18 October 2023
Jeff Wright and Sean Lumpkin each marvel at how long their career interception record has stood with the Gophers. The native Minnesotans know exactly how many years their totals have been printed in the record book; they also understand their standing might not add another year.
Wright’s 12 picks have been at the top of Minnesota’s career list for 53 years, since the Edina native went from the U to the Vikings after the 1970 season.
During Lumpkin’s senior season at the U in 1991, the Benilde-St. Margaret’s graduate was told he was closing in on Wright’s record. He then caught his 12th pick that fall, a year before he went to the New Orleans Saints, and his name has stood next to Wright’s for 32 seasons.
But Tyler Nubin is lurking — just like the current U safety does to opposing quarterbacks. The St. Charles, Ill., native has 11 career interceptions, with half of his senior season remaining and the NFL awaiting.
“That’s not what I’m worried about, honestly,” Nubin said Wednesday of the record. “I’ll look up and see how many I got after the season. Every single game I’m looking to go out there and change the game and get interceptions and make big plays for my team. I’m not too concerned with the record. I’ll figure it out when the season is over.”
There would be no bigger time for Nubin — a projected All-American this season — to tie the record than when the Gophers (3-3, 1-2 Big Ten) play No. 24 Iowa (6-1, 3-1) in the Battle for Floyd of Rosedale at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.
Wright will likely be watching from his home in Arizona.
“I’m absolutely astounded that it has been a record for as long as it’s been,” Wright, 74, told the Pioneer Press. “… What I will always appreciate about that number is no matter when and if it gets beat, I did it in three years and the kids nowadays are doing it in four and five years.”
Lumpkin, 53, called his four-season record an honor, but he’s also miffed. “I just thought about it and I added it up,” he said in an interview this week. “It’s 32 years since I left; it’s kind of crazy.”
Wright, who coincidently also had 12 interceptions in his seven years for the Vikings, was listed at only 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds during his playing days.
“I was told most of my career in high school and at the University of Minnesota that I was not fast enough or big enough to make it,” Wright said. “Being the stubborn, persistent son of a (gun) I am, I was going to make sure I proved everybody wrong.”
Lumpkin said he set out of Golden Valley to leave lasting impressions.
“My goal always whenever I was at Benilde or moving on to the University of Minnesota, I was always thinking in my mind, I wanted to do something and leave my mark,” said Lumpkin, who had two INTs and seven forced fumbles in five seasons with the Saints. “I was fortunate and blessed enough to be able to leave some marks.”
Wright and Lumpkin both played safety at the U, so they can look at Nubin’s four-year career at the position with a crisper lens to reach a finer appreciation.
Wright can’t help but see Nubin on the field and think of himself. That is, in part, to them both wearing No. 27.
“He obviously has a real knack for the ball,” Wright said. “I don’t know if the number 27 rubbed off on him or what it is.”
Nubin wears that number as a tribute to his late uncle, Steve King, a former safety who wore those digits at the University of Michigan. King passed away in 2014.
Lumpkin can see Nubin’s detailed preparations during the week come out on game days. “You are able to have an educated guess in anticipation because of the film breakdown and all the tendencies,” Lumpkin said.
Gophers defensive coordinator Joe Rossi said Nubin has a special ability to understand how route concepts work together. He said it’s like being able to read music or speak a foreign language.
“In terms of they are usually designed to work together and mesh together,” Rossi said.
Nubin said the Big Ten can be a “copycat league,” where teams use the same route concepts but get to them out of different formations, motions and shifts. “If you study them, it’s easy,” he said.
In the offseason, Nubin went through the Gophers’ playbook and picked defensive positions to better understand their individual responsibilities. He already understood the secondary, so he went first to the weak-side linebacker, middle linebacker and rush end.
“I talked with my coaches and attempted to build a greater understanding of the defense just so I can just help everybody out,” Nubin said.
Rossi said that higher level of comprehension has made him into the player he is now.
“If you rewind three years, he’s worried about what to do,” Rossi said. “… Then you fast forward to today, that stuff is not even a conversation. The conversations that he has and we have, he’s asking what do you want to do here, what do you think about this, when they do this. I notice this. … When you get to that point, that means that you have a great grasp of the why. When you have that grasp, it allows you to play to your athletic ability.”
In case you missed all 1⃣1⃣ of them. https://t.co/cBFnc6hKiO pic.twitter.com/VNfmoMDeLK
— Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) October 3, 2023
Nubin’s keen understanding and aggressiveness led to his second interception against Nebraska; it helped the U pull out a late win in August. But Nubin’s skills of reading the quarterback’s eyes as centerfielder can get him in trouble at times.
On the last play of regulation against Northwestern, Nubin bit on a pump fake to the outside receiver and the throw went to the middle of the field for the game-tying touchdown in an overtime loss.
“You are always walking that fine line between aggressiveness and recklessness,” Rossi said. “But there is a reason why he has three interceptions. Obviously it’s because he does a good job of reading and diagnosing and going and making plays. You are always kind of walking that line. To be honest, the best safeties do that.”
Lumpkin added, “You are not going to win very single one of them, but every one that you go at must be 110 percent — win or lose. If you go and miss a play, that is the nature of being a defensive back.”
Lumpkin recalled how his own film study led him to one interception in particular against Purdue his senior year. The Boilermakers would use a trips formation to the left side with one receiver on the right side. Lumpkin was supposed to go the left.
“But I saw this a million times on film,” he explained. “He is going to throw it to the split receiver out to the short side of the field on the hash. He is going to do a 12-yard in (route), and sure enough, I didn’t even run to the left, I ran to the right and the quarterback threw it right to me.”
Gophers safety Sean Lumpkin (26), who played for the U from 1988-91, in action against Michigan during a college football game. Gophers safety Tyler Nubin is one interception away from tying Lumpkin and Jeff Wright for the U’s career interception record. (Courtesy of University of Minnesota Athletics)
Wright produced three interceptions in a game against Michigan State in his senior year of 1970. It stands in a seven-way tie for the most in a game at the U, but his memory of it has been lost in time.
“Probably not a hell of a lot, quite honestly,” Wright said. “You are taxing my memory, you got to remember I went on to play seven years in the pros, too, and got hit a few times. I don’t have a lot of individual memories of games or scores.”
Gophers safety Jeff Wright, who played for the U from 1968-70 in an undated photo. Gophers safety Tyler Nubin is one interception away from tying Wright and Sean Lumpkin for the U’s career interception record. (Courtesy of University of Minnesota Athletics)
What Wright does have is appreciation and a connection. He tries to make it back to Minnesota for a couple of games each season and still believes the U will have a good season this fall.
When Antoine Winfield Jr. was finishing up his career at the U in 2019, Wright reached out around the Outback Bowl to congratulate him on his college career. After overcoming multiple injuries early in his time at Minnesota, Winfield had seven interceptions in 2019, which tied Wright for the Gophers’ season record. Winfield’s nine career INTs ranks in a tie for eighth all time.
Wright also will want to chat with Nubin at some point.
“I don’t know if I’ll have the opportunity, but certainly if he breaks the record, I will try to get in touch with him,” Wright said. “… Records are meant to be broken.”
Picks of the litter
Gophers’ all-time interception leaders:
1. Sean Lumpkin (1988-91) — 12
Jeff Wright (1968-70) — 12
2. Tyler Nubin (2019-current) — 11
Keith Edwards (1977-79) — 11
Walter Bowser (1969-70) — 11
Tom Sakal (1965-67) — 11
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