THE NEBRASKA 100

Back before the NFL draft, Heisman Trophy and 96-yard touchdown scamper at Missouri, Eric Crouch was the Babe Ruth of midget football.

As a 10-year-old, Crouch confidently walked into the huddle on a fall afternoon and guaranteed his teammates that he would score a touchdown on the next play. Seventy-five yards and six points later, Crouch's legend was born.

From there he starred at Millard North, where he started his second-ever varsity game -- a 38-3 win over Omaha Westside -- with a broken rib he'd sustained earlier in the season returning kicks, and didn't tell the Mustang coaching staff.

"That was just me," Crouch said. "I didn't like to show anybody I was hurt."

Crouch averaged 228.8 yards of total offense per game in 1995 as a junior and put up 3,237 rushing yards and 1,328 passing yards during his final two seasons as a Mustang.

Crouch went on to Nebraska, where he caught one of the most famous passes in school history against Oklahoma and left Lincoln holding 19 school records and the program's third Heisman trophy. He ranks third on the Husker career rushing charts with 3,434 yards and third on the all-time passing charts with 4,481 yards.

After being with three NFL teams and no regular season games to his credit, Crouch said he's still looking to play professionally.

"I'm still pretty young, I consider this a new start in January," Crouch said. "I'm going to try and make the best of it."

-- Michael Bruntz