Alexander
What's it going to be then, eh?
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I agree. I think it's easier to teach someone how to tackle than it is to teach them how to be a ball hawk. That's like taking a RB who's worse in every category but better in not fumbling. Just take the better RB who fumbles a lot and teach him how to hold onto the ball.
I think you are right about RBs and fumbling as we have seen chronic fumblers get their technique shored up and prosper. Not sure I can say the same thing about safeties.
To me, that is a will over skill thing. If they do not want to stick their head in there and at least try to make a tackle, you are dealing with a player who makes a lot of business decisions.
It does not help that a lot of free safeties are either WRs who could not catch well enough or CBs who could not run fast enough (strong safeties are often converted from RB). Sometimes you end up with the player who moves from both. Just enough athleticism and speed, not enough toughness or instincts. I also think a lot of college teams try to get the fastest players/best athletes they can in the secondary to combat the spread.
Speaking about Holliman and the another safety who struggles to tackle, I think you will need to think about what you can do to maximize the ball hawk and shield them from their tendencies in regards to tackling. Both players if in a single high safety situation have the range and ball awareness. But put either in a scheme where you interchange the safety responsibilities liberally, you will have to deal with the challenges no matter what. I doubt it can be coached up to make a player no longer shun contact.
Safeties are so tough to evaluate and are probably one of the positions where in order to get a good one, they better also be able to function in your system.
