University of Nebraska: Notable Football Alumni

The University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football program boasts a rich and storied history, filled with exceptional athletes who have left an indelible mark on both the college and professional levels. Countless players have donned the Husker uniform over the years. Creating a comprehensive list can be challenging as it can be difficult to judge players across time periods as well as remove personal bias.

All-Time Greats: A Look at Husker Legends

Nebraska has produced 97 players who have earned 111 first-team, fifty-five consensus, and twenty-one unanimous All-American honors. Tackle Vic Halligan was named Nebraska's first All-American in 1914. The following year, end Guy Chamberlin became a consensus All-American, one who appears on over half of All-America lists from recognized selectors. Thirteen Cornhuskers have been named an All-American multiple times, most recently offensive lineman Aaron Taylor.

In the modern age of AI, we asked for the input of ChatGPT in ranking the ten greatest players in Nebraska football history. ChatGPT is a chatbot that is designed to give detailed information and is tasked with providing conversation-like answers. Below is how the AI chatbot ranked Nebraska football players all-time.

1. Tommie Frazier (QB, 1992-1995)

Tommie Frazier led Nebraska to consecutive national championships in 1994 and 1995 and was the MVP of both championship games. He was also a two-time Big Eight Offensive Player of the Year and finished his career with a 33-3 record as a starter.

2. Mike Rozier (HB, 1981-1983)

Mike Rozier won the Heisman Trophy in 1983 after rushing for 2,148 yards and 29 touchdowns. He was also a two-time consensus All-American and helped Nebraska win the 1983 national championship.

3. Johnny Rodgers (WR, 1970-1972)

Johnny Rodgers won the Heisman Trophy in 1972 and was a key player on Nebraska's 1971 and 1972 national championship teams. He set several school records for receiving and return yardage.

4. Ndamukong Suh (DT, 2005-2009)

Ndamukong Suh was a unanimous All-American in 2009 and won several national awards, including the Lombardi Award and the Bednarik Award. He was a dominant force on the defensive line and helped lead Nebraska to the Big 12 championship game in 2009.

5. Will Shields (OL, 1989-1992)

Will Shields was a consensus All-American in 1992 and helped pave the way for Nebraska's dominant rushing attack in the early 1990s. He went on to have a successful NFL career with the Kansas City Chiefs, earning 12 Pro Bowl selections and being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Shields became the fifth Husker to win the Outland Trophy, capturing it in 1992, and was a semifinalist for the Lombardi Award. Shields never missed a game during his 14-year NFL career. He played in a Kansas City francise-record 224 games, including 223 straight starts. Shields was selected to 12 straight Pro Bowls, was a three-time first-team All-Pro pick and was the 2003 NFL Man of the Year.

6. Aaron Taylor (OL, 1993-1997)

Aaron Taylor was a consensus All-American in 1997 and helped lead Nebraska to the national championship that year. He was also a two-time winner of the Outland Trophy, which is awarded to the nation's top interior lineman.

7. Grant Wistrom (DE, 1994-1997)

Grant Wistrom was a two-time consensus All-American and helped lead Nebraska to three national championships in the mid-1990s. He was also named the Defensive MVP of the 1998 Orange Bowl, which was the final game of his college career.

Read also: History of the Block 'M'

8. Roger Craig (RB, 1979-1982)

Roger Craig was a two-time All-Big Eight selection and helped Nebraska win the 1982 national championship. He went on to have a successful NFL career, earning three Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers. Craig played eight seasons for the 49ers (1983-1990), one season for the Oakland Raiders (1991) and two seasons for the Minnesota Vikings (1992-93). He was a member of three Super Bowl-winning teams with the 49ers (Super Bowl XIX, Super Bowl XXIII and Super Bowl XXIV) and was a four-time Pro Bowl selection.

9. Rich Glover (DT, 1970-1972)

Rich Glover was a consensus All-American in 1972 and 1973 and won the Lombardi Award in 1972. He was a dominant force on the defensive line and helped lead Nebraska to the national championship in 1971.

10. Eric Crouch (QB, 1998-2001)

Eric Crouch won the Heisman Trophy in 2001 after leading Nebraska to the national championship game. He was also named the Walter Camp Player of the Year and the Davey O'Brien Award winner that year.

Breaking Barriers: Pioneers of Integration

The history of Nebraska football is not only defined by on-field success, but also by the breaking of racial barriers. George Flippin, who played from 1891 - 1895, was Nebraska’s first black player. Despite being an excellent halfback, Flippin’s presence on the team was controversial. Missouri chose to forfeit its 1892 game against Nebraska instead of being on the same field with a black player. Flippin - who went on to become a doctor, opening a hospital in Stromsburg, Nebraska - was a true pioneer and hero. Flippin played thirty-some years before uniform numbers were utilized, otherwise he would definitely be in this countdown.

