New coaches want aggressive secondary
Ford (6 feet, 195 pounds) garnered a four-star recruiting ranking coming out of Steel Valley High School mostly because of his play as a ball-hawking safety. But now, with seemingly endless combinations in play for Pitt’s secondary, Ford will try his hand at corner. Make that hands, actually.
Monday, new secondary coach Archie Collins declared that Ford had “two or three picks” on the first day of spring camp. Tuesday, redshirt junior Dane Jackson — who might just be a lock to start at one cornerback spot after his breakout sophomore season — had more rave reviews of Ford’s presence.
“It’s tremendous. Even when he first came, he’s been that guy. Even when he was on scout team, he’s been that guy, bringing energy,” Jackson said. “Now, since he’s playing, it’s just a lot better.”
But also Tuesday, new defensive coordinator Randy Bates hit the brakes on the hype train a bit — not just for Ford, but for everybody who has impressed through two days of practicing in shorts.
“Well, they’re all making plays. I would say to you Paris made some good plays [Monday] — several of them did — but it’s way too early to get too excited about anybody without pads on,” said Bates, a former Northwestern linebackers coach now in charge of Pat Narduzzi’s defense.
“We’ll go in pads on Thursday and the game will totally change … so we’ll [have] our reservations, or hold our opinions, until after we get maybe through the first scrimmage here, then I’ll give you a better feel. But he’s doing great.”
Narduzzi, too, drew a line of demarcation between these first two days and the rest of spring ball. Even by March and April standards, the intensity will go up a notch Thursday once the players put on pads, and Saturday will be the first of three scrimmages before the spring game April 14.
While Ford is known as much for his enthusiasm as anyone on the roster, Narduzzi sees fire across the board.
“It’s like trying to control a bunch of dogs out there,” Narduzzi said Tuesday. “These guys don’t slow down. I’ll be happy for the pads to go on. It’s almost unsafe. … It gets rough out there sometimes. As a head coach, I’m quick on the whistle here to try to keep those guys under control.”
With Ford now trending toward cornerback, and former Brashear standout Therran Coleman going from that spot to safety, Pitt’s secondary appears to be as malleable as ever. Those defensive backs even have two new position coaches in Archie Collins (secondary) and Cory Sanders (safeties).
As far as Collins’ philosophy goes, it seems rather simple what he’s trying to instill in Pitt’s defensive backfield.
“Going to get the ball,” Collins said, with no hesitation. “I like getting the ball. Competing, playing with toughness, tackling, playing with a lot of effort, having a lot of juice, having a lot of enthusiasm — those are the things that are the core values for me, and that’s what I expect ‘em to play like.”
None of those traits should be a problem for Ford, who still could end up at safety, Narduzzi and Collins made sure to acknowledge. Once again, it’s only March, but early returns are positive for perhaps Pitt’s most intriguing piece.
“He’s gotta continue to work on technique and things of that nature,” Collins said. “But he’ll continue to get better and better each day.”
“I think I’ve grown a lot,” Ford said. “I’ve learned multiple positions since I’ve been here, also formations, but right now I’m looking pretty good at corner, so I’m gonna stick with that, I guess.”