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Aaron Taylor's accomplishments as a Husker were as impressive as his pancake blocks.
Taylor, No. 43 on The World-Herald's countdown of the all-time greatest Huskers, won the 1997 Outland Trophy as the nation's top interior lineman. He won three national championships, in 1994, '95 and '97. He remains the only Husker to be All-American at two different positions, earning the honor at both center and guard. And he is one of 13 Huskers to have his jersey retired.
But all those the accomplishments, Taylor said, pale in comparison to the friendships and the life lessons he took away from NU. That feeling of family.
"What I'll tell my grandkids someday is just the amount of fun I had at college with my buddies," Taylor said. "Hanging out. What it was like in the locker room before a game, then the fun we had going outside for football.
"And I'll tell them how the coaches made it feel like a family."
Taylor, a seventh-round draft pick by the Colts in 1998, now works as an independent agent for Farm Bureau Insurance in Wahoo. This past season, he also volunteered as an assistant coach with Wahoo High's football team.
A lesson he learned as a Husker, he said, was that if you worked hard, winning usually followed.
"Football is not about the wins or losses," he said. "It's whether you work hard and do better as a player or as a team. If you win those battles within yourself, then most likely you're going to win those battles out on the field.
"That is what I try to instill in the (Wahoo) kids. That is what I believe."
Two games stand out at Nebraska for Taylor.
One was the 1995 national championship game against Florida. That season, Taylor said, everybody seemed to be saying that the offensive line wasn't nearly as good as the previous year's line because Brenden Stai, Zach Wiegert and Jon Zatechka were gone.
"But we came back and bettered every stat we had," Taylor said. "So blowing out Florida like we did in that national championship game was something I'll never forget."
The other game that stands out, Taylor said, was his final home game. Senior Day.
Taylor's name was called. The announcer listed all his accomplishments. Taylor hugged then-Coach Tom Osborne and thanked him. Osborne thanked Taylor. The crowd cheered loudly as Taylor ran onto the field one last time at Memorial Stadium.
And a few tears slipped out.
"I'm usually not an emotional guy on game day," he said. "I just liked going out and having fun. But that day, the emotions were flowing in the stadium. That day was pretty tough."
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