Tag: defensive backs

Wisconsin football offers talented class of 2026 defensive back

Wisconsin football offers talented class of 2026 defensive back

Wisconsin football extended an offer to promising class of 2026 defensive back James Dunnigan Jr. on Tuesday.

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound prospect joins quarterback Ryan Hopkins and defensive lineman Josiah Hope as notable recruits from the class of 2026 to receive offers from UW in October. Despite being a junior, Dunnigan Jr. currently boasts eight offers at this stage of his recruiting process.

As of Oct. 25, that list includes Tulsa, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas State, Kansas, Colorado State, Utah and Wisconsin. 247Sports considers Dunnigan the No. 36 cornerback and No. 5 overall recruit from Kansas for the class of 2026.

A product of Manhattan High School in Manhattan, Kansas, Dunnigan has accumulated 56 total tackles and three interceptions in 19 appearances for his varsity squad on the gridiron. Dunnigan also plays basketball and runs track for the school.

Dunnigan’s most lethal trait appears to be his speed in the open field. As a sophomore, he recorded 100-meter reps of 10.94, 11.01 and 11.03 seconds.

While he does not boast a crystal ball prediction from 247Sports just yet, On3’s prediction recruiting machine lists the Kansas State Wildcats as the favorite to land the three-star recruit at 58.6%. The outlet then lists Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado State as the next likely options.

Chiefs Justin Reid praises rookie defensive backs’ performances: ‘Two big-time plays’

Kansas City #Chiefs safety Justin Reid praises rookie defensive backs’ performances: ‘Two big-time plays’ | @EdEastonJr

Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid led the team in tackles and secured an interception in Sunday’s victory over the San Francisco 49ers.  He praised his rookie teammates in the secondary during his postgame press conference.

“They never know when the number is going to be called, but they’re always ready to go, and they got to make two big-time plays, and we need them to,” said Reid. “We’re going to need them down the stretch even more, and they’re going to show up more for us (and we’re) more confident in that. CRW (Christian Roland-Wallace) getting that, you know, the toe trap swag on the sideline and then Jaden Hicks, a pick in the end zone, two big-time plays.”

Rookies Christian Roland-Wallace and Jaden Hicks also walked away with crucial interceptions off 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy. Reid revealed the close nature of the secondary and that he’s not surprised by their breakout performances.

“It’s a unity that we have, not just in our room, but across the whole defense, like we have a team that truly prepares the next man, we’re all in. We communicate daily. We talk about, what if this happens, what if that happens? The next man up — we take time after practice and meet up on our own time.” Reid said. “We still talk coverage, and it works. The guys are confident out there, and we pride ourselves on our physicality. You know, across the board, DBs, we tackle, we’re physical, and we’re going to play press coverage, and we’re going to make it tough on you. You’ve got to find ways to beat us.”

The three interceptions from the secondary and pressure from the defensive line have helped keep the Chiefs undefeated through six games this season.

Two Wisconsin defensive playmakers make 2024 Chuck Bednarik Award watch list

Two Wisconsin defensive playmakers make 2024 Chuck Bednarik Award watch list

Wisconsin star defensive backs Hunter Wohler and Ricardo Hallman cracked the 2024 Chuck Bednarik Award watch list on Monday.

The honor annually recognizes the most outstanding defensive player in college football. 2024 marks the 30th installation of the honor.

This marks Wohler’s fourth preseason award watch list nomination. He’s also been named to the watch list for the 2024 Wuerffel Trophy (community service), 2024 Jim Thorpe Award (best defensive back) and Bronko Nagurski Trophy (best defensive player).

Despite Hallman’s stellar AP Third Team All-American output in 2023, this marks only his first award watch list recognition of the 2024 preseason.

A total of nineteen Big Ten athletes cracked the final list, which was compiled by the Maxwell Football Club, Pro Football Focus (PFF) and Phil Steele Publications as the award’s selection committee partners.

Purdue safety Dillon Thieneman, Penn State safety Kevin Winston Jr., Oregon cornerback Jabbar Muhammad and Ohio State safety Caleb Downs are among the two Badgers’ conference rivals to make the final list at their respective positions.

Notable former winners include Alabama’s Will Anderson Jr. (2022), Georgia’s Jordan Davis (2021), Ohio State’s Chase Young (2019) and Alabama’s Minkah Fitzpatrick (2017).

