Look, we all know that football is going to back in our lives, whether you like it or not, or whether or not it is good for your liver. We’re going to have that sort of faith that things will get worked out.
We have at least 2 months to hang out and just be friends together. No sports, just friends. Let’s go.
Cornerbacks
| # | FULL NAME | POS. | HT. / WT. | YEAR | HOMETOWN / HIGH SCHOOL | PREVIOUS SCHOOL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 | Fields, DaMarcus | CB | 6-0/200 | Sr. | Taylor, Texas / Taylor | |
| 7 | Frye, Adrian | CB | 6-0/195 | Jr. | Houston, Texas / Eisenhower | |
| 8 | McPhearson, Zech | CB | 5-11/195 | Sr. | Columbia, Md. / Riverdale Baptist | Penn State |
| 17 | Davis, Jr., John | CB | 6-1/190 | Jr. | Euless, Texas / Trinity | |
| 27 | Hogan, Alex | CB | 5-11/180 | So. | Houston, Texas / Lamar | |
| 19 | Watts, Dequanteous | CB | 6-2/165 | R-Fr. | Atlanta, Georgia / Maynard Jackson |
Let’s talk about the cornerbacks first. I’m not smart enough to really know if the cornerbacks or the safeties struggled. It’s safe to say that they all struggled. The thing that I don’t understand is that I think these guys are good athletes. They aren’t tomato cans and pushovers. I think there’s some talent there. I’m a bit excited about Frye moving back to the cornerback and I think having some guys out there that can actually cover, 3 cornerbacks compared to 3 safeties last year, would seemingly be a positive. The biggest problem is that there’s not a lot of depth here. Hogan got a start at the end of the year, Davis should be playing a lot of time and Watts needs to add some weight.
Safeties
| # | FULL NAME | POS. | HT. / WT. | YEAR | HOMETOWN / HIGH SCHOOL | PREVIOUS SCHOOL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22 | Ingram, Ja’Marcus | S | 6-2/185 | Sr. | Dallas, Texas / South Oak Cliff | Utah State |
| 16 | Leggett, Thomas | S | 6-0/200 | Sr. | Navarre, Fla. / Navarre | Allan Hancock College |
| 24 | Beck, Adam | S | 6-2/205 | Jr. | Richmond, Texas / George Ranch | Minnesota |
| 25 | Taylor, Dadrion | S | 5-11/180 | So. | Oklahoma City, Okla. / Carl Albert | |
| 3 | Martin, Xavier | S | 6-0/190 | Jr. | Cibolo, Texas / Steele | |
| 28 | Boyd, Darien | S | 5-11/190 | R-Fr. | Wichita Falls, Texas / Rider | |
| 29 | Butler, Devyn | S | 5-10/180 | R-Fr. | Allen, Texas / Allen | |
| 30 | Boyd, Cole | S | 6-3/180 | R-Fr. | Boerne, Texas / Boerne | |
| 38 | Whitfield, Jett | S | 5-11/205 | R-Fr. | New Deal, Texas / New Deal | |
| 40 | Gray, Daemian | S | 6-0/185 | R-Fr. | Amarillo, Texas / Tascosa | |
| 41 | Jaramillo, Luis | S | 6-0/175 | R-Fr. | Austin, Texas / Lake Travis |
Anyone who is not a cornerback gets lumped into the safety spot, even if they are a walk-on. I’ll be honest, I’m conflicted here. I think that a guy like Leggett is a high-effort player. I think he’s given his all to this program and on top of that, I’m not sure that he can play at a high level. I think he would be great supporting the line of scrimmage, but in coverage . . . that’s not his strong suit. I actually love the way that he tackles, but coverage is an issue.
This article from Avalache-Journal’s Don Williams notes that Ingram is going to stay at safety. Beck played the hybrid spot last year and some linebacker, but is apparently going to stick at safety. That’s probably a good thing. The surprise of the spring was moving Xavier Martin from inside receiver to the secondary. My guess is safety, but your guess is aas good as mine. I think the coaches love Taylor, but that’s a pretty thin group. Every player after Martin is a walk-on and I don’t know a bunch about them.
Freshmen
| FULL NAME | POS. | HT. / WT. | YEAR | HOMETOWN / HIGH SCHOOL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Davis | DB | 6-1/165 | Fr. | Dallas, Texas |
| Ryan Frank | DB | 6-4/185 | Fr. | Magnolia, Texas |
| Kobee Minor | DB | 6-0/175 | Fr. | Corinth, Texas |
| Nate Floyd | DB | 6-0/170 | Fr. | College Station, Texas |
I’d probably think that Davis is a cornerback and maybe the other three are safeties? I’m not totally sure. Floyd is a pretty big hitter, but not a lot of size and Minor isn’t exactly pushing the needle in terms of weight so maybe safety isn’t in the cards for a year or so.
I think we’re going to find out how much coaching makes a difference. I simply hope that new secondary coach Derek Jones can coach two position groups and that he can make a huge improvement. The good thing is that head coach Matt Wells obviously acknowledged that there needed to be significant improvement, so much so that he fired Kerry Cooks and Juice Brown after just one year. And in comes just one coach, Jones, to replace both of them. That makes me slightly nervous, but optimistic as well.