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Jammal Lord.  I thought he was a talented athlete who made a pretty decent quarterback.  Unfortunately, he is another player whose career is not fully appreciated by Husker fans.  Why?  Lord had two big strikes against him:  1) he followed a Heisman Trophy winner, and 2) he was the quarterback of the 2002 team that broke the 9-win streak.  Like many Husker QBs in the Osborne/Solich era, Lord was definitely more of a runner (1,412 yards rushing in 2002) than a passer (48% career passer, more interceptions than touchdowns).  Lord racked up big numbers (234 rushing yards against Texas), but did not always make the play in crunch time (he threw an interception that ended that Texas game).

And Vick was so far ahead of his time, they didn't know how to design an offense around him.  OCs were so far behind his talent at the time.  I would love to have seen him with Cam Cameron, who, for all of his faults, did a great job designing an offense around Antwaan Randle-El, who wasn't as good at anything as Vick was.

put Vick in the Frank Solich offense in 99 and 2000

Crouch was a soph in 99 and lead the team in rushing.  Crouch completed only 52% of his passes.  Imagine what Vick would have done.  That 99 team had a great defense.  12-1 Bix 12 champs.  With Vick, I imagine they win another national title.

And in 2000???  Crouch had 970 yards rushing and only completed 48%
Of course Crouch won the Hypesman in 2001 as a senior, but Vick might have won two.

One of the best linebackers in school history, Lavonte David is on the short list with Mike Rozier for the best Junior College transfer in school history.  David appeared to be as fast going sideline to sideline as he was going straight ahead.  Combine that with his ability to detect plays before anybody else, and it is no wonder he racked up so many tackles in his two year career.  As a junior, he set a single season record with 152 tackles.  He followed that with 133 more as a senior.  To put that in perspective, Lavonte David played in 27 games as a Blackshirt.  In 14 of those games, he recorded ten or more tackles.

David racked up the honors in his two years.  Big XII Defensive Player of the Year, Big XII Defensive Newcomer of the Year, All Big XII, All Big 10, Big 10 Linebacker of the Year, All-American, and finalist for the Butkus, Lott, and Bednarik  Trophies.

In my years of watching Nebraska football, I’ve seen some outstanding linebackers.  Barrett Ruud.  Ed Stewart.  Demorrio Williams.  Trev Alberts.  Terrell Farley.  But I’m not sure if any of them were better than David.  He always seemed to either make the tackle, or be within 5 yards of the ball carrier.  And he had a knack for making a big play when Nebraska needed it the most – especially his stop, strip, and recovery of Braxton Miller in the 2011 Ohio State game.

Darren McFadden

One my favorite memories of him is when Jack Ikeguanu caught him from behind, saving a touchdown in the Citrus Bowl. Arky fans were talking trash about SEC speed... that play shut them up. Badgers win.

Well, lucky for me the kid born and raised in Madison was even faster.