After Flippin, Nebraska had a handful of black players on its rosters. But the racist realities of the era - both in Lincoln and in some of the places Nebraska regularly played (namely, Missouri and Oklahoma) - meant the Huskers stopped having black student athletes on their teams. Clinton Ross, a guard on the 1913 team, was the last black player to letter at Nebraska for almost 40 years.

Read also: Legacy of Fordham University

In 1946, the legendary Lincoln Star sports columnist Cy Sherman wrote “I have been advised, but never officially, that a gentleman’s agreement has been in existence for some years within the (Big Six) conference, according to the terms of which negro players are deemed undesirable in football and other contact sports.” Sherman stated it was “common knowledge” that the gentleman’s agreement originated at Oklahoma and Missouri.

In the late 1940s, the tide slowly started to shift. Student governments at Kansas and Nebraska spoke out against the gentleman’s agreement. In 1947, Nebraska’s Student Council asked NU to withdraw from the Big Six Conference if the ban on black athletes was not lifted. But as Sherman wrote: “Prejudices are deep seated and often unreasoning in those states, and any endeavor to convince the average Missourian or Oklahoman that a negro has his rightful place in the Big Six football doubtless would be doomed to fail.”

Kansas State encouraged a local black player, Manhattan High’s Harold Robinson, to join the team in 1948, and placed him on scholarship for the 1949 season. He was allowed to play at OU and Mizzou, but he was segregated from his teammates while in those states. He endured racial slurs and physical play in games, but he broke the conference’s “color line.”

Charles Bryant broke the color line at Nebraska in 1952. A multi-sport star at Omaha South, Bryant watched as two of his white teammates were recruited to NU by coach Bill Glassford. Bryant’s high school coach told him “You’re going to go play football at Nebraska. Get in that truck.”

It is worth noting that Tom Carodine, a black halfback from Boys Town did play for Nebraska in 1951. He rushed for 101 yards against TCU in the opener and scored a touchdown in the 1951 Kansas State game, a 6-6 tie that later became a 1-0 forfeit because the Wildcats used ineligible players. However, Carodine was kicked off the team less than two weeks later for cutting classes and missing a practice. Carodine does not appear on any rosters from the 1951 team and did not receive a varsity letter. Bryant - who did letter - is thus credited with breaking the color line.

At NU, many of Bryant’s teammates - especially those from smaller Nebraska towns - had never met a black man before. Bryant was either ignored or treated like, as he put it, “a spaceman.” But his athletic successes - he was an All-Big Seven guard in 1954 and earned three letters in wrestling, including the Big Seven championship in 1955 - earned him respect on campus. But it did not help south of Lincoln.

On some road trips, he would have to sleep at the black YMCA or on the team bus. If a restaurant refused to serve him or his black teammates (Sylvester Harris and Jon McWilliams joined NU in 1953), they would have to rely on their white teammates for dinner.

A 2014 profile on Bryant (and his grandson Brandin Bryant, whose Florida Atlantic team was preparing to play Nebraska) put some perspective on the discrimination and segregation Bryant faced.

The Omaha World-Herald’s Dirk Chatelain wrote that “on the last road trip of his career, the 1955 Orange Bowl, he was barred from the hotel lobby and the swimming pool. On New Year’s Day afternoon, he led NU with 14 tackles.”

I find this quote - taken from a 2011 profile by Leo Adam Biga - very insightful on what made Bryant successful: “I was tenacious. I was mean. Tough as nails. Pain was nothing. If you hit me I was going to hit you back. When you played across from me you had to play the whole game. It was like war to me every day I went out there. I was just a fierce competitor. I guess it came from the fact that I felt on a football field I was finally equal. You couldn’t hide from me out there.”

Charles Bryant was a true trailblazer who helped pave the way for thousands of black athletes at Nebraska, including Bob Brown.

Bob "Boomer" Brown: A Hall of Fame Career

Bob Brown came to Nebraska in 1961, one year before Bob Devaney. Brown played sparingly in this first season under coach Bill Jennings. When Devaney arrived from the University of Wyoming, he was astonished by Brown’s size (6’5″, 260 pounds) and strength. With his physical gifts, why wasn’t Brown playing?

Devaney soon realized the reason. The basic bumps and bruises of the game were often treated as serious injuries. Brown would miss practices and was gaining a reputation on the team as a goldbricker.

Coach Devaney brought Brown into his office and suggested he quit football. “We recommend golf, or maybe tennis, where you can use your strength without getting hurt,” Devaney quipped.

The message was received. Brown pleaded to remain on the team and worked his way into the starting lineup of Devaney’s first team in 1962. By the end of the season, Brown was voted All-Big Eight as a guard.

The 1962 team got off to a great start, winning its first six games. The second game - a 25-13 win at Michigan - is still viewed as a monumental moment in program history. Bill “Thunder” Thornton scored two touchdowns. On the final run, he said “(Brown) knocked out the whole side of the Michigan line. Why, he must have knocked down six men.”

