Nebraska Football Ultimate I-Back Bracket: The Final Four

The final four is set! There were not too many surprises, not even the upset was a real surprise as #11 Lawrence Phillips gathered 65% of the vote to 35% for #3 Ameer Abdullah.

In our final four matchups, I feel like we are seeing the real championship match on the left side of the bracket in Rozier vs Green. That is going to be a hard vote for me.

In the other matchup, you have a dominant player from Husker history that most people voting will never have seen in person (Reynolds) vs a player from the more recent past who was talented but troubled (Phillips).

Check out some of the videos at the bottom of the article. I was impressed that I could find a highlights reel for “Mr. Touchdown”, Bobby Reynolds among the others. It speaks volumes to the dedication of Husker fans to running the dang ball.

These polls will close Friday and I’ll put up the results on Saturday.

1) Mike Rozier – 2X All-American, Heisman trophy winner, seasons of 900+, 1600+, and 2100+ rushing yards (good lord!).

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4) Ahman Green – True freshman pressed into duty under bad circumstances: 1086 yards, 7.7 yds/rush, Natty! Packers all-time rushing leader.

2) Bobby Reynolds – Yes, seriously! In 1950 he was an All-American and averaged 17.5 points per game; nearly 3 TDs!! per game!! Career cut short by “lime in the eye”.

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11) Lawrence Phillips – Over 1700 yards in 1994. Possibly the most physically talented back to ever play at Nebraska.

Rozier was fast, strong, balanced - everything you want in an I-back, but I believe it is his footwork that set him apart. His stutter step was deadly and he could run a tightrope if they had one on a football field.

Give the ball to Reynolds. Points are scored.

He made players on the other team (and even many on his own team) look like they were running in mud next to him.

Ahman Green’s final game as a Husker. He only ran for 206 yards and helped secure a share of a natty. His vision and choice of angles was excellent. No one used his blockers better than Ahman.

Even highlight reels seem to have to include mentions of Phillips’ off-field troubles. No denying he was a great athlete who happened to play running back.