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Big 12 Football: 50 best players of all-time

By Randy Gurzi

COLUMBIA, MO - OCTOBER 1: Vince Young #10 of the Texas Longhorns in action against the Missouri Tigers at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field on October 1, 2005 in Columbia, Missouri. Texas defeated Missouri 51-20. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, MO - OCTOBER 1: Vince Young #10 of the Texas Longhorns in action against the Missouri Tigers at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field on October 1, 2005 in Columbia, Missouri. Texas defeated Missouri 51-20. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Dat Nguyen, Texas A&M
Dat Nguyen, Texas A&M (photo by Stephen Dunn) /

Aggies . Dat Nguyen. 11. player. 873. . LB

Big 12 Football best players of all-time: 11. Dat Ngyuen, LB, Texas A&M football

Dat Nguyen ended up making history as the Texas A&M Aggies linebacker was the first Vietnamese player in NFL history to be drafted. He was taken by the Dallas Cowboys in 1999 and made a huge impact for them despite playing only seven seasons. Nguyen topped 100 tackles in three separate seasons but had to retire after the 2005 campaign due to neck and knee injuries.

As for his collegiate days, also in the state of Texas, he was a tackling machine. Considered undersized at just 5-foot-11, Nguyen was all over the field for the Aggies and started 51 consecutive games. When he left the program, he had the most tackles in school history with 517 which is an average of more than 10 per game.

He earned several awards during his career, which included the Southwest Conference Newcomer of the Year (Texas A&M moved to the Big 12 in his sophomore season) as well as the Chuck Bednarik Award, Vince Lombardi Award, Jack Lambert Award, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year all in 1998. Nguyen was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017. He also made three Big 12 teams, twice with the First-Team and once with the Second-Team.

After his playing days in Dallas came to an end, Nguyen started to coach football. He spent two seasons as a quality control coach and assistant linebackers coach with the Cowboys before returning to A&M in 2010 to coach inside linebackers for two years.

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