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Now that Anthony Cook has moved to safety, what happens with the rest of the defensive backfield? When you really think about it, one thing becomes clear that makes one other thing completely opaque:
What is clear is that Anthony Cook's move to safety was made intentionally and with forethought. You don't just take the most productive player on your defense from 2021 (who was experiencing a late-career breakout after moving from outside corner to nickel) to an all-new position at safety unless you intend to start him. Anthony Cook will very clearly be a starter for the Texas defense at safety in 2022 because, otherwise, why would they have moved him? Furthermore, why would he have elected to come back for another season if this sort of move wasn't viewed as one favorable to his future? The list of questions would go on and on if, for some reason, one believed that Cook was not in line to be the definitive, outright starter at one of the two safety spots.
What that bit of clarity manages to muddy up, though, is what is going to happen at the nickel corner. Alas, three guys were on the depth chart at nickel last year behind Anthony Cook: Jerrin Thompson and Marques Caldwell along with 12 snaps in the nickel from Chris Adimora. Thompson was a dual-position guy who played at both the safety while operating as nickel corner depth, whereas Caldwell was a deeper bench option who has since entered the transfer portal and is no longer with the program. Adimora would have perhaps been in line to get first shot at starting nickel duties if he were still around, but he also was a transfer after the 2021 season. Thompson is reportedly staying at safety as numbers at the position are still relatively thin -- hence one of the reasons Cook was moved there to begin with, so we're left with what is basically the single-most wide-open position on the entire defense at the nickel corner spot.
Some would say you could say as much about edge rusher, and we'll discuss that in another column, but that just isn't true. It's a giant need, yes, but there is not the same gaping void regarding experienced players on the roster.
At least that position will have players who actually played that position in some capacity in 2021 returning next year. Jett Bush played 179 snaps, mainly at the buck end (the edge rush, weak-side LB/DE hybrid role). Ovie Oghuofo will return having basically split his 2021 snaps (486 in total) between the 3rd SAM linebacker and the buck end. You even have guys like Prince Dorbah (10 snaps) and DJ Harris Jr. (13 snaps) who played at least SOME at the position in 2021.
At the nickel, ZERO (O) 2021 snaps currently project to return.
So, do we look at safeties to possibly fill in the role? That doesn't SEEM as likely as the 2022 nickel starter coming from the ranks of the cornerbacks like Anthony Cook did, simply because the cornerback position has depth in greater numbers. But, really, the numbers at cornerback aren't THAT much greater once you break it all down.
Let's look at spring football.
You can probably mark D'Shawn Jamison, Jahdae Barron and Ryan Watts off the list of nickel contenders because those guys seem to be the three returning players who'll be competing for the starting role(s). Hell, if 2022 is anything like 2021, we could see a three, or even four-man rotation at the outside corner positions, whether we like it or not. However, it is fair to assume those three are going to be the top 3 options to assume two spots, and moving one of them to a different position entirely would be a bit of a surprise.
With Kitan Crawford presumably moving to safety, that basically leaves Jamier Johnson as the only player who's had any experience at all as an outside corner in college on the team. It might make sense to project Jamier Johnson lining up as an outside corner with the twos to start spring practices opposite of whichever player in the Jamison, Barron, Watts trio is not named an immediate starter.
So then, we have to consider true freshmen. As far as early enrollees at CB, Texas has on campus for spring ball Terrance Brooks, Jaylen Guilbeau and a bit of black-box-type of ATH in Xavion Brice who we're still not sure where he'll line up. It might not even be on defense, but you'd think it would be. Of those guys, my eyes tell me Guilbeau is the most pure outside CB type. He's a natural in coverage on the outside at the high school level and his frame is well-suited to turn and run with outside receivers. As far as Brooks, though; he has a pretty good size advantage on Guilbeau and kind of looks perfect for the nickel role -- at least on paper. Here's what I wrote when writing up his profile as a recruit:
"Long arms, and just generally kind of long through the body, you can tell he's an opportunistic player in coverage who can close with some good speed but also an ability to get his hands into throwing lanes and un-separate from receivers with length. He plays some in the slot as a high schooler, and some of Brooks' most eye-popping highlights are on plays when plants out of his t-step and flies downhill in run support. He's a big hitter and very sure tackler in the open field at 190 pounds and probably still growing from a strength-and-mass standpoint. His father, Chet Brooks, was a former safety himself at Texas A&M who went on to play in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers. While Brooks clearly has the makings of a player who could excel at either position (corner or safety) it's really hard not to like his ability to pursue, his instincts and his dependable tackling -- especially as the force player with responsibility for outside contain as much or more than you like his ability to turn and run with wide receivers as a pure outside corner."
