Remembering the Last Elite Nebraska Football Team: The 1999 Roster

Part two of three in an ode to the forgotten greatness of the 1999 Nebraska football team.

Oct, 27, 2001; Lincoln, NE, USA; Nebraksa quarterback Eric Crouch prior to the start against Oklahoma at Memorial Stadium. / Imagn Images

Part 1: The Season
Part 3: The Legacy

While the 1999 Huskers are what history will remember them by, much of the true intrigue lay in the team’s composition. Examining the roster from Adams to Woodward reveals a team straight out of central casting for what Big Red fans remember of the 90s. All the major components are there: a whiz-bang option conductor, an earth-shaking offensive line, a terrifying defensive front, and fire-breathing headhunters in the back seven that put opposing ball carriers in their crosshairs. There were no less than seven legacies, a handful of position changes on defense designed to get more speed on the field, former walk-on starters, and a secondary recruited from the sun belt. The quarterback, like predecessor Scott Frost, also hailed from Nebraska.

The Offense

Omaha native Eric Crouch was 1999’s Big XII Co-Offensive Player of the Year and 2001’s eventual Heisman Trophy recipient. The quicksilver quarterback posted the fastest forty time in winter conditioning with a 4.47, fitting for a QB that wore oversized pads made for a running back. He led the team, and all quarterbacks nationally, with 889 yards rushing on the year. His 14 rushing scores on the year tied for 7th nationally. If anything, he ran the ball even better than historically dynamic option QBs Tommie Frazier, Steve Taylor, and Scott Frost.

He did however deal with pain in his throwing shoulder all season, which prevented him from throwing with the frozen rope style delivery he used in 2000 and 2001. But it may have given him greater touch and contributed to him having arguably his best season as a passer, completing 51% of his throws for eight touchdowns and only four interceptions. For reference, his Heisman season in 2001 he threw seven touchdowns against 10 interceptions. All told, he was responsible for 24 touchdowns, good for 19th nationally.

Had Crouch himself become injured in ’99, Newcombe would have transitioned back to QB. But because Crouch managed to stay upright, his backups on the depth chart were Jeff Perino and Joe Chrisman, neither of whom completed a pass on the year.

They threw to perhaps the least heralded position group Nebraska teams had in those days, the receivers. Starting split end Matt Davison was a tenacious scrapper with reliable hands while wingback Newcombe was a scary talent that commanded eyes. John Gibson, Sean Applegate, and converted QB Frankie London were tucked on the depth chart behind them, none of whom caught more than a handful of balls on the year. Shevin Wiggins was granted a rare sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA and was slated to start at wingback but was ultimately kicked off the team prior to the start of the season.

Davison’s playing career is best remembered for his miraculous catch at Mizzou a couple of years prior, but he was also a steady, reliable target, finishing his career as the school’s second leading receiver in receptions, behind only Johnny Rodgers. He earned honorable mention honors on the Big XII All-Conference teams at year’s end after leading the team with 29 total receptions.

Newcombe supplanted Applegate after making the move back to wingback, his position in 1997, but he was never able to recapture the magic he conjured in Tom Osborne’s final year. The knee injury he suffered the previous season blunted his explosiveness and robbed him of his high-end speed. To wit, Newcombe recorded a 4.47 40-yard-dash in 1998 but was never able to hit that highwater mark again. But beyond his physical frustrations, even outsiders noticed he never showed the same passion or focus again after abandoning his option QB dreams. He’d vent his frustration after leaving Lincoln in 2001. Still, the multi-sport decathlete from Sierra Leone was a game-changer on offense when he was dialed in, as his game-saving touchdowns at Kansas attest to.

The best pass catcher on the team was likely tight end Tracey Wistrom, oft-injured throughout his career but a terror for opposing secondaries when healthy and a football magnet in the red zone. He technically shared starting duties with senior veteran, TJ DeBates, who was essentially a sixth lineman in the mold of Tim Carpenter or Matt Shaw. Aaron Golliday and Jon Bowling were homegrown freshmen that played when Wistrom got hurt. Both showed well in the Fiesta Bowl that year.

Willie Miller had the unenviable task of replacing folk hero Joel Makovicka at fullback. He ignited both 90+ yard drives in the Fiesta Bowl with big runs that ultimately clinched the victory. Behind him was Ben Kingston and Tyrone Uhlir.