The 1962 Wolverines were not a great team (they finished 2-7), but knocking off a vaunted brand on the road was a confidence boost and a message to the rest of the country. Nebraska was becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Devaney once said “Boomer” Brown was the best two-way player he ever coached. A fearsome linebacker, Brown had 49 career tackles. His interception in final minute of the 1962 Gotham Bowl sealed Nebraska’s 36-34 win over Miami - NU’s first-ever bowl game victory. Bob Devaney’s tenure at Nebraska was off to a great start.

In 1963, Brown anchored the offensive line for a Cornhusker team that won the conference for the first time since 1940. Brown repeated as an all-conference selection and was a unanimous All-American - Nebraska’s first All-American player since Jerry Minnick in 1952. More importantly, Bob Brown was the first black player at Nebraska to earn All-America honors.

Brown was the first overall pick in the AFL draft (Denver) and the second overall pick in the NFL draft (Philadelphia). After a lengthy NFL career with the Eagles, Rams and Raiders, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2004.

Brown is one of just three Cornhuskers to be enshrined in the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. And yet, Brown said there was only one Hall of Fame he wanted to be in. “I didn’t need to be applauded. I needed for you, as a defensive end, to put me in YOUR Hall of Fame… I needed for you to walk off the field and look back over at me and think ‘Boy, I don’t want to see him again!'”

Bob Brown is one of the greatest players in Nebraska football history. Those who saw him play swear he is the greatest offensive lineman to ever play at Nebraska.

In 2004, the number 64 was permanently retired at Nebraska in honor of Robert “Boomer” Brown. He is one of just three Cornhuskers to have his number no longer issued.

NFL Success Stories: From Lincoln to the Pros

Many Nebraska Cornhuskers have transitioned to successful careers in the National Football League. Here are some notable examples:

Guy Chamberlin: A legend at Nebraska, Guy Chamberlin became the premier end of the NFL during the 1920s. He was a player-coach on four NFL championship teams (1922-24, 1926). Chamberlin entered the NFL long before the inaugural 1936 NFL Draft. He played for the Decatur/Chicago Staleys for two seasons (1920-21), two seasons for the Canton Bulldogs (1922-23), one season for the Cleveland Bulldogs (1924), two seasons for the Frankford Yellowjackets (1925-26) and one season for the Chicago Cardinals (1927). As a player/coach, Chamberlin was a member of the NFL champion Canton Bulldogs teams of 1922 and 1923, the NFL champion Cleveland Bulldogs of 1924, and the 1926 NFL champion Yellow Jackets team. Chamberlin was a 1965 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Roy "Link" Lyman: Roy "Link" Lyman pioneered a more sophisticated defensive play with a shifting, sliding style. Lyman entered the NFL long before the inaugural 1936 NFL Draft. Lyman played three seasons for the Canton Bulldogs (1922-23, 1925), one season for the Cleveland Bulldogs (1924), one season for the Frankford Yellowjackets (1925), and seven seasons for the Chicago Bears (1926-28, 1930-31, 1933-34). He was a member of four teams that won NFL championships (1922-23 Canton Bulldogs, 1924 Cleveland Bulldogs and 1933 Chicago Bears). Lyman was a 1964 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Jim Tingelhoff: Tingelhoff was as originally signed by the Minnesota Vikings as a free agent out of Nebraska in 1962. Tingelhoff earned a starting nod at center as a rookie and never relinquished the role for the remainder of his stellar 17-season career. An ironman in the NFL, Tingelhoff never missed a game or a practice during his career.
Bob Brown: Brown played five seasons for the Eagles (1964-68), two seasons for the Los Angeles Rams (1969-70) and three seasons for the Oakland Raiders (1971-73). He was a six-time Pro Bowl selection and a 2004 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Irving Fryar: Fryar played nine seasons for the Patriots (1984-1992), three seasons for the Miami Dolphins (1993-95), three seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles (1996-98) and two seasons for the Washington Redskins (1999-2000). He was a member of the Patriots when they advanced to Super Bowl XX and was a five-time Pro Bowl selection.
Neil Smith: Smith played nine seasons for the Chiefs (1988-1996), three seasons for the Denver Broncos (1997-99) and one season for the San Diego Chargers (2000). He was a member of the Broncos teams that won Super Bowl XXXII and Super Bowl XXXIII. Smith was also a six-time Pro Bowl selection.
Will Shields: Shields played 14 seasons for the Chiefs (1993-2006) and was a 12-time Pro Bowl selection.
Ahman Green: Green played two seasons for the Seahawks (1998-99), eight seasons for the Green Bay Packers (2000-06, 2009) and two seasons for the Houston Texans (2007-08). He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection.
Doug Fischer: Fischer played seven seasons for the Cardinals (1961-67) and 10 seasons for the Washington Redskins (1968-1977). He was a member of the Redskins team that advanced to Super Bowl VII and a three-time Pro Bowl selection.

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