Why has our safety play been so poor for so long?

Submitted by M go Bru on

Outside of Kovacs I can't remember one that was an asset in recent vintage. Depth always seems to be a problem. If the starter gets hurt our backups are poor at best.

However, I do believe the current Wilson / Hiil tandem could develop into a strength.

Is it because we are recruiting for cornerbacks and those that don't have the sufficient cover skills get shifted to the safety position by default?

Is it because recruiting the safety position is more of a crapshoot for the next level like offensive linemen?

Is it because some safeties are converted HS linebackers that have to be taught a whole different position?

I'm sure there are HS coaching types out there that can enlighten us.

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WMUKirk

January 10th, 2015 at 12:20 PM ^

Scheme wise we left our 2 safeties to play quads. You hear of Cover 3 because the deep field is split into a third. In our aggressive blitzing scheme, they had to defend the seam, and play the outside deep. In C2/C4 the LB's follow the seams and they press release the WR inside. In our scheme we didn't press, we didn't play C3. We tried a mutant mixture, which works well amazingly for non-spread offenses. So; long story short our safeties had a lot of responsibility so big plays were bound to happen. But generally played well, and were good in run support.



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rob f

January 10th, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^

a 3* recruit as a WR/Safety before JH and his staff at Stanford developed him into the star he is now for the Seahawks?

In Jimmy and his staff I trust.

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goblue16

January 10th, 2015 at 12:42 PM ^

Cato June was great so was marlin Jackson who played both safety and cb. Who was the safety In 2003 I remember he wore 21?

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Srjr75

January 10th, 2015 at 1:16 PM ^

Harbaugh's got in bringing in a coach who has played the position (at the pro level for 12 years) and has also sucessfully coached it also.

No disrespect Coach Manning but you don't have and ex-linebacker coach DB's

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MgoRayO3313

January 10th, 2015 at 4:54 PM ^

To be fair safety is one of the most difficult positions to find for a collegiate football program. It's always difficult to find them because they are often not safeties at the HS level. As previously mentioned Safeties are typically linebackers in high school, especially if they come from an average program. As a coach I often take kids who would be stud safeties and bring them closer to the LOS as a backer. I do it because I have always coached D from the line back. By trade I am a WR/secondary coach. But over time I have realized if you can control the lOS and stop the run in HS you can be in almost any game regardless of skill or talent.

Other people have asked me if I ever feel like I have put kids in positions that they are not suited for. My response is always "all the time". Idk why that surprising. As a coach your responsibility is to win. If a safety is solid enough to handle the contact of an LB then they will likely get bumped up to backer. My safeties never have to be the greatest physical talents, but they have to be smart, vocal players who can make calls and line up correctly. If you do that then your D will be able to compete. I feel like often our safeties are out of position and that's why they get burned.



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