Ndamukong Suh

Ndamukong Suh (, born January 6, 1987), nicknamed Donkey Kong, is an American football defensive tackle for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Nebraska, and earned All-American honors. He was chosen by the Lions with the second overall pick of the 2010 NFL Draft.

As a college senior, Suh became one of the most decorated players in college football history. He won numerous awards including the Associated Press College Football Player of the Year Award, Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Chuck Bednarik Award, Lombardi Award and Outland Trophy, and was recognized as a unanimous All-American.

Early years
Suh was born in Portland, Oregon. He attended Grant High School in Portland, where he earned Parade magazine high school All-America honors and was voted the 2004 Portland Interscholastic League Defensive Player of the Year and was a Class 4A first-team all-state selection.

Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Suh was ranked sixth among defensive tackle prospects in the nation.

College career


Suh attended the University of Nebraska, where he played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team from 2005 to 2009. As a true freshman in 2005, Suh played in the first two games and had an assisted tackle against Wake Forest before missing the remainder of the season after undergoing knee surgery. He received a medical redshirt.

In 2006, Suh played in all 14 games as a backup defensive lineman and earned freshman All-Big 12 honors from The Sporting News. Despite coming off the bench, he finished the year with 19 total tackles, and ranked among the team leaders in tackles for loss (8) and quarterback sacks (3½). In his sophomore season, Suh started in 11 of the Cornhuskers' 12 games, and recorded 34 total tackles on the season.

As a junior in 2008, Suh recorded a team-high 76 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 19 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions (both returned for touchdowns) and a touchdown reception while playing fullback. He became the first Nebraska defensive lineman to lead the team in tackles since 1973. Suh earned First-team All-Big 12 honors in 2008, the first Nebraska interior defensive lineman to earn those honors since Steve Warren in 1999.

In 2009, Suh registered 85 tackles, 12 quarterback sacks, 28 quarterback hurries, 24 tackles for loss, 10 pass breakups, three blocked kicks, and one interception. Suh had 12 tackles (seven for losses, a school single-game record) and 4½ sacks in a 13–12 loss to the Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 Championship Game, for which he received game MVP honors. He helped Huskers defense rank first nationally in scoring defense (10.4 ppg), tied for second in total sacks (44), first in pass efficiency defense (87.3), seventh in total defense (272.0 ypg), ninth in rushing defense (93.1 ypg) and 18th in passing defense (178.9 ypg). He also played all four quarters versus Arizona in the 2009 Holiday Bowl, helping Nebraska record the first shutout in the Holiday Bowl's 32-year history, as well as the first shutout in school bowl history. He was a first-team All-Big 12 honors and the Big-12 Defensive Player of the Year. Nationally, he was the Defensive Lineman of the Year, the Associated Press National Player of the Year, and recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American. He was also a Heisman Trophy finalist.

Awards
On December 3, 2009, Suh was named as one of five finalists for the Walter Camp Award. On November 24, 2009, Suh was named one of three finalists for the 2009 Outland Trophy, alongside Mike Iupati and Russell Okung. On November 10, Suh was selected one of four finalists for the 2009 Lombardi Award, the first Cornhusker to receive this honor since Dominic Raiola in 2000. In October 2009, Suh was named to The Sporting News and CBS Sports midseason All-American team. Suh began season at No. 3 on Rivals.com′s preseason defensive tackle power ranking. He was also named to the 2009 Outland Trophy watch list.

On December 7, 2009, Suh was named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. Later that evening, Suh was named the 2009 Bronko Nagurski Trophy winner as the top defensive player in the nation. CBS Sportsline also named Suh their Defensive Player of the Year. The Touchdown Club of Columbus named Suh the winner of the Bill Willis Trophy on December 9, 2009. That same evening Suh won the Lombardi Award for the top collegiate lineman or linebacker. On December 11, at the ESPN College Football Awards show, Suh was selected as the winner of the Chuck Bednarik Award as the nation's best defensive player and took home the Outland Trophy for the best interior lineman. Suh finished fourth in the Heisman race, accumulating 815 points, which is the highest total by a fourth-place finisher for the Heisman in its history. He was also one of four unanimous selections to the AP First-team All-America in 2009. Suh was named the 2009 AP Player of Year, becoming the first defensive player to receive the award in its history.

2010 NFL Draft
Suh was widely considered to be one of the best prospects available in the draft. ESPN.com's draft analyst Mel Kiper, Jr. described Suh as "maybe the most dominating defensive tackle I've seen in 32 years" and projected him to go #1 overall. Suh was seen as an ideal fit at either defensive tackle in a 4–3 defense or as a defensive end in a 3–4 NFL defense.

For off the field marketing activities, Suh signed with The Agency Sports Management & Marketing, where Russ Spielman will serve as lead agent. At the NFL Combine, Suh bench pressed 225 lb 32 times and had a 35½ inch vertical leap, the highest for a defensive tackle since Al Lucas (36 in) in 2000. According to Barnes: "He is not a hard worker; he is a relentless worker."