The one thing that all commentators and pundits alike agreed upon was that Nebraska’s offense was just missing the bellwether at I-Back, the burner who could change games at any given moment. After Evans did not return to form and ultimately left the team, Correll Buckhalter and Dan Alexander became a one-two punch. But neither was able to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing for the season nor edge Crouch as the team’s top rusher. They were perhaps more proficient than given credit for, with Buckhalter later going on to a successful NFL career and Alexander finishing his senior season as a Doak Walker semifinalist. They also finished seventh (Alexander) and 15th (Buckhalter) nationally in yards per attempt, respectable marks on any Husker team. But they were not considered the same caliber as their vaunted predecessors, and neither could hold onto the ball to save their lives. Behind them was the late Dahrran Diedrick, who finished fourth on the team with 303 rushing yards.

The big what-if for the Huskers that year goes back to 1997, when Tennessee signed Jamal Lewis over Nebraska, citing proximity to home as the determining reason for the Georgia native. Lewis was the supreme talent Nebraska lacked at I-Back and if he’d have been a Husker, Nebraska would have surely beat Texas in the regular season and clashed with Florida State in the Sugar Bowl. Not only was Lewis an immense talent that NU lacked, but he would have also had the luxury of running behind one of the best lines in college football.

Dominic Raiola anchored that year’s Pipeline at center, a position he dominated with a school-record 140 pancake blocks in '99. Offensive line coach Milt Tenopir called him the finest center he’d ever coached, high praise from the man who coached Dave Rimington, for whom the best Center trophy is named. Raiola won All-Conference and even some All-American honors in ’99 but would go on to win the inaugural Rimington Trophy in 2000.

Raiola was also a fiery competitor. Leading up to the Texas game, he voiced his disdain for all things Longhorn and growled at the opposing fans jeering he and his teammates as they walked out of DKR Stadium. His intensity and leadership were hallmarks of his four years in Lincoln.

Flanking him at right guard was Russ Hochstein, the poster boy for Nebraska’s strength and conditioning program. He arrived in Lincoln an unheralded recruit from nowhere Nebraska, weighing 240 pounds soaking wet. He left as a 300-pound All-American and future 12-year NFL veteran. Hochstein, who finished second on the team with 126 pancake blocks, was the line's quiet enforcer, all grit and no flash.

Filling out the interior was senior James Sherman, a ballyhooed recruit from California who averaged a career-best eight pancake blocks per game in ‘99, including a career-high 14 in the win over Kansas State. He posted up at left guard his final two seasons after training for three years, as was standard practice in those days.

At tackle, Nebraska started senior co-captain Adam Julch on the left and sophomore Dave Volk on the right. Volk was slated to be a backup until an ACL tear robbed senior Jason Schwab of his season. Before his injury, the former walk-on Schwab squatted a team-best 690 pounds. He’d make a successful return in 2000.

In contrast to today’s ever-changing lineups, the Huskers started the same five on the line each game. And it’s a good thing too. While the starting five was stout, depth was thin. They had a sixth man, so to speak, in sophomore Jon Rutherford, who could play all five positions if called upon to do so. He eventually started in 2001.

There was also Toniu Fonoti, who became the third true freshman in Nebraska history to play on the O-Line (All-Americans Jake Young and Will Shields being the others) as he often subbed in for Sherman at guard. Similar to the praise he bestowed on Raiola, Tenopir said that Nebraska never had a lineman as powerful as Fonoti, a teenager who possessed an inhuman blend of strength and mobility. He’d go on to be a finalist for the Outland as a junior in 2001 and leave a year early for the NFL.

But otherwise, the natural cycle of backups becoming future starters was not the case. The reserves on the 1999 offensive line were an anonymous bunch of varying age. Senior reserves Aaron Havlovic and Matt Baldwin spelled Raiola at Center. Sophomore Steve Alstadt came in for Hochstein at right guard. Junior Billy Diekmann and Sophomore Kyle Kollmorgen backed up Volk and Julch at the tackle spots. But none ever started.

Though they struggled to mesh in the early season and didn’t have ideal depth, the offensive line congealed and became one of the best lines in NU history by the end of it. Texas boasted future Pro Bowlers Casey Hampton and Shaun Rogers on the D-Line while Tennessee had John Henderson, an all-time great, along with Shaun Ellis, the 12th overall pick of the 2000 draft. Nebraska’s offensive line mushed both D-Lines into a fine paste. They may have only averaged 269 yards on the season due to anemic rushing efforts early in the season, but the Pipeline rallied for 300-plus yard outings in four of the final five games against the best competition they’d faced.

