Khalil Davis said the play was, without question, the highlight of his fall camp.

Truth be told, his interception may be the top play, period, from the first 3 weeks of Nebraska football practice.

Davis, the 6-foot-2, 315-pound senior defensive lineman, snuffed out a screen pass in a short scrimmage last week, breaking through the line and catching the football in a bang-bang play that ignited the defensive sideline.

“Besides a sack in a game,” Davis said, “that was probably one of the most exciting things I’ve ever done on a football field.”

Knowing coach Scott Frost‘s penchant for running screen passes in certain down-and-distance situations, Davis said he sensed the play, and felt the offensive lineman opposite him begin to drift.

“Coach Tuioti always talks about if the O-lineman drops and drifts, there’s a screen coming,” Davis said, referring to first-year defensive line coach Tony Tuioti. “But I felt him stop, and I didn’t know the ball was coming to me. I stopped, and I just put my hands up and it fell right into me.”

Davis fell on his back and then got up as his defensive teammates mobbed him on the field. The defensive sideline erupted as much or more than it has for any play this fall, roaring its approval.

“I know for a fact I lost all my breath,” Davis said. “I didn’t think I was doing much, but I guess I was screaming and yelling, celebrating, and I lost my breath, and Coach Chins was over there, ‘We got three more downs! We got three more downs!’

“I had to suck it up and get back going.”

Tuioti said the extraordinary play exemplified the sheer athleticism of a 300-plus pound athlete.

“Some guys are just freaks, and he’s just that way,” Tuioti said. “We spend time talking about screens and keys to screen play, and there’s certain down and distances that we anticipate there’s going to be some type of screen play.

“So as a coach, you talk about it as much as possible, but still, that’s player over scheme, or anything you’re teaching.”

As for the team’s reaction?

“We actually screwed up the next two plays because everyone was still celebrating,” Tuioti said. “The next play, we weren’t even lined up, and we still made the play.”

Even so, Tuioti is thrilled to see such plays inspire a team, saying it’s an example of how splash plays are there to be made.

“I keep telling the guys, ‘Your plays are going to come within the scheme of the defense. Don’t feel like you have to come out of structure to make a splash play,’ ” Tuioti said. “Great defenses stay within the structure; do your job, and the plays will come.

“And that’s a great example of a guy just doing his job. Right play, right time.”

Davis said the Blackshirts have been producing more turnovers in practice. Granted, not all have been as sensational as this particular play, but effective all the same.

“We’ve been really awesome this camp, and it all starts with us (the defensive line),” Davis said. “If we can get pressure on the QB, affect his throwing arm, affect the pocket, he has to float the ball.

“It gives a chance for the DBs to go make a play. And they’ve been doing really good on the back end covering, too, so we can get a sack. It’s, ‘You help me, and we’ll help you,’ and we’ve been helping each other all fall camp. We’re just taking that into the season.”