To prepare for the NFL Draft (and contract negotiations) Suh signed with Maximum Sports Management, and agent Roosevelt Barnes, who would serve as Suh's lead agent. This caused moderate concern for many teams who were hoping to draft him, as this was the same agent who represented Michael Crabtree. Crabtree was the longest 2009 NFL Draft 1st round contract hold out, waiting over six weeks into the NFL season before signing with the San Francisco 49ers. He even threatened to re-enter the 2010 NFL Draft.

Detroit Lions
Suh was selected second overall in the 2010 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. On August 3, Suh agreed to a five-year, $68 million contract with $40 million guaranteed. On September 12, Suh had his first sack against Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. On October 10, during a game against the St. Louis Rams, he recorded his first career interception off of Sam Bradford, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2010 NFL Draft. Suh scored his first touchdown of his NFL career against the Washington Redskins on October 31, 2010, on a recovery of a Rex Grossman fumble.

After an injury to Lions kicker Jason Hanson, the Lions had Suh attempt an extra point on November 7, 2010, against the New York Jets. However, Suh missed the extra point when the ball hit the right upright.

For the 2010 season, Suh led the Lions, all rookies, and all defensive tackles in sacks with 10. He was picked as a starter for the Pro Bowl, becoming the first Lions rookie since Barry Sanders to be picked as a Pro Bowl starter. He missed the game, however, due to shoulder surgery. On January 25, 2011, Suh was named to the All-Pro Team. He was also named the Sporting News Rookie of the Year, the Pro Football Weekly and Pro Football Writers of America Rookie of the Year, the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year, and the AP Defensive Rookie of the Year.

In the 2011 season on week 14 against the Oakland Raiders, Suh jumped up to block the game winning field goal, to make the Lions 9–5–0.

Suh was named a Pro Bowl alternate for the NFC after the 2011 NFL season.

Style of play
Suh has been criticized in the media and by other players for his aggressive style of play and has been fined a total of $42,500 by the league for three violations in the first year-and-a-half of his career. In a poll of fellow players conducted by the Sporting News, Suh was named "the dirtiest player" in the NFL. As of December 2011, he had been flagged for nine personal fouls in his first two years, the most of any player in the league in that time frame. He was named the NFL's "Least-Liked Player" in a Forbes-publicized Nielsen report in October of 2012.

2011 stomping incident
During the third quarter of the Lions' Thanksgiving game against the Green Bay Packers on November 24, 2011, Suh pushed Packers' offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith's head into the ground three times, then stomped on his arm. All of this took place after the whistle was blown. Suh was penalized for unnecessary roughness and ejected from the game. The resulting penalty gave the Packers an automatic first down. The Packers would score a touchdown two plays later, giving them a 14–0 lead and an eventual 27–15 victory.

Initially, Suh denied stomping on Dietrich-Smith, saying he was only trying to get his balance back. However, on Friday morning, the Lions issued a statement calling Suh's actions "unacceptable." Within hours, Suh wrote on his Facebook page that he'd "made a mistake" a day before and intended to learn from it. Fox Sports NFL rules analyst and former vice president of officiating Mike Pereira said that based on his knowledge of league discipline, "the question won’t be if the NFL will suspend Suh, but when — and for how many games." He drew parallels between Suh's actions and those of Albert Haynesworth, who drew a five-game suspension—the longest suspension for an on-field incident in modern NFL history—for stomping on Andre Gurode's head in 2006.

On November 29, the NFL suspended Suh for two games without pay. In announcing the decision, Roger Goodell noted that it was the fifth time Suh had been disciplined for on-field conduct. Soon after the suspension was handed down, Suh announced he would appeal the decision. The NFL held an expedited hearing before former Oakland Raiders coach Art Shell, so that a decision could be handed down before the Lions' next game, on December 4, against the New Orleans Saints. The appeal was turned down on December 2, forcing Suh to sit out the game against the Saints and the December 11 game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Personal
Suh’s mother, Bernadette (née Lennon) Suh, an elementary school teacher, was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica and is a graduate of Southern Oregon University. His father, Michael Suh, is from Cameroon and played semi-pro soccer in Germany while working as a machinist. They met and married in Portland, Oregon in 1982, after Michael Suh was admitted to a Portland trade school. Although his father is only 5 ft, Suh's great-grandfather, also named Ndamukong Suh, stood 7 ft. In the Ngemba language of Cameroon, Ndamukong means "House of Spears."

Suh has three sisters; he is the second oldest of the children. His older sister and manager, Odette Lennon Ngum Suh, played soccer collegiately at Mississippi State University and is currently a midfielder on the Cameroon women's national football team.

Suh is a fan of Arsenal F.C.

Donation and endowment
On April 17, 2010, at the annual Husker Spring Game, Suh announced a $2.6 million donation to the University of Nebraska. Two million dollars of his gift will go to Nebraska Athletics for its Strength and Conditioning Program, and remaining $600,000 will create an endowed scholarship for the UNL College of Engineering, from which he graduated in 2009 with a degree in Construction Management. His gift is the largest single charitable contribution by any former player, and occurred before Suh was taken with the second overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft.

Endorsements
Before Suh was even drafted by an NFL team, he signed an endorsement deal with Nike. Suh has also signed endorsement deals with Subway, Dick's Sporting Goods, Omaha Steaks, and Chrysler.