‘Motor’ Singletary runs quiet
BOCA RATON — When speaking with reporters, the answers are always bland from Florida Atlantic running back Devin “Motor” Singletary.
He prefers to keep things vanilla as possible. When asked about a particular run, it’s common for him to reply with something modest as, “It was good.” Singletary has kept it simple this season as continues to put his name all over the FAU record books.
“I don’t really like all the attention,” Singletary said. “That’s one thing but another thing is I’m not out here by myself. My teammates are out there, too.”
Last week Singletary, a 5-foot-9 sophomore, tied the school record with four touchdowns in a 38-20 victory against Middle Tennessee State. He also has a chance to break the school’s single-season touchdown record and will eventually challenge the career mark before he is finished at FAU.
After winning Conference USA player of the week honors, Singletary was the talk of the campus. Everyone was willing to discuss him — except the player himself.
“All the stats, he doesn’t worry about that,” running back Gregory Howell Jr. said. “He doesn’t talk about that. It is what it is. He doesn’t say much about it. He just works.”
It’s a chore to get Singletary to talk, even on the most joyous of occasions. After last week’s effort, he spoke with the media for about two minutes. His answers were mostly a few words. They were rarely longer than a sentence.
“He is vocal,” receiver DeAndre McNeal said. “When the team is not doing well, he’ll always come hype us up. He does his part. … He’s always there to talk. I guess he’s camera shy.”
Singletary, who played at American Heritage-Delray, would rather let his cleats speak for him. In five games, he has already scored nine times. He needs just four more touchdowns to tie the school record Howell set last season.
At this pace, he could also break former Owls standout Alfred Morris’ career mark of 27 touchdowns before the season ends.
“Honestly, my parents might bring it up,” said Singletary, who has 21 career touchdowns. “Other than that, I’m not concerned about it.”
Singletary is well on the way to a second consecutive 1,000-yard season. Last year he ran for 1,021 and 12 touchdowns as a freshman. This season, he leads the Owls with 492 yards on 80 carries, an average of 6.2 per rush.
FAU coach Lane Kiffin is fine with Singletary’s quiet demeanor, as long as he continues to make noise during games. A day after Singletary provided a boring answer about his 19-yard touchdown run against Middle Tennessee State, Kiffin spoke up for his player.
Singletary juked several defenders near the sideline on the run, which was named No. 4 on ESPN’s College Football’s top 10 plays. Kiffin tweeted the clip below the words, “#babybush.” It was a reference to Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush, who coached at USC.
“Not a lot,” said Kiffin when asked how often Singletary speaks. “I think he is great at being focused, preparing and doing the important [things] in meetings. He Kiffin is not the one goofing around. He is the one always listening and trying to get better.”
srichardson@ sun-sentinel.com; On Twitter @shandelrich