Stryker Pregame Perspective: Ndamukong Suh Dominates Fan Survey

Originally posted on Nebraska Cornhuskers on SI
By Tad Stryker | Last updated Sep 14, 2024 6:11 PM ET

This week’s Pregame Perspective is somewhat of a reality check. Soon, we’ll be one-fourth of the way through the 21st century. So in recognition of that fact, I decided to take a look at the last 25 years of Cornhusker football.

On a warm, sultry afternoon before the Nebraska-Northern Iowa football game, I asked 100 Husker fans in the Haymarket this question: “Who is the best Husker football player of the past quarter-century?”

I gave them these six choices: Ameer Abdullah, Rex Burkhead, Eric Crouch, Toniu Fonoti, Dominic Raiola and Ndamukong Suh.

Not surprisingly, it was a runaway vote for Suh. The Lombardi/Nagurski/Bednarik award winner and Heisman finalist claimed 80 percent of the vote. Almost all who chose Suh did so immediately when I asked my question. There was very little hesitation. Suh became a household name after scoring two touchdowns on defense in 2008, then returned for his senior year and wrecked every offense he faced in 2009. He had 85 tackles, including 12 sacks and 20.5 tackles for loss despite routinely facing double-team blocking. The majority of Husker Nation would still tell you he was robbed of the 2009 Heisman Trophy.

Second in the voting was Burkhead, the only player on the list who was never voted All-America. Burkhead, an all-around talent at running back, received 16 votes, at least a dozen of them from women, most of whom referred to him as “Sexy Rexy.”

Crouch, the speedy option quarterback who won the 2001 Heisman Trophy, received two votes, as did Abdullah, who powered the Husker backfield at the end of the Bo Pelini era.

Neither Dominic Raiola, who won the Rimington Trophy in 2000 as the best center in college football, nor Fonoti, who was a 2001 first-team All-America at offensive guard, received a vote.