Nebraska Legend Up For Hall of Fame Enshrinement

One of the true legends in the storied history of the Nebraska Cornhuskers is on the verge of football immortality.

Ndamukong Suh is one of 79 players on the 2026 ballot for the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame. Suh, on the ballot in his first year of eligibility, left a lasting mark on at Nebraska during a dominant career from 2005-09.

His final season, as aptly captured by Huskers.com, is “widely regarded as one of the best individual seasons in college football history.” The athletic department’s website justified that argument by listing Suh’s accomplishments:

• He was the first defensive player to win the Associated Press College Player of the Year Award since the inception of the honor in 1998.

• Suh was the first defensive tackle invited to the Heisman ceremonies in New York since Warren Sapp in 1994. Suh's fourth-place finish in the voting tied for the best by a defensive lineman since Nebraska's Rich Glover was third in 1972. Suh also received the highest-ever point total for a fourth-place finisher and his 161 first-place votes were the most ever for an interior defensive lineman.

• Suh won the Outland Trophy for the nation's top interior lineman, giving Nebraska a nation-leading nine Outland winners (eight players). Suh was the first Husker to win the award since offensive guard Aaron Taylor in 1997.

• Suh won the Rotary Lombardi Award to become the fifth Husker to win the award.

• Suh became the fourth Husker to sweep the Lombardi and Outland in the same season, joining Rich Glover (1972), Dave Rimington (1982) and Dean Steinkuhler (1983). At the time, Suh was just the 12th player to capture the Outland and Lombardi in the same season.

• Suh made a clean sweep of the national defensive player-of-the-year awards by winning the Chuck Bednarik Award and the Bronko Nagurski Trophy. Suh was the first Husker to receive both of those awards, and he became just the fifth player to sweep those two awards, most recently Miami's Dan Morgan in 2000.

• In addition to the awards he won, Suh was also a finalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year and the Lott Trophy, and was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

• Suh was named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year by the league's coaches and every major outlet that chose a defender of the year. He was the first Nebraska defensive player to win Big 12 Player-of-the-Year honors since Grant Wistrom in 1996 and 1997.

Suh led Nebraska in tackles for his final two seasons, becoming the first defensive lineman to lead the Cornhuskers in tackles in consecutive seasons. He finished with 215 career tackles, and position records with 15 pass breakups and six blocked kicks.

Suh was drafted second overall by the Detroit Lions in the 2010 NFL Draft and played 13 seasons, winning a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

Suh hopes to join 20 former Huskers and seven Nebraska coaches in the College Football Hall of Fame. The announcement of the 2026 inductees will be made in early 2026.