Death. Taxes. That damn Texas. The stories before Senior Day.

You're a Nebraska football fan. You know the drill, right? Like peonies at Memorial Day. Hay fever in mid-June. The smell of burning leaves, right now, just beyond the city limits.

We're here already. Nearing the end of strange and potentially wonderful 2009 NU season. Money time for the Cornhuskers. Used to be, you'd have the scent of Oklahoma in your nostrils right about now, but the Big 12 ruined that. Now it's an annual dance with Kansas State, followed by a Buffalo Thanksgiving.

Well, those two games knock on the Big Red door.

Where did the time go? Don't ask me. I've got a 2-year-old. I mark time in ear infections, words learned, fruit snacks eaten, and the same 40 books read over and over again.

But this year feels fleeting anyway. It hasn't been a journey for Bo Pelini's second bunch so much as a harrowing, unpredictable ride through dungeons and gilded rooms out of an Edith Wharton novel. Drama tends to move quickly inside a movie theater. It's no different on a football field.

A final, crucial chapter of 2009 is yet to be written. A tragedy, triumph, or typical tale of struggle and virtue? We'll see.

But we know the hero of the story already, however it plays out. As Ndamukong Suh nears the end of a remarkable career - to be punctuated with the loudest Memorial Stadium chant of “Suh!” you'll ever hope to hear – Nebraska fans need to take a minute and appreciate how, in two short years, the 6-foot-4, 300-pounder went from skilled athlete and occasional run-stopper to college football's most dynamic and unique defensive player. And how it almost never happened.

“I think he was testing the waters when we got here,” head coach Bo Pelini said. “But he wasn't ready to come out at that time.”

That's the NFL waters. Suh was a third-year sophomore bearing witness to about as awful a defense in the 2007 Nebraska as could be envisioned.

But his knee required surgery. Plus – Suh had performed far below his own potential in two years at NU. Part of it was consistent work ethic. Part of it was sheer inexperience. You already know this part of the story: Suh grew up playing soccer and basketball. Football, a complex, intricate, brutal game that arguably requires as much mental mustard as any sport, wasn't on his radar until high school.

“I didn't have the mental capacity of a lot of the other guys just because they grew up with it at a young age and they had always been around it,” Suh said Tuesday.

The surgery, and the missed spring practice, turned out to be a remarkable blessing. Suh became Carl Pelini's shadow in 2008, learning without actually doing the drills. But here's the thing, and it's rare for a football player: Suh actually soaked it up just by watching. That's one sharp visual learner.

In the following fall camp, Suh got help from center Jacob Hickman, a cerebral technician who didn't always beat No. 93, but could breakdown his counterpart's game.

“He's one guy that's really understood my game and been able to nitpick at some of my weaknesses,” Suh said. “We talk all the time. You'd see us in fall camp. I might beat him on one play, he might beat me on one play but after we're done with our three reps, we'll get back and talk.”

The rest is statistical history. In 23 games, Suh has 132 tackles, 32 of them for loss, 12.5 sacks, 11 pass break-ups, 25 quarterback hurries, six blocked kicks and three interceptions. Read that again.

“He's played pretty phenomenal,” said Bo Pelini, using the appropriate word.

And he's done so under the following two conditions:

*Offensive coordinators have developed a full-time obsession, since the 2009 Gator Bowl, of making sure Suh doesn't beat them.

*Suh still has more – and arguably much more – to learn.

We're not kidding. Suh tries, at times, to make too many plays. As much as he should trust his instincts, they'll be honed even more in the NFL, where quarterbacks are smarter than, say, Blaine Gabbert or Landry Jones. Once there, he'll also have to live with the reality that sacks and tackles for loss, for an interior 4-3 tackle or a 3-4 end, are rare. Those belong to defensive ends or outside linebackers. The biggest, baddest bull moose in the pros – Albert Haynesworth, Shaun Rogers, the duo in Minnesota – still doesn't get the flash and dash of their edge counterparts.

Take Kansas. Suh's numbers weren't flashy in a 31-17, and Pelini sensed some frustration from his senior.

“He thinks he should make the play no matter how many guys are on him,” Pelini said. KU used a double-team, and occasionally a running back, to block Suh. Baylor often did the same, which opened the door for Jared Crick's big day. Suh's a team guy – but he's also a elite player. Elite guys want to be the solution – not the decoy.

“But you watch the tape, and he played pretty well,” Pelini said.

Pelini doesn't like to compare Suh to his previous proteges, most notably LSU's Glenn Dorsey, a squat grinder who submarined offensive linemen and often blew up plays with his sheer girth and strength. As NU's defense evolves, you'll see Pelini recruit this type of player more often. He already has, in fact, in 2010 commit Jay Guy.

Suh is different. He's nimble. He's certainly not thin, but there isn't an ounce of fat on him. For a guy with so little time in the game, he certainly has a sixth sense of it. He obliterates an opponent's screen game. He peels back to make tackles downfield. Even when he's engaged at the line of scrimmage – which happens more than it should, frankly – he's strong enough to shuck out of it and still make plays.

Nebraska's never seen one quite like him.

Is he the best in NU history?

You could lodge an argument for a number of names – Wayne Mehlen, Rich Glover, Jim Skow, Jason Peter and Danny Noonan are in the mix – but Suh seems to make the most spectacular of plays out of all of them. He may not be as consistent, maybe, but his sack-and-strip of Gabbert in the Missouri game – which hobbled Gabbert and Mizzou's chances at the Big 12 North title in the same blow – is one of the most incredible plays I've ever seen. The strength, speed and perseverance on that single play is a recruiting poster for Bo Pelini's brand of dominating football. If Suh does win the Lombardi, the Nagurski and the Lott, that'll be the play burned in voters' minds when they check his name.

It's fitting that, when asked how fans should remember him, Suh chose a road less traveled. A lot of defensive players would say “dominant” or “great” or “a winner” or some word or phrase that conveyed toughness, victory and pure, hard character.

For Suh?

“A joy to watch,” he said. “I've always wanted to be a joy to these fans.”

The man knows his audience, huh?

Win Two Free Tickets to NU's Last Home Game of the Year!

Permanent Link to this Blog Post