If Simeon Rice is suddenly the second-best defensive player on the Illinois team to Kevin Hardy, that doesn’t mean he’s second fiddle. The pass-rushing Rice is also rated the second-best defensive player in Saturday’s NFL draft.
This is a switch from a year ago, when Rice was considered better than Hardy and both decided to stay in school another year. Now, Hardy has more than made up the gap, to the point where at least one NFL coach believes there is “not much comparison.”
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Rice’s pass-rushing skill will get the Chicago Mt. Carmel graduate drafted very high, but Hardy’s all-around talent makes him more valuable as an every-down player, according to scouts.
Rice is described as less physical than the perfect defensive end, whereas Hardy is described as the prototype well-rounded linebacker. Ozzie Newsome, Baltimore’s new director of football operations, calls Hardy the best linebacker he has seen on film in three years.
It is easy to get lost amid the confusion at Linebacker U., no apologies to Penn State. Two years ago, Hardy was barely mentioned amid the depth of Rice, Dana Howard and John Holecek.
Hardy succeeded Howard as the Butkus Award winner as the nation’s top linebacker. Named for the Illini’s Dick Butkus, it was not originally intended as strictly in-house recognition.
It could have been called the Nitschke Award as well, after Ray Nitschke, the all-Big Ten linebacker of 1957 who went on to a Hall-of-Fame career with the Packers. Or the Bill Burrell Award, after the great collegian who was all-Big Ten in 1957-58-59 and was third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1959, a magnificent accomplishment at the time.
Since 1945, the Illini have counted 17 first-team all-Big Ten linebackers. Even Butkus had to share some glory with Don Hansen, a first-teamer in 1965 after playing with Butkus on the 1963 Rose Bowl team and the 1964 team.
Tom Hicks, all-Big Ten in 1974, was the Bears’ primary middle linebacker between Butkus and Mike Singletary. Scott Studwell, all-league in 1976, is the all-time leading tackler of the Minnesota Vikings. John Sullivan was all-league in 1977.
Darrick Brownlow was a three-time all-Big Ten linebacker from 1988 to ’90 and now plays special teams for the Washington Redskins. Three-time all-league and two-time All-American Howard played special teams as a rookie last season with the St. Louis Rams. All-league Holecek was injured as a rookie with the Buffalo Bills.
With the departure of Hardy and Rice, the legacy does not appear dead. Despite their presence last season, Dennis Stallings led the Illini in tackles and interceptions.