Nebraska Football’s Greatest Blackshirts: How Do You Pick Just Four?

The Common Fans keep rolling with their Mount Rushmore series, and this time the boys tackle one of the toughest categories imaginable: the Mount Rushmore of Nebraska football defenders.

Friend of the program Brian Christopherson from Husker247 joins the conversation, along with Brandon Vogel of Counter Read newsletter, to sort through decades of Blackshirt greatness and try to identify the four most important defensive players in Nebraska football history.

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!!!!!!!

Some debates are hard. This one is not.

Ndamukong Suh’s 2009 season remains one of the most dominant individual seasons in college football history. The Texas game alone is basically its own museum exhibit: seven tackles for loss, four and a half sacks, one of the great single game performances of all time.

Suh also played for Bo Pelini at a critical juncture in Nebraska history, as the program was getting back on stable ground after the disappointing Bill Callahan era.

Everyone agrees: Suh is on the mountain.

Is there a Blackshirt with a better résumé than Grant Wistrom?

Wistrom’s résumé speaks for itself: three national championships, a Lombardi Award, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, and one of the defining motors in Nebraska football history.

But the discussion goes beyond stats. Wistrom helped define the edge, attitude, and relentlessness of the 1990s Blackshirts. He played a critical role on Tom Osborne’s best teams, and along with Jason Peter and others, helped set the tone for the final championship run of the Osborne era.

Was Rich Glover Suh before Suh?

The conversation reaches back to Rich Glover, one of the greatest defensive linemen in college football history and a cornerstone of Nebraska’s early-1970s dominance.

Glover finished third in the Heisman voting in 1972, won the Outland and Lombardi trophies, and helped establish Nebraska’s defensive identity long before the 1990s Blackshirts became a national brand.

Who gets the final spot?

That’s where things get interesting.

The group debates Trev Alberts, Lavonte David, Mike Brown, Ralph Brown, Jerry Murtaugh, Barrett Ruud, Jason Peter, Larry Jacobson, Wayne Meylan, and several others. Alberts has the Butkus Award. David has the game-changing plays and modern-era dominance. Mike Brown has the tackling, leadership, and NFL legacy. Murtaugh has championship-era significance.

In the end, the final spot goes to Lavonte David, giving the Common Fan defensive Mount Rushmore a final four of Suh, Wistrom, Glover, and David.

A Program Built on Defense

More than anything, this episode is a reminder that Nebraska’s path back to national relevance probably has to start where so many great Husker teams were built: on defense, and especially in the trenches.

The Blackshirts have produced an embarrassment of riches over the years. The hope now is that the next great Nebraska defense is still ahead.

Check out the episode on YouTube, listen on the Common Fan website, or find it on any audio platform where you get your podcasts.

Or watch now! As always, GBR for LIFE!

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