middle of year 2 and we are talking about possible playing for B10 Championship
A. Transfer portal changed everything
B. NIL changed everything
C. Bret is a top 5 college coach / miracle worker
D. All of the above
My Dad always said the Nitschke was better than Butkus at Illinois. He does have 5 NFL championship rings .
While at Illinois, Nitschke smoked, drank heavily, and fought at the drop of a hat. Never a good student in high school, his grades suffered at college. In his sophomore year in 1955, due to a depletion of players in the offensive backfield, Illini head coach Ray Eliot moved Nitschke from quarterback to fullback,[9] shattering his childhood dream of quarterbacking a team to a victory in the Rose Bowl. At this time, college football had reverted to primarily single-platoon football, meaning those players that were on offense had to switch to defense, and vice versa, when ball possession changed. On defense, Nitschke played linebacker. He proved to be a very skilled player and tackler as a linebacker, so much so that, by his senior year, Paul Brown considered him the best linebacker in college football.[10]
In his junior year in 1956 against Ohio State, Nitschke lost his four front teeth on the opening kick-off. Nitschke never wore a face mask and one of the Buckeye's player's helmets hit him in the mouth knocking out two teeth initially; the other two were hanging by the roots. He played the rest of the game.[11]
en.wikipedia.org
A. Transfer portal changed everything
B. NIL changed everything
C. Bret is a top 5 college coach / miracle worker
D. All of the above
My Dad always said the Nitschke was better than Butkus at Illinois. He does have 5 NFL championship rings .
While at Illinois, Nitschke smoked, drank heavily, and fought at the drop of a hat. Never a good student in high school, his grades suffered at college. In his sophomore year in 1955, due to a depletion of players in the offensive backfield, Illini head coach Ray Eliot moved Nitschke from quarterback to fullback,[9] shattering his childhood dream of quarterbacking a team to a victory in the Rose Bowl. At this time, college football had reverted to primarily single-platoon football, meaning those players that were on offense had to switch to defense, and vice versa, when ball possession changed. On defense, Nitschke played linebacker. He proved to be a very skilled player and tackler as a linebacker, so much so that, by his senior year, Paul Brown considered him the best linebacker in college football.[10]
In his junior year in 1956 against Ohio State, Nitschke lost his four front teeth on the opening kick-off. Nitschke never wore a face mask and one of the Buckeye's player's helmets hit him in the mouth knocking out two teeth initially; the other two were hanging by the roots. He played the rest of the game.[11]
