Former Husker Roger Craig expects 'breakout year'
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BY MARK REIN / Scottsbluff Star-Herald
SCOTTSBLUFF — Roger Craig’s path to success came via hard work and motivation. Even today, after leading the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles in the 1980s, he stays active.
Craig’s success in football, both at Nebraska and at San Francisco, stemmed from his desire to take care of his body and to set goals. He said that is something everyone should do. Craig was in Scottsbluff on Saturday, attending the Blue Spruce Club golf tournament at the Scotts Bluff Country Club.
“You have to really condition yourself in the offseason; you have to do the maintenance that carries your body,” Craig said. “I took pride in the maintenance as well as the conditioning of my body to get strong and to get faster.”
He starred at Nebraska from 1979 to 1982, before moving on to the NFL from 1983 to 1993.
In the NFL, Craig played in 165 games, finishing with 8,189 yards rushing, 56 touchdowns, 4,911 receiving yards, and 17 touchdowns. At Nebraska, he rushed for nearly 2,200 yards with 26 touchdowns.
Even to this day, Craig still bleeds Husker Red.
“The program really set the standards for me as far as being a professional athlete in the way Coach (Tom) Osborne ran the program. He did it professionally on and off the football field. We were exposed to a great tradition throughout my whole collegiate career,” Craig said.
“49ers Coach Bill Walsh created the West Coast offense, and I was the prototype back that helped facilitate them throughout the mid-’80s as far as having that one back that could be the glue of the system. It is hard to find a back that is durable enough that can take the pounding of playing that position in the West Coast offense because your responsibility is in high demands from blocking, to running, to catching a ball, to play-action faking,” he said.
Craig, who now lives in California and works for a software company, said he visits Lincoln and Omaha regularly and attends Husker football games. Craig predicted 3½ years ago that the Big Red mystic would return, and it did last season. The team made it to the Big 12 championship game and a major bowl. This year, he said, NU will go even further.
“I think they will be great. I think this is their breakout year,” he said. “This year they will break into the top 10 because I think they have the tools and the coaches understand how to teach the West Coast offense to the players. That takes a lot of time to learn the West Coast offense. Now that they are comfortable and they know what they need, they are going to do some big things this year. They are going to upset USC, and I can’t wait. I will be at that game. It’s the third game of the season, and we are going to upset those boys. Mark my words.”
Even with all his success with the 49ers, he has failed to be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. He was a nominee several times, but he didn’t receive enough votes to be inducted. He knows, though, that one of these years, his day will come.
“I think it would be a great honor to get to the Hall of Fame, but it is not my call; it is up to the sports writers to basically create some research on why I should be in there. When you think about the first player to do 1,000 and 1,000, led the all-purpose yardage two years, went over 2,000 twice, MVP of the league, and made the Pro Bowl five times, you would think I would have a legitimate chance. Only two guys from my era (with the 49ers) are in — Joe (Montana) and Ronnie (Lott), and that is it. We need to have a little more instead of two players because we were the team of the decade.”
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