Dave Feit's Greatest Huskers by the Numbers: 3 - Keyuo Craver

The end of the 2001 season didn't detract from a great Blackshirt, plus the six words that describe Taylor Martinez.

Counting down the greatest Nebraska football players by jersey number. | HuskerMax

Dave Feit is counting down the days until the start of the 2025 season by naming the best Husker to wear each uniform number, as well as one of his personal favorites at that number. For more information about the series, click here. To see more entries, click here.


Greatest Husker to wear 3: Keyuo Craver, Cornerback, 1998-2001

Honorable Mention: Tyrone Legette, Taylor Martinez, Daimion Stafford, Dean Sukup

Also worn by: Harrison Beck, Matt Davison, Nick Henrich, Will Honas, Pat Larsen, Marcus Newby, Trey Palmer, Gary Schneider, Rickey Thenarse, Samori Toure, Eric Warfield, Fabian Washington, Riley Washington, Raymond Weller, Toby Wright, Ben Zajicek

Dave's Fave: Taylor Martinez, Quarterback, 2009-2013


Our not-so-little countdown is nearing the end. And in that spirit, it's time to discuss what many consider the end of Nebraska's run as a consistent championship contender: the end of the 2001 season.

The 2001 season got off to an amazing start. Nebraska breezed through the nonconference slate - including a win over No. 17 Notre Dame. The Huskers won their first four conference games by an average score of 45-7. Unranked Texas Tech scored 31, but second year head coach Mike Leach was getting the Red Raider passing attack humming. Tech's Kliff Kingsbury threw 63 passes.

Jamie Burrow celebrates a takeaway against Notre Dame in 2001. | Nebraska Athletics

Next came the highly anticipated showdown with No. 2 Oklahoma. The third-ranked Huskers used their defense (and a trick play called Black 41 Flash Reserve) to upset the Sooners.*

*The 2001 Oklahoma game is the last time Nebraska beat a team ranked in the top five. NU has just three wins over top-10 teams since this game, and none since 2015.

After a blowout of Kansas, the Huskers beat the Wildcats of Kansas State 31-21 on Senior Day. As No. 2 Nebraska headed to Boulder, Colorado, for their Black Friday meeting with the 14th ranked Buffaloes, there were no red flags, no trepidation, no cause for concern. This is Nebraska. The N on the helmet is worth six or seven points alone. CU usually put up a good fight, but Nebraska would win and be headed to the Big 12 Championship Game.

And then, the world turned upside down.

Colorado's Bobby Purify scored a 39-yard touchdown less than three minutes into the game. Thirty seconds later - after a Dahrran Diedrick fumble - CU scored another touchdown. The Huskers went three and out on their next possession. A 78-yard touchdown run by Purify was nullified by a holding penalty. Even though Colorado punted on this possession, the message was clear: The Buffaloes meant business, and they were going to run the ball at the heart of the Nebraska defense until the Blackshirts proved they could stop it.

After a slow start, Nebraska's offense tried to keep up. Quarterback Eric Crouch had - statistically speaking - the best game of his legendary career, rushing for 162 yards and throwing for 198. His 360 yards of total offense beat Jerry Tagge's 30-year-old record (319). The Huskers scored 36 points but turned the ball over four times.

But on this day, Nebraska could not stop anything. Colorado scored nine touchdowns - six by running back Chris Brown. After allowing just 58 points in the first seven games of the 2001 season, Nebraska allowed 62 to CU. It was - at the time - the most points allowed in school history. In a postgame interview, Craig Bohl, Nebraska's defensive coordinator, stated the painfully obvious: "We weren't prepared for this."

The game has become known to fans of both teams simply as "62-36." Afterward, Nebraska believed it had no chance of making the BCS championship game. Heck, the Huskers didn't even win the Big 12 North Division.

And then, the world turned upside down again.

A day after Black Friday, No. 4 Oklahoma lost to 3-7 Oklahoma State in the Bedlam game. A week later, No. 2 Florida lost to No. 5 Tennessee in a game postponed by the 9/11 attacks. No. 3 Texas lost to Colorado in the Big 12 Championship Game. No. 5 Oregon struggled but hung on to defeat Oregon State. Nebraska was ranked fifth in the AP poll but was third in the BCS rankings.

The Huskers had life.

The following week in the SEC Championship Game, LSU's Nick Saban won his first major conference title, upsetting new No. 2 Tennessee. On the same night, Eric Crouch won the Heisman Trophy.

The final AP poll was:
   1. Miami
   2. Oregon
   3. Colorado
   4. Nebraska
   5. Florida

But the BCS rankings - a combination of human polls, computer rankings, and strength of schedule - saw things differently. The final BCS standings went like this:

   1. Miami
   2. Nebraska
   3. Oregon
   4. Colorado
   5. Florida

The Huskers were going to play Miami in the Rose Bowl for the 2001 national championship.

