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Flipping Suh, getting Lucky, snubbing Sanchez: Tales from Nebraska’s banner 2005 recruiting class
Two decades ago, Bill Callahan assembled a star-studded recruiting class that included 15 future starters and 14 future pros.
www.nytimes.com
Flipping Suh, getting Lucky, snubbing Sanchez: Tales from Nebraska’s banner 2005 recruiting class
Mitch ShermanLINCOLN, Neb. — Ndamukong Suh quietly committed to Mississippi State before his relationships with an assistant coach at Nebraska and a group of high school All-Americans convinced him to flip.
Zac Taylor considered snubbing Nebraska out of junior college because of the Huskers’ abundance of bodies at quarterback during their worst season in 43 years.
Marlon Lucky, a five-star running back out of Los Angeles, rejected powerful USC because he envisioned more coaching stability at Nebraska than with the Trojans.
The Huskers canceled the recruiting visit of a future first-round NFL QB to protect the pledge of doomed gunslinger Harrison Beck.
Nebraska’s 2005 recruiting class came together like no group ever assembled at the school. This cast of all-stars and misfits left a mark just as unique.
Hired as head coach in January 2004 after an arduous search that repositioned Nebraska on the college football landscape, Bill Callahan set out to recruit like Nebraska had never recruited.
It was an ambitious plan.
“Old school recruiting,” said Bill Busch, a lead recruiter who coached special teams and defense in Callahan’s four-year stay at Nebraska. “There was no NIL. And we had to convince these guys to come here off a bad year.”
Callahan, the former Oakland Raiders coach, finished 27-22 with the Huskers and twice fell short of a bowl game. But he struck gold with the Class of 2005, the only Nebraska group of signees in the modern recruiting era to rank among the consensus top five nationally.
Fifteen of the 32 signees ascended to starting roles at Nebraska. Fourteen landed with NFL organizations, including five draft picks.
“Bill Callahan was a damn good recruiter,” said Tim Cassidy, Nebraska’s associate athletic director in charge of football from 2004-07. “I’ve got nothing to gain, other than just telling you the facts.”
Suh, the No. 2 pick in 2010 and arguably Nebraska’s greatest defensive player ever, and Taylor, the 2006 Big 12 Player of the Year who’s now in his seventh season as the Cincinnati Bengals coach, are the headliners of the class in retrospect. But its star power ran deep.
“We had a mission to come in here and turn the tide,” Suh said in an October 2024 interview.
On this 20th anniversary of the spring during which Taylor and the other early arrivals went to work at Nebraska, many stories and secrets abound from the 2005 class.
Suh’s sister, Ngum, played soccer at Mississippi State and dated a Bulldogs football player. Ngum, as a result, met John Blake, MSU’s defensive line coach in 2003. She introduced Blake to her brother, a high school junior with hard-to-fathom athleticism for his size out of Grant High School in Portland, Ore.
Blake jumped to Nebraska in 2004, and his pursuit of Suh intensified. Meanwhile, Suh formed a connection with Sylvester Croom, the new Mississippi State coach hired from the Green Bay Packers. Suh wanted to play for Croom and follow his sister to Starkville.
He committed to the SEC school. “It was super quiet,” Suh said.
USC coaches told Suh they’d offer a scholarship if he’d commit. “You offer me if you want,” Suh said he told the Trojans, “and we’ll go from there.”
He visited Lincoln on Oct. 2 and saw a 14-8 Nebraska win against Kansas in Callahan’s Big 12 debut. Suh participated in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in January 2005 alongside six Nebraska commits. In San Antonio for the all-star events, Suh felt his connection to the Huskers deepen.
And Blake never left his mind.
“It was coach Blake,” he said. “I had a lot of trust in Coach Blake.”
A week later, Suh picked Nebraska over his other finalist, Cal.
“Relationships mean everything in this world,” Suh said.
The seeds for Nebraska’s 2005 class were planted in 1980 when Callahan, then a graduate assistant at Illinois, visited Tom Lemming’s Chicago home to watch film of recruits. Lemming had started a recruiting magazine two years prior.
He fraternized with coaches to gather information on prospects. Lemming noticed an intensity in Callahan.
“I told him, ‘You’re either going to be a great one some day, or somebody’s going to beat the hell out of you,’” Lemming said.
As a result of their interactions, Lemming later introduced Callahan to Blake, the central figure in Nebraska’s construction of the 2005 class. And Lemming, who still drives the United States to cover recruiting, said he connected Blake to Suh.
