Husker greats praise Ameer Abdullah for skill and will

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  • Nebraska running back Ameer Abdullah is brought down by a host of Hurricane defenders.

Johnny Rodgers: “That boy is serious. Hungry. Guys that are bigger and faster are not necessarily going to have that same toughness and attitude.”

Mike Rozier: “I was just blessed with God-given ability when I was a little kid, and I had the eyes and vision and sense of where to go or not to go. I see that in him.”

Ahman Green: “It’s hard to get to his legs because he has a great forward running lean.”

Calvin Jones: “... What struck me is how aggressively he ran and the abandon with which he ran.”

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POSTED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2014 1:00 AM |UPDATED: 12:53 AM, FRI OCT 3, 2014.

LINCOLN — Mike Rozier wants an invitation. That’s all.

If Ameer Abdullah keeps humming along and somehow reaches the doorstep of the Nebraska all-time rushing mark — the one Rozier has held for 31 years — Rozier wants to be there to witness it.

“If he breaks my record, he better invite me down there, so I can see it,” Rozier said.

Ahman Green would prefer a good vantage point for the next stop before Abdullah takes aim at Rozier, which could come as soon as Saturday night at Michigan State.

When Abdullah gets the last of the 71 yards necessary to displace Green from the No. 2 spot, however, Green will just have to settle for watching on TV.

“I wish I could be on the sidelines,” Green said. “Maybe I’ll get a phone call in right after the game.”

Rozier and Green are the last two left as Abdullah keeps scaling the NU rushing chart. They also are among the fraternity of Husker I-back greats who have welcomed and encouraged him during the climb, both out of respect for his running style but also the person inside the uniform.

“He’s a hell of a running back,” said Rozier, the 1983 Heisman Trophy winner. “Hopefully he stays healthy. It’d be nice for another Nebraska guy to get a Heisman. I’d definitely like that.

“But if he’s going to break my record, let him break it. You tell Coach Bo to let him break it.”

Rozier has met and spoken with Abdullah a couple of times. Green and Abdullah actually have formed a friendship since last spring, and Green regularly shares thoughts via text with the Husker senior before or after games.

“I’ve watched him grow as a Nebraska running back and Nebraska player,” Green said. “I’ve been happy to watch him uphold the Nebraska tradition the way that he’s doing it.”

Abdullah has used a fast start this season — 833 yards through five games — to push his career rushing total to 3,810 and pass Ken Clark, Calvin Jones, Rex Burkhead, Roy Helu and Eric Crouch along the way. Assuming he stays healthy, the 5-foot-9, 195-pounder has at least eight more games to play.

The passing of Green (3,880 yards from 1995 to ’97) is inevitable. The pursuit of Rozier (4,780 from 1981 to ’83) suddenly has become plausible.

And Rozier can see why, most recently watching Abdullah pick up 229 yards when he was in Lincoln for the Miami game on Sept. 20.

“He runs hard. I like that,” Rozier said. “I was bigger than him, but everybody runs the ball different. If anybody is trying to compare me to him or him to me, I don’t think you could. The team is different, the coaches are different, the offense is different.

“I was just blessed with God-given ability when I was a little kid, and I had the eyes and vision and sense of where to go or not to go. I see that in him.”

Two things stand out to Green about Abdullah’s style: decisiveness with cuts and how he runs behind his pads.

“It’s hard to get to his legs,” Green said, “because he has a great forward running lean.”

Following Abdullah since his freshman year, Jones said he always has noticed the second effort and ability to get yards after contact. Now Abdullah is just more polished, more confident in what he’s doing.

Depending on the play, Jones said, there are times when you have to be “slow off the mound” and times when you have to “get off that mound aggressively, fast and in a hurry.” Abdullah has the knack for separating the two.

“It comes with repetition and then knowing what the guys up front are doing,” said Jones, who ran for 3,153 yards from 1991 to ’93. “I know it was true for myself that the more reps and the older I got, the more I knew what the guys were doing up front.”

Jones also smiled during the Miami game when Abdullah delivered a forearm to a Hurricanes linebacker, dipped his shoulder and knocked him down, calling it “a moment that took me back to guys in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s running the ball for Nebraska.”

“Watching Ameer and what he did in the Miami game, what struck me is how aggressively he ran and the abandon with which he ran,” Jones said. “Then he showed the longer the game went the stronger he got. That is a trademark of all the great Nebraska backs.”

Abdullah will get more years, more games and more carries than Rozier, Green and Jones, but Green said that also will speak well to his durability and dependability. Taking care of all the things that people don’t see when it comes to lifting, conditioning and practice.

Green and Abdullah had met previously, but started connecting more often after NU assistant coach Ron Brown reached out to Green last spring. They talked after the spring game and Green ever since has just tried to “drop little bits of knowledge” from time to time to help.

Abdullah is open to the advice. Open to getting better. Open to respecting the past.

Jones said that all makes him easier to root for as he passes some of the great names in Husker history, including Roger Craig, Rick Berns, Keith Jones, Derek Brown, Lawrence Phillips and I.M. Hipp to get to his No. 8 spot to start this season.

“He had success when he was a younger player, but what I’ve seen is Ameer working even harder and harder,” Jones said. “He has that competitive edge that he wants to be the best player that he can be, regardless of the amount of success he already has. I can’t say you see that in half the athletes anymore.

“It’s all just how he carries himself. He is a guy you want playing on your team. When you look at his dedication, when you look at the hard work, the self-honesty that Ameer has … he is what every college coach wants from their top player.”

Johnny Rodgers has gained that appreciation as well, watching every home game from the Memorial Stadium press box. To Rodgers, the passion that Abdullah brings means as much as anything.

That’s why the 1972 Heisman Trophy winner said NFL scouts shouldn’t get caught up next winter and spring with hammering his size or speed before the 2015 draft.

“That boy is serious. Hungry,” Rodgers said. “Guys that are bigger and faster are not necessarily going to have that same toughness and attitude.”

Rodgers knew a little bit about making the right cut during his career as a Husker wingback from 1970 to ’72. Now he has a unique perspective every week from the sixth-level press box, watching Abdullah read blocks and defenses as plays develop.

“It’s the ability to get to the sidelines sometimes and be able to cut back,” Rodgers said. “A lot of guys get to the sideline and the sideline is the enemy, just like another man. But you can time it just right, cut back into the grain, and it’s almost instinctive when you make that move.”

Abdullah recently erased the school record for all-purpose yards that Rodgers had held since 1972. Rodgers said all you can do is tip your hat.

“All of us that have these records, we set the bar high,” Rodgers said. “So you just don’t get them.”

It will take 971 for Abdullah to catch Rozier. After the 71 to move ahead of Green.

Green isn’t interested in stopping him. Quite the opposite if he was right there to see it.

“I’d throw a block for him,” he said. “I’d help him out. I’m going to be happy for him.”

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