osborne distributed the ball in a way that put a lot of stress on defenses - that's part of why his offenses were so much more effective than Solich's offenses.

 

And as good as Crouch was, his ability wouldn't have dictated that he receive more touches than Frazier from 93-95. Anybody who thinks differently didn't watch Frazier play, and they don't realize the immense amount of respect that is still held by non-partisan fans who watched Frazier play. I was listening to a local radio talk show in Eugene, Oregon a couple weeks ago, hosted by two hard core Ducks homers, and they were discussing Tebow-mania. Anyways, somebody called in to say how amazing it was that Tebow didn't have more respect from NFL pundits since he was the best college QB of all time, and after the call ended the co-hosts started discussing how they thought Tebow was amazing in college, but that Tommie Frazier was actually the best college player they'd ever watched (they even took Frazier over Jim Brown). That's from two Pac 12 homers who have probably never attended or covered a Nebraska game in their entire life.

 

What's really nuts is that it's completely possible that Crouch would have been third string QB on that 1995 team. Had he been on those 93-95 teams, he probably would have been one of the best slot receivers/kick returners ever to play at Nebraska.

 

Pac-12 homers? Brooklyn John's accent didn't throw you off a little? He's an older feller with lots of old school knowledge. He's a great listen if you're a Yankees fan as I am.