So, we have to think he'll be in play. In fact, I'll go further: we should start thinking about Brooks as a true freshman on this team who has a little bit of a runway here to really step up and earn a featured role on defense due to the circumstances of the personnel on hand coupled with the terrific fit he theoretically represents if we're just drawing things up on a chalkboard.
Football is played on a field, though, so it can't be that easy. If Jerrin Thompson doesn't win a starting safety job, he'll probably be in consideration at nickel as well. Let's say JD Coffey and Anthony Cook are the immediate starters - do you move Thompson back to nickel where he was a little-used backup in 2021 to supplement his primary safety role? He'd probably have to at least be in consideration. Texas also has two early enrollee freshmen safeties in Larry Turner-Gooden and BJ Allen Jr. I'm still wrapping my head around LTG, but my gut says he's a prospect that could take a little time. BJ Allen showed on his tape that he was a tackling machine in high school and could clearly be a player you'd not be surprised to see tinkered with in the slot at around 185 pounds.
Or it could be somebody completely out of the blue. It is the hardest position on the defense to project (even for spring football, now just six weeks away) by a country mile. While it could end up being a name we're all familiar with from the current team making the switch, say, a guy like Jerrin Thompson as discussed, the odds right now are that the nickel spot in 2022 is most likely to be manned by a newcomer. That's just how the roster sort of shakes out and how puzzle pieces seem to project to fit together. Whether that hypothetical newcomer is Xavion Brice or BJ Allen, or, my personal lean, Terrance Brooks, or who knows who else -- we know one thing for certain: This thing is clear as mud heading into spring ball.
Find Your Perfect Franchise at MyPerfectFranchise.Net
Orangebloods Owned! Contact Andy Luedecke (aka @Andy MyPerfectFranchise.Net) anytime at:
aluedecke@myperfectfranchise.net
(404) 973-9901
www.myperfectfranchise.net
Now that Anthony Cook has moved to safety, what happens with the rest of the defensive backfield? When you really think about it, one thing becomes clear that makes one other thing completely opaque:
What is clear is that Anthony Cook's move to safety was made intentionally and with forethought. You don't just take the most productive player on your defense from 2021 (who was experiencing a late-career breakout after moving from outside corner to nickel) to an all-new position at safety unless you intend to start him. Anthony Cook will very clearly be a starter for the Texas defense at safety in 2022 because, otherwise, why would they have moved him? Furthermore, why would he have elected to come back for another season if this sort of move wasn't viewed as one favorable to his future? The list of questions would go on and on if, for some reason, one believed that Cook was not in line to be the definitive, outright starter at one of the two safety spots.
What that bit of clarity manages to muddy up, though, is what is going to happen at the nickel corner. Alas, three guys were on the depth chart at nickel last year behind Anthony Cook: Jerrin Thompson and Marques Caldwell along with 12 snaps in the nickel from Chris Adimora. Thompson was a dual-position guy who played at both the safety while operating as nickel corner depth, whereas Caldwell was a deeper bench option who has since entered the transfer portal and is no longer with the program. Adimora would have perhaps been in line to get first shot at starting nickel duties if he were still around, but he also was a transfer after the 2021 season. Thompson is reportedly staying at safety as numbers at the position are still relatively thin -- hence one of the reasons Cook was moved there to begin with, so we're left with what is basically the single-most wide-open position on the entire defense at the nickel corner spot.
Some would say you could say as much about edge rusher, and we'll discuss that in another column, but that just isn't true. It's a giant need, yes, but there is not the same gaping void regarding experienced players on the roster.
At least that position will have players who actually played that position in some capacity in 2021 returning next year. Jett Bush played 179 snaps, mainly at the buck end (the edge rush, weak-side LB/DE hybrid role). Ovie Oghuofo will return having basically split his 2021 snaps (486 in total) between the 3rd SAM linebacker and the buck end. You even have guys like Prince Dorbah (10 snaps) and DJ Harris Jr. (13 snaps) who played at least SOME at the position in 2021.