Blake, a former Oklahoma nose guard and head coach of the Sooners from 1996-98, was 42 when Callahan hired him to coach the defensive line at Nebraska. In addition to that connection to Suh’s family, Blake played one season at OU that overlapped with Sherwood Taylor. Zac Taylor’s father was a senior captain in 1979 when Blake was a freshman.
Some people just seem to know everyone.
“He had that aura that everyone wanted to be around,” said Zack Bowman, a five-star Nebraska signee in 2005 out of junior college.
Lemming said he’d place Blake on his recruiting Mount Rushmore of assistant coaches.
“He would speak like a preacher,” Lemming said.
Blake died at 59 in 2020.
“He was a spirit animal,” Busch said. “Even every day in the office, around the team, he kept us in good places. He was a special human being.”
Blake and Busch led the coast-to-coast push. Before Busch joined the staff, Callahan worked out a deal with Urban Meyer — Busch’s boss at Utah in 2003. Busch recruited a chunk of that first Utah class for Meyer, and Meyer requested that Nebraska wait until after national signing day in February 2004 to announce the hire of Busch.
So Busch attended an evening event in Utah on signing day on Feb. 4 and caught a flight to Lincoln the next morning.
“I was as national as national could get,” Busch said. “(Callahan) sent me everywhere. We had a big vision, me and John (Blake). And Bill was so ridiculously detailed. He knew what he was looking for in a player. When you started talking to him as an assistant coach about your recruiting, you’d better have had it down to where you knew everything.
“He wanted to know every piece of information.”
Lucky moved from Texas at age 11 to live with his uncle, Stanley Joseph, in North Hollywood, Calif. Lucky never meshed with the California lifestyle, but USC pursued him hard. He was ranked No. 2 among running backs nationally.
“Marlon was the next Reggie Bush,” said Cody Glenn, who arrived at Nebraska as a running back in the 2005 class and later transitioned to linebacker.
Lucky visited Nebraska in mid-October 2004 and saw the Huskers stomp Baylor. Hundreds of students at Memorial Stadium chanted his name as Lucky stood on the east sideline before kickoff.
He settled on Nebraska in early November, but USC upped the pressure. Coach Pete Carroll and two assistants stood under a goalpost as North Hollywood High played Westchester on Nov. 18. Each quarter, they switched sides of the field in order to look into Lucky’s eyes.
He rushed for 303 yards and scored eight touchdowns en route to a 2,000-yard senior season. Lucky’s uncle preferred the Trojans, but Blake won him over. Lucky figured that Carroll, leading a college dynasty, might bolt for the NFL. The coach lasted through 2009 in L.A., two years longer than Callahan at Nebraska.
But Lucky never wavered on the Huskers.
Busch brought intensity and confidence to the recruiting trail. Blake’s gregarious personality and connections opened doors for Nebraska to a new caliber of talent. Even during its 60-3 run from 1993-97, Nebraska didn’t collect the equivalent of 13 four- and five-star recruits in a class.
Nick Covey, a linebacker out of Arizona, committed first on June 1.
Beck, the quarterback from Clearwater, Fla., with offers from Miami, Florida and Florida State, said yes to Nebraska one week later. The school had never recruited a QB with his skill set. Fans were intrigued by Beck’s strong arm and big personality.
His decision forced the Huskers to nix a planned summer visit to Lincoln from Mark Sanchez of Mission Viejo, Calif. The top quarterback nationally, according to Rivals, Sanchez eventually signed with USC. The Jets selected him fifth overall in the 2009 NFL Draft.
Craig Roark, an offensive lineman from Ada, Okla., committed on June 29 and held a media gathering outside of the Embassy Suites hotel in downtown Lincoln to announce it.
“I was getting hand-written letters from Nebraska, every coach,” Roark said. “Several days a week.”
Callahan’s staff worked tirelessly. Dozens of top recruits took notice.
There are outposts in America. Then there’s Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska, home in the early 2000s to Zackary and Zelma Bowman. Their son, Zack, graduated from Bartlett High School in Anchorage and headed to the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, N.M.
Busch noticed him on film, playing receiver. Soon, the whole country knew about Bowman. He was a five-star talent as a cornerback.
“I had no interest in Nebraska,” Bowman said.
But Busch had a relationship with NMMI coach John O’Mera. The Huskers got an inside track.
