(06-15-2016 11:13 AM)mrbig Wrote:  

(06-15-2016 10:45 AM)Pan95 Wrote:  Anyone care to speculate as to why we are trying to take so many corners? I understand that our secondary has been maligned recently, but if we hold on to these recruits, we will have a lot of DBs on campus. Are they planning to convert some of these guys to Safety?

Because Rice's pass defense has been pretty miserable during Bailiff's entire tenure and they are trying to improve it with more talented bodies? The only year Rice's secondary was even OK was 2013 with both Gaines and Callahan as the starting CB's, but even then the safeties could still be picked apart (despite White and Hill having plenty of speed). It would be great if Rice could run a 4-2-5 where 4 guys in the backfield were essentially CB's who could still support the run game. Kind of need that kind of speed in today's pass-heavy environment.

Yeah, like I said, I'm sure that our pass defense being atrocious the last few seasons had plenty to do with it. I'm just perplexed from a numbers standpoint. Also, the other factor is having a disruptive pass rush. I'm just perplexed at how many corners we are recruiting given that prior to the 2014 class, we rarely signed more than two corners.

In the 2014 class we signed:
Jorian Clark - Corner (now Free Safety)
J.T. Ibe - Safety
Destri White - QB that was moved to Safety.
V.J. Banks - Corner
Martin Nwakamma - Safety

In the 2015 class we signed:
Brandon Douglas - Corner
Justin Bickham - Corner
Josh Cummings - Corner
Houston Robert - Safety
Christian Bertrand - Safety

In the 2016 class we signed:
D'Angelo Ellis - Corner/Safety
Darsharm Newsome - Corner
Dylan Silcox - Safety
Collin Whitaker - Corner/Safety

In the 2017 class we have Verbal Commitments from:
TyRae Thornton - Corner
George Nyakwol - Corner but at 6-2 175, could project to safety
Isaiah Richardson - Corner; 6-1 190, could project to safety.

Another hypothesis is that we are trying to increase our special team's speed. However, like you mentioned MrBig, the obvious narrative is that there is a concerted effort to increase our coverage ability at Safety. Collin Whitaker played a lot like the Honey Badger during his senior year at Prestonwood so I could see him transitioning to safety. Dylan Silcox could become a true hybrid safety/linebacker such as what we are trying to do with Tabari McGaskey. Anyway, just some observations. Now we need more defensive linemen and another running back.