Nebraska Awards Recap

The Big Ten announced their All-Conference teams prior to bowl selection, so the news got lost in the shuffle. With the season over and the rest of the national awards handed out, it’s time to take a look at how Nebraska panned out in this year’s honors.

The Huskers did not win any national awards this season, but cleaned up in All-Conference considerations. Here’s the full list of winners:

First Team – Coaches

– QB, Taylor Martinez
– OG, Spencer Long

First Team – Media

– OG, Spencer Long
– K, Brett Maher

– DL, Eric Martin
– DB, Damion Stafford

Second Team – Coaches

– RB, Amir Abdullah
– WR, Kenny Bell
– OT, Jeremiah Sirles
– K, Brett Maher
– DL, Eric Martin
– DL, Baker Steinkuhler
– LB, Will Compton
– DB, Damion Stafford
– P, Brett Maher

Second Team – Media

– QB, Taylor Martinez
– WR, Kenny Bell
– OT, Jeremiah Sirles

For those of you keeping score, that’s at least one first or second team All-Conference player at every single position except Center. To paraphrase Head Coach Bo Pelini from last week’s press conference, there’s a reason Nebraska won 10 games.

The surprise of the awards, at least to fans and media, came when Taylor Martinez was named by the coaches as the league’s top quarterback over Ohio State’s Braxton Miller. While the race was close, Martinez threw for more yards, touchdowns, had a better completion percentage, and a higher QB rating. 

Another interesting note is that Nebraska’s pass defense was the best in the nation, yet the only defensive back honored is Damion Stafford. While Stafford tied for the Big Ten lead in interceptions with four, he received plenty of help from his teammates. We’ll have more on the Cornhuskers top-ranked pass defense later this week.

Finally, senior RB Rex Burkhead was named Nebraska’s representative on the All-Sportsmanship team.

Congratulations to all of the Huskers winners!