Notebook: Richards draws praise Andy Drukarev CardinalSportsReport Publisher Talk about it in The Farm Report Widely regarded as one of the top defensive backs gurus in all of football, Stanford DBs coach Duane Akina has coached numerous college and NFL stars in his three-plus decades in the profession. From Chuck Cecil to Earl Thomas and dozens of standout players in between, Akina knows secondary talent. So it was quite the statement when Akina mentioned yesterday that current Cardinal safety Jordan Richards is up there with some of the best Akina has ever coached. Ive dealt with a lot of great safeties over the years all the way back to my years at Arizona when I had Chuck Cecil there, who was a great player, and the McAlisters, all the way through to the safeties you see in the NFL now, Earl Thomas, Kenny Vaccaro, A.J. (Aaron) Williams, all these guys, Akina said. And Jordan Richards is right there in my humble opinion with those guys, where we are today. I mean, he is a top-flight college safety. My standard for great mental players has been Chuck Cecil, who has been an NFL defensive coordinator, Michael Huff, who was absolutely brilliant. When I say the high standard, Jordan Richards is in the group of Chuck Cecil and Michael Huff when it comes to that level of intelligence and ability. Were going to give him a lot of different hats to wear. Well get him down, give him an opportunity to play nickel, he can play dime, he can play corner, so he has a lot of position flexibility. We will ask him to do maybe more things than have been asked in the past. Richards is not Stanfords only defensive back who has the versatility to play multiple positions, however. I think Alex Carter has a tremendous amount of ability, Akina said. I think theres more in there than what he has put on film and Im out to go get it all. Wayne Lyons, I see him as really an outstanding corner that has a lot of position flexibility… I see a lot of flexibility where guys can play corner, they can come in and play nickel. Not only can they play those positions physically, they can play them mentally, too. Sometimes a great safety that knows all the positions mentally, he doesnt have the athletic ability to go out and play corner. Or a great corner that has great athletic ability cant learn all the concepts that a safety has to learn or a nickel or the different calls. But we have guys here that can learn them mentally and play them physically. So Im excited to get started with them. Akina is also bullish on the prospects Stanfords five true freshmen in the secondary: Brandon Simmons, Terrence Alexander, Alameen Murphy, Alijah Holder and Denzel Franklin. All of them (have shown me something), Akina said. I think weve guessed right on all of them. I think theyre all going to be players. I think theres enough athletic ability there. Alijah (Holder) and Alameen (Murphy) have great length. Terrence (Alexander) has shown great foot speed, great quickness. (Brandon) Simmons Ive known about since he was from Texas. Good football player, and so is Denzel. I think those guys will have a bright future and the best thing for them is they have great models in the room with Ronnie Harris and Alex Carter and Wayne Lyons and Jordan and Kyle Olugbode. They are just great models for them on how to prepare and how to practice. Several of Stanfords veterans are candidates to fill the nickelback position. Lyons is currently the leader in the clubhouse for the role, but Akina is also considering Ronnie Harris, Jordan Richards and Zach Hoffpauir, among others. We can go a lot of different directions (at nickel) but right now Wayne Lyons would probably be the first one that would go in there, Akina said. But Im teaching Jordan to be a nickel also. I really believe whats helped safeties in the past is to be able to put on film that you can (cover) that slot receiver and play man to man, and he has the ability to do that. Ronnie Harris can go in there. Hoffpauir, who I didnt get a chance to work with in the spring because he was busy going yard over there (at Sunken Diamond), Im really excited to get a chance to work with Hoffpauir. I think he brings a lot of energy to the table, much like Ronnie Harris. They just have some personality about them and hes a quick study, can make plays, and he has position flexibility that he can fall into the nickel. What weve done in the past is theres a big nickel, theres a small nickel. So if its a quick, Wes Welker (type of player), you can bring Ronnie Harris in there to match up on a quicker, slot receiver. So were building a lot of flexibility into the package and the players are able to do that because they can learn it mentally, and like I said, physically. Before Stanford coach David Shaw hired Akina as his defensive backs coach, Shaw had extended conversations with former Texas coach Mack Brown about Akina. Mack and I had multiple long conversations about him, Shaw said. Mack has coached a lot of football and he said hes one of the best football coaches he has ever been