Safety First: Beau Brade & Dante Trader Jr. Are Anchoring Maryland's Defense

Two games into the season and heading into a tough match-up against a high-powered SMU offense, the Maryland defense was yet to create a takeaway. 

That all changed Saturday as the Terps, led by safeties Beau Brade and Dante Trader Jr., forced the Mustangs into two interceptions and one fumble. Brade picked off SMU's Tanner Mordecai in the second quarter and later laid a big hit on Mordecai to poke the ball loose for a fumble, stymying SMU's drive in the red zone. He also recorded a team and career-high 15 tackles. Trader Jr. made perhaps the night's biggest play, intercepting Mordecai around midfield with the game knotted at 27 and setting up a Terp touchdown drive to claim the lead for good.

The interceptions were career-firsts for both guys, as was Brade's forced fumble. 

"We got two young leaders that have really shown up big for us," coach Michael Locksley said of his two safeties after the game. "Dante and Beau are really smart, tough, reliable players. Today, Beau played with the physicality that we want our team to play with. He made a big-time interception when we needed it. Dante also had big plays. It's good to see those guys are getting better with each game and we're gonna need it as we head into league play. The leadership that those two guys showed really helped settle things down."

This season is the first year as starters for both Brade, a junior, and Trader, a sophomore, but their exceptional play and strong connection with each other date back to the summer of 2021, when Trader began his first official workouts.

"Beau was the first one to help me with the playbook, to show me the ropes," Trader said. "He's like a big brother to me and we always had a goal to play together. We have a special connection. We were always in the weight room, watching film, always doing extra stuff."

"(Trader) loved watching film just like me and he wanted to be great so that's what bonded us together at first," Brade added.

And while the two guys found instant similarities, they also surprised each other in different ways. 

"I had a feeling, because he was a great lacrosse player too, that he would have some kind of grit, but he did surprise me with how strong his work ethic was early on," Brade said of Trader. "He just always wanted to watch film and always do whatever he could to get better."

Similarly, Trader was taken aback by Brade's warm welcome because the two would be battling for snaps.

"When you come into college, you have to compete with your teammates. He could have easily not said anything to me because everyone is recruited to beat out the guys they already have there. But when I first came here, he took it upon himself to help a young guy who didn't know the ropes, didn't know the playbook, didn't know the ins and outs of anything. I appreciate him a lot for that."

For Brade, it was a given that he would pass down what he learned from great Maryland safeties before him like Nick Cross and Jordan Mosley. 

"Me not having any brothers, I just kind of looked at Dante as a brother," Brade said. "He had a love for the game and wanted to learn more and more, so I just tried to teach him everything I knew and everything I learned from players before me."

As the duo continued to develop chemistry while backing up Cross and Mosley last season, they learned even more about each other and began to adopt some of the other's habits,

"Beau doesn't like to lose, first of all," Trader said. "He's very motivated. Anything that's a lack of motivation or any sign of laziness from anyone, it bothers him so it bothers me."

"We get scheduled lift times and scheduled practices, but we always do more on top of everything because we know that's what it's gonna take to get to the next level," Trader added. "That's something we share."

And even though Brade holds the "big brother" role in the pair's relationship, Trader has assisted him just as much.

"Just like I've helped him along the way, he's also helped and pushed me too," Brade said. "Of course, there's days I don't want to do an extra workout or watch extra film, but he wants to go so then I'm like, 'Yeah, you know what, we've got to.'"

The safety duo has similar backgrounds as well. Both have fathers who played college football and have ties to the state of Maryland. 

Brade's dad, Ron, played at Virginia Tech and Brade grew up watching the Hokies on Saturdays and his hometown Baltimore Ravens, with a prolific defense led by Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, on Sundays. 

Dante Trader Sr. played at Widener University, and football ran rampant throughout the entire Trader family. 

"My whole family was a big football family in the small town (of Delmar, Delaware) where I was raised," Trader Jr. said. "It was always like, 'You gotta be that next Trader', because my last name holds weight in my small town. It was always destined for me to play football and to do what I do."

Despite not actually hailing from Maryland, Trader Jr. always loved the state and the school. He would even sport Maryland socks growing up in Delaware. 

Once he came to Maryland to attend high school at McDonogh, his college choice became even more straightforward.

"Maryland was a dream school for me," he said. "I grew up watching Maryland sports and I wanted to represent the flag even though I'm from Delaware."

Brade, a Clarksville native, takes equal pride in being able to represent Maryland.

"I have the home name on the front of my jersey and my family name on the back," Brade said. "There's nothing better than that and there's nowhere I'd rather do it than here."

Both guys are living out their dreams on the grandest stage and making massive, momentum-swinging stops for the Terp defense. But, for the two safeties, the big plays directly result from staying the course, putting work in, and doing things the right way.

"I think those two guys are kind of by-products of what we try to do around here," Locksley said. "They played a lot of football as freshmen…To play young players in meaningful moments in games the price is invaluable to the development of your team as a whole. Both Beau and Dante played football here from the time they stepped on campus, and now we're benefiting from it this year. Now, they're thrust into starting positions and leadership roles and it's not like they're breaking themselves in. 

Trader sums it perfectly 

"Now that we're on the field together, we're grinding and shining together," Trader added. 

Brade's 27 total tackles lead the team, and Trader Jr. ranks fourth in that category. Both guys have also welcomed their increased leadership roles. 

"We've embraced (being leaders) because we know that's what the team needs," Brade said. "We're both team players, so if the team needs it we're gonna try to go above and beyond to give it to them."

"It's a big role to take because safeties and linebackers are basically the quarterback of the defense," Trader added. "Most of the calls are gonna start with you, so any problems are gonna start and end with you. You gotta be able to talk and communicate with everybody and keep everyone together."

In addition to being team players, extremely hard workers, and fierce competitors, the two safeties share another trait—humbleness. When discussing their first career interceptions, both guys prefer to keep the spotlight on their teammates or on what's ahead of them.

"We got great line pressure and then Jaishawn Barham tipped it so I had the easiest part of that, just catching a ball while it was floating in the air," Brade said of his interception. "I'm definitely proud of it, but now I'm just looking ahead to Michigan."

Similarly, Trader prefers to maintain the focus on what he could have done better.

"I didn't make it too big of a thing because I need more and I left some plays out there," he said. "That's just how I am. I should congratulate my successes and my little wins, but I can get more. I'm blessed to make that pick, but I'm focused on the plays I should've made out there on the field."

And even though neither guy wants the prolonged spotlight for their big plays, both admitted the night was even more memorable because they shared their first career interceptions together. 

"It definitely made it more special just because of how much time we spend together on and off the field," Brade said. "We're basically always together. Probably the only time we're not together is when we're taking class."

Trader echoed that sentiment. 

"When you see me, you're gonna see Beau," Trader added. "When you see Beau, you're gonna see me. That's just how it is with us."