Rookie safety Tyler Nubin checks all the boxes for Giants

It also didn’t hurt that Fleck had the best closer in the business: Antoine Winfield Jr.

Nubin arrived on campus when the future All-Pro tied the single-season school record (modern era) with seven interceptions. Winfield, also a second-round pick, provided a blueprint for Nubin and is part of the reason why he wears No. 31.

“I think it was huge for him,” said Gophers safeties coach/pass game coordinator Danny Collins, who also joined the podcast. “Antoine was a pro before he was a pro, and Tyler got to see that. Tyler got to see his study habits. He got to see how he practiced. How you do one thing is how you do everything. We say that all the time in this program, and Antoine was a great example of that. Tyler got to be that young freshman learning from him, watching him every day, absorbing him, just being a sponge. It helped him out greatly, and then it was awesome to see him rise to that level that Antoine had here and setting that example of what it means to be a safety here at the University of Minnesota.”

Nubin, in turn, raised the level of everyone around him. Heading into his final season, the fifth-year senior went out of his way to learn every position on the defense so he could help line people up and know everyone’s responsibility.

“I haven’t [seen that before],” Collins said. “And that’s what makes him really special. In the offseason, we would talk about what the WILL linebacker would do, we would talk about the rush end, because for him, he wanted to help out everybody possible. And when he does that, he allows himself to play faster as well. We always talk about it, too. It’s just like when you’re in an airplane and the oxygen comes down, you’ve got put your mask on first before you help everybody else. That’s the analogy that we give these guys, and he did a great job of understanding and mastering his job that in the offseason now he can learn the other jobs to help as much as possible.”

The coaching staff even took pictures of Nubin’s notes to show current players how to study properly.

“He has this rolodex and this brain that is almost like a photographic mind,” Fleck said. “If he gets beat once, he knows how he got beat, what he got beat with, and he knows the tendencies of that. He studies that, and rarely do you get him again. In fact, he probably gets you the next time. He constantly takes things off the board for offenses because you’re only going to be able to use it once.”

That covers the “smart” part.

Nubin, who played six games on a torn meniscus last year, also checks the “tough” and “dependable” boxes for coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen.

“[He’s] going to be a reflection of what Coach Daboll is trying to build,” Fleck said. “I think that goes hand in hand. He’ll never put himself before a team. He never did that here. He had plenty of opportunities to do that and he never did that. Even when he came back for his last year, he could have easily, probably been drafted in the second or third round last year. He decided to come back for not only himself and help his draft stock, but it was for the team. It was for beating Iowa, which we hadn’t done here, and he did that. So, he put all these things before himself, and I think that’s what he’s going to do with the Giants.”

“I remember Antoine Winfield Jr. getting hurt and he got hurt a few times before he actually had some really good seasons with us,” Collins said. “And you go up to him and he’d be smiling and be like, ‘What’s wrong? It’s football, coach. It’s just football. It happens. I’ll be back. It happens.’ Tyler is the same way. He loves everything that has to do with football. He’s everything that the Giants organization is about. He’s really smart. He’s tough. He’s dependable. It’s everything that Daboll talks about and what a New York Giants football player is all about. It’s going to be a perfect fit.”