From the sidelines
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Dave Bradley
Analyzing the 2021 Husker football team’s roster a couple weeks ago proved to be plenty interesting.
Listed on the Huskers.com website are incoming freshmen, true freshmen, walk-on freshmen, redshirt freshmen as well as, you guessed it, COVID freshmen.
All in all, out of the roughly 166 current team members listed, 111 of them will have freshman eligibility when the football season is kicked off Aug. 28 at Illinois.
In normal times that’s crazy. In COVID times I guess that’s just par for the course.
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I was glad to see Tim Miles land a coaching gig at San Jose State. Say what you want about the man, but energy and enthusiasm were never lacking when he entered a room or an arena.
I remember when he was first hired, a friend of mine and I went to hear him talk at the Champions Club right across from Memorial Stadium. He told jokes, and more jokes, but he did have a vision for success on the hardwood. His teams always played hard (maybe not always smart), and what a ride it was in 2017-18 when the Huskers won 22 games.
The Spartans went 5-16 this past season and have had just one winning season in the past 28 years, so it looks like there’s no where to go but up.
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My favorite name of all names for the incoming Husker football freshmen has to be Hawaii 4-star linebacker Wynden Ho-ohuli. I like his first name just as much as his last name.
Looking back over the years, there’s been so many great Husker names that I’ll always remember, and others that I don’t.
I.M Hipp and Jarvis Redwine come to mind right off the bat, so I decided to go back and scan through some of the old rosters just for the fun of it.
So looking at the 1970s, Steve Runty was a quarterback from Ogallala who started and beat UCLA in Tom Osborne’s first game as head coach, fillling in for an injured Dave Humm.
Zaven Yaralian played cornerback and came to Nebraska from California.
King Block was a linebacker from Iowa (a big recruit who never panned out).
Burton Burns was a fullback from New Orleans.
Mark Goodspeed was a defensive tackle from Kansas.
Dave Butterfield was a cornerback from Colorado.
Paul Potadle played offensive guard and hailed from Tekamah.
Duke Vair played some running back and graduated from LaVista.
In the 1980s, Harlan Opie came from Great Bend, Kan., and was a defensive end.
Bob Sledge was an offensive tackle from Omaha. Good name for a tackle.
In the 80s, Tom Punt played offensive tackle, standing 6-8 and coming from Sioux City.
Chris Zyzda played on the same team, a guard also from Sioux City.
In the 90s, Trampis Rice was from Georgia and played a little free safety.
Monte (the Count) Christo played quarterback and hailed from Kearney.
Sasho Becvarovski was a tight end from Indiana.
In the 2000s, Thunder Collins was a running back from California.
Patrick Kobongo played defensive tackle and was a Canadian.
Seppo Evwaraye was a nose guard from Laurel.
Ola Dadunduro played on the defensive line and was from California.
Ndamukong Suh (who?) played a little D and came from Oregon.
Newton Lingenfelter was an offensive lineman from Plainview.
Marlon Lucky was a 5-star running back from North Hollywood.
Prince Amukamara played cornerback and was from Arizona.
Adi Kunalic was a kickoff specialist from Fort Worth.
Currenski Gilleylen was a wide receiver from Texas.
Faron Klingelhoefer was a defensive end from Amherst.
Dontrayevous Robinson was a running back from Texas.
In the 2010s, Tyler Wullenwaber was a wide receiver from Utica.
Murat Kuzu was a running back from Plano, Texas...the home of Rex Burkhead.
Chongo Kondolo was an offensive lineman from Texas.
Freedom Akinmoladun was a defensive end from Missouri.
Vaha Vainuku was a D-lineman from Salt Lake City.
Current members of the team whose names I love include Pheldarius Payne, a defensive end from Virginia; inside linebacker Eteva Mauga-Clements from California; and offensive lineman Nouredin Nouili from Colorado State (via Norris and Germany).
I better stop. I’ve said a mouthful.
DAVE BRADLEY can be reached at advertising@hamilton.net.
