Farrar adjusting to inside linebacker
MADISON – Arrington Farrar’s transition from safety to inside linebacker began on a nondescript spring day, with a wisecrack to Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.
Farrar and Leonhard were in the UW football offices evaluating video when Farrar noticed that one of the team’s inside linebackers made a mistake in coverage.
Farrar, who weighed 231 pounds at the time, turned to Leonhard and joked:
“Hey, you put me down there and I can be the best cover ‘backer.”
Leonhard smiled and asked: “How do you feel about
that? We’ve been talking about that. Go talk to Coach (Paul) Chryst.”
Farrar did as instructed. Soon he was meeting with assistants Bob Bostad (inside linebackers) and Tim Tibesar (outside linebackers).
“I thought I was heading to outside linebacker,” Farrar said. “But Coach Leonhard said you’re going inside.”
That position is now home for Farrar, a junior who carries 237 pounds on his 6-foot-2 frame and made his debut at linebacker in the opener against Utah State. Up 22 pounds from his freshman season in 2015, Farrar entered the opener in the final quarter and recorded four tackles.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect to get in,” said Farrar, who is the fourth inside linebacker in UW’s rotation. “There’s some things I’m still learning and working on.”
Too big to play safety and make plays in the open field, Farrar is still quick enough to make plays at inside linebacker.
His biggest obstacle is that the move to linebacker, which came late in the spring, has forced him to learn the position on the fly.
Farrar feels comfortable in coverage because of his work in the secondary.
Yet he has to train his eyes to focus on different keys, he sometimes takes a false step or two at the snap, which puts him at a disadvantage, and sometimes is too aggressive in attacking the line of scrimmage.
“There’s a lot more keys to read in the box,” he said. “You’ve got to watch the tackles, quarterback and the backs.
“When you’re in the secondary you kind of keep your eyes on one guy and he’ll tell you where to go.
“So getting my eyes right is something I am still working on.”
Because he remains quick for a 237-pound linebacker, Farrar can sometimes overcome an initial step in the wrong direction.
“I am still quicker than everybody so sometimes if I make a false step and I see it as I am making the false step, I can recover,” he said. “Now if I don’t see it and I take a false step, that is when I get blocked or suckered in.”
Farrar seeks advice from the team’s other inside linebackers whenever he can.
“I feel once I get (everything) down I’ll be a pretty solid player,” he said.
If any player can understand Farrar’s efforts to learn the position it is senior Leon Jacobs.
Jacobs started out at outside linebacker at UW but was moved to inside linebacker, to fullback last season, back to inside linebacker after injuries hit the position and to outside linebacker in the spring.
Jacobs started his first game on the outside in the opener and recorded four tackles.
“He is good at shooting the gap,” said Jacobs, adding playfully that Arrington sometimes gets too aggressive. “But I think linebacker fits him more. He is naturally big and strong and he is fast.”