Hallman and Wohler will serve as the two leaders of Wisconsin’s defensive backfield in 2024. Wohler recorded 120 tackles in 2023, and Hallman was one of two players in the country to record seven interceptions a season ago.

Both will look to build on their spectacular 2023 season outputs for the Badgers this fall with hopes of bolstering their stocks for the 2025 NFL draft.

Wisconsin star among PFF’s top returning safeties in college football

Wisconsin star among PFF’s top returning safeties in college football

Wisconsin star Hunter Wohler was listed at No. 8 in ProFootballFocus’ recent ranking of the top 10 returning college football safeties entering 2024.

The Wisconsin native landed just above Alabama’s Keon Sabb and West Virginia’s Aubrey Burks, who earned No. 9 and No. 10, respectively in PFF’s ranking.

Ohio State’s Caleb Downs, Georgia’s Malaki Starks, Purdue’s Dillon Thieneman, Notre Dame’s Xavier Watts, Penn State’s Kevin Winston Jr., Iowa’s Xavier Nwankpa and Michigan’s Rod Moore rounded out the top 10, ranked ahead of UW’s talented defensive back.

Wohler was named First Team All-Big Ten by the Associated Press a season ago and led all Big Ten defensive backs with 120 total tackles.

The safety’s 74 solo tackles also ranked No. 1 among all qualified defensive backs in NCAA Division I college football. He became the first Big Ten DB to post over 110 tackles, a sack and multiple INTs in the same season since 2010.

The junior captained Wisconsin’s top-25 scoring defense as UW’s most dependable defender throughout the 2023 campaign, and he will look to lead Mike Tressel’s unit once again before he likely declares for the 2025 NFL draft.

Wisconsin class of 2025 CB commit cracks Rivals new top-250 national rankings

Wisconsin 2025 DB commit cracks Rivals top-250 national rankings

Wisconsin football class of 2025 cornerback commit Jaimier Scott moved up to No. 136 in Rivals’ updated national rankings on Wednesday.

Rivals also catapulted the four-star recruit to No. 9 from the state of Ohio and No. 10 at his position in the class.

Despite receiving over 20 offers from Division I programs across the nation, Scott committed to the Badgers on January 20, 2024. The Cincinatti, Ohio native chose UW over programs such as Michigan, Penn State, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Tennessee and Miami (Florida).

247Sports, meanwhile, has Scott as the No. 232 player in the class of 2025, No. 7 athlete and No. 10 recruit from the state of Ohio.

Scott was the third defensive back in the class of 2025 to commit to Luke Fickell’s platoon behind three-star safeties Remington Moss and Grant Dean. The 6-foot-1, 177-pound rising senior remains the only corner to commit to UW in the class.

At the time of Scott’s commitment, Wisconsin’s class of 2025 was ranked No. 9 in the nation. Following recent commitments from wide receiver Cameron Miller and athlete Luke Emmerich, UW’s class of 2025 currently sits at No. 19 nationally with 11 commitments.

Alabama hires former SEC DB as assistant defensive backs coach

The Alabama football coaching staff added a new member in a former SEC defensive back who joins the collegiate coaching ranks.

Former Mississippi State defensive back Kivon Coman will be joining Alabama’s coaching staff. He will serve as a graduate assistant and help coach the defensive backs.

Coman played for Mississippi State from 2013-2016. The Alabama native played in 49 games over the course of his college career. He recorded 188 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, and three interceptions for the Bulldogs in four seasons.

Since graduating, Coman has served as an assistant coach for Florence High School and Hoover High School. Both of which are located in the state of Alabama.

Coman joins an Alabama coaching staff that has been assembled in the last three to four weeks. Having played in the SEC, Coman knows the expectations that come with playing at a school like Alabama.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to follow the latest news regarding the Alabama football program.

15 Most Impactful Texans of 2023: No. 10 Steven Nelson

Steven Nelson turned in one of the best seasons of his career in 2023, helping the Texans make the playoffs and win a postseason game

The Houston Texans had an extremely successful 2023 campaign.

They cruised to a 10-7 record under new head coach DeMeco Ryans and captured several accolades along the way. They won the AFC South and won a playoff game for the first time since the 2019 season. Rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud won PFWA’s Offensive Rookie of the Year, rookie edge rusher Will Anderson won PFWA’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, and even Ryans took home hardware with PFWA’s Coach of the Year.