around. Hes passionate. Hes family-oriented. You see him running around. Hes never in the same spot twice. Hes all over the place. The guys feel his energy. Its very similar to Derek Mason - the guys know that he cares about their success. He wants them to be good. So its a cajoling, its a pushing because, I know you can do so much better, and they feel that passion and energy from him. ########## Receiver Ty Montgomery might not be completely recovered from the shoulder injury that has limited his participation in practice, but any lingering health issues have not noticeably hindered his performance. Ty Montgomery was phenomenal (on Wednesday), Shaw said. (Hes) looking great. He still has the yellow jersey so hes not getting jostled too much, but were still pressing him and being physical with him at the line. Hes up to 220 pounds, over 220, at four percent body fat. That makes no sense to me. And hes fast and explosive and feels great. So well see. Hopefully we can get the clearance from the doctors but well do whats smart for him early in the season. Several offensive linemen also caught Shaws attention for their strong play through the first few days of training camp. I think Johnny Caspers has done extremely well along with Josh Garnett, Shaw said. The two guys that are in kind of new roles and had decent springs, but not great springs. Josh had a good spring. Both have started off like gangbusters. Theyre confident, they know what theyre doing. We started out power scheme today and both guys pulled great, (they have a) great understanding. Kyle Murphy has been great. Andrus has had to miss sometime because of class so Kyle has been able to flip right tackle and left tackle and both have been seamless. Its great to see that versatility. As time goes theyll gel into a unit but, thats been really positive. Thus far, despite a strong start to camp, the Cardinal offensive line has struggled to contain fifth-year senior defensive end Henry Anderson. Thats to be expected - Anderson has one of the best defensive linemen in the conference for several years - but the Georgia native has seemingly elevated his play to an even higher level. We cant block him still, Shaw said. We cant block him. And I think were playing well up front - hes on another level right now. Im really excited for somebody else to try to block him. Still, despite the return of Anderson and fellow fifth-year seniors Blake Lueders and David Parry, and the emergence of Aziz Shittu - Stanfords defensive line depth remains a major unknown. Thats been my question, Shaw said. Thats exactly been my question. I dont have the answer just yet. Its a good cast of characters right now. David Parry and Henry Anderson and Aziz and Blake Lueders are known commodities right now. I feel extremely good about those guys. Jordan Watkins got dinged up today but hell be back in a few days or so. Hes fine, but were seeing what hes going to do. Luke Kaumatule has come on really strong. Hes already started better now than he finished in spring. Hes in that conversation. Nate Lohn has been doing very well. Our two young guys, once they figure it out, are dynamic athletes. I think Solomon Thomas has a chance, but well see. Theres still a lot of learning .We do a lot of stuff. Same with Harrison Phillips. Both of those guys are going to be difference makers. Can they learn it enough to do it this year? Well have to see. ########## Ryan Hewitts departure to the NFL hasnt left the cupboard bare at fullback. Fifth-year senior Lee Ward is a dominant blocker, and redshirt junior Patrick Skov has shown his physicality as a key special teams player for the Cardinal. We rotated Lee in last year for certain plays and he was outstanding. He was awesome against Notre Dame. He was awesome against Cal. There were certain games where he was just unbelievable. So we feel extremely comfortable. I think Pat Skov has grown a lot as far as his comprehension. Hes a different athlete than Lee, I believe, so there are different things we can do with both of them, but we have all the confidence in both of them right now to do everything in our offense. Though neither Ward nor Skov have Hewitts pedigree as a pass catcher, Stanford wont shy away from involving their fullbacks in the passing game this year. I think they can both do it, Shaw said. Ryan was a tight end playing fullback so it was so natural for him and he was amazing at it. But I think the two guys that we have do a good job also. So were not going to shy away from that stuff. Its still going to be a part of what we do. Redshirt junior running back Remound Wright is expected to rejoin the team in the next week-and-a-half. Wright missed the second session of spring practice and the early portion of training camp due to a disciplinary issue. The Cardinals first practice in full pads will be held on Friday. Stanford will hold its first open practice of training camp at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 20:45:51 +0000
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