“With four or five players each at corner and safety, the competition's been great,” secondary coach Rich Miano said. “If you take a day off, then the other guy moves up. Competition makes people better and it's going to really help us because if you have any set backs, then the next guy will step in and take your job.”
“Our toughest job is going to be finding out who the five are that will be starting and how many we're going to rotate in there,” Miano adds. “We feel good about our personnel, but it's just a matter of finding out who's going to start for us when we play Central Arkansas.”
A pair of newcomers are competing at one corner spot. Transfers
Tank Hopkins (Navarro College) and
Lametrius Davis (Butte College) arrive at UH after stellar junior college careers. Both participated in spring practice and have gotten plenty of reps. Junior
Jeramy Bryant is penciled in at the other corner after earning a medical hardship. Bryant showed his potential early on in 2008 and nabbed an interception in UH's home-opener, before being sidelined for the final 11 games of the year. Redshirt freshman
Lewis Walker should also contend for playing time after a strong showing in fall camp thus far.
The safeties boast a little more experience, albeit mostly on special teams.
Kenny Estes,
Mana Silva and
Spencer Smith have a combined 37 game appearances (including 24 by Smith) and will battle it out for two starting spots. Meanwhille,
Richard Torres, who played in 10 games, is a leading contender for starting nickleback.
Aside Davis and Hopkins, UH signed four other defensive backs in 2009 to bolster the secondary. Headlining the group is highly touted
Aaron Brown out of Saddleback College, who is right in the mix for a starting safety job.
“The young guys are good,” Miano said. “They're all going to help us. I feel real good about these guys—all of them are players.”
And while Miano admits to some anxiety with so many unproven players, he's reassured when he thinks of the last time the program was in this situation.
“This is very similar to 1999,” Miano said. “We didn't know anything about that team and we ended up having a really good secondary that helped us achieve the greatest turnarounds in NCAA history. We've watched some of these guys for years. They just haven't played yet, but we know their character and work ethic. These guys are hungry.”
Starters Returning: None
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