Yesterday for day 91 I covered a current Falcons pass rusher that played for my Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Today for day 90 I’ll be covering a defensive tackle that dominated at Washington in the 90’s.
Steve Emtman grew up in Spokane, Washington and played high school football at Cheney High School in Cheney, Washington. He was lightly recruited out of high school but would go onto accept a scholarship to play in state at the University of Washington.
Emtman redshirted his freshman season at Washington and as a sophomore he became a starter on the defensive side of the ball. That 1990 season led to a 10-2 record in the Rose Bowl for the Huskies; it was a bigger one for Emtman though as he was named Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year and won the Morris Trophy.
1991 was his most dominant season though. His 62 tackles and 20.5 tackles for loss earned him a plethora of awards. He was a Unanimous All American, Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year, won the Morris Trophy, the Outland Trophy, UPI Lineman of the Year Award, the Lombardi Award, and the Bill Willis Award. He would go onto declare for the 1992 NFL Draft and was selected first overall by the Colts.
Injuries derailed his NFL career as he only played from 1992 to 1997. In 2006, Emtman was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Tomorrow for day 89 we get into pass catchers instead of pass rushers.