- I would like to see us take the two smartest DBs and make them safeties. If you cannot tell which of your athletes are the smartest then you should not be coaching. Of those two the one that can tackle the best is strong safety and the other is free safety. IQ is important at safety. It is not the end all, but it is crucial.
- If you cannot or will not tackle you do not play. Period. You pull RBs for fumbling the ball. You can pull DBs for fumbling tackles.
- Put all DBs, frequently, through wide receiver drills. Not only will they learn the WR mindset, they will learn how to catch the football. I am tired of seeing DBs drop sure interceptions and act like they have done something great by knocking down the ball. Let’s get creative.
- Look for the next Steve Atwater. Atwater was QB in high school. He was big and most of all SMART. This is what we need at safety. We have had coaches in the past that could develop safeties. So far this group cannot. Stop recruiting players that no one else wants!!!
- Make the secondary a priority. Are there players in other groups that can play DB? Pettway? Mitchell? Jordan Jones? It seems easier to recruit WRs than DBs here. We need more DBs than WRs. The goal is to have the defensive backfield on the cover of the media guide. The secondary can no longer be the after thought. Make it cool to be a Hog DB.
After this we start working on LB.
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