The Defense

On the other side of the ball, Charlie McBride’s last defense may have been his best. His attacking 4-3 scheme was tailor-made for the era of pro-style offenses that preceded the spread. Freakishly fast rush ends would come howling off the edge chasing after the lead-footed, burly-armed quarterbacks that were standard issue in those days. Mobile quarterbacks weren’t unheard of but were considered liabilities in the passing game – and they usually were – with contorted throwing motions and questionable decision making, a far cry from their latter-day descendants Lamar Jackson, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, et al. Coincidentally, the 1999 championship game with Michael Vick is credited with starting the dual-threat quarterback craze that would come to define the next century of offensive football. As it was, the Huskers’ aggressive style and superior athleticism tortured Whitebread statues like Iowa State’s Sage Rosenfels, Texas A&M’s Ryan McCown, and Iowa’s Kyle McCann.

Part of the design was having linebackers play close to the line of scrimmage to take away the threat of the run game and gum up the middle of the field, forcing offenses to attack the edges. This pincer scheme put pressure on the Blackshirts’ corners, who were forced into tight one-on-one situations. But if the front seven didn’t sack you first, Ralph Brown and Keyou Craver won their one-on-ones more often than not.

McBride’s defensive strategies centered on the strength and skill of the guys up front. His best lineman that year, Steve Warren, often gets overlooked amidst the pantheon of great D-Lineman in the 90s, but he collected seven sacks and second team All-American accolades in 1999. He anchored the middle of the line with Farwell-native Loran Kaiser while Aaron Wills and Kyle Vanden Bosch manned the edges. Vanden Bosch was immensely talented, running sub 4.7 in the 40-yard dash at a whopping 270 pounds when he participated in the NFL Combine. His freakish athleticism left many expecting more. But when you’re drawing comparisons to Grant Wistrom, the expectations are almost impossible to meet.

Kaiser was a nimble 6-4 300-pounder who migrated from linebacker to defensive tackle. He was a fiery leader that would wrap his career in 2000 with 16 tackles-for-loss to his name. A fellow Nebraska native, Wills was a high school swimmer who recorded four sacks, two alone in the Fiesta Bowl (bowl games did not count in official record keeping yet), in his only season as a starter.

Behind Kaiser and Warren stood an extensive cadre of versatile tackles: Jeremy Slechta, Jon Clanton, Jason Lohr, Casey Nelson, and Ryon Bingham. Lohr would make starts in ’99 and 2000 but catch the injury bug early as a senior and finish his career in 2003 after two medical redshirts. Slechta, at 6-6, was a steady hand during his four-year career, bypassing a redshirt in 1998 and finishing his career as a co-captain on the 2001 squad. Clanton, who took over Lohr’s nose tackle role after he went out in 2001, demonstrated exceptional athleticism by setting records for a lineman during winter conditioning. Bingham shined as a starter in 2003 and went on to a five-year career in the NFL.

At rush end, Demoine Adams and Chris Kelsay honed their trade behind Wills and Vanden Bosch. The third team defense featured Eric Ryan and Brandon Mooberry, father of current Husker commit, Pierce Mooberry. Had Aaron Kampman followed Trev Alberts' path in eschewing his home state Hawkeyes for Nebraska, the Huskers would have had a deep and fearsome band of pass rushers for years to come. 

When speaking about the linebacking corps that year, the word “depth” immediately comes to mind. Four players rotated at the outside linebacker positions as co-No. 1’s. Most commonly, co-captain Tony Ortiz started on the strong side with speed merchant Eric Johnson opposite him at WILL. Johnson, a converted defensive back, ran 4.43 in the 40, the fastest ever timed for a linebacker in Lincoln.

Brian Shaw, a flat-topped former walk-on with a 4.0 GPA, rotated with Ortiz on the strong side. Fellow WILL Linebacker Julius Jackson alternated starting roles with Johnson. Jackson is best known for his heroics against Southern Miss, scoring two defensive touchdowns, but those were far from his only takeaways that season.

"I guess I’ve just got those magnet hands," Jackson quipped after securing two more turnovers in the win over Missouri.

There was such an embarrassment of riches that the third and fourth levels of the depth chart were composed of Scott Shanle, a future NFL veteran of 10 years, Mark Vedral, a future starter on the 2001 defense, and Randy Stella, perhaps the most talented of the entire bunch. Like Johnson, Stella himself was no slowpoke. He finished sixth at the 1997 Nebraska State High School Track Meet, clocking in at 11.11 seconds in the 100-meter dash behind Erwin Swiney (10.78 seconds) and one Eric Crouch (10.96).

