Grant Wistrom = Best NU defender ever?

ColoradoHusk

ColoradoHusk

Heisman Trophy Winner
Jason Peter was on Sharp & Benning this morning, and made the comment that "over his entire career at NU, Grant Wistrom is the best NU defender ever".

I thought this was a pretty interesting comment, and he may be right. I am the same age as G-Dubs, so I was never in "awe" of him, but considering what he did over his entire career, it was pretty special.

1994 - backup DE as a true freshman, and a holy terror on special teams. I still can picture a tall, skinny white kid running down on kickoff coverage just wrecking people.

1995 - First-team All Big 8 honors, 3rd team All-American honors. Starting DE on the best college football team in history, as a TRUE sophomore. Team ranks 4th nationally in scoring defense.

1996 - First-team All American and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year

1997 - First-team All American and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year for the 2nd year in a row. Lombardi Award winner. Team ranks 5th nationally in scoring defense.

I know that Suh had an amazing senior year, and guys like Rich Glover, Trev Alberts, Neil Smith, and Broderick Thomas had great careers at NU on great teams, but I think JP has a point about Wistrom. What do you guys think?

 
Rich Glover was literally unstoppable, making sometimes as many as 15 or 20 tackles in a game from the middle guard position. Unblockable really at 6'2 and 230 lbs.

Suh was probably the best in the past 50 years (since Glover). Wistrom was one of the top ten certainly. The Ruud boys were pretty dam good as well (all 4 of them btw)

 
Hard to tell, sometimes. Guys like Suh and Glover and more recently Randy Gregory can affect the other team's entire offensive game plan. They can run away from them completely or double team them, so they have some relatively quiet games while still being game changing players.

Wistrom was definitely a beast, but if you tried to run away from Wistrom, you were gonna run into a Peter, a Tomich, a Rucker, a Polk a Minter, etc. No way you double up on a Nebraska defender back then, because the guy next to him could kill you, too.

But if Jason Peter is making the case for Wistrom himself, I'm good.

 
84HuskerLaw said:
Rich Glover was literally unstoppable, making sometimes as many as 15 or 20 tackles in a game from the middle guard position. Unblockable really at 6'2 and 230 lbs.

Suh was probably the best in the past 50 years (since Glover). Wistrom was one of the top ten certainly. The Ruud boys were pretty dam good as well (all 4 of them btw)
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I think Peter's point was that "over the entire career" Wistrom had the best performance. Yes, GW was helped by having a ton of defensive talent around him, but Wistrom's accomplishments are tough to beat. Rich Glover's career accomplishments are the only one that is comparable.

Suh might have had the "best one year" for a NU defender, but he didn't hit his full potential until mid-way through his junior year. On a 1 year basis, I would put Trev Alberts' senior year up to anyone in NU history. He was special in 1993.

 
I started at UNL in 97. I remember seeing Wistrom on campus my first day and I was like "holy s---, that's Grant Wistrom!".

I would say its Wistrom or Glover.

Suh probably had the best season. Not sure he is our best ever defensive player.

 
It's hard to argue against Wistrom if you're looking at all 4 years at Nebraska. Obviously Suh was phenomenal his junior and senior seasons (and finishing 4th in the Heisman running as a defensive lineman speaks for itself), but he didn't have quite as much of an impact his freshman/sophomore year as Wistrom did.

 
It's funny to say, but Wistrom might be "under-appreciated" by some Husker fans (and I would include myself in that). He didn't have the 1 dominant year like Suh. He wasn't the brash, loudmouth like the Peter brothers. He wasn't the freak athlete and playmaker like Terrell Farley was.

Wistrom came to NU and was a stud from day 1. I remember him getting a sack in garbage time against West Virginia. That was his first game as a true freshman. Wistrom and Peter coming back in 1997, when they would have been first round NFL draft picks set the tone for the 1997 National Championship team.

 
Wistrom might be my favorite all time Husker. But I'm not sure he was our best defender. I'd probly go with Rich Glover. I know Glover had some gaudy stats against great teams. Jason Peter's opinion might be a bit inflated because he and Grant were (are?) best friends.

 
NUance said:
Wistrom might be my favorite all time Husker. But I'm not sure he was our best defender. I'd probly go with Rich Glover. I know Glover had some gaudy stats against great teams. Jason Peter's opinion might be a bit inflated because he and Grant were (are?) best friends.
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Great point about JP loving Wistrom like a brother. I think it's between Glover and Wistrom, in terms of best career at NU.

 
Lavonte would be right up there too, he was everywhere. I would take Suh though as best defensive player ever. 2 years that he absolutely dominated cfb.

 
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How can you pick a single greatest ever? There have been so many great Nebraska defenders. If Terell Farley had played more than 1 and a half season he may have been in this conversation.

 
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