by T.J. Birkel
We spent much of the summer on the Common Fan Podcast attempting perhaps an impossible task: building the definitive Mount Rushmore of Nebraska football.
Over the course of seven episodes, we looked at quarterbacks, coaches, offensive players, defensive players, special teams players and walk-ons before finally attempting to narrow the long and glorious history of Nebraska football down to four players (for the final list, we let the coaches episode stand on its own, and only focused on players. That was hard enough).
We were joined throughout the series by Brandon Vogel of the Counter Read newsletter, along with a tremendous group of featured guests including Mitch Sherman, Henry Cordes, Brian Christopherson, Mike’l Severe, Gary Sharp and Mike Babcock.
From the beginning, this wasn’t simply about identifying the four best players. When sculptor Gutzon Borglum designed the actual Mount Rushmore, he wasn’t simply selecting the four greatest presidents. The idea was to represent figures who were particularly important and consequential in the story of the country.
We tried to take the same approach with Nebraska football. That meant considering championships and individual accomplishments, of course. But also impact on the program, leadership, innovation, longevity, cultural significance and the moments and players that helped define the history of Husker football.
When you host a podcast, you’re constantly thinking about making sure the discussions you’re putting out into the world are interesting and relevant to the audience. As we went into this series, I wasn’t sure if seven “Mount Rushmore” episodes would be fun and interesting, or if it would start to wear thin.
It ended up being a blast. We said more than once, we wished we had time to look at more position groups, more categories, and to ultimately build more Mount Rushmores. It was a reminder of just how great Nebraska has been (and, in some ways, how hard the last decade-plus has been, but that’s an article for another day).
What exactly defines greatness at Nebraska? Is it championships? Individual awards? Statistics? Longevity? Cultural impact? Being the best player on a great team? Carrying a team that wasn’t? The short answer: yes. And as we worked our way through the different categories, we were reminded that Nebraska has been great in an almost ridiculous number of different ways.
Here’s where we landed.