I heard Coach Martinez on Doug Matthews' show over the weekend and enjoyed listening to him talk about the secondary. I transcribed/summarized his comments.
*disclosure: I believe this is an accurate summary, but they aren't exact quotes and could have been misinterpreted by me. And please excuse any typos and/or grammatical errors. I typed this up rather quickly and didn't spend much time editing. The point is the content rather than the delivery. :hi:
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It's our third spring here. We were limited at corner because we have three guys coming in this summer, a couple walk-ons did a nice job. Developed some depth at safety.
We've been able to establish a culture at Tennessee and bring it back where Tennessee is relevant and it's exciting times right now.
Cam Sutton. Knew he was a special player. In high school he was a three sport star which is unheard of in this era: starting PG, two-way in football, starting OF in baseball. You could see it right off the bat: instinct, competitiveness, athleticism. He made some unbelievable plays his freshman year and now he's stronger and quicker he understands our defense. We can do more things now moving him around and matching him up with specific players. He's the total package. We moved him around a lot more this spring. He played the nickel position and did it quite well, which gives us flexibility.
We have have Micah Abernathy, Darrell Miller and Justin Martin: three corners coming in. They will be here in about three weeks. We think these guys can contribue right away and, if they can, it allows us to do a lot more with Cam.
Rashaan Gaulden is going into the fall as starting corner. He had an an outstanding spring, which gives us more flexibility in what we want to do try to defend these offenses.
At the nickel position, we would like to have a bigger corner there. Gaulden played some nickel. That position will cover the most athletic position on offense, the slot. The middle of the defense gets exposed if you don't have a guy who can play man. You're going to get a lot more perimeter screens also, so it takes a physical player to be able to defeat wide receivers and get to the ball. Also, the nickel must be a great blitzer, which Rashaan proved he can do a little this fall but tremendously in the spring.
You could see how our defense started to develop and improved last year when we moved Justin to nickel, had like four picks. He had only one the previous three years. Whoever plays the position has to be a playmaker.
Emmanuel Moseley. Came in at 145 pounds and is now 175 a year later. In fairness, he had lost weight when he came in. He had been sick. He's a long kid, skinny. We knew his will to be great and he loves to compete. He came in as weakest and now, pound for pound is the strongest --- 17-18 reps at 225. You can see his body taking off. His confidence grew as season progressed and became starter during the middle of year. He made plays you can't coach. He has speed and long arms. He has tremendous ball skills and a knack for making plays and we are excited about him.
He came to our camp, going into his senior year and only had one offer: Charlotte. He came to our camp and started matching up against some top wide receivers. There was one particular play he made that did it for us. He got beat on a post but had recovery speed to make it up. He looked back to play the ball and adjusted very well at the last second to knock the ball away. It was a great play. As a coach those are things you can't teach, you have to be able to react. He made some outstanding plays during the Ole Miss and Kentucky games last year on third downs.
Justin Martin. He has the same body type as Moseley but taller --- a little skinny but filled out more and weighs more. Athletic. We want to recruit guys that are athletes and can line up and play other positions, particularly wide receiver and running back.
Micah Abernathy. Long, bigger with weight. Looks similar to Martin.
Darrell Miller is not quite as long but coming from a program at Cedar Hill that has won three of the last four state championships at the highest level in the state of Texas. He started for two years at great program and was well coached. We like where he's coming from. We want guys who expect to win, it creates an unbelievable culture. Winners, guys that have won state championships like Kelly and Berry, Gaulden in track, Moseley... and Abernathy... Miller... are state champs. Guys that expect to win.
Competition is a great motivator for these guys. Randolph and McNeil sat this spring to keep them healthy and to give Kelly, Berry and Stephen Griffin an opportunity to see what they can do with the first group. They got better and proved they deserve to play. That competition will always make us better.
Safety. Coach Jones is encouraged by that safety group. Exciting competition there coming out of spring. Brian Randolph is outstanding. He's the best in back end and can line us all up and make plays. He's the old guy, who doesn't quite run as fast as some of the others but he he has great anticipation... aka Ronnie Lott who may have run a 4.7 but was a great player because he knew what the offense was going to do before ball was snapped. Like Peyton Manning on offense. Brian gives up great leadership and awareness.
LaDarrell McNeil didn't have quite the year we wanted the first year in 2013 but had a great season last year. He worked hard, and was the most improved last year on the back end. Great special teams player. He got better.
Todd Kelly came in as a true freshman and started a couple games. He had the great pick in against Georgia that gave us a chance to win the game. He really came on in the spring.
Evan Berry has been the one guy we are excited about because he has that tremendous speed, but also the hitting ability and explosiveness on contact is something we are excited about. He made some outstanding plays in spring that people didn't see. Evan had one of those interceptions that jump started his spring. Everybody was like holy cow, that's unbelievable!
Stephen Griffin came here in the spring. He started slow, was a mid-year signee. It's an advantage for him now he knows the system. He made some plays. It's hard to come in, like quarterback, the safety has to make a lot of calls. He got better as spring went on.
Devaun Swafford. He bounces from nickel to safety. Payed as a walk on as a freshman. Had a great pick in the Florida game and a great strip in Vandy game. He gives us depth too.
Malik Foreman is the fastest player on the team. He might have been the one guy that really topped them all. He has speed and athleticism, but didn't show it his first year. Last year started slow for him. The one play that sticks out: Cam got hurt in the Missouri game and sat out a couple plays. Malik went in on third down and made a great one-on-one play. He had to make the play, and he did. It gave him a ton of confidence. He creates more depth at corner.
