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NU Football: Suh has big plans for young D-line
BY RICH KAIPUST
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
• On the Web: NU Football
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• On the Web: NU Football
LINCOLN - The pediatrician looked at Mrs. Suh and told her, judging by her son's current size and projected growth, that the boy someday might stand 7 feet tall.
Ndamukong Suh says the inexperience of NU's defensive line won't be an issue once the players get a chance to prove themselves on the field.How could this be, Bernadette Suh wondered. Both she and her husband were no taller than 5-10. There was some height in the extended family, but not that much.
Anyway, the doctor must have miscalculated. Or perhaps the boy stalled just a little. The last six inches or so never happened.
"Doctors say guys don't stop growing until they're 21, so I still got a year," Nebraska sophomore Ndamukong Suh said, smiling. "We'll see. But I don't think I'd like being 7-foot."
But make no mistake: It's hard to find many other instances where Suh is or will come up short in life.
The Husker nose tackle is still big (almost 6-5, 300 pounds). His potential is great. Even his heritage makes for grand stories - born to a Jamaican mother and African father who never would have met had they not left homelands for the United States decades ago.
"He might come off kind of quiet and kind of shy the first few times you talk to him, but he's got some inner self-confidence that comes out," said Gary Thorson, his former coach at Grant High in Portland, Ore. "I think that kind of goes hand-in-hand with the fact that he doesn't put all his eggs in one basket in life."
The consensus in and around the NU program is that Suh is poised for one of those breakout seasons. It might have to be, with an inexperienced line needing an anchor and the third-year sophomore being the most likely candidate.
"I definitely see a big opportunity to contribute quite a bit to this team," Suh said. "I have a chance to make plays and help the team and be a leader on the defensive line."
Suh might already lead the team in interesting stories, not including the fact that he's the Huskers' first football scholarship recruit out of Oregon.
Start with his first name, taken from a great-grandfather who was a police chief in Cameroon and later had his name put on a street in the city of Bamenda. In the Ngema tribe, of which his father hailed, Ndamukong (pronounced En-dom-ah-ken) means "house of spears."
Suh knew because he asked, studied and learned about the culture. Next summer, he and his sister hope to make their first visits to the country on the western coast of Africa.
Suh already has been to Jamaica twice as a youngster. He rode donkeys, climbed waterfalls, walked through sugar cane fields and witnessed where and how his mother was raised.
"He's seen what the culture is like and knows that it's totally different than here in the United States," Bernadette Suh said. "I think he liked what he saw, liked the food, learned why people live the way they live and why they don't have certain things. It's an experience I don't think he'd trade for anything."
To be sure, Ndamukong Suh wouldn't trade any of his background. Through the years he'd done school reports on both countries and cultures. His mother said she might be biased but believes it's made him a more of a well-rounded individual than most 20-year-olds.
"I definitely love my roots," Suh said. "I'm glad I'm both Jamaican and African and also American. I like being different in that perspective."
Michael Suh was 17 and playing semi-pro soccer in Germany when he immigrated to the U.S. Bernadette had come at 15 to reunite with parents who were coming over from England.
She's a teacher, and he's a mechanical engineer. They were married 22 years before recently divorcing. Their daughter, Ngum, recently graduated from Mississippi State and is headed for medical school.
"They definitely led us in the right direction and have given us everything we need to succeed," said Ndamukong Suh, a construction management major at NU. "I have no excuse not to be successful academically and be a successful person in life. They've given me above and beyond what they had to, which I definitely appreciate."
Suh is on his own with the football part. His parents started him in soccer when he was 3, before he just got too big. He was an accomplished basketball player through high school. But he made it to 300 pounds instead of 7-foot and the decision took care of itself.
It's all turned up a notch now as he's lowered his weight from 315 pounds to just under 300 by cutting his body fat to 18 percent. Suh has been stalking defensive ends Andy Poulosky and Barry Turner in summer sprints, trying to do 200-yard runs in 36 seconds if strength and conditioning coach Dave Kennedy says finish in 38.
The start of preseason practice is just two weeks away, and Suh wants to tower above the crowd. Even though he never made it to 7-foot.
"Having the defensive line be a question mark is kind of a huge slap in the face," Suh said. "But those of us first on the depth chart just haven't had a chance to prove ourselves as much as past players have. This is our time to shine and show what we can bring to the table."
