Kind of fell behind on these, we’re just about 6 weeks from fall camp starting! Trying to get back on track with position discussions here. Today let’s talk corner backs.
Starter – Nate Harris Now a junior with two years of rotating and starting under his belt I believe that Nate is ready to take the next step. Reflecting back on another player who I recall said by his junior year he personally “started to get it” (balancing his talent with playing smart) I have a feeling that Nate is at the level where he’s there as well. Harris is physical, he can jump, he’s fast, and very fluid in his movement. What his downfall has been is inconsistency, getting out of position, and poor tackling. This spring most of the errors were gone. I watched a practice where Nate broke up two well thrown JJ passes down the sideline to a sprinting Ellis Henderson, on a 3rd attempt Harris picked the ball off and sprinted back to JJ to personally hand him the ball (Kfense and some Oline players weren’t too happy about it but Williams and Gregorak were loving it). The confidence is there, he’s a shorter corner and the Big Sky is packed with tall WRs right now, he’ll have to continually contend with that.
Starter – Josh Dennard Dennard is the lone senior of the group, having played his freshman year as a wide receiver. He’s maybe the most physical and hardest hitting corner of the group. His roster weight is 194, heaviest of the corners. Watch for Dennard to start but then come inside and cover slot WRs when there’s 3 CBs on the field. Dennard’s tackling and getting out of position has been a big criticism in the past. Things are looking up for Josh, I liked a lot of what I saw in the spring. He still gets stuck too often spying the QB and not covering his man. Due to his size and strength I’ll bet Josh lines up with the bigger and more physical WRs come the start of the season.
Backup – JR Nelson Nelson’s our tall corner, at 6-2 he stands taller than the rest of the corners and will be the 3rd corner that the defense will use. JR got some reps due to injuries or ineffectiveness from other corners last season, he looked raw then, and in some cases he’s still looking a little raw. Nelson looks dramatically improved and will be looked upon to play a ton this season. He needs to keep improving, especially position on his receiver when the ball is in the air. At times he’s been caught on double moves or just too stiff in his stance and had WRs sprint past him. Overall though along the sidelines JR has shown good improvement shutting receivers down, in the spring he had a few pass break ups on medium/deep passes. His stock is rising and he’ll be on the field a ton this year.
Backup – Ryan McKinley It starts to get a little more unknown after JR. No other corner has seen playing time on the field. McKinkley I think had the better spring. Wearing a familiar number as a corner (#2) he finished camp strong to stand out among the other young corners. He’s stiffer in his hips compared to JR, Nate, and Josh, but shows good instincts.
Backup – Chris Parker Parker I think got dinged up and missed a good portion of spring ball. Will he be knocked back to 3rd string because of that? Tough to say, we’ll have to see come fall camp.
Backup – Shane Moody Listed as the 3rd string boundary corner Moody started camp strong, tackling a WR for a safety or a near safety in the first scrimmage on a quick pass. He’s a short guy at 5-8 but is incredibly scrappy.
I’m hearing chatter that Marquin Russell may return, we’ll see. Other than that there were no corners in the latest recruiting class, so this is the squad that they’ll run with. Top 3 are solid, IMO, but after that it gets very inexperienced.
Starter – Nate Harris Now a junior with two years of rotating and starting under his belt I believe that Nate is ready to take the next step. Reflecting back on another player who I recall said by his junior year he personally “started to get it” (balancing his talent with playing smart) I have a feeling that Nate is at the level where he’s there as well. Harris is physical, he can jump, he’s fast, and very fluid in his movement. What his downfall has been is inconsistency, getting out of position, and poor tackling. This spring most of the errors were gone. I watched a practice where Nate broke up two well thrown JJ passes down the sideline to a sprinting Ellis Henderson, on a 3rd attempt Harris picked the ball off and sprinted back to JJ to personally hand him the ball (Kfense and some Oline players weren’t too happy about it but Williams and Gregorak were loving it). The confidence is there, he’s a shorter corner and the Big Sky is packed with tall WRs right now, he’ll have to continually contend with that.
Starter – Josh Dennard Dennard is the lone senior of the group, having played his freshman year as a wide receiver. He’s maybe the most physical and hardest hitting corner of the group. His roster weight is 194, heaviest of the corners. Watch for Dennard to start but then come inside and cover slot WRs when there’s 3 CBs on the field. Dennard’s tackling and getting out of position has been a big criticism in the past. Things are looking up for Josh, I liked a lot of what I saw in the spring. He still gets stuck too often spying the QB and not covering his man. Due to his size and strength I’ll bet Josh lines up with the bigger and more physical WRs come the start of the season.
Backup – JR Nelson Nelson’s our tall corner, at 6-2 he stands taller than the rest of the corners and will be the 3rd corner that the defense will use. JR got some reps due to injuries or ineffectiveness from other corners last season, he looked raw then, and in some cases he’s still looking a little raw. Nelson looks dramatically improved and will be looked upon to play a ton this season. He needs to keep improving, especially position on his receiver when the ball is in the air. At times he’s been caught on double moves or just too stiff in his stance and had WRs sprint past him. Overall though along the sidelines JR has shown good improvement shutting receivers down, in the spring he had a few pass break ups on medium/deep passes. His stock is rising and he’ll be on the field a ton this year.
Backup – Ryan McKinley It starts to get a little more unknown after JR. No other corner has seen playing time on the field. McKinkley I think had the better spring. Wearing a familiar number as a corner (#2) he finished camp strong to stand out among the other young corners. He’s stiffer in his hips compared to JR, Nate, and Josh, but shows good instincts.
Backup – Chris Parker Parker I think got dinged up and missed a good portion of spring ball. Will he be knocked back to 3rd string because of that? Tough to say, we’ll have to see come fall camp.
Backup – Shane Moody Listed as the 3rd string boundary corner Moody started camp strong, tackling a WR for a safety or a near safety in the first scrimmage on a quick pass. He’s a short guy at 5-8 but is incredibly scrappy.
I’m hearing chatter that Marquin Russell may return, we’ll see. Other than that there were no corners in the latest recruiting class, so this is the squad that they’ll run with. Top 3 are solid, IMO, but after that it gets very inexperienced.