Dom stays in touch with his older brother. He said his parents make an effort to attend games of both sons, with an emphasis this year on Dom’s games because this is his senior season.
The Gophers are 1-6 this season, including 0-4 in the Big Ten Conference. The Cowboys are 5-1. Dom admires his brother’s attitude and with the Gophers’ record it’s easy to see how it’s useful to him. “He’s the type of guy that whatever happens, happens,” Dom told Sports Headliners last week. “He says you got to just keep fighting. You got to keep going and good things will happen. …”
Dom said that although he played running back in high school, he never pressed to play that position with the Gophers. The team needed help on defense and that’s where he’s stayed. His presence on defense is of some comfort to Brewster whose defense is among the worst in college football. “His (Marion’s) brother is playing extremely well for us,” Brewster said last week. “I shudder to think where we would be defensively without him.”
Dom couldn’t have expected so much responsibility in his senior season. Dominic Jones, the team’s best cornerback and defensive player, was asked to leave the team before the season. Other experienced secondary players haven’t stepped up. Brewster has turned to true freshmen to join Dom in the backfield.
“He’s a mother hen back there in the secondary,” Brewster said. “He’s got three true freshmen that he’s trying to line up and he’s trying to guide around. And he has an upset stomach because of it. But I am going to tell you what; he’s playing his butt off. Dom Barber is playing as good a football on the defensive side as anybody in the Big Ten. He’s tackling, he’s making plays. … I mean the guy is all over the field. …He honors the game the way he plays it. Each and every game he’s mentally prepared. He does things right and he’s obviously one of the better players in the Big Ten.”
Dom is the leading tackler on the Gopher team. In last Saturday’s 49-48 overtime loss to Northwestern he was selected by WCCO Radio as Minnesota’s defensive player of the game. In the game Dom made key plays including a Northwestern player committing pass interference against him.
Brewster told Sports Headliners earlier this year that Dom is the best pro prospect among his seniors. “He’s got all the attributes you look for in a safety,” Brewster said. “Very physical guy. He’s got speed. He can cover half the field. He can cover a tight end. He’s a blitzer. I think Dom Barber is a real good pro prospect.”