Before guys made the NFL and before they became consistent starters or better in college, someone found them in high school. With that in mind, we're starting a series called Recruiting Tales, where we chat with the main college recruiter of a Detroit Lions player.
Previous Recruiting Tales: TE Joseph Fauria; QB Kellen Moore; RB Theo Riddick; LB Ashlee Palmer
Ndamukong Suh is one of the best defensive players in the NFL. He was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy in college. But in high school, Suh was a good but not elite prospect out of Grant High School in Portland, Oregon.
He was still highly coveted, earning scholarship offers from Nebraska, Cal, Miami (Fla.), Mississippi State and Oregon State, according to Rivals.com. Eventually, Suh – the No. 6 defensive tackle and No. 51 player by Rivals in 2005 – chose Nebraska. Then-Cornhuskers assistant Dennis Wagner, now the assistant head coach and offensive line coach at Liberty, recounts his recruitment.
Q: What was your reaction when you saw first saw him?
Wagner: I was amazed at this athletic ability. I wouldn’t say he was underdeveloped, but he had a lot of room to grow and if he was going to commit to being a football player, he was going to be a big man someday. He was a very happy go-lucky guy in high school. I don’t think he really realized his potential as a high school football player until the end of his junior year.
Q: You recruited him by then, right?
Wagner: Yes, absolutely. We were brand new at Nebraska, went there with Bill Callahan’s staff when I came from Fresno, so I was aware of him there when I was at Fresno. I was with Pat Hill at Fresno so it carried over for me and I watched his tape when I was at Fresno and felt like he was capable of being a Big 12 football player. When I got to Nebraska he was a guy we put on our list right away that spring to go out and recruit.
Q: What was his recruitment like?
Wagner: It really was smoother than I anticipated. He really wasn’t heavily recruited until his senior year. I think people saw this big, raw guy and not a lot of people moved on him. I believe ourselves and Mississippi State where his sister was playing soccer were the two first big offers he got and once they happened, a lot of other people joined on the bandwagon. But in regards to his family, when I went on a home visit it was hard to get everyone in the house at once because his mom was doing her thing, his dad was doing his, and his sister was in college. If I’m not mistaken, the first time I went there for a visit we went to a sporting event and we watched him play. That was the first time I was able to get mom, dad and him all at one time.
Q: What was the most interesting thing, different thing about his recruitment?
Wagner: The most impressive thing to me, usually when you’re at that level you’re talking about watching a guy on film as a football player and you don’t have to look for him and he stands out. Suh stood out as a football player with his athletic ability, but he was very raw. … When I wrote him up, I wrote him up as an athlete and predicted it would take him two years of being in the weight room and growing into the system and learning fundamentals and techniques. Coach Callahan had this rating system where we had to put what we thought, when he would start. I put I thought he would be an effective football player at Nebraska his redshirt sophomore year. The guy obviously blossomed and bloomed into an NFL All-Pro kind of guy. I thought he was going to be a great player but you watch the film and it wasn’t like he was dominating people. He was more running around them or jumping over things. For a big man, he was just so athletic. You knew if he caught up strength-wise and size-wise that he was going to be something special.
Q: Did you think he could be as big as he is or as good as he is?
Wagner: I really did. The way a lot of colleges work is you have an area recruiter and I recruited up until December and the defensive line coach took over more. He [Suh] and I built a good relationship, and I knew he was a dedicated guy and I knew he was going to be serious about football. But I don’t think he thought he was going to be a major college football player until he finished his junior year.
Q: So when did your opinion change on when he’d contribute?
Wagner: When he came into camp that fall and being the offensive line coach, having my guys go against him. Even though he wasn’t weight-room strong, he was natural strong and his ability, again, to use his hands and throw people off blocks and move. He didn’t know how to do it, but he could do it. That was the thing about him. He just didn’t realize his potential, but we knew that his freshman year that he was a special guy.