Bowman began high school in South Carolina and dreamed early of playing at Florida State. After he visited Nebraska and committed in September 2004, a bitter recruiting battle ensued between the Huskers and Oklahoma. Busch said he worked harder on Bowman than any other recruit, traveling multiple times to Alaska in January to see Zack’s parents.
Busch stayed near the base in a lodge. Visitors left their cars running overnight, Busch said, to keep the fuel lines from freezing in the 50-below temperatures.
“They’d tell you that you cannot be outside uncovered,” Busch said.
Busch embraced all obstacles. For Bowman, there were many.
Beck and Roark served as Nebraska’s chief recruiting ambassadors.
Roark crafted bracelets inscribed with four words: New Traditions. Old Standards. He sold them to fans and got in trouble with Nebraska’s NCAA compliance officials. They made him donate his earnings.
Linebacker Phillip Dillard, a high school All-American out of Tulsa, Okla., committed in July. Rodney Picou, a touted offensive lineman from California, followed in August. Omaha lineman Zach Potter, the top in-state prospect, accepted an offer early in his senior season after looking at Kansas, Kansas State and Notre Dame.
The recruits created bonds by communicating via AOL Instant Messenger.
“As crazy as Nebraska fans are now, they were just as crazy back then,” Potter said. “So as those guys came in on visits, it was, ‘Oh jeez, there’s Marlon Lucky. He’s a five-star running back from California.’ I’m not saying I was awestruck. But to see that they wanted to come here and play, it got things going in your head.”
Callahan set a goal to get to 15 pledges by the end of October. He hit the mark a week late. It came on Nov. 7, one day after Cockeye State beat the Huskers as Lucky jumped on board.
“I did it because I think I can make a huge impact,” Lucky said at the time.
A QB out of Norman, Okla., Taylor bounced from Wake Forest in 2003 to Butler County (Kan.) Community College. He starred in 2004 in the Jayhawk Conference, and Busch heard about him from coaching friend Dickie Rolls, an assistant at nearby Coffeyville (Kan.) CC.
Taylor won’t wow you with his measurables, Rolls told Busch, but he’s “the guy” in this league. So Busch drove two hours northwest to El Dorado to learn about Taylor.
“That’s a true story,” Busch said. “That’s how we started on Zac.”
Taylor remembers hearing first about Nebraska in late November 2004 from his offensive coordinator at Butler, Aaron Flores. It was one day before Butler played Pearl River (Miss.) CC for the junior college national championship. Another quarterback in the conference, Coffeyville’s Michael Machen, was getting all the buzz, and it bothered Taylor.
“I was envious,” said Taylor, who did not have an offer from a power-conference school.
He played poorly in the title game and figured he lost his chance with Nebraska. But Jay Norvell, the Huskers offensive coordinator, showed up in southern Kansas one day later to see Taylor throw in a gym.
“Nebraska is Nebraska,” Taylor said. “I knew Nebraska, but I wasn’t sold. They had seven scholarship quarterbacks. I was a little concerned. I didn’t know any of their ability levels. Am I just going there to sit on the bench?”
Taylor ultimately trusted Nebraska to give him the spring opportunity that its coaches promised. He won the starting job in April. The rest is NFL coaching history.
Nebraska lost big on Nov. 13 at No. 2 Oklahoma, dropping to 5-5. Callahan famously ripped OU fans as he left the field, calling them “f—ing hillbillies” after he was startled by oranges thrown from the stands late in the game. Two weeks later, Colorado won 26-20 at Memorial Stadium to snap the Huskers’ record 35-year bowl streak.
Glenn visited for that CU game. He committed to Nebraska in December, as did standout junior college linebacker Steve Octavien.
“Every one of us wants to be surrounded by great players,” Callahan said in 2004 as the class came into focus. “Your ability to recruit those players and make them feel accepted is important if you want to be great.”
Suh and four-star wide receiver Chris Brooks committed on Jan. 20, a red-letter day. In Nebraska, football recruiting overshadowed the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.
The final tally included 12 junior college players and only three recruits from the state of Nebraska — the fewest since 1994. Two signees never enrolled. Seven left the program within two years. Lemming ranked the group No. 1 in February 2005.
“They’re No. 1 without a doubt,” Lemming said 20 years ago. “Anyone who doesn’t have them No. 1 is not following it.”
Rivals slotted the Huskers at No. 5 behind USC, Florida State, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Nebraska missed out on offensive tackle Dan Doering (Cockeye), receiver Nyan Boateng (Florida) and linebacker Rey Maualuga (USC). But no miss in 2005 hurt worse than Reggie Smith, the four-star defensive back from Edmond, Okla. Bowman and the seven future Huskers who spent time with Smith at the U.S. Army game believed that the Huskers had secured him. Still, he picked the Sooners.
