Back in Indianapolis, Brandon Joseph isn't dwelling on the past
INDIANAPOLIS-Everyone has seen the play.
Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields takes the snap and looks right. He fires a ball deep, intended for first-team All-Big Ten receiver Garrett Wilson. Then Brandon Joseph goes up with one hand and pulls the ball out of the air to preserve the Wildcat lead going into halftime of the Big Ten Championship Game.
Joseph, sitting in the same stadium where he made that highlight-reel interception at Big Ten Media Days on Thursday, is focused more on what happened afterwards, though.
"The catch was cool, but we still lost the game," he said.
Getting better for 2021 has been Joseph's sole focus since the clock hit zero in Orlando in Northwestern's Citrus Bowl victory over Auburn on January 1. Getting better for the redshirt sophomore and the Northwestern secondary as a whole is going to be tough; there isn't much room for improvement, "BJo" was a first-team All-American and the Cats ranked top in the country in pass-efficiency defense.
Joseph has worked on getting bigger in order to be more of a force in the run game, despite the fact that he was Northwestern's leading non-linebacker tackler last season. He's also put in time getting faster to be able to get to the ball and make even more plays this season, even though no one in the nation had more interceptions than Joseph's six last season.
Joseph called it "the dog mentality," a relentless pursuit of the ball at all times, like new defensive coordinator Jim O'Neil demands.
Head coach Pat Fitzgerald thinks that Joseph hasn't even come close to reaching his full potential yet, and he praised the work that his star safety put in this offseason to improve.
First-round draft pick Greg Newsome II and three-year starter JR Pace II are gone in the secondary. Improving without those two is a tall order, but the standard has been raised in Evanston and the Sky Team, as Northwestern's secondary likes to be known, is ready to meet it.
"Stat-wise we were the best DB unit in the country last year," Joseph said. "I don't know how you get better than the best, but I feel like with these guys, with the mindset we have, we can go do anything this year."
The accolades have been pouring in for Joseph. Not so much for his teammates in the back end.
Cornerbacks AJ Hampton and Cameron Mitchell were the starting corners during the Citrus Bowl last year. Joseph said that Mitchell (who now wears Newsome's No. 2) has an ability to take receivers out of games just like Newsome. Rod Heard II had a huge spring, per reports. Safety Coco Azema has shown a knack for creating turnovers in his limited action, as well.
Joseph knows these guys can play, and he's excited to be their leader on the field.
"My two corners, AJ Hampton and Cameron Mitchell, they're two lockdown corners," Joseph said. "I think they're going to step up."
Cleveland.com picked Joseph as the preseason Big Ten defensive player of the year, but Joseph said he can't stop working until he actually wins the award.
His main goal, though, is winning. And winning a lot.
"My goal is to win a national championship for Northwestern University," Joseph said.
It's been a whirlwind ride to the top for Joseph. The College Station, Texas, native wasn't expected to start in 2020 until redshirt senior Travis Whillock opted out of the season. Needless to say, Joseph hit the ground running and never looked back.
"It was after game one, I was like, 'college football, it's not as bad as I thought it was gonna be,'" he said. "Week two, I get two interceptions, I'm like, 'ok, I can pick the ball off.' Week three, I can high-point it.
"We keep going, keep going. It was about halfway through where people are like, 'You could be a Freshman All-American.' I didn't want to be a Freshman All-American, I wanted to be an All-American All-American."
Entering 2021, Joseph is in a completely different spot than he was a year ago. Everyone knows his name now. Teams are going to gameplan around him. This is where "the dog mentality" Joseph has been working on comes in.
Of his six interceptions in 2020, three came on deflections or overthrows. Teams can try to avoid Joseph all they want, but if he gets himself near the ball, he's ready to make a play.
The new defense should help Joseph be near the ball, too.
"Schematically, what Coach O'Neil can do for me and what our defense does in general, you're going to throw the ball to where we want you to throw the ball," Joseph said. "Even if they don't throw it at me next year, I have to find a way to create my own plays."
Fitzgerald isn't worried about Joseph adjusting to being a focal point of opponents' game plans next season. He pointed to the Iowa game from 2020 as an example of Joseph's maturity and drive to be great.
"He missed a couple tackles, maybe made a mental mistake; he was really frustrated on the sideline," Fitzgerald said. "He's his own worst critic, which is a good problem, but it can also be a little debilitating mentally. I just told him to settle down and relax and play, and good things are going to happen. Then he went on to have a great game. You're starting to see the maturation of a young player."
Joseph's maturity will be tested this year. Not just in terms of staying within himself, but also in leadership. In addition to the two starters in the secondary that have moved on to the NFL, linebackers Paddy Fisher and Blake Gallagher are also gone. Other than Chris Bergin, Joseph has the most experience of any player in the back seven.
He knows the talent is there on defense; it's just unproven. Just last year, Joseph was the talented but unproven new face on defense. Now he has to take on the mentorship role that Fisher, Gallagher, Newsome II and Pace II had last year.
He's ready for it.
"I'm going to take everything I learned from those guys and pass it on," Joseph said. "If we keep doing that, there's nothing that can stop us."