Marist Liufau hasn’t even earned a star decal for the side of his helmet yet, but one day into minicamp, the Cowboys rookie has already gotten rave reviews from one of his fellow linebackers.
The third-round draft pick out of Notre Dame was called a reach by some draft analysts, many of whom felt that Dallas should have used the 87th overall selection on a running back. But since his arrival, the Hawaiian-born Liufau has impressed Cowboys coaches with his intelligence, and now his teammates are seeing it first-hand, too.
“He’s a sponge,” third-year linebacker Damone Clark said Tuesday, per Patrik Walker of dallascowboys.com. “He asks a lot of questions. He goes out there and does everything 110 percent. He gives his all on every play, and the sky is the limit for him. Marist is going to be one of them ones.”
The team is counting on it. The Cowboys’ new linebacker corps- under the leadership of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer in his first year back on the job- will be anchored by veteran Eric Kendricks, who just joined the club in March. Clark led all Dallas ‘backers (except for Micah Parsons, who is only technically a linebacker on paper) with nearly 800 defensive snaps last year, but he’s just 23 and still developing. And second-year project DeMarvion Overshown has yet to take the field in a real game.
Cowboys 3rd round pick Marist Liufau working in his first minicamp. pic.twitter.com/TAep3qjzBE
— Joseph Hoyt (@JoeJHoyt) June 4, 2024
So Liufau figures to have a real opportunity to make an impact as a rookie. Zimmer said as much in May, when he hinted to The Doomsday Podcast that Liufau could be deployed in much the same way as Parsons.
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“Number one, he’s brilliant,” Zimmer told podcast hosts Matt Mosely and Ed Werder. “He catches on really quick. He wants to be so good and so intense that he’s almost too much at it right now. The other thing is I think he’s a really good pressure player, and I think having that with Parsons and another pressure player that is a linebacker, he can move somewhere else and Parsons can move somewhere else. I think those pieces add to confusion for the offense. Plus, he’s a really good rusher.”
It’s still early for the rookie, but after one day of mandatory minicamp, Damone Clark seems to agree.
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