“I still remember how frustrated we were,” Roark said. “But that’s part of the game.”
The final player to join Nebraska’s 2005 class, Matt Slauson grew up hoping to play major college football, but no one from his hometown of Sweet Home, Ore., had made that jump.
“I had a lot of doubt,” Slauson said.
His family moved to Colorado Springs for Slauson’s senior year of high school in 2003, and he chose the path that appeared to offer the best shot at success. Slauson attended the Air Force Academy Preparatory School. As an offensive tackle, he matched up well against junior college athletes headed to bigger programs.
“I was like, ‘Shoot man, if I could just give that a shot,’” Slauson said, “‘I think I can do it.”
Slauson told his dad, Rob, that he wanted to aim high — for the NFL. Rob supported him and ushered Slauson on spring break in 2005 to several Big 12 campuses. They got to Lincoln last.
Callahan took one look at Slauson’s 6-foot-5 frame and approved. The Huskers didn’t have a spot in the class for Slauson, but Callahan told him they would find a scholarship if he showed up to camp in August.
“He didn’t know much about me,” Slauson said. “I was a gamble.”
Slauson paid off. At 340 pounds, he rose to No. 2 on the depth chart at right tackle by the season opener. He started the final three games in 2005 as a true freshman, capped by the Alamo Bowl win against Michigan.
Callahan declined to comment for this article through the Tennessee Titans. He coaches the offensive line at age 68 for his son, Titans coach Brian Callahan. The younger Callahan was a QB and graduate assistant coach at UCLA during Bill’s time at Nebraska.
During breaks from school, Brian visited his parents in Lincoln, where he met Taylor, the QB. From 2019-23, before Brian took over in Nashville, he coordinated Taylor’s Cincinnati offense.
The class represented the best of Bill Callahan’s legacy. But when Taylor and other junior college standouts left after an eight-win season in 2005 and nine wins in 2006, the bottom fell out.
Athletic director Steve Pederson, who hired Callahan, was fired amid a five-game losing streak in October 2007. Callahan met the same fate after the Huskers finished 5-7.
Bo Pelini entered and won nine games in 2008. Lucky finished his career with 4,214 all-purpose yards, fourth in Nebraska history. Glenn and Dillard at linebacker, Potter and Barry Turner at defensive end, kicker Jordan Congdon, offensive linemen Jacob Hickman and Slauson turned into starters.
Safety Matt O’Hanlon made the team during a tryout in the spring of 2005.
“I still remember sitting in the dining hall with all my buddies who were not football players,” O’Hanlon said. “They were freaking out about all these five-stars. It was obviously one of the highest-rated classes anybody had ever seen at Nebraska. It was a big deal.”
O’Hanlon rose to start and star in the secondary in 2008 and 2009.
Suh was named the AP College Football Player of the Year in 2009 and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting as Nebraska won 10 games. It came within two points — and one second — of a Big 12 championship against Texas.
Justin Tomerlin, Taylor’s junior college teammate, died in a 2010 skateboarding accident. Beck flamed out in August 2006, leaving the Huskers abruptly in preseason practice to drive home to Florida.
“We thought it was a joke,” said Joe Ganz, a QB in Callahan’s 2004 signing class.
Beck never came back.
“An interesting character,” Suh said of the quarterback.
Bowman played eight years in the NFL. He reunited as part of the 2015 Miami Dolphins with Suh and Taylor, who coordinated the offense. Potter made it six seasons as a tight end in the NFL. Glenn and Dillard lasted four seasons each. Lucky never made a regular-season NFL roster.
Who went the furthest in their playing careers? The two Oregon-raised linemen. Suh played 13 years and earned three first-team All-Pro honors. Slauson started 113 NFL games in 10 years.
Nebraska’s coaches pitted them against each other in drills. Fights ensued. They did not get along, and the animosity spilled into the NFL. Even today, if Suh and Slauson cross paths, tension exists.
“I respect the hell out of him,” Slauson said. “And I know he respects me as a player. But we don’t like each other. We don’t have to like each other.”
Twenty years after that hopeful spring, Nebraska fans have similar feelings toward Callahan.
Take issue with his results? Fine. But respect his ability to evaluate and recruit. The evidence lives with the Class of 2005.
