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Last year at this time Husker fans were contemplating the NFL draft status of one Ndamukong Suh. The attention was easy to understand - the guy was a mutant freak one-man wrecking crew, arguably the best Nebraska football player in school history. The only question about Suh was whether or not he'd wind up as the #1 overall pick. As we all know, Suh ended up going second overall to the Detroit Lions and ended the season being picked to the Pro Bowl, the first Lions rookie in over 30 years to gain such an honor.
Move forward to this season - Nebraska has another player set to be drafted in the first round, cornerback Prince Amukamara. Amukamara hasn't garnered near the attention that Suh saw last season, despite being named to several All-America teams at season's end and, like Suh, being named the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.
In some ways the lack of attention is understandable. It was glorious fun watching Suh toss quarterbacks around like rag dolls - the guy was rampage defined. By comparison, Amukamara's best plays were those in which he went unnoticed. Opposing offenses, aware of Amukamara's ability, simply didn't throw the ball in his direction. Going into the Holiday Bowl, only 53 passes were thrown his way (out of 390 attempts), with opponents completing only 18 for a measly 34 percent completion rate.
Amukamara will be the first Husker defensive back taken in the first round since Fabian Washington went 23rd overall to the Oakland Raiders in 2005, becoming the 34th Nebraska player taken in the first round.
Amukamara deserves more attention than he's getting, and you can change that. He has a twitter account for you to follow, and he has a Facebook fan page set up, but currently only has 387 Likes. He also has a photo contest going on his Facebook page where you can submit a photo and have it be chosen for him to use as his twitter profile photo and his profile on Facebook, so get on that, too.
I look forward to watching Amukamara have a long career in the NFL, but until he gets there - so him some more Husker love, okay?