The Husker Blog

It’s not very often that you see a 6’4, 300 pound defensive lineman get compared to a very childish cartoon character, but that’s exactly what happened to Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh.

It’s just a small piece to the puzzle of what the potential 2010 NFL Draft No. 1 pick is. He’s tough to figure out, but if you really get to know the guy, he might be a good friend of yours for a long time to come.

I did a full length feature on Ndamukong months back, and as we get ready for the start of the new college football season, I thought I’d share who Ndamukong Suh really is, because frankly–you’re going to be hearing his name a lot in 2009.

Here’s the story, hope you all enjoy!

 

Suh treasures family, heritage over NFL stardom

Ndamukong Suh knows this story hasn’t been told, and that’s just fine with him.

Frankly, he’d prefer to be just like you or me: out of sight, out of mind.  

But this past season, the 6-foot-4-inch, 300-pound defensive lineman made that pretty hard, considering he led the Nebraska football team with 76 tackles, including a team-high 7.5 sacks. Surprisingly, he also was the co-leader in interceptions with two.  But this is the story, excuse the yawn, almost everybody already knows.

So let’s peel away a few more layers and expose a chapter or two that not every Husker fanatic has committed to memory just yet.

It’s the end of the 2008-09 football season and Ndamukong has a tough decision to make: Should he forsake his college education to play for millions of dollars in the National Football League, or stay in school one more year, get his degree and position himself to one day take over his father’s construction management business?

The decision quickly became a battle between Ndamukong’s traditional upbringing and the quick riches that help define American culture. In the end, his family’s cultural values and a college degree came out on top.

“I’d be the only person in my family not to get one if that was the case,” said the 22-year-old senior construction management major. “It’s one thing that drives me.”

The Portland, Ore., native is the son of Michael and Bernadette Suh, neither of whom was born in America. Michael immigrated to America from Cameroon and owns his own equipment business, while Bernadette found her way to the states from Jamaica and teaches first and second grade. Ndamukong has an older sister and two younger ones, and without them the NU defensive tackle wouldn’t be who he is today-or more importantly where he is today.

In the end, the decision to stay in school wasn’t made in a few days or even a few weeks. Instead, it evolved from certain moments in Suh’s childhood and on into his adolescent life. When decision time arrived, it was those developments and a little motherly advice that went a long way.
“I told him he needs to work on getting his degree regardless of what happened,” his mother said. “I told him that the ultimate goal is to get his degree, and I think he has always kept that (in mind) because that is a must for him.”

Growing up in Portland, Ndamukong was quiet and reserved as a child-mainly because of other kids bullying him.

“People would pick on him for being taller and bigger than everybody,” said Ngum Suh, his older sister. “He grew up with people picking on him. I always stuck up for him. I told them to leave him alone.”

At 26, Ngum is the oldest of the four Suh siblings and serves as not only a sister, but as her brother’s best friend. Because of their family heritage, Ngum said it was hard for her and her brother to relate to other kids their age growing up in their neighborhood.

“We grew up with three cultures, so it was a matter of us trying to find a way to fit in,” Ngum said.

Ngum said the multiple cultures – Jamaican, African and American – made her and her brother unsure of who would really understand them. At times, it seemed as if they were the only ones who understood each other.

“She knows almost everything about me,” Ndamukong said. “We have an open relationship, and that’s the way it’s been since she’s left for college.”

In fact, Ngum was the first one he called when trying to choose between the NFL and a college degree.

For a long time, his sister and his family were the only ones Ndamukong trusted – and that created some problems.

“When I was younger, I wasn’t necessarily a bad child, but I was hard-headed,” he said. “I respected my parents, but if you weren’t my parents or my parents didn’t give you authority, I didn’t really listen to you.”

That mindset changed one day.

It was another morning on the basketball court. The game got under way, and young Suh took control of the game. He would try to monopolize it as much as he could, and it didn’t take long for the others to feel slighted. Soon, another boy began making fun of Suh’s size: huge, gigantic, a monster. Ndamukong could only take so much. He charged the boy, picked him up and slammed him to the hardwood floor.

His father rushed to the school to meet with the principal and to discuss his son’s behavior. What followed was a discussion that both still remember vividly.  

“I told him if you want to succeed at what you want to do, just show it,” Michael Suh said. “I think that one time changed who he was. I think it made a big difference in him.”

It did.

Once freshman year arrived, Ndamukong had changed and so had his surroundings. His sister went off to college on a soccer scholarship, leaving him feeling alone for the first time.

Sports became his new best friend-although they had played a role in his life since age 3. Soccer, basketball and track were a part of his childhood, but now he found a passion for football-with his mother’s permission of course. He had to overcome her dislike of the physical nature of the game by getting at least a 3.0 GPA his freshman year.

However, his sophomore year he received the green light from his mother to compete in the new sport he loved. He played both football and basketball throughout high school and leaned toward jumping to college basketball upon graduation. But his own basketball coaches told him football was his home, his future – not basketball.

So those same coaches sent their star basketball player to football camps, and soon Ndamukong received scholarship offers from Oregon and Oregon State. But he didn’t want to stay put-he wanted to branch out and meet new people away from home.

Months later, Suh found himself unpacking in a dorm room in Lincoln, Neb.

The decision came solely from Ndamukong, considering his parents wanted their son to stay closer to home. With no friends, and a commitment to a university hundreds of miles from home, Suh felt like a fish out of water-a very big fish.

Former Nebraska linebacker Cody Glenn became a close friend early in Suh’s freshman year. He, Glenn and NU junior defensive end David Harvey all lived in the same dorm complex their freshman year and it didn’t take long for the three to mesh.

“After a while, we were always together,” Glenn said. “If you saw one of us, you’ll at least see one more of us right next to them.”

Still, his sister remains one of the few people who have seen the defensive force let his guard down. And when he does, she can barely stop laughing.

“He’s a big goof once he opens up,” Ngum said. “People don’t really know this about him, but he is really funny. At home, you’ll catch him dancing around and singing. He was doing a dance and singing ‘I Kissed a Girl’ (by Katy Perry) and I have it on video.”

After kissing a Gator Bowl trophy on Jan. 1, Ndamukong eventually decided he didn’t want his road at Nebraska to end just yet.

He wants his degree in construction management so he can take over his father’s business, a goal which has its roots in African culture. In Cameroon, it is tradition that the parents spend all the energy they can to take care of their children. But once the time comes, the role switches and the children pour all they can into taking care of the parents. Ndamukong said he wants to see those roles switch soon, so he can see his parents retire.

“It makes me almost shed a tear,” his father said. “In Cameroon, when you grow up, personally your parents are everything to you.”

It’s likely the family will shed even more tears when they see Ndamukong walking across that stage and nabbing the biggest award of his collegiate career-a college degree.