Nebraska football: 5 most underrated players in Nebraska Cornhuskers history

Who are the most underrated players in the history of Nebraska football?

Nebraska football used to be one of the most dominant programs in college football.

Back in the 1970s through the 1990s, the Nebraska Cornhuskers claimed five national championships. Two of them were won under Bob Devaney in the 1970s, while Tom Osborne absolutely crushed it in the 1990s before leaving his post as head coach to become the athletic director for the University of Nebraska.

Whether it was the Big Eight or the Big 12 later, Nebraska dominated its conference with only the Oklahoma Sooners rivaling them in that part of the country. Nebraska won 46 conference championships but hasn’t won a single one this century. The time the Cornhuskers got to party like it was 1999 was back in 1999. Oh, how the times have changed for Big Red…

Nebraska had success in the early 2000s under Frank Solich, but choosing to move to the Big Ten in 2011 looks to have been a regrettable move. In the last decade, Nebraska has won its division once in something called the Big Ten Legends division that doesn’t even exist anymore. After firing former head coach Bo Pelini, things have gotten especially strange in Lincoln.

Fortunately for Big Red, it seems like things are on the upswing under third-year head coach Scott Frost. He took a doormat of a program at UCF and guided the Knights to a New Year’s Six bowl and an undefeated season. While even getting to a holiday season bowl evades the former Nebraska quarterback, he may have it together here soon with the help of some underrated players in 2020.

Here are the five most underrated Nebraska football players of all time.

Josh Bullocks and his identical twin brother Daniel Bullocks grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but opted to play their college ball for Frank Solich at the University of Nebraska. Both starred in the Cornhuskers’ defensive backfield, but Josh Bullocks proved to be the slightly better player in the Nebraska secondary.

He earned First-Team All-Big 12 honors as a sophomore in 2003, as well as All-American nods in some publications and was a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award. Solich was fired at the end of the season, but Bullocks managed to be named Second-Team All-Big 12 in what was his final year in Lincoln in 2004.

Bullocks left school a year early, as he became the No. 40 overall pick by the New Orleans Saints in the 2005 NFL Draft. Interestingly enough, Daniel Bullocks would be the No. 40 overall pick in the 2006 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. When are we ever going to see brothers taken at the same draft spot in back-to-back years ever again? That is one truly unbelievable stat there!

Josh Bullocks played seven years in the NFL, four with the Saints, two with the Chicago Bears and very briefly with the then-Oakland Raiders before retiring. His 10 interceptions for 154 yards during his sophomore campaign at Nebraska remains a jaw-dropping number for anyone who has ever starred for the Blackshirts.