Dave Feit’s Greatest Huskers by the Numbers: 49 – Monte Anthony

Tom Osborne’s evolving offensive philosophy, plus the 2009 team’s strong defense and weak offense.

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 49: Monte Anthony, I-back, 1974-1977

Honorable Mention: none

Also worn by: Burton Burns, Robert Burruss, Chris Caliendo, John Ellis, Nick Gragert, Austin Hemphill, Quint Hogrefe, Adam Ickes, Ken Kaelin, Dan Kobza, Kevin Seibel, Isaiah Stalbird, Chris Weber, Dreu Young

Dave’s Fave: Dreu Young, Tight End, 2007–2010


One of the great misconceptions about Tom Osborne is that his Cornhuskers ran the same offense for all 25 years of his head coaching career.

That could not be further from the truth.

Yes, Osborne ran the majority of his offensive plays out of an I-formation (quarterback under center, a fullback behind him and an I-back at the top). But what he was looking to accomplish evolved dramatically over his first decade as head coach.

Osborne took over Nebraska’s offense in 1969, shifting from Bob Devaney’s T-formation to the I. In his four seasons calling plays under Devaney, Osborne’s offense was fairly balanced. Jerry Tagge was an accurate passer, Jeff Kinney and Joe Orduna were good backs, and Johnny Rodgers could tear ’em loose from their shoes from anywhere on the field. In 1972, Nebraska’s offensive output was almost perfectly split – 2,426 yards on the ground and 2,431 through the air.

When Osborne took over as head coach in 1973, he picked quarterback Dave Humm to run the offense, as he had in ’72. Humm was an excellent passer and set numerous records that stood for over 30 years. In Humm’s senior year (1974), I-back Monte Anthony joined the team, winning the starting job as a 17-year-old true freshman. Anthony ran for 587 yards and seven touchdowns, the most ever by a freshman at the time (and still seventh in school history). Humm led the Big Eight in passing with 130.5 yards per game.

Nebraska quarterback Vince Ferragamo looks to pass against Indiana during his All-America season in 1976. | Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

Despite the success of his young back, Osborne still liked to throw it around. Humm was succeeded by Vince Ferragamo, a transfer from Cal. In 1975, Monte Anthony ran for 817 yards as Ferragamo settled into the offense.

In 1976, Ferragamo had a great senior season, earning All-America honors and leading the conference with 172.6 passing yards per game. His 20 passing touchdowns in 1976 set a school record and is still seventh-best all time. The offense was still very balanced as 53.7% of NU’s yards came on the ground. Anthony and Rick Berns split the carries, with Anthony racking up 594 yards.

But in 1977, Nebraska’s offense shifted. Ferragamo was off to the NFL, where he would become Nebraska’s most successful NFL QB. In his absence, the Cornhuskers focused more on RTDB: run the dadgum ball.*

*You know Tom Osborne is not going to say “damn.”

Monte Anthony as a true freshman against Florida in the Sugar Bowl. | Nebraska Football Media Guide

Why the change? Osborne came to several realizations:

• Passing yards are the football equivalent of ice cream sundaes for breakfast – a lot of fun, but not a great foundation for success. “I always felt,” Osborne once said, “that a rushing yard, in terms of winning, probably was worth more than a passing yard because you can accumulate a lot of passing yards, but it doesn’t necessarily get the ball in the end zone.”
• In a state where the climate is best described as “all four seasons, sometimes in the same afternoon,” a ground-based attack is more reliable than trying to throw when it there’s a frigid 25-mph wind out of the north.
• If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. In Osborne’s first four games against Oklahoma (1973-1976), the Sooners were 6-of-17 passing for 145 yards and no touchdowns. COMBINED. In the 1974, ’75, and ’76 games, OU quarterbacks threw a total of seven passes, completing three. Oklahoma beat Nebraska in those first four games by an average of 18 points per game.

And while I have never seen it cited as a reason for the switch, I believe Osborne understood the advantages he could have by utilizing NU’s strength and conditioning and walk-on programs – both of which are more suited to a physical, grind-it-out attack.

Monte Anthony carries the ball against LSU in 1975. | Nebraska Football Media Guide

In 1977, Monte Anthony’s senior season, Nebraska’s total offense (415 yards per game) was about the same as it had been in 1976 (408 ypg). But Nebraska – for the first time since the 1950s – averaged more than 300 yards rushing per game. A whopping 73.5% of the Huskers’ yards came on the ground. Quarterback Tom Sorley – who split duties with Randy Garcia – ran for 180 yards. In their Husker careers – spanning five seasons – Humm and Ferragamo combined for 42 rushing yards. I-back Isaiah Moses (I.M.) Hipp burst onto the scene with 1,301 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Nebraska was a running team now.

