Grant Wistrom = Best NU defender ever?

I would say that Grant IMO was probably the best Rush End/ Defensive End to ever play at Nebraska. I have never seen a motor like he had. I mean his freshman year he wasn't the starter but I think he had 5-6 sacks at about 230. He was 6'5" that is really skinny and he played that well as a true freshman. I mean he was incredibly athletic, but you just can't teach hat motor. That relentlessness and then to combine it with the athletic ability, it is just a great combination.

 
It's hard to argue this, it really is. I can't really say anyone is wrong. My take on it though is Suh has gotta be the Best. He was SUHHHH dominant. I mean, gosh, teams were triple teaming him and still unable to stop him.

 
MattyIce said:
It's hard to argue this, it really is. I can't really say anyone is wrong. My take on it though is Suh has gotta be the Best. He was SUHHHH dominant. I mean, gosh, teams were triple teaming him and still unable to stop him.
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Nothing against Suh, but he only did it for 1 year. The argument for Wistrom is that he was so impactful for 3 years, and contributed as a true freshman.

 
If you count having a productive 4 years than it would probably be Winstrom. I'm not so sure that makes you the best though. I personally have never witnessed a more dominant force than Suh. People need to realize as well that this was from the DT position, not DE where you can usually post better numbers. The same goes with Glover, but I am too young to have ever watched him. Both of their stats their last 2 seasons are literally comical to look at.

  • Suh had 161 tackles (43 TFL), and 20 sacks in his last two seasons
  • Glover had 192 tackles (22 TFL) in his last two seasons *sacks not recorded at this time
 
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This is a real hard one to rank. Suh best one season in my opinion - I've never seen anyone bull rush like he did. He got QB sacks just by throwing the OL into the QB (Oklahoma game). GW was a star among stars. He had a great supporting cast but so did Glover. 4 year career - I lean towards GW - just so consistently dominant over a full career of 3 years and a strong contributor the 4th year. Now if we talk pound for pound you have to go wt Glover. Of course guys weren't as big back then but he did a lot with

his 'small' body. Found this on NUance's post in the best hit thread - this is the exact SUH play I mentioned above. Thanks NUance!

suh.gif


 
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Suh had the most dominant single season ever and he'd get my vote, but it's hard to argue against Wistrom when you're looking at the entire body of work so I can see how some people might choose him. And as someone else stated, Terrell Farley had a ceiling as high as the heavens but was never able to reach his full potential due to off-the-field issues.

 
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100% agree. Wistrom made an almost immediate impact as a FRESHMAN. Suh was dominant for 1/2 of his senior season... He never took a play off and his motor never quit. If I had to assemble an all Husker team starting on defense, he is my first pick.

I met him at a Husker event and I am just under 6 foot with a medium build and when I shook his hand, he completely dwarfed me and could have easily tossed me into the nearest trash can. Super nice guy too.

 
I won't throw in an opinion for who is/was the best as all 3 played with a different cast of players in different eras and while all were on the D line they were different positions. I am a few years younger than Glover but still remember what he did to another teams all american center. He absolutely devoured this guy and made him look like a middle school kid. At least for his last 2 years he was a man playing against boys. He had a crazy combination (for those days) of strength and speed that made it impossible to stop consistently. I love that we are having the discussion of 3 of my favorite players of all time on the D side.

 
BIG ERN said:
If you count having a productive 4 years than it would probably be Winstrom. I'm not so sure that makes you the best though. I personally have never witnessed a more dominant force than Suh. People need to realize as well that this was from the DT position, not DE where you can usually post better numbers. The same goes with Glover, but I am too young to have ever watched him. Both of their stats their last 2 seasons are literally comical to look at.

  • Suh had 161 tackles (43 TFL), and 20 sacks in his last two seasons
  • Glover had 192 tackles (22 TFL) in his last two seasons *sacks not recorded at this time
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One of my favorite DTs wa Steve Warren. He only started a couple games before his senior year. He has a couple obscure records for pass breakups.. He had 15 TFL and 7 sacks his senior year.

  • NU Position (DL) Record Holder for Most PBUs in a Game with Three vs. California (9/12/98)
  • NU Position (DL) Record Holder for Most PBUs in a Career with 10
 
MichiganDad3 said:
BIG ERN said:
If you count having a productive 4 years than it would probably be Winstrom. I'm not so sure that makes you the best though. I personally have never witnessed a more dominant force than Suh. People need to realize as well that this was from the DT position, not DE where you can usually post better numbers. The same goes with Glover, but I am too young to have ever watched him. Both of their stats their last 2 seasons are literally comical to look at.

  • Suh had 161 tackles (43 TFL), and 20 sacks in his last two seasons
  • Glover had 192 tackles (22 TFL) in his last two seasons *sacks not recorded at this time
Click to expand...
One of my favorite DTs wa Steve Warren. He only started a couple games before his senior year. He has a couple obscure records for pass breakups.. He had 15 TFL and 7 sacks his senior year.

  • NU Position (DL) Record Holder for Most PBUs in a Game with Three vs. California (9/12/98)
  • NU Position (DL) Record Holder for Most PBUs in a Career with 10
Click to expand...
Steve Warren was great. I met him at a wedding in the early 2000's and was a nice guy. I was really drunk and I don't think I beat him down too much with Chris Farley-esque questions about his NU playing career. "Remember that time you played football for Nebraska.....that was awesome."

 
MichiganDad3 said:
BIG ERN said:
If you count having a productive 4 years than it would probably be Winstrom. I'm not so sure that makes you the best though. I personally have never witnessed a more dominant force than Suh. People need to realize as well that this was from the DT position, not DE where you can usually post better numbers. The same goes with Glover, but I am too young to have ever watched him. Both of their stats their last 2 seasons are literally comical to look at.

  • Suh had 161 tackles (43 TFL), and 20 sacks in his last two seasons
  • Glover had 192 tackles (22 TFL) in his last two seasons *sacks not recorded at this time
Click to expand...
One of my favorite DTs wa Steve Warren. He only started a couple games before his senior year. He has a couple obscure records for pass breakups.. He had 15 TFL and 7 sacks his senior year.

  • NU Position (DL) Record Holder for Most PBUs in a Game with Three vs. California (9/12/98)
  • NU Position (DL) Record Holder for Most PBUs in a Career with 10
Click to expand...
Warren and Wistrom........both southern Missouri guys.....Warren from Springfield and Wistrom from Webb City.

 
Suh was the most physically dominating defensive Husker I ever saw. Been watching since 83. Week after week blue chip O line were on their back and embarassed. Never saw anything like that. Saw Glover on tape. Excellent excellent player. Wistrom was great.

 
Maybe Peter should have said "most accomplished defensive player in NU history" for Wistrom. I don't think anyone can match Wistrom's accomplishments (3 national title teams, 2 as a starter, 2-time conference DPOY, etc.). Wistrom wasn't the dominant force that Glover or Suh was, but he was still very special.

 
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