Is Jared Crick The Best Player in College Football (And Why The Long Term Outlook May Be Better)

by Jon Johnston on Jun 1, 2010 7:00 AM CDT in Nebraska Husker Football Comment 2 comments

From SB Nation's NFL Draft site Mocking the Draft comes a report that the Sporting News preseason magazine has picked our Nebraska defensive tackle Jared Crick (check out the link for the rest of the Top Five) as the best player in college football. Apparently it also lists Crick as a Heisman Trophy candidate.

Is Crick really that good? The *best* player in college football? That's a pretty bold statement. Setting aside the rose-colored glasses, you'd have to wonder if it's somewhat of a marketing gimmick. It will certainly generate discussion, most of that centered around Crick benefitting from playing next to Ndamukong Suh last season, although Crick proved he could wreak his own havoc in the Baylor game:

Say for the sake of argument I propose to you that Crick isn't even the best player on his team? My personal choice for that would go to Prince Amukamara. Or what about Alex Henery (a kicker? surely I blaspheme!)?

What about the Big 12? What if I proposed that the best Big 12 player is Texas A&M's defensive end Von Miller, who played on a wretched defense (105th nationally), but finished first in the nation in sacks with 17?

Either of those picks should generate as much discussion as picking Crick as the nation's best while at the same time being just as valid. That's what makes this such a wonderful time of the year.... unless, of course, you're one of those people who wants proof for everything, for whom sheer speculation just for the fun of it as is as useful as teaching pigs to sing. While proof is interesting in itself, it's certainly not the point of the offseason, so speculate away.

Right now, it's been declared that Jared Crick is the best player in the nation, so damn you Blaine Gabbert or whomever Missouri might offer. Take that Keenan Robinson, Aaron Williams, or whomever Texas might have in waiting. Ha ha to you, Jake Locker!

There's more to the Crick story, though. A commenter at Mocking the Draft takes the long term view and makes a succinct point that's hard to argue with, that upon its proof sets speculation on it's head, and is sure to draw huzzahs from every Husker fan around:

If Crick really does become as good as Suh

why would any top High School DT in the country want to go anywhere else but to play for Pelini?

Oh, yeah, baby. Why would they?

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1. is a miracle transformation
2. is a powerfully interesting coincidence
3. makes us an undeniable ‘stud’ factory

They don’t all have to come from the D-line … and frankly, as much as I hope for good things from Crick, I can tell you for sure that if Crick goes big time, Carl will be on a different kind of hot seat. Talent doesn’t just matter among players, talent is a must for coaches and I’d say were are loaded on the defensive side.

Clearly, I’m more worried about Bo having to replace the coaches on defense than I am about the players. He needs to be ready to have the talk with others on his staff about working their way up and not jumping ship just for opportunity when there exist a greater one here for them all and the chance to make the first move they make away from Nebraska count for something.

Back to the players.

My view on Suh is that he was under performing under horrible coaches. This staff turned him into a monster partly because he was a diamond that only needed slight polishing. Crick and others may need more work and more time. That said, I’d expect to see someone else step up on the line and be the closest thing we can get to our next “Suh.” Even if that guy is currently a backup right now. If that doesn’t happen for the line, then we are going to shift our focus some on defense to lean on the guys who are the play makers. Bo isn’t going to re-engineer his defense around one or two guys, but he will lean towards his play makers to ensure he’s getting them to do all they can to lead and produce.

If ignorance is heavenly bliss, then welcome to hell.

Note: All post by this member may be edited & self-censored to spare everyone from his endless rants and swears.

by nebstud2001 on Jun 1, 2010 8:45 AM CDT reply actions

did a little research 4 you guys and y the defense will be the same if not better than last year…In 07 nu gave up almost 38 pts a game….. Bo came in and shave 10 pts of down to 28.5 per game… He also lost key starts and back up before he got to nu that he had to replace such as… kevin dixon, courtney grixby, steve octavian, bo rudd, andre jones, tierre green, lance brandenburg, bryan wilson, brandon johnson, corey mckeon yet still dropped 10 points… last year he dropped that 28 down to 10.4 per game after losing shukree barfield, armundo murrillo, ty steinkuhler, zach potter, cody glenn, clayton sievers, tyler wortman, and basicly blake lawrence only made 10 tackles n 3 games b4 quiting… This year we lost suh , turner, dillard , asante , ohanlon, i think like offense say texas tech you can get system players. thats what his done with this defense he might b a good coach but the system helps… heres somthin else 2 ponder there are 5 oline on every down someone has ta get dbl teamed on passes Nu isnt a blitz happy team

by rover34 on Jun 3, 2010 3:56 AM CDT reply actions