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Notes on the Secondary Ahead of Spring Practice

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Kevin Harrish's picture
March 7, 2017 at 8:03am
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I just wanted to pass along some notes I received from a source close to the defensive backs that should be of particular interest since spring practice starts today. Nothing's set in stone and his word isn't gold, but it should at least give an idea of what to watch for.

  • Denzel Ward has a spot locked down. "I wouldn't be surprised if he turns into a stud. He's easily the fastest player on the team and he's extremely coachable in terms of he doesn't repeat mistakes often and learns from when he gets beat, something you can't say about a lot of people. Seeing people close up all the time, the people who are like that are the ones who eventually become the stars."
  • Kendall Sheffield seems to be the favorite for the other spot, but Wade is good. "Sheffield is pretty much game ready, so if I had to guess I'd say probably him, but I wouldn't be surprised if Wade pushes for time too. It really depends how well he develops this spring and summer."
  • Damon Arnette is the most improved. "(He's) very raw but he has a lot of raw talent. Struggled in the Nickel last year but a lot of it in my opinion was due to him not really having any game experience and just kinda playing nervous trying not to mess up rather than playing confident. He's improved probably more than any other corner in my opinion over the past year and a half so if he keeps improving and gets some more confidence in his in-game play then I wouldn't be surprised if he makes a push. I'd say right now that he's probably the starting Nickel at least but it's obviously getting crowded in the CBs room in terms of talent."
  • Jordan Fuller is the favorite for the open safety spot. "At Safety I'd have to go with Fuller. From day one of camp last year he's looked impressive and if you looked at him every day in practice you wouldn't have thought he was a freshman at all. With Okudah coming in though I expect him to battle with Fuller along with Erick Smith but if I had to bet I'd say Fuller as well because like Denzel he's very coachable and just had that very professional demeanor about him when he plays."
  • Okudah could play safety or corner. As he said above, Okudah would compete for time and likely see the field sooner if he played safety, but in his recruitment he seemed staunch that he wanted to play corner. He'll compete for playing time at either position, but it will be interesting to see where he lands ultimately.

Spring practice starts today. As always, we'll have your coverage on the site as well as on Twitter dot com.

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