Five Great Players for 2011

Former Husker linebacker and Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez once shared his theory that to win a national championship you don't need 22 great players. You just need five and the rest just need to be really good. We've made it something of a tradition to look at Nebraska's roster on an annual basis to identify at least five players that could play at an All-American or All-conference level to help lead NU to the promised land.

 

Defense

The easiest players to call out might be on defense. Defensive tackle Jared Crick and linebacker Lavonte David appear on a number of preseason All-American lists. Cornerback Alfonzo Dennard also gets some All-American mention and seems a likely All Big Ten candidate. Some darkhorses include defensive tackle Baker Steinkuhler and defensive end Cameron Meredith. If all-five played great, we'd be talking about a great defense. As it stands, most everyone expects Nebraska to have one of the best defensive units in the country.

 

Offense

If the Huskers truly want to compete for a national title, they'll need to get more than just pretty good offensive performances. Tight end Kyler Reed has made some preseason All-Conference lists. Running back Rex Burkhead has also gotten some mention. But the big name is quarterback Taylor Martinez. If he can become the player he was in the first half of the 2010 season, then this offense could come to resemble some of the more productive units we've seen in Lincoln. If not, it's hard to imagine this team going far. Sure, someone like backup quarterback Brion Carnes could make a splash. Wideout/quarterback Jamal Turner or running back Aaron Green could make noise. The likeliest scenario, however, is a rejuvenated Martinez being the one to make the offense go.

 

Special Teams

No one expects placekicker/punter Brett Maher or kicker Mauro Bondi to match the performances of Alex Henery and Adi Kunalic. Still stranger things have happened than a new kicker or punter having immediate success. In the return game, Turner could be a real playmaker as might one of the new young running backs like Green or Ameer Abdullah.

 

The fact that you can come up with five candidates for greatness this year is a very good thing. There have been a number of years in the past decade where you really had to stretch to have even five candidates. This year, you almost expect two to four players to be great. So the question is whether you can find five and whether that will be enough to propel the Big Red to BCS glory.