Top 25 Players in Big 12 History: No. 2, Ndamukong Suh & Vince Young
As the Big 12 Conference ramps up its 25th football season, it’s a good time to look back through the league’s illustrious history and identify the best football players ever to suit up.
It was a daunting task to rank players from 14 schools over 24 seasons. Some schools, of course, didn’t participate in all 24 years.
Rather than select an all-time All-Big 12 team — we’ll endeavor to pull that off after the 25th season has concluded — publishers from SI affiliates who currently cover the Big 12 were asked to vote on their top 25 players.
Players were judged on both their college careers and their professional football exploits. National awards, championships and individual achievement were all considered.
In all, nearly 50 players received votes. Only 10 players were unanimous selections.
With that, the countdown continues with No. 2 — a tie between arguably the best players in Texas history and Nebraska history:
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Not many players in Big 12 history — or college football history, for that matter — could singlehandedly change the outcome of a game with their sheer physical dominance.
No. 2 on the SI Sooners countdown of the Top 25 players in Big 12 annals — two all-timers tied for the penultimate spot — could do just that.
Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh was a high school All-American out of Portland, OR, when he got to Lincoln. Like most promising young players, Suh needed time to mature, time to learn the ins and outs of playing college football.
Ndamukong Suh
University of Nebraska Athletics
But while he was always good at Nebraska, greatness didn’t arrive until his junior season, and his all-time talent didn’t emerge until his senior season in 2009.
Suh was a freshman All-American in 2006 as a backup, then worked his way into the starting lineup in 2007.
In 2008, he led the Cornhuskers — from his noseguard position, a testament to his unblockable nature — with 76 tackles. He also returned two interceptions for touchdowns on his way to making first-team All-Big 12.
Then, in 2009, Suh became a force of nature. He totaled 85 tackles, 12 quarterback sacks and 24 tackles for loss, but those stats — outstanding as they are — belie his greatness. Double teamed on virtually every play, Suh changed offensive game plans throughout the Big 12 just by his presence, and then still wreaked havoc.
The 6-foot-4, 313-pound Suh also blocked three kicks and grabbed another interception as a senior on his way to unanimous All-Big 12 accolades, Big 12 defensive player of the year and AP College Football Player of the Year. He also became the first player to win the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Chuck Bednarik Award, the Vince Lombardi Award and John Outland Trophy in the same season and finished fourth in the Heisman voting.
Suh went No. 2 overall to the Detroit Lions in the 2010 NFL Draft and played five years for the Lions, three with the Miami Dolphins, and one with the Los Angeles Rams. He signed last year with Tampa Bay, and this offseason has signed a contract extension with the Buccaneers.
Suh’s NFL career includes five Pro Bowls and three first-team All-Pro accolades.
Unlike Suh, Vince Young’s all-time greatness was evident from the beginning. A high school All-American from Houston Madison, Suh chose Texas — where he quickly found himself second string behind Chance Mock.
University of Texas Athletics
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Young soon got into the lineup, where he shredded defenses with an unbridled running style and a passing acumen that was mostly OK.
Young took over the starting role in 2004, and after a 12-0 loss to Oklahoma, Texas coach Mack Brown essentially said the Longhorn staff would no longer try to shoehorn Young into the offense as a passer, but would instead just call the play and get out of his way.
Young never lost another game on the Forty Acres, beating Michigan in a memorable Rose Bowl to end 2004, then dominating the Big 12 and returning to Pasadena in 2005 for a national championship showdown against defending champ USC in the Trojans own backyard.
Young’s indomitable performance that night — 200 yards rushing, 267 passing, three touchdowns, including the game-winner in the final seconds — cast him into the highest echelon of college football immortals.
In his three seasons in Austin, Young rushed for 3,127 yards and 37 touchdowns, and threw for 6,040 yards and 44 scores. In 2005, he became first player in college football history to throw for 3,000 yards and run for 1,000 yards in the same season.
He won the Archie Manning Award as the nation’s top quarterback, the Robert Maxwell Award as college football’s best overall player, and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy that was eventually vacated by USC’s Reggie Bush.
Young’s NFL career was uneven at best. The Tennessee Titans picked him No. 3 overall in 2006, and he did play six seasons and made two Pro Bowls.
But Young, who dominated with physical running ability in college but never reached his potential as a passer, completed just 58 percent of his passes and threw just 46 touchdowns and 51 interceptions in his NFL career.
Tomorrow
No. 1
Previously
- No. 4: Ricky Williams
- No. 5: Baker Mayfield
- No. 6: Michael Crabtree
- No. 7: Darren Sproles
- No. 8: Derrick Johnson
- No. 9: Dat Nguyen
- No. 10: Roy Williams
- No. 11: Kyler Murray
- No. 12: Grant Wistrom
- No. 13: Von Miller
- No. 14 (tie): Justin Blackmon, Tommie Harris
- No. 16: Terence Newman
- No. 17: Jeremy Maclin
- No. 18-21 (tie): Sam Bradford, Ryan Broyles, CeeDee Lamb, DeMarco Murray
- No. 22-23 (tie): Rashaun Woods, Earl Thomas
- No. 24: Tavon Austin
- No. 25 (tie): Robert Griffin III, Patrick Mahomes & Jason White
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