Unfortunately, that game went just as poorly as the Colorado loss. The Huskers had a bad combination of fragile confidence and an excellent opponent. The Hurricanes, loaded with future NFL talent, led 34-0 at halftime. Miami let up in the second half and coasted to a 37-14 win.

It was the first time Nebraska had lost back-to-back games since the end of the 1990 season, a stretch of 137 games. More importantly, the mystique was gone. Teams no longer looked at Nebraska as an unbeatable juggernaut. They were now mortal. The 2002 season - where Nebraska would go 7-7 - left no doubt that the program had shifted.

Keyuo Craver in action against Notre Dame in 2001. | Nebraska Athletics

The disappointing end to the 2001 season in no way diminishes from the excellent career of Keyuo Craver, a terrific cornerback from an era of great secondary players.

Craver wasn’t especially big (he was listed at 5’11,” 190 pounds), but he was fast, athletic, and always around the ball. He ended his career second all-time in pass breakups and first in career tackles among cornerbacks. Craver was also a special-teams standout, blocking four kicks and scoring two touchdowns. He returned punts as a senior and ranked 25th in the nation in return average (11.7 yards).

As a senior in 2001, Craver was All-Big 12 and a first-team All-American. He was a finalist for the Mosi Tatupu Special Teams Award and a semifinalist for the Thorpe Award. He was also a team co-captain.

Keyuo Craver | Nebraska Football Media Guide

Craver, who skipped a redshirt season, played in every game of his career and was a three-year starter. Back when Husker Vision would run a "Hits of the Game" feature, the hard-hitting Texan was regularly featured.

In addition to football, Craver earned three letters on the NU track and field team, competing in the triple jump. According to Huskers.com, Craver was the first Husker male athlete in 20 years to earn seven varsity letters.

* * *

Taylor Martinez’s Nebraska career can be summarized in six words.

Wow.

I will always remember Martinez for the highlight reel of "wow" moments. Those "T-Magic" plays where his elite speed and athleticism made him the best player on the field. I’m talking about 80-yard runs against Washington and Kansas State, his run against UCLA, the mad scramble against Wisconsin. But there was more than just big runs. Despite his funky mechanics,* he put up several 300-yard passing games and delivered several key touchdown passes to help Nebraska win games.

*Ah yes, those mechanics. At best, they were unorthodox. At worst, they were a horror show. Martinez was the quarterback when "YOLO ball" first entered the Husker lexicon. I'll note that many of the other great Husker quarterbacks - including several honored in this series - had some wonky mechanics as well.

When he put it all together, you got wow moments like the fourth quarter of the 2012 Michigan State game, where he led a comeback win with a combination of big throws and backbreaking runs, against one of the best defenses in the conference.

Taylor Martinez runs 35 yards for a touchdown during the second quarter against Kansas State in 2010. He also scored on runs of 14, 80 and 41 yards that night. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Turnovers.

Without sugar-coating it, Martinez was a turnover machine, leading the nation in fumbles and fumbles lost in 2011 and 2012. He regularly threw ill-advised passes into double coverage or over his intended receiver. Often these turnovers were momentum-killing soul-crushers that put the defense in a bind or contributed to blowout losses. Making matters worse, many of them appeared as if they could have been prevented with better decision-making.

Martinez did not discriminate in who he turned it over to (FCS teams, nonconference foes, division rivals, etc.), but it always felt like his turnovers came in crucial moments of games against ranked opponents.

Records.

Taylor Martinez left Nebraska with possession of just about every offensive record a quarterback can own. Among the big ones: career starts at QB, total offense, passing yards, touchdown passes, rush yards by a QB, completion percentage in a game, and multiple testing records for quarterbacks. He is still in the top 10 in over 20 different statistical categories, including career rushing yards (ninth) and career passing yards (third).

From a purely statistical standpoint, Taylor Martinez may be the greatest quarterback Nebraska has ever had. As great as his stats were, it is scary to imagine his numbers if he had been healthy throughout his career.

Taylor Martinez's throwing mechanics were the subject of much ridicule, yet he put together a respectable 136.3 career NCAA passer rating. | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Injured.

Taylor Martinez played in 44 of the 54 games during his NU career. But how many did he play at 100% health? At 80%? Below 75%? When healthy, Martinez was an amazingly dynamic player – a legitimate threat to score from anywhere on the field. But when he was injured, Martinez struggled. Without healthy legs, he had to rely on his arm (and decision-making skills) to lead Nebraska to victory. Without the threat of him running, defenses could key in on the pass, confusing him with blitzes and different coverages.

