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After wrapping up the front-sevens, we now move on to the defensive backfield and we start with the safeties. This list includes a few different types of players, however. There are those rangy middle-of-the-field free safeties, more of those short-area and in-the-box strong safeties as well as combo guys, who can do a little bit of everything. Once again, we look at these young men as college players - not eventual draft prospects.
#1. Jaquan Johnson, Miami
For a Hurricane defense that feasted on turnovers and putting on that chain, Johnson was a turnover-machine with four interceptions, two forced fumbles and another one recovered. The second-team All-American seems to always be around the football and was named the team’s most valuable player in 2017 from the safety spot. While he has experience covering deep, Johnson played a lot in that robber role for Miami and consistently punished receivers for trying to go over the middle.
Johnson is an elite run-defender from center field as well as basically an extra linebacker in the box and he shows no fear of taking on bigger bodies as they try to block him. The Canes DB tracks the eyes of the quarterback and is not afraid of letting receivers run by him. He constantly buries his shoulder into opponents to knock the ball loose, but at times he wants to take somebody’s head off so bad, that he forgets that he has arms to wrap up and misses some tackles due to it.
#2. Lukas Denis, Boston College
BC has put out a couple of excellent safety prospects in recent years when you look at Justin Simmons and John Johnson, but this young man will be the best among them. Denis started his collegiate career on the outside but moved to free safety in 2016. He had a ridiculous junior season, in which he intercepted seven passes and deflected another ten. He also recorded 83 tackles and forced two fumbles.
The Eagles’ DB is an extremely fluid athlete in space, who wants to keep his shoulders parallel and be in a position to break different ways for as long as possible. He lines up in the slot and has experience covering one half of the field, but Denis is his best as that rangy centerfielder with exceptionally well-coordinated feet. Either he gets his hands on the ball in the air or he punches through the ball when setting his tackles. Denis doesn’t show a lack of interest to tackle people, but at 185 pounds he simply lacks some size to bring down bigger bodies.
#3. Andrew Wingard, Wyoming
This guy is a maniac on the football field and I love it. Wingard presents muscular frame at six feet, 210 pounds and is that hybrid defensive back, who can line up as the single-high safety on one snap, drop down into the box and cover backs the next and then finally comes off the slot on a blitz. The 2017 All-Mountain West selection in 2017 attacks upfield like crazy and led the country in run stops in 2017 among DBs.
In his three-year career with the Cowboys, Wingard has amassed 367 total tackles, with 22.5 of them going for less and he has forced five fumbles. He has experience covering tight-ends and slot receivers, intercepting a career-high five passes last season and comes in with tremendous pursuit as a blitzer. The only thing Wingard lacks is elite top-end speed, but with how ferocious he is at chasing after people, it doesn’t really show up.
#4. Taylor Rapp, Washington
This guy has been a key-piece to the Washington defense ever since he first stepped on the field for them because of the versatility he presents. Similar to Budda Baker a couple of years, Rapp lines up all over the field for the Huskies and makes his presence felt. He is splash-hitter, who deliver big shots over the middle of the field and along the sidelines. Yet, he still wraps up on his tackles.
Rapp goes through people on his way to the ball – sometimes even from his own team. The first-team All-Pac-12 performer in 2017 has recorded five interceptions in 26 career games. He has experience running with slot receivers across the field and completely lays out to get his fingertips on balls that seem out of reach. Rapp also picked up a couple of sacks last season, where he has shown tremendous snap anticipation. However, as a deep safety I’m not a hundred percent sold on the range he presents.
#5. Mike Edwards, Kentucky
Edwards impressed his coaches as a freshman and started the final five games of the season. Over the last two years, he has started all 26 games, in which he recorded 196 tackles, seven interceptions, and 15 pass deflections. Edwards slips by blockers and forces negative plays (9.5 tackles for loss since 2016). He is a textbook tackler, who is very reliable in the open field.
The Wildcat safety is very hands-on in man-coverage and has quicks to stay attached to receivers out of their breaks, although he will have some flags thrown against him. He was also sent off the edge quite a bit. Edwards can be fooled by pump fakes and sometimes lets them take him out of the play completely. Nevertheless, he comes up huge when his team really needs him, sealing two games with an INT last season, he plays with tenacious pursuit at all times and daps his teammates up constantly.
Honorable mentions: Marvell Tell (USC), Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (Florida), J.R. Reed (Georgia)