At the nickel, ZERO (O) 2021 snaps currently project to return.
So, do we look at safeties to possibly fill in the role? That doesn't SEEM as likely as the 2022 nickel starter coming from the ranks of the cornerbacks like Anthony Cook did, simply because the cornerback position has depth in greater numbers. But, really, the numbers at cornerback aren't THAT much greater once you break it all down.
Let's look at spring football.
You can probably mark D'Shawn Jamison, Jahdae Barron and Ryan Watts off the list of nickel contenders because those guys seem to be the three returning players who'll be competing for the starting role(s). Hell, if 2022 is anything like 2021, we could see a three, or even four-man rotation at the outside corner positions, whether we like it or not. However, it is fair to assume those three are going to be the top 3 options to assume two spots, and moving one of them to a different position entirely would be a bit of a surprise.
With Kitan Crawford presumably moving to safety, that basically leaves Jamier Johnson as the only player who's had any experience at all as an outside corner in college on the team. It might make sense to project Jamier Johnson lining up as an outside corner with the twos to start spring practices opposite of whichever player in the Jamison, Barron, Watts trio is not named an immediate starter.
So then, we have to consider true freshmen. As far as early enrollees at CB, Texas has on campus for spring ball Terrance Brooks, Jaylen Guilbeau and a bit of black-box-type of ATH in Xavion Brice who we're still not sure where he'll line up. It might not even be on defense, but you'd think it would be. Of those guys, my eyes tell me Guilbeau is the most pure outside CB type. He's a natural in coverage on the outside at the high school level and his frame is well-suited to turn and run with outside receivers. As far as Brooks, though; he has a pretty good size advantage on Guilbeau and kind of looks perfect for the nickel role -- at least on paper. Here's what I wrote when writing up his profile as a recruit:
"Long arms, and just generally kind of long through the body, you can tell he's an opportunistic player in coverage who can close with some good speed but also an ability to get his hands into throwing lanes and un-separate from receivers with length. He plays some in the slot as a high schooler, and some of Brooks' most eye-popping highlights are on plays when plants out of his t-step and flies downhill in run support. He's a big hitter and very sure tackler in the open field at 190 pounds and probably still growing from a strength-and-mass standpoint. His father, Chet Brooks, was a former safety himself at Texas A&M who went on to play in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers. While Brooks clearly has the makings of a player who could excel at either position (corner or safety) it's really hard not to like his ability to pursue, his instincts and his dependable tackling -- especially as the force player with responsibility for outside contain as much or more than you like his ability to turn and run with wide receivers as a pure outside corner."
So, we have to think he'll be in play. In fact, I'll go further: we should start thinking about Brooks as a true freshman on this team who has a little bit of a runway here to really step up and earn a featured role on defense due to the circumstances of the personnel on hand coupled with the terrific fit he theoretically represents if we're just drawing things up on a chalkboard.
Football is played on a field, though, so it can't be that easy. If Jerrin Thompson doesn't win a starting safety job, he'll probably be in consideration at nickel as well. Let's say JD Coffey and Anthony Cook are the immediate starters - do you move Thompson back to nickel where he was a little-used backup in 2021 to supplement his primary safety role? He'd probably have to at least be in consideration. Texas also has two early enrollee freshmen safeties in Larry Turner-Gooden and BJ Allen Jr. I'm still wrapping my head around LTG, but my gut says he's a prospect that could take a little time. BJ Allen showed on his tape that he was a tackling machine in high school and could clearly be a player you'd not be surprised to see tinkered with in the slot at around 185 pounds.
Or it could be somebody completely out of the blue. It is the hardest position on the defense to project (even for spring football, now just six weeks away) by a country mile. While it could end up being a name we're all familiar with from the current team making the switch, say, a guy like Jerrin Thompson as discussed, the odds right now are that the nickel spot in 2022 is most likely to be manned by a newcomer. That's just how the roster sort of shakes out and how puzzle pieces seem to project to fit together. Whether that hypothetical newcomer is Xavion Brice or BJ Allen, or, my personal lean, Terrance Brooks, or who knows who else -- we know one thing for certain: This thing is clear as mud heading into spring ball.
