Nebraska's Jared Crick Ready to Tackle Life Without Ndamukong Suh

For a guy who would like nothing more than to blend in and go about his work, Nebraska junior defensive tackle Jared Crick can't escape the comparisons or the questions.

How much easier was life on the Cornhuskers defensive lineman last season opposite one of the most dominant defensive linemen in recent memory? What will it be like now that Ndamukong Suh is gone? Can Crick command similar attention from opposing offensive lines as Suh did with constant double teams?

You would think it would be near impossible to cast a shadow that would engulf Crick's massive 6-foot-6, 285 pound frame, but Suh managed to do so and to some degree still does despite now playing for the NFL's Detroit Lions.

Crick, however, doesn't seem to bow to the questions or even the high expectations that are being thrust upon him as life without Suh begins in earnest Saturday when the Huskers open their final Big 12 season.

"It's something I have to prove to myself," said Crick, who's team opens the season against Western Kentucky. "With Suh there or someone else, I've still got to do my job no matter what, my job comes first. As long as I do my job and everybody else does their job, we are going to be fine.

"Whether Suh is there or not, I've still got to do my job. That's the way I take it, if I do my job then everything is going to be fine."

But the belief is Crick may be able to do his job better than anyone at any position in college football this season. Thus, he was deemed the best college football player -- period -- this preseason by the Sporting News.

He is also on the preseason watch lists for all the prestigious awards befitting top college players, such as preseason All-America, the Lombardi Award, the Outland Trophy and quite possibly the Heisman Trophy. It's enough to unnerve even the most confident of players. But not Crick, who sheds the preseason hype talk almost as effortlessly as he does opposing offensive linemen.

"I could care less. preseason is just hype," said Crick, whose also seems to be a projected first rounder on everyone's NFL draft board next spring despite having another year of eligibility in 2011. "You have to go out and prove yourself every day, every game, and if you don't do that, then it's all for nothing."

Honestly, whether he can duplicate last season is the major unknown for the Corhuskers and the nation. Crick, using his uncanny quickness off the ball, accounted for 73 tackles, which included 15 stops for loss and 9.5 sacks. But how much of that was made possible because of all the attention Suh commanded – double- and sometimes triple-teams -- from the defensive tackle spot opposite Crick?

"Preseason is just hype. You have to go out and prove yourself every day, every game, and if you don't do that, then it's all for nothing."
-- Jared Crick, Nebraska defensive tackle If you believe Nebraska coach Bo Pelini and defensive coordinator Carl Pelini, it didn't happen. Everyone played the Cornhuskers straight up last season and Crick made his share of plays just like Suh did, according to his coaches.

"You can also say the argument that Suh benefited from having Crick next to him," Bo Pelini said. "It's a two-way street, it's a team game. That is the reality of it."

The Pelini brothers also believe this Nebraska defense with Crick leading the way could be far better than the Cornhuskers unit that last season led the nation in fewest points allowed and the one that came within a second of stifling Texas in the Big 12 championship game and throwing off the whole BCS national championship picture.

But they don't believe the Huskers ability to be dominant again will rest solely on Crick's shoulders.

"He has a job to do within the system. He understands football," Carl Pelini said. "You hear that all the time, his numbers were inflated because Suh was getting double-teamed. Show me that on film. It's very difficult for any offensive coordinator to say we're going to double-team No. 93 on every play and figure out how to block everyone else. That wasn't happening.

"Jared is going to operate within the same parameters this year as he did a year ago."

But for his part, Crick understands that life could be a lot tougher this season if the constant extra attention is now turned on him. The hope is then whether it's Terrence Moore, Thad Randle or Baker Steinkuhler, his linemates will be able to seize those opportunities the way he did last season.

"I don't want to say that I am because offenses may not want to double-team as much as they did Suh, they may not respect me as much as they did Suh," Crick said. "But I am going to anticipate it, I'm going to prepare for everything they want to throw at us. That's what we did last year, just prepare for the little things and everything they could do for us. I think if we take the same preparation, we will be fine."

As for challenges this season, Crick also sees plenty for himself and the Huskers as the favorites to defend their Big 12 North title and quite possibly win the Big 12 championship in their final season in the league before heading to the Big Ten in 2011.

"I always challenge myself every single game, regardless of who is going to be next to me, but definitely going into this year. It's not so much a physical challenge as it is a leadership challenge because I am going to be one of the older guys there and not the youngest guy," Crick said to FanHouse. "So I am going to have to try to get the rest of the guys next to me ready to go and all on the same page as the rest of us.

"It's definitely physical, probably because you saw Suh get a lot of double-teams at the beginning of the year. I'm not expecting that, but I'm going to prepare for it as if that is what they are going to do."

Crick says he doesn't believe his numbers will have to be similar to ones Suh put up the last two seasons in order to be successful. He just wants to play well in the context of the overall defense.

"I think we can do better (as a team)," Crick said. "Part of (the stats from last year) was because Suh was next to me, but most of it was because of the defensive line as a whole. I also had Barry Turner next to me and Pierre Allen on the other end. It was just us working together as a unit. No one is really big on stats. Suh wasn't big on stats, I'm not big on stats; but the biggest thing was as long as we were doing our job on the defensive front, then that's really all that mattered."