South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Bills select Singletary
Florida Atlantic’s leading rusher gets to live his dream
Florida Atlantic’s all-time leading rusher has found his NFL home as the Owls’ first player to ever get drafted after declaring early.
FAU running back Devin “Motor” Singletary went in the third round of the NFL draft at No. 74 to the Buffalo Bills on Friday night. In Owls history, only defensive back D’Joun Smith, who went No. 65 to the Indianapolis Colts in 2015, and tight end Rob Housler, who was selected at No. 69 by the Arizona Cardinals, have been drafted higher.
The question of whether Singletary’s stellar on-field production or less-thanstellar combine results would win out in his draft position was answered.
The Bills made it clear his back-to-back seasons of leading the nation in regular season rushing touchdowns outweighed his 5-foot-7, 203-pound build or 4.66-second 40-yard dash by taking Singletary on the high end of his projections. Singletary turned out to be the third running back selected in the draft, behind only Alabama’s Josh Jacobs, who went No. 24 in Thursday’s first round to the Oakland Raiders, and Penn State’s Miles Sanders.
In 2017 as a sophomore, Singletary rushed for 32 touchdowns, which was third-most all-time in a college football season, and 1,920 yards. Receiving Heisman Hype ahead of his junior campaign, he again led the nation with 22 touchdowns — until Clemson’s Travis Etienne passed him by playing three postseason games — and went for 1,348 rushing yards.
While FAU coach Lane Kiffin, who has NFL head coaching experience with the Raiders, cautioned Singletary’s measurable would “hurt him,” Kiffin added: “When you talk to everybody, they see what we all see. First guy never tackles, unbelievable with the ball, great vision.”
Singletary is confident his game will translate to the NFL given the multitude of similar-sized backs that have found pro success.
“There are multiple examples of people I can show you that were my size that balled,” Singletary said. “From Barry Sanders, Devonta Freeman, Darren Sproles, Maurice Jones-Drew — there are plenty of guys that were my size that have done well in the league. … I don’t feel like that’ll hinder me at all.”
In addition to having Kiffin as his head coach his last two years in college, Singletary is thankful he had a running backs coach in Kevin Smith. He had a comparable path to the NFL, playing for the Detroit Lions after a college career at Central Florida and standing out at Miami Southridge in high school.
“I feel like it gave me the upper hand because I feel like I got the insight from all levels — from college to the NFL,” Singletary said. “He always tells me things to do, what not to do. He’s just leading me in the right direction.”
Singletary gets to live out his NFL dream after three years of college out of American Heritage-Delray. He told the Sun Sentinel he’s motivated to live out his pro career for fallen Stallions teammate and mentor Greg Bryant. Bryant was a senior at Heritage when Singletary was a freshman, first went to Notre Dame, transferred to AlabamaBirmingham and died in May of 2016 when he was shot inside a car.
Singletary ended his high school career as Palm Beach County Player of the Year in the Sun Sentinel before he flipped from Illinois to FAU on National Signing Day in 2016.
Singletary, a Deerfield Beach native, became the top Palm Beach County high school grad taken in the 2019 draft.
Whyte to Bears: Following Singletary’s selection in the third round, his backup in the Owls backfield was taken on Day 3 of the NFL draft. Redshirt junior Kerrith Whyte was selected by the Chicago Bears in the seventh round at pick No. 222 on Saturday.
Spelling Singletary for FAU, Whyte had a breakout redshirt junior season and it led him to also declaring for the draft a year early. Whyte totaled 866 rushing yards with a 6.46 yards-per-carry average and eight touchdowns. He added160 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 10 receptions.
Whyte played in high school football in Palm Beach County at Seminole Ridge.
dfurones@sunsentinel.com / @DavidFurones_