In the middle was a bell-ringer and future captain in Carlos Polk, a super-sized backer from Big Ten country. Polk still comes up in discussions around the best inside linebacker Nebraska has ever had. Behind him was sophomore Jamie Burrow, who’d lead the team in tackles in 2001. Tony Tata shared third-string duties and was penciled in as a future starter, but injuries forced him to quit the game before he could fulfill his considerable potential.

True to memory, the secondary that year was filled with athletes from speed states. Ralph Brown and Dion Booker hailed from California, Mike Brown from Arizona, and Clint Finley and Keyou Craver from Texas. Finley, a converted option QB, started the first eight games at Free Safety before yielding to Dion Booker, Michael’s kid brother, for the remainder of the season.

Together, Ralph Brown and Keyou Craver formed perhaps the best cornerback duo that Nebraska has ever had. Both would receive All-American honors in their time, Brown in ’99, Craver in 2001. Ralph stands as possibly the best corner in Nebraska history, finishing his career with a school record 50 pass breakups, more than doubling previous record holder Bret Clark’s career total. He started 52 consecutive games, a Nebraska record and No. 2 in NCAA history at the time of his graduation.

At the rover spot was four-year starter, Mike Brown, a rare All-American both in the classroom and on the field. Brown finished 1999 atop the tackling charts for the third straight year, wrapping up his career at No. 2 on the career tackles list at Nebraska. He also paced the team in interceptions with five. A natural leader, McBride called him the best player he ever coached, a profound compliment given the laundry list of legends McBride instructed over his four decades in the profession. Put succinctly: Mike Brown was the best safety Nebraska ever had.

But like the offensive line, the Huskers were dangerously thin in the secondary. Especially at corner, the Huskers were left wanting in the wake of rising senior Jerome Peterson giving up football and Erwin Swiney being injured for the season. Aside from DeJuan Groce, still finding his footing as a redshirt freshman, the top backup was sophomore Jeff Hemje, an unrecruited walk-on who tried out for the team on a whim. Lack of depth in key areas is arguably what separates 1999 from the ’95 and ’97 juggernauts in terms of roster configuration.

The Special Teams

Like the defense, special teams in 1999 were also outstanding.

Randy Stella was the primary returner on kickoffs, a rarity for a linebacker. Though he never returned a kickoff for touchdown, he still recorded a solid 23.3-yard return average. Not content with just being a returner and part-time linebacker, Stella was an absolute berserker coming off the edge on punt blocks. The Huskers repelled two punts against Iowa State alone behind Stella’s mad dash to the punter. Kyle Vanden Bosch was also a dynamo on special teams, blocking two kicks in a single game against Texas A&M, which tied . He blocked another against Kansas State for good measure.

When opponents did get a punt off, Nebraska had elite returners in Bobby Newcombe and Joe Walker. Newcombe took two for touchdowns, counting the Fiesta Bowl, and finished second nationally in average yards per return. Despite starting the year at quarterback, he still amassed 294 punt return yards, which exceeds what all of Nebraska’s opponents did combined. For his efforts, he made second team All-Big XII. On Nebraska’s end, Dan Hadenfeldt had an exceptional debut season of punting, averaging 45.0 yards on his 65 attempts.

Placekicker Kris Brown graduated in ’98, taking his NCAA record for PATs made with him. In his place came freshman Josh Brown (no relation), so athletic that he briefly vied for a wingback spot. Josh would go on to a 14-year stint in the NFL. In ’99 he hit 14-of-20 field goals for the Huskers, his first of four straight years managing the kicker role.

The Future

Not only was Nebraska a well-stocked and formidable team that year, but the future looked bright too. Sophomores Crouch, Craver, and Wistrom were budding stars with promising careers ahead of them while freshmen like DeJuan Groce, Chris Kelsay, John Garrison, and Dahrran Diedrick were already producing early on. The Polynesian pipeline was still churning out exciting players like Toniu Fonoti and Dominic Raiola, with promising talents Tony Tata and Junior Tagoa’i rising up the ranks. The Huskers’ trajectory was pointed squarely up, visually represented by the Huskers starting the 2000 season as the presumptive favorite to finish No. 1.

However, the seeds of their aughts demise were sown in those days. The ‘99 freshman class had talent in its ranks, but Garrison and Fonoti were the only true stars to come from it. Some like Taylor Gehman had their careers derailed by injury while others like future MLB star Carl Crawford never made it to campus. The 2000 class being assembled during the ‘99 campaign was a well-documented disappointment that led to lean depth in the seasons spanning 2002 to 2004. The foundation of Nebraska football was crumbling beneath it, and few were the wiser.

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