On Thursday night, Ndamukong Suh will finally hear his name called by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. He’ll throw on a ball cap, smoothly walk onto the stage of New York City’s Radio City Music Hall and shake his hand.
Suh will probably hold up his new NFL jersey alongside Goodell and pose for endless photos. He’ll do an interview with an ESPN personality, then get whisked off into a gauntlet of more photos and interviews.
He’ll likely sign his NFL contract in the not-so-distant future and spend the summer immersing himself into pro football and his new team.
Suh’s expected to be a top-three pick in tonight’s NFL Draft, and most experts predict the Detroit Lions will take him No. 2 overall or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will nab him with the following pick.
His old team, meanwhile, will try and do the impossible this fall: Nebraska must find a way to replace Suh’s menacing, powerful presence on its defensive line.
Husker fans will long remember Suh for his countless memorable moments on the field.
The bulldozing of Cody Hawkins and the ankle-twisting destruction of Blaine Gabbert.
The utter domination and 4.5 sacks of Colt McCoy.
The Duckie formation.
His top-five finish in Heisman Trophy voting – and more importantly, the $2.6 million he’s giving back to his university – ensure he’ll forever be a Nebraska legend.
Suh helped bring Nebraska’s football program back onto the national scene and a second away from a Big 12 Conference championship.
“He helped open a lot of eyes to Nebraska,” fellow defensive tackle Terrence Moore said. “He helped put us back on the map and let people know we’re a force to be reckoned with.”
Stats aside, the impact Suh had on Nebraska’s defense during his time in Lincoln isn’t easy to measure, and it’s possible his true lasting influence won’t fully be realized until this fall when Nebraska’s defensive line takes the field without him.
To Suh, that line always mattered more than the individual accolades anyway.
“He cares about this D-line, this defense and the whole team,” fellow tackle Jared Crick said. “I feel the exact same way. I’m very happy for him for everything he’s done. He deserves it. But I know at the end of the day, Suh’s a team player and that’s all that matters.”
Though he became more vocal in his senior year, Suh was naturally a leader by example. The biggest thing Moore took away from his time around his superstar teammate was his professionalism.
“It’s about coming out every day with the attitude that you’ve got to work to get better,” he said. “Nothing’s going to be handed to you.”
Crick blossomed into a star this fall and will attempt to anchor the line this season, and the biggest lesson Suh taught him came off the field.
“It’s how much he studied for other teams,” Crick said. “He was constantly in the meeting room watching films, and when you watched with him you saw all the things he jotted down and how he prepares for offenses. We all took that to heart.”
Crick, Moore and potential starting defensive tackle Baker Steinkuhler have worked to adopt that aspect to their prep for each game, and in Crick’s words, they’ve become “film rats” during the offseason.
When Suh spoke with Jared Crick at a Husker practice this spring, his message was simple: ‘Do your thing.’
“With all the advice I’ve taken from him over his years here, he didn’t really have to tell me anything else,” Crick said. “I’ve learned everything I need to know from him.”
As much as Suh will be remembered for all the awards and national attention he brought Nebraska, his impact on his fellow Husker defenders will last long after he’s moved on to the NFL.
“Everybody, in their own way, learned a little something from him,” Moore said. “Suh was a great player and everybody can learn a thing or two from him.
“That’s why he’s in the position he’s in now, about to be a first-round pick and get all that money,” he said. “He was doing something right.”