The Nebraska football program has produced 28 members of the College Football Hall of Fame, including coaches Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne, who between them from 1962-1997 won 391 games and five National Championships. However, the program has not be quite as dominant at the professional level, where the Cornhuskers had only five former players elected to the Pro Football Hall…that was, until this week when former Husker star running back Roger Craig finally became the sixth former Husker to earn a plaque in Canton, Ohio.
Craig – as standout for a San Francisco 49ers team that won three Super Bowl titles in the 1980’s – was finally selected in this 28th year of eligibility. The Davenport, Iowa native was the first NFL running back to rush and receive for better than 1,000 yards in the same season in 1986 when he shared the backfield with former Cornhusker fullback Tom Rathman. Craig was also voted the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year in 1988 and scored three touchdowns in the 49er’s 38-16 win over Miami in Super Bowl XIX.
As a Cornhusker, Craig flourished in Osborne’s I formation triple option offense, rushing for more than 2,400 yards and scoring 26 touchdowns during three seasons of action. As a senior in 1982, Craig shared carries with future Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, often moving to fullback so Osborne could get both standouts on the field at the same time.
The irony of Craig’s standout NFL career isn’t that he was successful running the football. That was expected. It’s that Osborne’s teams didn’t pass the ball all that often, severely limiting Craig’s opportunities to catch passes out of the backfield. He only had 16 receptions for 102 yards in three seasons as a Cornhusker. It wasn’t until he played for Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh that Craig’s pass receiving talents were put on full display. The four-time Pro Bowl selection finished his career with over 8,000 rushing yards and almost 5,000 receiving yards.
When Rathman joined the 49ers in time for the 1986 season, they formed the “Corn backfield” in San Francisco. For five seasons, Rathman’s blocking was a key component of Craig’s success on the ground, and the talented fullback, who would end up playing nine seasons in the NFL, also became a legitimate pass catching threat out of the backfield. In 1989, Rathman led all NFL backs in pass receptions with 73.
Nebraska fans are now left to wonder who the next former Husker to reach the ultimate height at the professional level could be. Recently minted College Hall of Famer Ndamukong Suh can become a candidate in 2028. Suh played 13 seasons in the NFL after being the second overall draft pick by Detroit in 2010. As a defensive tackle, Suh finished fourth in voting for the Heisman Trophy in 2009, and remains one of the most decorated college football defensive players of all time. As a professional, Suh was the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year in 2010, went to five Pro Bowls and was voted All-Pro three times. He’s on the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 2010’s, and was a member of the 2021 Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Another member of the Bucs who has not yet officially retired – but will undoubtedly be a Pro Football Hall of Fame candidate after he becomes eligible – is linebacker Lavonte David, a Husker from 201-2011 who was a two-time All-America selection as a Cornhusker. David was also a member of the Super Bowl winning Bucs team in 2021, and has twice been an All-Pro while racking up over 1,700 tackles at 42 sacks during his (so far) 13-year career.
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