With a revamped team effort that led to dramatic improvements compared to both the 2021 and 2022 Texans, it’s worth examining who created that impact this past season and what their future projects moving forward.

This series has taken a look at defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins, running back Devin Singletary, rookie receiver Tank Dell, and veteran tackle George Fant, and upstart linebacker Blake Cashman.

Today, we take a closer look at cornerback Steven Nelson.

WATCH: Chiefs DBs McDuffie, Edwards, Cook combine for insane TD vs. Dolphins in Week 9

Chiefs DBs Trent McDuffie, Mike Edwards, and Bryan Cook combined for this insane touchdown against the Dolphins in Week 9.

The Kansas City Chiefs scored an insane defensive touchdown against the Miami Dolphins in Week 9 when defensive backs Trent McDuffie and Bryan Cook combined for a long run back following a Tyreek Hill fumble in Frankfurt, Germany.

The play occurred when Miami was trying to drive downfield to score its first points of the highly anticipated international matchup. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa flipped a short pass out to Hill on the outside, and when McDuffie forced a fumble after making a form tackle, Mike Edwards made a recovery and craziness ensued.

Edwards was nearly tackled before flipping the ball to Cook, who took the ball all the way to the Dolphins’ end zone on the other end of the field.

This improbable turn of events gave Kansas City a three-touchdown lead heading into halftime, and while Miami is set to receive the second-half kick, a Dolphins comeback seems unlikely given the Chiefs’ defensive excellence.

Kool-Aid McKinstry ranked as the top returning CB in College Football

Kool-Aid McKinstry viewed as the top CB in college football

In recent years, the University of Alabama has had unparalleled success in producing defensive backs that are prepared to be superstars in the NFL. In the past five or six seasons alone, Alabama has produced All-Pro caliber guys like Minkah Fitzpatrick, Marlon Humphrey, Trevon Diggs, Patrick Surtain and Xavier McKinney; but the next great DB coming down the Alabama pipeline is cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry.

McKinstry is an Alabama native from the Birmingham area who was a five-star recruit out of high school and named ‘Mr. Football’ his senior year. He appeared in 15 games as a true freshman and was named to the All-SEC Freshman team. As well as being a big-time football recruit, McKinstry was highly sought after by Nate Oats and many basketball programs around the country. However, with his football career skyrocketing, he never played any games on the hardwood.

In 2022, McKinstry was a first-team All-American from various sites such as Pro Football Focus, and the associated press had him as a third-team selection. Regardless, McKinstry was one of the most talented DBs in the country last season and On3 has him ranked as the No. 1 overall corner entering 2023. He is also listed as their ninth-best player regardless of position and receiving a lot of buzz ahead of the 2024 NFL draft. It will be a lot of fun watching him improve his stock this season as he will be locking down one side of the field.

Roll Tide Wire will continue to monitor Kool-Aid McKinstry as the 2023 season approaches.

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Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.

PFF ranks the NFL’s top six defensive players under the age of 25

Diggs and Surtain listed as two of the best defenders under the age of 25 in the NFL

As the NFL has shifted to being primarily an offensive-oriented league, the importance of having young defensive superstars has never been more important. Getting stops is getting harder and harder by the year, so having guys who can make game-altering plays is paramount.

Outside of Aaron Donald, there aren’t many defensive players in the NFL that can almost single-handily shut down an offensive scheme, but there are some really special young talents in the NFL that are making their presence known.

Pro Football Focus ranked their top six defensive players under the age of 25 which included two former Alabama standouts in Patrick Surtain II and Trevon Diggs.

Surtain has cemented himself as arguably the best corner in the game, regardless of age, as the corner piece of the Broncos’ defense. While Trevon Diggs of the Cowboys has shown the best ball-hawking skills of any defensive back in the NFL as he led the league with 11 interceptions in 2021, the most in the NFL since 1981.

Alabama’s reputation for producing DBs is already the best in the college game, and with players like this coming out every other year, it is easy to see why.

The other four players who qualified for the list are Micah Parsons, Sauce Gardner, A.J. Terrell and Tariq Woolen. Outside of Parsons, the entire list is made up of DBs, which further shows the importance of slowing down NFL offenses and some of the elite receivers we have in the game today.

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Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Sam Murphy on Twitter @SamMurphy02.