Martinez was a tough player. He absorbed a ton of hits over his career and did not miss a meaningful snap in the 2012 season. I can remember games in his career where it didn't feel like Martinez was healthy enough to lead the team to victory, and yet he was still out there. But for the majority of his career, the gap between him and his backup - even when he was at 75% - was significant.

Mercurial.

I have never met Martinez, so it’s not fair for me to comment on the true depths of his personality. But if I had a dollar for every time he was described as "mercurial" (an adjective defined as "cool and willful at one moment, utterly fragile the next") by the local media, I could pay for the two of us to hang out in Las Vegas.

Taylor’s personality was a big part of how he was viewed by the media and fans. He came across as quiet and reserved, appearing as if he didn't fully trust people outside of his circle. Most of us saw truth in the weekly memes created by Tunnel Walk of Shame* depicting Martinez as a childlike Bro talking to "Coach Dad" and getting excited over bounce houses and coloring books.

*I must pause to recognize and memorialize the utter comedic brilliance of Tunnel Walk of Shame. TWOS was a weekly "web comic" during the Bo Pelini era - about 100 homemade Husker memes stitched together into a slide show story - that dropped the day before games. They were a tremendous IYKYK piece of Husker hilarity, a type of original, satirical content not seen before - or since.

The comics were beautifully (if crudely) written - they often contained more f-bombs than Bo Pelini being secretly recorded. The recurring characters of the Bo Pelini era (Bo as angry dad, Rex Burkhead as Jesus Christ, Imani Cross as the Incredible Hulk, Nate Gerry as "Defense Rex") were fun parodies of how they were depicted by the media and fans.

Few things have ever made me laugh harder - or more consistently - than peak Tunnel Walk of Shame.

Taylor Martinez is interviewed during Big Ten Media Days in 2013. | Jerry Lai-Imagn Images

Simply put, Martinez's personality didn't mesh with what we expect from a starting quarterback. He came across as a passive Type B playing a position that seems to require an ultra-assertive Type A. While he could be as bold and confident as any QB, his claims (stated goals of a national championship and a 70% completion percentage) were often met with rolled eyes.

I never blamed him for being guarded. He was probably unprepared for the Nebraska fishbowl, where every sentence is parsed six ways from Saturday. His immediate success thrust him into an even brighter national spotlight. The criticism that follows - especially after losses and injuries, is tough on anybody.

Polarizing.

Has there ever been a more polarizing player in Nebraska history? The freshman phenom who burst onto the scene with long touchdown runs was a sight to behold. Then injuries hit, and he was arguably never the same. His image probably took a bigger beating than his body, as he took heat for calling his dad from the locker room during a game, being careless with the football, body language that made him appear aloof, and his interesting relationship with the local media. And yet, he holds darn near every record a NU quarterback can hold – including some involving turnovers. He was a player who could make you say, "Oh my God!" for both good and bad reasons.

When Martinez suffered what turned out to be a career-ending injury in 2013, the reaction was unlike anything I've ever seen - before or since. I encountered dozens of people (friends, family, co-workers, and people online) who were truly excited that Taylor Martinez (the quarterback, not the person) might never take another snap. Name another Husker player who got the same treatment.

When my son was a few months old, his first Husker jersey with Martinez's #3 on it. This is how I’ll describe Martinez to him when he is older: Whenever Taylor Martinez took a snap, the odds were good that the other team’s offense would soon be on the field – either because he scored from 70 yards or because he turned it over.

At Michigan State in 2012, Taylor Martinez rushed for 205 yards and threw the winning touchdown pass with six seconds remaining. | Mike Carter-Imagn Images

Personally, I found that risk/reward proposition exciting. I didn’t always agree with his decision-making or the sometimes haphazard way he protected the ball. But often it was worth it for the results – the “did you see that?” moments that likely kept defensive coordinators up all night.

The other stuff? His aloof appearance, his perceived selfishness, not speaking to the media after losses and all of the other off-the-field stuff? All in all, it didn’t bother me. Sure, I think we would all like to have seen a personable, engaging and selfless leader who is as quick to take the blame as he is to deflect praise. But admit it:  If Martinez’s record in championships and bowls were 4-1 instead of 0-5, a lot fewer of us would care about the type of person/teammate we perceive him to be.

Quarterback is a position where one's legacy is ultimately determined by what the 21 other players on the team help you accomplish. In this regard, Martinez falls short of the upper echelon of Cornhusker quarterbacks. He may not have had his best games in the biggest moments, but he wasn't responsible for allowing Melvin Gordon AND Montee Ball to rush for over 200 yards in the 2012 Big Ten Championship either. But that's how it goes at a position that is ultimately judged by wins and losses.

There will probably never be another T-Magic. While I’m guessing that’s okay for many fans, I think it is a little sad too.

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