Listed at 6-foot-3 Anthony is one of the tallest running backs to ever play for Nebraska. He looked like a deer running through (and over) defenses. But his long frame was not a hinderance to his production. Anthony’s 2,077 career rushing yards were the fourth-most in Nebraska history when he graduated (currently 31st all time).

Anthony won the Tom Novak Award as a senior and was an eighth-round draft pick by the Baltimore Colts.

Monte Anthony carries the ball against Arizona State during the 1975 Fiesta Bowl. | Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

***

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.”

Those words are the opening of Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.” It is quite possible, though, that he was writing about the 2009 Nebraska football season – one of the greatest dichotomies to ever appear on a football field.

The best of times was represented by the defense. The worst came from the offense and mental miscues that hurt the team in critical situations.

Let’s start with the defense. The 2009 Blackshirts are the best defense Nebraska has had in the 21st century, and one of the finest in school history.

Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini talks with defensive end Barry Turner before the 2009 Big 12 championship game. | Bruce Thorson-Imagn Images

Led by Ndamukong Suh, Jared Crick, Phillip Dillard, Prince Amukamara, Barry Turner, Eric Hagg, Dejon Gomes, Larry Asante, Alfonzo Dennard and others, that defense was a dominating force of nature.

They finished first nationally in scoring defense (10.43 points per game) and pass-efficiency defense, seventh in total defense (272 yards per game), ninth in rushing defense (93.14 yards per game) and tied for second in sacks (3.14 per game). The 2009 team owns the two most recent shutouts (against No. 22 Arizona in the Holiday Bowl and at home versus Louisiana). Their “worst” outing was a 31-10 loss to Texas Tech, in which they held Mike Leach’s Air Raid offense to 259 yards of offense and 24 points (Tech’s defense had a 82-yard fumble return for a touchdown).

Meanwhile, the offense was … offensive.

That’s a little surprising considering that three skill players from that team (Roy Helu Jr., Rex Burkhead and Niles Paul) had solid NFL careers.

The biggest challenges facing the 2009 offense were quarterback, play calling and turnovers. We’ll start with offensive coordinator Tim Beck, then in his second season with Nebraska. I never got a great sense of what he wanted Nebraska’s offense to look like before Taylor Martinez stepped onto the field (Martinez redshirted during the 2009 season). Beck’s offensive system, brought with him from Kansas, involved getting to the line of scrimmage quickly and looking to the sideline for a play call based on how the defense was aligned. The so-called “Check with Beck” approach resulted in Nebraska finishing 75th in scoring offense (25.14 points per game) and 99th in total offense (322.79 yards per game). Helu did finish with 1,147 yards rushing.

This fumble by running back Roy Helu'Jr. was one of eight Nebraska turnovers against Iowa State in 2009. | Bruce Thorson-Imagn Images

Quarterback was a big issue. Zac Lee started 12 games and completed 58.6% of his passes for 2,143 yards, 14 TDs and 10 interceptions. True freshman Cody Green played in nine games, with two starts. Green (31 carries for 158 yards) was more a running threat than Lee, but the zone read was not yet a big part of the offense. Niles Paul had a team-high 40 receptions for 796 yards.

The offense bogged down in the red zone (scoring touchdowns on 53% of trips inside the 20) and was hampered by turnovers. In a home loss to Iowa State, Nebraska had more turnovers (8) than points (7). In Nebraska’s four losses, the Huskers scored an average of 11 points and turned it over close to four times per game.

Despite the offensive struggles, the 2009 team rode its defense to the Big 12 championship game and came one agonizing second away from upsetting the No. 3 Texas Longhorns.

Dreu Young celebrates Bo Ruud's fourth-quarter pick-six against Ball State in 2007. | Bruce Thorson-Imagn Images

Dreu Young, a tight end from Cozad, was a junior on the 2009 team. He certainly can appreciate the “best of times, worst of times” theme. He started his Husker career as a walk-on but earned a scholarship at the start of the 2009 season. This would have been right around the time he was recovering from back surgery that kept him out of the season opener.

Young was a very good blocking tight end (he was excellent at sealing the edge for Helu or Burkhead). In 2009, he caught five passes for 78 yards. This is probably a good place to mention that a few years later his offensive coordinator would answer “Absolutely” to the question “Would you say tight ends and fullbacks are becoming obsolete in college football?” I wonder what a guy with Young’s size (6-4, 255) and skills could do in an offense that made better use of the tight ends.

Unfortunately, Young didn’t get to find out. He missed all of the 2010 season – his senior year – with a back injury. Truly, the worst of times.

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