Of all the positions on a football field, being a defensive back is among the hardest. Even the great ones get beat from time to time.
Evan Cooper knows it. He played the position at Temple for his current boss, Matt Rhule, and has been coaching it ever since.
“You could have 90 great plays and two bad plays, and that’s all that everyone will ever talk about,” said Cooper, whose interview on Huskers Radio Network ran Monday night. “You have to have some deep-rooted confidence, and I think I have those types of guys. Those guys, they work. We believe in that room that confidence comes from hard work and preparation, and being dedicated to the craft.”
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Cooper believes he has a strong group of players who possess the level of confidence needed to play defensive back in the Big Ten. In his brief interview, the coach quickly ran though several names in his room and detailed how their springs went. Here’s a quick rundown:
>> Quinton Newsome is back for his fifth season as a Husker and likely third straight as a starting corner. The honorable mention All-Big Ten pick in 2022 has started 24 straight games and is coming off a season where he recorded 44 tackles and 10 pass breakups, which was tops on the team.
The 6-foot-1 Newsome is a strong favorite to grab a starting spot once again in 2023.
“Quinton has been great for me. He does what we ask of him. He’s embraced the transition and sticks by me. He’s my messenger. I expect him to have a great season,” Cooper said. “Typically, we just try to go day to day. But if we want to forecast a little bit, I think he should have his best season as a Husker.”
Cooper said Newsome is “pretty vocal” in the DB room and on the practice field.
“When he sees it, and it’s not right, he’ll say something,” Cooper said of Newsome’s leadership. “Almost like a coach on the field. He’ll call it out if it’s wrong, and I love that about him. I know guys respond to it because he does it the right way.”
>> Malcom Hartzog is back for his sophomore season after playing in every game with eight starts as a true freshman. Hartzog saw ups and downs in his first season of college football like any freshmen DB would, but his upside is easy to see. He led the defense with three interceptions while making 22 tackles.
Early in the spring, defensive coordinator Tony White was experimenting with Hartzog, playing him at outside corner, slot and safety. Though the 5-9, 170-pounder seems like a strong fit at corner, don’t be surprised if he’s used in different ways during the season. White's 3-3-5 defense allows players to be aggressive and versatile.
“Malcolm is really one of a kind,” Cooper said. “His parents should be proud of him. That guy competes every day in the classroom, in the community, on the field. Does not say too much. Just kind of works. He’s in the top-10 percent as far as the workouts. He’s been a Blackshirt in our offseason program. If I had five Malcolms, my job would be way easier.”
Said Cooper on how Hartzog treats others on the team: “I can’t think of one guy in the building who doesn’t love Malcolm. He’s that kind of guy.”
>> Myles Farmer is another returning defensive back who’s played a lot of football for the Huskers. Last season he ranked second on the team in most snaps played with 828 — Newsome played the most with 864 — and would’ve led the team in that category if he wasn’t suspended for the Michigan game.
A big, physical safety at 6-3 and around 200 pounds, Farmer recorded a career-high 73 tackles last season. Farmer could be an option to play White’s Rover position, which would take advantage of his physicality and put him closer to the line of scrimmage depending on the defensive call.
“Myles has been working. I think his approach is similar to Q’s (Newsome),” Cooper said. “Those guys are attached to my hip, they want to learn. They’ve been attacking it, and that’s all I can really ask for.”
>> Omar Brown enjoyed a strong spring ball under Rhule and Cooper. Though spring game lineups should always be taken with a grain of salt, Brown was one of the starting safeties with the first-team defense.
A former FCS All-American at Northern Iowa, an injury set Brown back at the beginning of his first season as a Husker in 2022. He’s moved around a bit in the defensive backfield, too, starting at corner before moving to safety and then nickelback. He totaled five tackles last season while primarily being a backup.
Like many players in the program, the 6-1, 195-pound Brown has a clean slate and a fresh start in front of him. He’s hoping to show the new staff what he can do, and it sounds like he’s taking advantage of the opportunity.
“Omar was one of those pleasant surprises,” Cooper said. “Omar is a really good player and I’m looking forward to seeing him and how he progresses through the summer. When we left off, I was pretty pleased with his production and how he approaches the game. It’ll be fun to watch him grow.”
>> After starting the 2022 season rotating with Chris Kolarevic at nickel, Isaac Gifford wound up turning into one of Nebraska’s steadiest defenders and someone who rarely came off the field.
The Lincoln (Neb.) Southeast product played 665 snaps on the season — that ranked fifth on the team — and is versatile enough to play different positions in White’s defense. He could be the favorite to win the starting Rover job.
At 6-1 and around 200 pounds, he’s big and strong enough to hold his own in run support near the line of scrimmage. Expect to see Gifford somewhere with the first-team defense when it trots out for the first series at Minnesota.
Gifford started eight games at nickel and two at safety in 2022. He was third on the team in tackles with 70 and also chipped in with five tackles for loss, three pass breakups and one sack.
“The thing that gets lost with Isaac is, he’s also one of the most talented, most athletically-gifted guys we have,” Cooper said. “He’s consistent, he’s smart, he’s coachable, he’s tough as nails. That guy is one of our tone-setters and we’ll lean on him a lot this fall.”