BY RICH KAIPUST
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
• On the Web: NU Football
RELATED
• On the Web: NU Football
LINCOLN - The pediatrician looked at Mrs. Suh and told her, judging by her son's current size and projected growth, that the boy someday might stand 7 feet tall.
Ndamukong Suh says the inexperience of NU's defensive line won't be an issue once the players get a chance to prove themselves on the field.How could this be, Bernadette Suh wondered. Both she and her husband were no taller than 5-10. There was some height in the extended family, but not that much.
Anyway, the doctor must have miscalculated. Or perhaps the boy stalled just a little. The last six inches or so never happened.
"Doctors say guys don't stop growing until they're 21, so I still got a year," Nebraska sophomore Ndamukong Suh said, smiling. "We'll see. But I don't think I'd like being 7-foot."
But make no mistake: It's hard to find many other instances where Suh is or will come up short in life.
The Husker nose tackle is still big (almost 6-5, 300 pounds). His potential is great. Even his heritage makes for grand stories - born to a Jamaican mother and African father who never would have met had they not left homelands for the United States decades ago.
"He might come off kind of quiet and kind of shy the first few times you talk to him, but he's got some inner self-confidence that comes out," said Gary Thorson, his former coach at Grant High in Portland, Ore. "I think that kind of goes hand-in-hand with the fact that he doesn't put all his eggs in one basket in life."
The consensus in and around the NU program is that Suh is poised for one of those breakout seasons. It might have to be, with an inexperienced line needing an anchor and the third-year sophomore being the most likely candidate.
"I definitely see a big opportunity to contribute quite a bit to this team," Suh said. "I have a chance to make plays and help the team and be a leader on the defensive line."
Suh might already lead the team in interesting stories, not including the fact that he's the Huskers' first football scholarship recruit out of Oregon.
Start with his first name, taken from a great-grandfather who was a police chief in Cameroon and later had his name put on a street in the city of Bamenda. In the Ngema tribe, of which his father hailed, Ndamukong (pronounced En-dom-ah-ken) means "house of spears."
Suh knew because he asked, studied and learned about the culture. Next summer, he and his sister hope to make their first visits to the country on the western coast of Africa.
Suh already has been to Jamaica twice as a youngster. He rode donkeys, climbed waterfalls, walked through sugar cane fields and witnessed where and how his mother was raised.
"He's seen what the culture is like and knows that it's totally different than here in the United States," Bernadette Suh said. "I think he liked what he saw, liked the food, learned why people live the way they live and why they don't have certain things. It's an experience I don't think he'd trade for anything."
To be sure, Ndamukong Suh wouldn't trade any of his background. Through the years he'd done school reports on both countries and cultures. His mother said she might be biased but believes it's made him a more of a well-rounded individual than most 20-year-olds.
"I definitely love my roots," Suh said. "I'm glad I'm both Jamaican and African and also American. I like being different in that perspective."
Michael Suh was 17 and playing semi-pro soccer in Germany when he immigrated to the U.S. Bernadette had come at 15 to reunite with parents who were coming over from England.
She's a teacher, and he's a mechanical engineer. They were married 22 years before recently divorcing. Their daughter, Ngum, recently graduated from Mississippi State and is headed for medical school.
"They definitely led us in the right direction and have given us everything we need to succeed," said Ndamukong Suh, a construction management major at NU. "I have no excuse not to be successful academically and be a successful person in life. They've given me above and beyond what they had to, which I definitely appreciate."
Suh is on his own with the football part. His parents started him in soccer when he was 3, before he just got too big. He was an accomplished basketball player through high school. But he made it to 300 pounds instead of 7-foot and the decision took care of itself.
It's all turned up a notch now as he's lowered his weight from 315 pounds to just under 300 by cutting his body fat to 18 percent. Suh has been stalking defensive ends Andy Poulosky and Barry Turner in summer sprints, trying to do 200-yard runs in 36 seconds if strength and conditioning coach Dave Kennedy says finish in 38.
The start of preseason practice is just two weeks away, and Suh wants to tower above the crowd. Even though he never made it to 7-foot.
"Having the defensive line be a question mark is kind of a huge slap in the face," Suh said. "But those of us first on the depth chart just haven't had a chance to prove ourselves as much as past players have. This is our time to shine and show what we can bring to the table."