It’s not like Omar Brown just realized last month this DeShon Singleton dude could ball.
As they were fighting for their space as safeties – starting jobs they’ve been owning with aplomb through four games into this 2023 Husker campaign – they often weren’t out there in practices at the same time late last year or even the beginning of this year.
«It was always me and someone else together,» Brown said. «But we’d always have conversations like … ‘Dang, they need to put us together, put us together.'»
Wishes became reality by the time it counted. They’re together now and the duo has so far played off each other like they’ve been a combination since Pop Warner.
«It was kind of crazy how it all happened. Because me and him was balling at the same time and it just kind of worked out like that,» Brown said. «So I think that was perfect.»
Heading into Saturday’s face-off with Michigan, Brown and Singleton have mostly checked off a lead item of safeties play: keeping blown assignments to a rarity. No small deal since it’s the position where missing your mark can sometimes have the opposing fight song ringing in your ear.
To this point the play has been sound enough – and count rover/safety Isaac Gifford, a leader in that room, in on this – that you don’t hear any conversations anymore about who isn’t here at safety. And it’s covered the hole well of not having Marques Buford Jr. available because of injury.
While you’re often viewed as good as your next game, they’ve both been bright spots a third into this Husker season.
Both have proven to be physical. Brown has 22 tackles, tied for third on the team. Singleton has 19, which is fourth. Nebraska’s run defense stats are attached to all three levels. Heck, the hit of the game in Nebraska’s 28-14 win over Louisiana Tech came when Singleton flew in and cleaned up on a TFL. He already has 2 1/2 tackles behind the line of scrimmage and Brown has one.
«It’s coming from all the levels, from everybody. You’ve got to do that, right?» Husker defensive coordinator Tony White said of unit’s work against the run. On that Singleton tackle Saturday, White’s words explain how the play is worth a closer look. «He hits it on the fly. He’s at about seven, eight, nine yards, when he starts to run and see it. And from the time he saw it there was zero hesitation.»
Husker secondary coach Evan Cooper said on the «Sports Nightly» radio show Tuesday night that it’s the culture of that defensive backs room to not back down from anything.
«DeShon has decided that he wants to be a great player. That’s just it for him. He will not be denied,» Cooper said. «You look at him in meetings, he’s taking every note, he’s staring at me eye to eye. There is no time that you can see him drift off – not for any of those guys.»
The junior Singleton is a good example for guys trying to make the leap, the coach believes. «He decided to be that guy,» added Cooper, who finds similarities in the senior Brown, who is now making plays at this level just like he did earlier in his career at Northern Iowa.