Communication and coverage skills made Echols' first year a success
Brandin Echols made a name for himself as a first-year junior college transfer starting in Kentucky's secondary and fans probably have a shared memory of him.
Here was this previously unknown player who skyrocketed up UK's depth chart, helped prevent a big drop off after a mass exodus in the secondary, and in spite of his modest stature, seemed to routinely blow up blocks and then receivers near the line of scrimmage.
But according to Steve Clinkscale, his position coach, that was only a part of what Echols did well last season.
"That was a part of it," Clinkscale said. "But the big part is he can run. He can stay with receivers like nobody's business."
If you really think back, that coverage might not stand out as much as the big hits that draw the loud reaction from the crowd and the big celebrations on the field.
But there were plenty of examples of Echols swiping away passes from blanket coverage or breaking on slants to jar the ball loose.
What makes Clinkscale very hopeful about Echols this fall or whenever football returns is his willingness to address those parts of his game, and one in particular, that can still be refined.
"What you could see this spring is he really focused on his improving the technical part of his game. He went about his business on that," he said.
Working on the little things is a task for any player, as long as they're on the field, but for Echols the learning curve is still there for a good reason.
"You've got to remember this last year was only his third year playing corner," Clinkscale said. "That's why he's still learning the technique part of it. He's still adjusting to routes, seeing splits."
But even while that part of Echols' game was still very much a work in progress there were two big reasons Clinkscale felt comfortable giving him more snaps than any other corner on the roster last year.
"His communication was really big, so I trusted him out there. You knew he was going to communicate. And you knew he was going to be physical," he said. "The physicality part and is still where he needs improvement, that and leveraging the ball, but it was good to see flashes of him coming up and making the tackle. Great players do that. Now we want him to be even more consistent."
