ESPN Ranks Ndamukong Suh "Third Best Big XII Player Ever"

ESPN.com Big XII blogger recently ranked his Top Ten Big XII players of all time, naming former Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh the third best. It's probably the correct choice, though frankly, I think there are compelling reasons to rank him higher.

For what it's worth, Vince Young was #1 and Ricky Williams was #2. Personally, I'd vote Suh ahead of Williams, though I think it's probably a toss-up between Young and Suh. And given that Young pulled off the upset over Southern Cal for a national championship, that's probably reason enough to pick Young over Suh.

Former Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford was #4. My biggest objection to Ubben's rankings is Colt McCoy at #5. McCoy had impressive numbers, to be sure, but he was blessed with quite the supporting cast. The fact that Texas still nearly knocked off Alabama in the BCS National Championship game with a true freshman replacing an injured McCoy tells me that Colt McCoy was a cog in a solid team.

The biggest injustice has to be former Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III at #7. RG3 transformed Baylor football from a joke to a legitimate conference contender. Frankly, the more I think about it, I think I'd vote Griffin over both Young and Suh. Griffin is proving in the NFL that he's the complete package: he can throw and he can run equally unbelievably well. Yes, this should be based on college performances, but it's also important to note that RG3 didn't have the supporting cast that anybody else on this list has.

You could argue that Adrian Peterson should be mentioned along the same lines as Griffin. When Peterson was healthy, there was nobody else comparable to him in the conference. Unfortunately, that was only his freshman season. So those ankle and shoulder injuries merely made him great instead of legendary, so he ended up at #6.

Ubben closes out the list with Oklahoma quarterback Jason White, Oklahoma safety Roy Williams, and West Virginia receiver Tavon Austin. Not sure I agree with Austin, but I also didn't watch as much of Austin since he was always in a different conference. I'd suggest that Texas Tech's Michael Crabtree or former Husker quarterback Eric Crouch would have been a better choice at #10. Certainly Nebraska doesn't get anywhere remotely close to Pasadena without Eric Crouch in 2001. Heck, Missouri's Brad Smith or Chase Daniel probably are better choices than Austin in my mind.