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He hasn’t yet touched the horseshoe on gameday or stood center stage when it’s third down and someone — maybe him — needs to make the play that sets off thunder and allows bones to be thrown. He’s been in town all of eight months, and some Husker fans will just learn of his name Saturday.

So why is it coaches and teammates can’t say enough good things about Byerson Cockrell?

What allows a newcomer, overlooked by most every major college football program after two years at East Mississippi Community College, to come in and immediately become one of the more important pieces to the Husker puzzle?

Start with this: He’s smart. That’s what everyone says. That’s what senior cornerback Josh Mitchell was saying this week when Cockrell’s name came up.

“He’s played three different positions already since he’s been here in a couple months and if you can do that, that’s very impressive,” Mitchell said. “And when you can impress your coaches and your teammates like that, I think that they gravitate to you a lot more ... and guys have gravitated toward him and his personality, so he fits in perfect.”