Well deserved recognition! The program's all-time leader in sacks, @jgaziano97 has been named First-Team All-Big Ten by the conference coaches. #B1GCats x #GoCats pic.twitter.com/9NhzgvQnfK— Northwestern Football (@NUFBFamily) December 3, 2019
Love Gaz, we will miss him! Seems like every year we have a great player leaving the DL, but they continue to be a strength for us.
His setting the record was one of the highlights of a tough season. Gaz was a pleasure to watch play every snap the last four years and will do well in life, whatever he does.
Great DC. Hand not only is a geneus strategist but some how inspires great off season preparation and development. Like me he usually only gets credit for being a geneius.
Man that is a tough call. But I agree. My current Fitz Mount Rushmore, meaning players who were signed and developed when Fitz has been our HC: Joe Gaziano Justin Jackson Clayton Thorson ... Lancaster / Lowry / Walker Jr. I honestly can’t decide on the 4th. And Paddy Fisher could take that fourth spot with a big 5th year. Who am I missing?
I’m not 100% but am pretty sure Persa, Wootton, and McManis were all Walker recruits. Carr had only one stellar season, and Persa had 10 games before his Achilles.
I feel like you could go years and not see a safety in a game, but for some reason, the Gaziano led NU DL got a large number of them over the past few years.
McManis, Persa and Wootton played 100% of their games with Fitz as the HC. I'm counting that as Fitz-era
Only TS was a Fitz-era player and while he was good, he didn’t come close to Thorson’s NU success. Gaziano versus Wootton makes it more difficult. I’d still take Gaz given overall team success. However Coreysaurus was special. McManis may be the 4th. Thorson will always take the cake over Persa and most NU QBs not named Graham - until someone breaks his all-time wins record.
In terms of absolute best players: Persa, Woot, Jackson, McManis makes a good Rushmore, though plenty others in the discussion. In terms of body of work: Thorson, Gaz, Jackson, McManis But Kafka, Siemian, Fisher, Carr, Lancaster, Lowry, AWalk are all great considerations as well depending on criteria--of the top of my head.
At the risk of getting technical, I am pretty sure Walker signed Wooton. I remember Walker making reference to Wooten being the kind of player that would make us forget about other NU players that came before him.
JJTBC was the most successful player we had, but AWalk was the best. How often do we have a guy leave early for the pros?
Or become a starter for a good team? Strief and Essex are the only ones I can think of. Luis Castillo would have been good in the pros if not for injuries. That's all I can think of.
Specifically, Walker was referring to Loren Howard, who was a stud for us, but then was injured and transferred back home to Arizona State. The faithful were lamenting his loss, and so Walker was referring to him when talking about Wooton.
Napo Harris started on a Super Bowl team. Of course when referring to his alma mater he said Dixmoor U (his hometown) instead of NU. WTF. Steve Tasker and John Kidd played in 4 Super Bowls. Special teams, but still the best in the biz.
Aside from A Walker, I can remember Darnell Autry leaving early. Hudhaifa Ismaeli and Richard Buchanan also left early, but Buchanan I don't think was drafted and neither made rosters.
Wasn't he moved to DE one year because we were thin at that position? (no pun intended) Wonder if he was not too happy about his NU experience. Given his natural talents, I expected Napo to have a longer and more productive NFL career. As it were, I think Nick Roach played longer, and now Ant Walker is cementing his place as a solid starter for the Colts in his third season, and could be the best NU linebacker to play in the league when it's all done.
If I’m not mistaken, Harris shifted to DE his final season at NU, at least in part to get Durr on the field. He stood up a fair amount even as the starting DE, and was the starting MLB for the Oak super bowl team. Of course, I could be mistaken.
I was really disappointed that Napo did that and always wondered if it was bad blood or he just really wanted to give his HS a shout out. At the time NU had very little presence in such high profile games.
