Nebraska Football: Players with Best Valentine’s Day Names

It’s the season of love, Nebraska football fans. Time for flowers, chocolates, candlelight dinners and all the other mushy things that make up Valentine’s Day.

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Kids are faced with the tough choice of who is going to get the big dinosaur sticker on their Valentine’s Day cards and who is going to get the small one. Reservations are made, movie dates scheduled and jewelry is purchased. Ah, love is in the air.

In honor of the special day, let’s take a look at some of the most appropriate names for the date in Nebraska football history:

1. Vincent Valentine

How could I not put Big V at number one on the list? After all, the day is named after the big defensive lineman. Alright, so maybe he is not the saint they had in mind when the holiday was created, but he sometimes played like one at Nebraska.

Valentine came to Lincoln as a three-star defensive tackle. He played three seasons with a stat sheet totaling 76 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, seven sacks and one forced fumble. Big Red fans hoped he would return for his senior season, but he chose to enter the NFL draft. It’s still a wonder what impact he could have had for the Huskers if he had stayed his final season.

His on-the-field performance led to him being drafted in the third round by the New England Patriots. A couple of weeks ago, he continued the Huskers streak of having a player on one of the teams in the Super Bowl and picked up a ring of his own in the process.

2. Courtney Love

Valentine’s Day is all about love. Naturally, this linebacker had to be on the list.

Love was a three-star recruit who could play multiple linebacker spots. During his redshirt year at Nebraska, he earned Scout Team Defensive MVP honors. He played in 12 games during his redshirt freshman season, had six tackles and one tackle for loss. It looked like a promising start to the young linebacker’s career.

However, Love decided to transfer to Kentucky after 2014. He was forced to sit out the 2015 season due to NCAA rules. In 2016, Love was a team captain for the Wildcats. Consider it some love lost for the Huskers.

3. Greg Hart

What would Valentine’s Day be without some heart? Candy hearts, chocolate hearts, paper heart cutouts, you name it. It might be spelled a little different, but Nebraska had a Hart on the team.

Hart came to the Huskers as a three-star tight end. He actually only saw the field once for the Big Red. His first season was spent redshirting. Entering 2014, he found there was some stiff competition at the tight end spot. Sophomores Cethan Carter, Trey Foster and Sam Cotton were all battling for playing time as well.

Celine Dion once sang, “My heart will go on.” Greg Hart did just that when he decided to transfer to the University of Kentucky much like the aforementioned Love. He also had to sit out 2015 before recording six catches in five games in 2016 for the Wildcats.

4. Leodis Flowers

Don’t forget to pick up some flowers for your date! From 1988 to 1990, the Nebraska football team had a pretty good running back with a fragrant name and Flowers most certainly made an impact on the field.

He ended his career with 1,635 yards, 18 touchdowns and one reception. After a pretty good junior season, Flowers (like many others on this list) decided to leave the team. He did not go on to play football anywhere else.

5. Jonathan Rose

Speaking of flowers, roses are a major part of Valentine’s Day. Nebraska hasn’t had a dozen, but they have had a few. One of them was a pretty decent cornerback.

After transferring from Auburn, Rose became a part of the Blackshirt defense during the 2012 season. Over his Husker career, he totaled 60 tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception, eight pass break-ups and one fumble recovery. Most of his stats came in his senior season when he emerged as a top cornerback.

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Unfortunately, this rose had a few thorns. He was dismissed from the team after violating team rules in his final season. Prior to that point, he had been suspended twice and missed two games.

“Love is a Battlefield”

As it turns out, Valentine’s Day names haven’t had a lot of love for the Big Red. Many left the program early.

What can I say? Sometimes love stinks.