>> Marques Buford Jr. started 11 games at safety in 2022 as just a second-year player. His season came to an unexpected end in the first quarter against Wisconsin, however, when he landed awkwardly near the Badger sideline and suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Buford, who had 59 tackles, three pass breakups and two interceptions, didn’t compete in spring ball as he continued his recovery.
“I think we should take it slow with him. He’s one of those guys who wants to get right back into it,” Cooper said. “We’ll probably have to, at least myself, protect him against himself. But what I’ve seen from him is, he’s attacking everything he can do. The little things we give him, he attacks it. I give him small tasks in the DB room and he does it. He’s a football junkie, so he does it.”
>> Tommi Hill is someone who’s looking to regroup from a 2022 campaign that didn’t exactly go according to plan. The former Arizona State transfer started the first four games of the season at corner opposite Newsome, but didn't play to his potential. He was moved to receiver for the Rutgers game and finished the year there without making an impact.
Hill has since moved back to defense under Rhule and White, and although he started spring ball suspended from competing at practice, he quickly returned and responded in a way the coaching staff was hoping to see.
“As I talk about him, I try not to get emotional. I’ve watched him grow. I’ve only known him since November, and I’d say there’s a drastic difference — night and day,” Cooper said. “He is working, he is really working on the things that I ask him to work on. He’s very involved with our team and in our room. He’s trying to do the right things, and again, that’s all I can ask for.”
>> Javier Morton is a player who saw limited action in 2022, his first season at Nebraska after entering the program from the junior college ranks. He only played in eight games and was primarily a special teams guy.
Morton, a 6-2, 195-pounder who was once a four-star athlete, could be another player who excels under a new staff and finds a role. During the spring game, Morton was playing corner.
“I think Javi finally found the right spot for him and his skill set. He’s tough, he’s athletic, he’s fast, he has ball skills,” Cooper said. “I think we kind of found his niche. He’s embracing it and he’s working.”
>> Like Morton, DeShon Singleton was a first-year Husker in 2022 after coming from the junior-college level. The big-bodied safety at 6-3 and 205 pounds played in every game, primarily on special teams and in short-yardage and goal-line packages. He finished with three tackles.
“He’s a lot like Malcolm — he’s tough and does everything I ask him to. No questions. He’s the same guy every day,” Cooper said. “Willing to learn, willing to do exactly what I want him to do. I’m excited about his progress. He’s a big guy, he’s tough. He’ll hit you, he can cover. I’m excited about it, I want to see him when it all plays out.”
>> Fans might have noticed there was a transfer defensive back who was out with the first-team defense for the spring game — former Florida Gator safety Corey Collier. The former five-star recruit in the Class of 2021 spent the past two seasons in Gainesville, but never found a role on defense.
The 6-1, 180-pound Collier is hoping to change that at Nebraska.
“He’s always texting me like, ‘Hey, what do you think about this, this, that,’” Cooper said. “He’s reaching out to me in order for him to be able to know exactly what I need from him and the expectations, and he’s trying to meet them.”
>> Tamon Lynum is entering his fourth year in the program and has played in just 11 games, including three last year before a season-ending injury.
“At the end of spring, I was really honest with him, I told him how I felt about him and how I saw the trajectory of his career, and he’s been attacking it,” Cooper said. “I expect him to compete to get into games, to play, to start. Those spots, they’re open. So hopefully he’ll show up when it comes time to compete, but he’s been working his tail off.”
>> Cooper had two true freshmen from the Class of 2023 in his room for spring ball: Dwight Bootle II and Syncere Safeeullah. From day one of the spring to the spring game, Cooper said he saw “tremendous growth” from those two.
“You don’t really expect much out of a freshman, sometimes you don’t even know what to expect. But those guys showed up every day," Cooper said. "Those guys listen to me. Things that I coach, I can see them trying it, and then the light will go on, like, ‘Hey, Coop said this,’ and then he does it and it’s right, and he has it forever. I kind of use those guys as examples for the older guys too, like, ‘Look, this is what I’m telling them to do and they’re doing it.’ So it’s been fun to watch.”
>> Corner Ethan Nation and safety Rahmir Stewart are two true freshmen who arrived this summer. Another Class of 2023 recruit, D’Andre Barnes, was originally thought of as a defensive back, but he’ll start his Husker career in Garret McGuire’s receivers room.
Cooper hasn’t seen the summer enrollees up close and personal yet, but that hasn’t changed the level of excitement for them to start learning and developing.
“We were excited when we signed those guys. Those guys should be able to help us in the future,” Cooper said.
>> Quiet, unassuming and in the back taking notes. That’d be walk-on safety Phalen Sanford, who played in all 12 games last year, mainly on special teams and as a backup safety. He recorded 12 tackles.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he played a whole bunch on defense,” Cooper said of Sanford, who’s entering his fifth season as a Husker and sixth overall as a college football player. “He’s one of those guys who, you kind of fall asleep on and might even write him off, but he’ll show up every single day. If he’s not thinking that way (having more than a special teams role) then I think he’s thinking wrong.”
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