Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Guys that were the guy before the guy, as I said in another thread - DeShazio at VT, Marvin Graves at SU.  Overshadowed by better guys who came soon after (Vick, McNabb).  

They may not have been all-time greats, but they were very good and helped their teams win.

I always thought Eric Metcalf (UT) was a great four year player that sort of stayed under the radar for whatever reason, though it was when A&M was ruling the SWC.  Terrific athlete, would probably have been even more dynamic in today's college game.    If you want a comp.  I guess Percy Harvin is a comp.

Doug Dubose for UNL... at the time, he was the first RB in UNL's history to run for 1,000 yds as a Sophomore and Junior.  He was Heisman candidate until a knee injury... a really bad one.   He became addicted to pain killers and later coke.  

WR Courtney Hawkins was right at the end of the Perles era.  I think because he came after the Andre Rison Rose Bowl teams; but before the Derrick Mason/Mushin Muhammad Saban teams or Burress or Charles Rogers teams, and he career lined up with Desmond Howard up the road, and so in all aspects he was overshadowed.  He had a 60 catch, 1080 yard, 6 TD season, which was pretty impressive for a bad 1990-ish Big Ten team.  He was also a dynamic returner.  He wasn't the greatest MSU WR ever, but you never even hear his name mentioned, even by MSU fans.

As far as a player on my own team?

I’ll go with Grant Wiley.  Some on here probably never heard of him.  Four year starter at LB at WVU from 2000-2003. Consensus AA and Nagurski Finalist his senior year in ‘03.  One of those guys who for whatever reason was a tackling machine in college but didn’t have the measurables or attributes the NFL guys deemed desirable.  Was a FA draftee of the Vikings but had injury problems and never really got an opportunity to catch on.

He left football to pursue a career in acting.  He lost around 60 pounds and is unrecognizable from his playing days.  He’s like 170 pounds now.  There is no way you would ever look at him and think he was an AA LB at one point in his life.

how about Roger Craig at Nebraska overshadowed by Mike Rozier?

Craig's numbers his soph season were outstanding, but then Rozier showed up and Osborne had to figure out how to get them both on the field.  Roger played some fullback, and set the stage for Rozier's Heisman campaign.

Craig's NFL career turned out a bit better than Rozier's.

To prove your point, I had no idea he even went to Nebraska

this was my first Husker home game as a freshman in 1981 vs the Florida State Seminoles

Since Roger was from Iowa he quickly became my favorite player - he also took a criminal justice class from my cousin and I met Roger and the fullback Phil Bates in my cousin's office - 

Official recap

Nebraska exploded for two touchdowns within six seconds midway in the third quarter to break up a close game, and the Huskers went on to crush Florida State, 34-14, in the home opener.

The Huskers were leading, 10-7, when Irving Fryar returned a punt 82 yards for a TD with 8:31 left, then, on the ensuing kickoff, Tony Felici picked a fumble out of mid-air and ran 13 yards to score at the 8:25 mark to give Nebraska an insurmountable 24-7 lead.

The Seminoles did pull back within 27-14 midway in the fourth quarter, but Roger Craig's 94-yard touchdown run put the game away—in addition to tying the Nebraska record for longest touchdown run and wrapping up a 234-yard day for Craig, which earned him national back-of-the-week honors.

Felici came off the bench to record 13 tackles, earn Big Eight defensive player-of-the-week honors and nail down a starting job at defensive right end.