Nebraska Football: The 5 Most Underappreciated Players in School History

Nebraska fans love the history of their school, but sometimes, great players can get lost in the shuffle.

Whether they were great players on bad teams or they played a long time ago or their personal problems got in the way of remembering their on-field greatness, some ex-Huskers simply do not get the respect they deserve for their performance.

Well, let's see if we can make a dent in that problem.

Here are five players whose on-field accomplishments have not been properly recognized by Husker history.

Roy Helu Jr.

This might be a little early, but Helu has gotten all but lost since his graduation in 2009.

He’s the first Nebraska back to log back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons since Calvin Jones in 1993 and 1994 and still holds Nebraska’s single-game rushing record.

He’s started a promising NFL career, which may help to highlight his contributions in Lincoln. 

Frank Solich

Quite naturally, when people say the name Frank Solich, they think of his era as head coach, taking over from Tom Osborne, and ultimately, being replaced by Bill Callahan.

But Solich as a player is chronically underappreciated. He was an All-Conference performer, and still holds Nebraska’s single-game rushing record for a fullback.

While his coaching career obviously takes center stage in people’s minds, Solich as a player should not be forgotten.

Guy Chamberlain

When assignments for lists like this come up, I frequently get accused of being too young and unable to appreciate the history of the Nebraska program. Let me tell you, when you reach 42, getting called “too young” doesn’t sting nearly as much as it used to.

But it is a fair criticism that Nebraska fans (and some analysts, as well) can get lost in Nebraska’s recent past. And when assembling a list of the most underappreciated players in Nebraska history, Chamberlain has every right to be on the list.

The first Nebraska player to be inducted into both the college and professional football Hall of Fame, Chamberlain won championships at both the collegiate and professional level. He was Nebraska’s first truly great football player, but his contributions frequently get lost due to the age and the era in which he played.

Lawrence Phillips

Everyone knows the demons that haunted Phillips, which eventually destroyed his future and landed him in a jail cell. But those demons, combined with the national scrutiny Tom Osborne faced when he reinstated Phillips in 1995 during a national title run, tend to mask the superlative athlete he was on the field.

A staggering combination of speed and power, Phillips might have been the most talented athlete to play I-back at Nebraska. Given NU’s history, that’s a strong statement, but anyone spending time watching Phillips’ film during his playing days would find it hard to argue.

Phillips remains an uncomfortable occupant of Nebraska’s history book. But the waste of his personal life and his talents also lead people to underappreciate the frightening (in all senses of the word) talent he brought to the field.

Eric Crouch

Hear me out on this one. Yes, Crouch has his name on the Wall of Fame in the north end zone and has his bust in the Heisman room inside Memorial Stadium. There's no question that Crouch gets appreciated by Nebraska fans.

But is it enough, in relation to his performance? Or did fans sour on Crouch for some of his off-the-field activities? He’s never been anything but a model citizen, of course, but some fans never completely forgave him for his flirtations with leaving the team when presented with competition for the starting job against Bobby Newcombe.

Many fans were turned off his on-again, off-again professional football career. Plus, Crouch suffered from being the quarterback on a Nebraska team that played in a national title game most people didn’t think it belongs in and got embarrassed in that game.

But remember the numbers he put up. Remember the plays he made. Remember that run against Missouri. And remember the fact that, pretty much on his own, he carried Nebraska to a national title game.

Think about it. When you go through a list in your own mind of the greatest Nebraska players of all times, many fans end up thinking “oh, yeah, and Eric Crouch.” And that, my friends, is the definition of an underestimated player.

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