Devine Ozigbo hadn't really thought about it until midway through his final fall as a Husker. It was about the time 1,000 rushing yards was coming into view and many were beginning to declare him the best story of Nebraska's season.

"My brother was talking to me like, ‘Yeah, (NFL) teams are going to look at you and say that’s a guy that doesn’t have many miles on him.' So that could be a beneficial thing," Ozigbo explained as the Huskers headed into November. "If it’s going to help, then that’s good. I guess I’d consider myself that way.”

Some NFL scouts are seeing exactly how much tread Ozigbo still has on those tires this week at the practices for the East-West Shrine Game, which will be held this Saturday and televised on the NFL Network at 2 p.m.

The rave reviews from onlookers are starting to pile up.

Optimum Scouting included Ozigbo as one of its Day 1 practice "winners" on Monday. The praise came from more corners on Tuesday. And those who gave it, weren't exactly just dipping their toes in the water.

"My first take of the day at East/West – Devine Ozigbo can play," tweeted JC Cornell of The Draft Network.

"We will be talking about RB Devine Ozigbo during the 2019 NFL season. I promise," tweeted Josh Norris of Rotoworld and NBC.

"YOU KNOW I LOVE BIG BACKS - and Nebraska RB Devine Ozigbo is my favorite type of runner at 6 feet, 235 pounds. Quite swift for a big man, good foot frequency and does not shy away from dirty work inside the tackles," tweeted Cecil Lammey of 104.3 The Fan in Denver.

There were more...

Devine Ozigbo is going off at the Shrine practices and when you see the field and make cuts like this, i don’t know why we’re shocked. Ozigbo is a shifty player with solid blocking and receiving skills, so he’s going to be an incredibly polished product. pic.twitter.com/opDkV4e3oK — Nick Farabaugh (@FarabaughFB) January 16, 2019

You’ll have a hard time finding a more impressive 219 at RB than Devine Ozigbo. #NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/PdLgTkeFC9 — Kyle Crabbs (@GrindingTheTape) January 15, 2019

A year ago at this time, hardly anyone in the Husker fan base was speaking about Ozigbo as a potential NFLer.

At that point, his biggest rushing output for a season was 493 yards. He had been used only sporadically during the Mike Riley era, and plenty wondered if that would continue heading into fall camp with a new staff, where it appeared Ozigbo might be Nebraska's second or even third back.

By the end of September, though, he'd shown he was the top dog, on his way to 1,082 rushing yards and 203 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. He trimmed his body fat from the 16-percent range to 12, showed an added burst and averaged 7.0 yards a carry. Even while racking up yards in his final year in Lincoln, he wasn't overworked, totaling 178 touches, an average of 14.8 per game.

He finished his Nebraska career with 419 carries, a little more than 100 a season. It's fair to think Ozigbo was underused at Nebraska during his early years. Another way to look at it is there's plenty of life in the legs of a back who moved through his senior year without any injury hiccups.

Along the way, Husker coach Scott Frost gave added confidence when he said he believed Ozigbo could be a Sunday guy. "What he struggled through to accomplish what he accomplished this year was special," Frost added last week when Ozigbo was named the Tom Novak Award winner, given to the Husker who “best exemplifies courage and determination despite all odds."

Ozigbo was also given the coveted Lifter of the Year Award for his work in Nebraska's weight room in 2018.

A lot of things coming fast. Ozigbo seemed to recognize that throughout the season. In early November, he was asked flat-out at one press conference if his vision for his football future had suddenly changed due to his senior successes.

Ozigbo was candid in his answer.

"Coming into this year, I definitely knew that it might not be all I wanted. We have so many talented guys here, so I knew I was going to be in a limited role but I was just going to try to make the most out of it," he said. "When it came to playing football after this, I was like, ‘Alright, whatever I do here, we’re going to hopefully win as many games as we can and do my personal part best as I can, and no matter what, I was going to give it a shot.’"

Ozigbo added that Frost saying he could be an NFL player helped confirm to him it could happen.

"If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t," Ozigbo said then. "But you’ve got to go and try to go get it.”